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Homebrew community blends hackers and gamers

Posted Jul 9, 2006 at 8:36AM EST by QJ Staff

Listed in: Homebrew Development, Opinions & Analysis Tags: Downdater, GBA, Hackers, Mike Musgrove, MSNBC, psp homebrews

Homebrew - Image 1 Homebrew - Image 2

A recent article posted on MSNBC (via the Washington Post) claims that homebrew communities blend hackers and gamers together in an effort to make the most out of their devices, saying that "Independent programmers are working on ways to listen to Internet radio and wirelessly check e-mail through the handheld Nintendo DS game device. Elsewhere, some jokers figured out how to get a playable version of Doom onto the iPod.". The article says that rip-offs of games such as Lumines, which appeared on the GBA as LumineSweeper when it wasn't released for the GBA, are regular occurrences in the homebrew community basically stating that many homebrew games are illegal.

The article goes on to the PSP, claiming that the PSP homebrew scene was "nearly dead" until the 2.5/2.6 downgrader was released. Obviously this writer, Mike Musgrove, hadn't done his research. Before the downdater was released more and more games were being made available on firmwares 2.0-2.5 with Fanjita's eLoader, and still loads of games and applications were being developed for firmware 1.5. I'm afraid the PSP homebrew scene was far from 'nearly dead', it was growing.

One thing the writer did get correct is this "if any recent game title for the Sony device has generated as much excitement online as this underground developer's announcement, I missed it.". That is correct. I bought my PSP to play games on it, and didn't even think about homebrew until a friend told me about this site about a week after getting my PSP on the UK launch date. And since I've been into homebrew, no UMD game release has really tickled my fancy apart for GTA:Liberty City Stories, which lasted a while.

The writer then moves onto the subject of the up and coming Xbox 360 homebrew/hacking scene which is in it's infancy. "Console makers dislike this sort of tinkering because it opens the door to piracy. The same tricks that make an Xbox more functional to power users are the same tricks that override the controls put into place to keep users from playing illegally copied versions of games."

This is also correct, but when you spend your hard-earned cash on a product, you want to get the most out of it, and this is what the writer seems to have missed out on. I have definitely had my money's worth from my PSP, because of homebrew. If I didn't own a PSP I probably wouldn't be writing this now, and this site wouldn't be as big as it is today. Homebrew helps us to use what we own in a way that the makers of it couldn't even think of. Homebrewers don't make money out of what they do, they do it for the programming experience and to get more out of their consoles. There aren't any big corporations trying to take your cash from you in the homebrew scene, and that's the beauty of it.

In other news, the article seems to have gone missing from the MSNBC website. Why this is, we are not sure, but all I can get is the "page not found" error. Either they have server problems (highly unlikely for MSNBC) or they have removed it. Whatever the issue, they cannot escape Google Cache!

Link: [Original MSNBC article] Page not found error
Link: [Google Cache version]
Link: [Original Washington Post article]

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I very much disagree with the article about the homebrew scene being "nearly dead". It was still very active before it came out. Also MOST homebrew games are legal. You guys think doom is illegal? Think again. It is open source, along with quake. The bit that isn't open source (the doom wads or quake paks) is the bit that can be illegal, but if you own the game it should be legal. About the Lumines clones like Luamines they arn't the same. The graphics and music are different and bits like that.

# lol — Guest 2006-07-09 10:00

"Whatever the issue, they cannot escape Google Cache!

"

looks like they can!

# PSP Homebrew Legality — Guest 2006-07-09 10:02

Does anyone know what the homebrew developers use for compiling PSP software? If they're using the Sony SDK then technically all PSP software is illegal even if the source code is open source or entirely your own creation.

As for games, Sony have definitely lost loads of game sales to me because I refuse to upgrade from 1.0 on my black PSP and 1.5 on my white PSP. If there was no homebrew I'd probably be on 2.71 now and have quite a few more games, but I ain't giving up SNES, Megadrive or N64 games.

