Sony Germany hunts down websites offering PS2/PSP mods and downgrades |
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We got word that Sony Germany is allegedly hunting down online sites that offer any form of console modding services in relation to the PlayStation 2 (PS2) and more importantly, the PlayStation Portable (PSP). And by hunting down, we mean lawyers have been included in the picture and lawsuits are likely to follow. Furthermore, Sony Germany also wants these same websites to remove any product that is related to the above mentioned services especially those concerning PS2 mods and PSP downgrading services.
It was reported as well that using and sharing of custom firmwares is a big no-no. Here's the thing, we are uncertain if this is only in Sony Germany or it's actually a worldwide act that was just started there.
One of the most popular modding sites in Germany and the one which will likely take a huge blow is online site "www.ModControl.com". We will update you as soon as we get further details regarding the matter
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Comments [refresh]
dont stop offering psp fw ok?
I need them.
looks like qj.net and psp-hacks are gonna have a hard time.
i think this is gota be a scam because theres no copyright infringing here it is the sole purpuse of the user to break the law not the site offering the tools (to help) them do it this is why dark_alex makes u need to download the original firmwares to make the new 1 and just dont include the new DAXR with the upgrader and as for downgraders there not illegal just the firmware dumps are lol so think in your head how are lawyers gona get in on this legit buisness unless they pass a new law (thow shall no hack thy psp)
Why the hell do the Germans and Australians ALWAYS have to *****in have a private method of dealing with video games. These are also the two countries that are leaneant as hell about another form of so called "entertainment"
First excuse my bad english i´m from austria ^^*
I think its really *****ty what Sony do. We buy the Psp and i think we should be allowed to do with our property what we want because it is ours. Does anybody sue me because i Install Linux on my PC or any other program? so why not install a other FW on my Psp? It is my Psp and not that from sony anymore.
I 100% agree with you. Its our psp and or "computer" system to do whatever we please to do with. Wether it be put a chip in it, mod the firmware or brick it. We are the ones who should be responsible for our own doing or undoing.
If sony gets away with this i wonder if any software compony's will try to sue microsoft for allowing people to install pirated games and or programs on their pc's...
Hey Sony! If you don't want people modding systems, then don't build bull***** piracy and homebrew prevention crap into the damn things! Let people use the thing to its full potential! Give the people what they want! After all, the customer is supposed to always be right.
Damnit. Keep it up downgrading/hacks sites!
Certainly these idiots haven't forgotten AIBO have they.
Sony should check their own site. There is just as much talk about FW hacking and PSP modding on their own forum as there is on any other web site that I have been on.
Sony should check their own site. There is just as much talk about FW hacking and PSP modding on their own forum as there is on any other web site that I have been on.
pretty much every other hardware creator and game maker, movie maker, etc out there...and they'll laugh at you... They have to spend so much time putting this security in because there are so many people who think its perfectly ok to just illegally download a game rather than buying it. The only reason you people download isos is because you're afraid to just walk in the store and rip it off there... It might as well be the same thing, and you people need to get your heads in the right place. Stealing money from companies is NOT ok!
No. That's not how it goes. I have never seen a user agreement on the PSP hardware itself.
Damn them all, if I want to use CFW I will. I forked out £180 for it and im gonna use it how I want. They are just jealous because their PSP's are 3.40 and they cant downgrade so they want to get rid of others fun.
my beautiful friend, the end.
I lol'd when I read this article.
about the sony site, i remember about maybe a year and a half ago, you could not post anything about psp hacking without the thread being locked. I guess it got out of control and they finally allowed it lol.
if sony keeps this up im going to be spending my money on the xbox 360 and not on there stupid ps3.
i hope they will never hunt down qj.. or psp3d and all that.. but what was the link of that site?
You should be able to do what you want with your psp but sony doesn't give a ***** about the consumer.
The purpose of Custom Firmware is not solely to run isos. They come with a lot more flexibility than the official ones. For example my wireless is broken so I couldnt, in any way, enable flash or wma. They bring a million great things to the scene: Homebrew, plugins, hardware cracks (like the extra level of lighting) and a recovery menu... AND THE ISOS ROCK!!!!!!
Pirating game iso is not good, of course, but how about those homebrews that run beautifully and enhance the usability of the PSP so much?? SONY got the resource and people, why not build those functions just in their firmware, I can only imagine sale increase with more functions on PSP. If to some extent the build-in functions are as good, or better probably as they are official, most people will stop changing their firmware and just follow SONY. For example, we have internet brower now, so i never bother look into what the homebrew party provide for web browsing, even they could be better, i don't bother.
i swear if they keep this up, i will head to eb games, and ask to try out a game, wich i will rip right there.
well i was plan getting a pre modded ps3 one day for like 700 dollars or so... oh welll
As long as you buy games for your psp sony won't care! But people still downloads.... Hmmm. They are