# It's not the Sony SDK — pspfan 2006-07-09 10:04

They don't use the official Sony SDK.

# A-ha! — Guest 2006-07-09 10:21

Google Cache link fixed, it wasn't cooperating...

# This annoys me — Guest 2006-07-09 10:28

I get so annoyed when "journalists" write these "in-depth" articles on stuff they don't really know anything about and manage to totally f*** their facts up. If you've ever read a local newspaper, that's pretty much all it consists of...

# b*ll sh1t — insa8ne2k4 2006-07-09 11:00

it just goes to say, dont beleive everything you see in the news.

thanks to people like fanjita, Ditlew, Dark Alex and many many more OUR community thrives.

Come on people/ journalists/ $ony, this is our hardware we paid for it now let us do what we want.

people have hobbies, these people make games and other things in their spare time. the Lumines rip-off was not a rip off at all nor was it illegal.

what if the developer had thought of it long before the company had.

Our "Homebrew" Games are not stolen code, its code we put together ourselves. so what if its a clone of a game, HOW MANY VERSIONS OF TETRIS IS THERE (and thats one game they dont complain about)

LONG LIVE OUR IDEAS...

...LONG LIVE HOMEBREW.

Feels good to vent your spleen sometimes

-Insa8ne2k4

# baka.... — Shadownet 2006-07-09 11:21

While I think the writter of this article is...wrong...to say the least...I believe that homebrew is a nice COMPLIMENT to the true PSP games. I would rather pay $40-$50 to play a high quality game than to play these mario/tetris/wanabe game ports, regardless of it being free. When you people wake up and realize who the true scammers are, those scaming you out of a real gaming experience by continuing this "scene" and making you belive that these games are equal/better than the real games, then you will do the intelligent thing and upgrade, and enjoy the true power of the PSP.

P.S. Fanjita & Ditlew this doesn't apply to you since you try to bring homebrew to the latest firmware, not vise versa (*cough* Dark Alex *cough*).

# long live homebrew — Guest 2006-07-09 11:26

I spend more time with homebrew and emus as I do actual psp games. It´s like that guy said, you want your machine to be able to do all that it can do. Thats where homebrew comes in and it´s great!!!

# @16 — Redbluefire 2006-07-09 11:36

You upgraded to 2.71, didn't you?

# PSP - gaming machine- IF you dont upgrade! — Guest 2006-07-09 11:38

lol @ 16- "enjoy the true power of the psp" ... heheh, if there were more "good" games on the psp, dont worry- I'll upgrade- but right at this second, I aint gonna upgrade to lose a portable SNES / Megadrive / Amstrad / Amiga.... PFfff! I can enjoy loads of games anyways now due to the new Devhook! :-p

Could an admin delete all these offtopic Worldcup posts plz!?

# screw you sony — prominator 2006-07-09 11:39

i love homebrew because i dont have to pay for the real psp games i just ripp them from the internet

haha sony i have 40 psp games imagine how much money i saved

# Nice — Guest 2006-07-09 11:56

Nice little rant.

Shame it wasn't a sort of interview with the author of the atical so you could get some feedback from the un-enlightened

# to 16 — Guest 2006-07-09 12:34

If Thats what you think..then fine but homebrew games are simple and easy at times and are more enjoyable then a real game to say the least...id rather spend hours playing mario on the psp or some other homebrew game rather than..sit..update....put a new umd in..find a new update...update again......and then play a game like smackdown vs. raw and take 15 minutes of loading to play a 5 minute match lol

# 22, you're an idiot — Guest 2006-07-09 13:11

Congratulations , you've just proclaimed you perform piracy. If anybody from Sony is reading this they can request your IP, track you down and sue you. Well, thats worst case scenario for you anyways. Honestly, downloading games you can just as easily buy is worthless. I don't see as much of a problem if you're getting something your country never did, something you already own, or no longer in production but if it's out you should just buy it.

Anyways, my PSP would've been gone long ago without homebrew. I luff my Genesis and SNES emulators, giving me my favorite games of my youth on the go (And yes, I own the original cartridges of what I'm playing.) And the IR Shell and PMP Mod have given me things Sony never will.

# kjklllk — Guest 2006-07-09 13:12

"If I didn't own a PSP I probably wouldn't be writing this now, and this site wouldn't be as big as it is today."

Jesus, kyle m. are you ever going to learn to write a competent english sentence?

In the end, I do know what you meant, but to some it means as if this site wouldn't be as big if you haven't bought a psp.

# Homebrew — Guest 2006-07-09 13:30

I can relate to the views posted regarding the homebrew. Some really good stuff out there. Dabbling in ISO's is alot like a bad habbit for me, I know i shouldn't do it i cant help myself. Justification is the only game i have played at any lenth i have paid for (GTA).

But back on the homebrew... Why does it seem so popular on the psp? I have had a fair few consoles over the years an even the word 'homebrew' was new to me. I had just never came across any such stuff for the Playstaions...

Maybe i wasn't finding what i wasn't looking for... Is it just me?

PSP, Developers paradise or the next platform to port?

# viva homebrewers!! — senjutsu 2006-07-09 13:38

homebrews are are mush on psp, and will be a real MUST into next gen ( ps3/x360 ), wii won't get many homebrews just like the NDS have nothing compared to PSP in homebrews.

PS3 with homebreww support? I'm in! =D

# Corporations Make Money... — databoy2k 2006-07-09 14:17

"There aren't any big corporations trying to take your cash from you in the homebrew scene, and that's the beauty of it."

Yes, I realize this is ammo for a flame war, but can anybody think of somebody who's profiting from the homebrew scene? Don't think too hard.... .... ....

UNDILUTED PLATINUM, as well as modchip stores. There's cash to be made out of hacking these consoles, I personally had a Stealth modchip in my PSone so many years ago.

I just wanted to point this out, seeing as how you successfully ook an article biased against homebrew, and shot it down in your own article, only to be too biased pro-homebrew. Good try, but not everyone here (as shown by comment #22) is a saint with the exploits...

--Databoy2k

# @29-- "wii won't get many homebrews just like the NDS have nothing compared to PSP in homebrews." — Guest 2006-07-09 14:53

Dude, the Wii has 2 built-in SD card slots ^_^

As for the DS, its just now hitting its uprise, with the release of the new wifi-lib. Its growing!!!

With the release of the Opera Web Browser, it will get even more. Hackers will see its code and develop a lot internet-based homebrew.

@29- I bet you don't even own a DS.

# . — Guest 2006-07-09 15:16

just because pirates can use knowledge gained by legit homebrewers, dosen't mean homebrewers are all illegal you know...

# Ugh. — Jake Hoshgothen 2006-07-09 19:41

Well. Lets get this in order.

@25: Sony may certainly request the IP Address of #22, but, until they can actually prove that he's downloaded and USES the proported files, they won't sue him for didly squit. For all we and Sony know, he could be bragging without actually having done anything at all.

@30: As you say, UIndiluted Platinum is most certainly making a handsome profit from their mod chip. But please. You would do well to remember that there is a distinction between homebrew and mod chips, regardless of the console. Homebrew is software, while mod chips are hardware.

@16: The simple way to deal with you is in one word: NO. Long, ranting, complicated answer? Certainly! If you believe that homebrew games are inferior to UMD/Sony Authorised games, then your voice has been heard, disregarded as crap, and otherwise shoved aside. Be aware that people are free to make up their minds as to what is a better deal/product (Homebrew or UMD) under the same laws that protect us from suing you for general defamation of a community. Please also keep in mind the following: people also are free to define homebrew as a scam or not as they choose. However, the meaning of the word scam is to feel cheated in a transation of goods, currency, materials, or, in this case software. Since we don't pay for the vast majority of homebrew on this site, you cannot call 'scam' as you have not lost anything in the transation taking place. You are using free software, and hence you can't complain about having been cheated when there was nothing present to cheat you of.

@6: PSP homebrew code writers do not, as far as my knowledge extends, have access to 'Sony SDK.' From a little general digging in the descriptions of the downloads available on this site, I have seen people using everything from Python to C++.

And a bit of material from me: Does anyone know where I can find the Email address of the to-be-blind-sided-idiot who wrote the colomn in the first edition? On the Washington Post? Leave it here if you find it, and we'll then see how long it is before he submits a formal appology to us all through his host paper.

Cheers,

Jake Marvolo Hoshgothen

# The guy who wrote the original article was an Idiot — Sr_Moska 2006-07-09 19:54

Like the guy here in PSPupdates said, we wan't to use our consoles to the max!

I also have a XBOX and when I play Nintendo 64, or SNES, or ARCADE or even PlayStation1 (I make Iso's from my ORGINAL discs) I feel like I'm in heaven and I can't believe it!

I feel the same way playing Double Fragon II, Legend of zelda 2, mario bros 3, or Astyanax (which I also Own the original catridges) on my PSP!

I had a game boy advance and I was pissed when they wanted around 30 buck to play Super MArio World or Mario bros 3,or zelda NO WAY! I already own them! why to pay that again?! I even felt relieved when I sold My GBA and bought my PSP with GTA: LCS

PSP games are expensive when new, but at least they're PS2 alike games, not like the friggin GBA oldschool crap

I'm indeed a retro gamer, and using my GTA loader I can play my oldschool games and I can play newer and better looking games!

SO BUG OFF!!!

# afk — Guest 2006-07-09 19:55

I can't believe how little recognition the GP2X gets..

The homebrew community isn't nearly as big as the PSP, but it's a more powerful system and it openly accepts homebrew.

This comments page has been rather insightful and funny, though, namely the one above.

# >:o — Guest 2006-07-09 20:26

That part about ripoffs of Lumines really grinds my gears. So a big gaming company can take an idea for a game, alter it slightly and sell it for tons of cash, but a homebrew devlepoer can't take that same idea and code an awesome free game?

# self centred bastard — Guest 2006-07-10 00:22

"If I didn't own a PSP I probably wouldn't be writing this now, and this site wouldn't be as big as it is today."

im sure the site would struggle on without this article and without you

what a pilock

# ok... — Guest 2006-07-10 04:39

ok... this portable generation is going to get weird...

But i think it will turn out to be ok.

# #36 — 1.5owner 2006-07-10 05:16

actually, the PSP is a more powerful system. We could even have an N64 emulator very soon! Still, i really wish the GP2Xs were actually sold on US shelves, and i might order one off the internet

what a retarded article. "Friends don't let friends upgrade," where the hell have i heard that phrase? And no, the homebrew community was WINNING even before the downgrader. This article makes it sound like sony and its updates were defeating homebrew, but that was complete BS that the journalist probably made up

anyway, even this journalist believes that we scored a nice victory over $ony with the downgrader. If there was no devhook, sony would lose UMD sales badly, so they can thank the homebrew community for allowing ppl with 1.5 to play later UMD games

# Thanks to homebrew... — Guest 2006-07-10 08:46

I actually KEPT my PSP. I got bored with it after the first 2 months of usage :-S. Seriously thought about selling mine when I found my first homebrew site. Since then I've enjoyed my console the way it's supposed to be enjoyed....BY THE CONSUMER :P! Never once did I play an illegally ripped game ( unless you call outdated, hardly ever played roms illegally ripped games:P). If anything, homebrew gave me a renewed interest in my purchased product from Sony. With the failure of UMD's homebrew is probably what kept the PSP alive :P. In short, I love my PSP thanks to home brew, and Sony should look at this article as just another jealous yuppie reporter who can't grasp the concept of the changing times :P!!

Homebrew improves economy, copyrights restrict it :P!!

# know where to dl — Guest 2006-07-10 10:06

some good homebrew any suggestion and site? I love homebrew whoever said that it is dead they are crazy. i was a 2.6 owner but now a proud owner of a 1.5

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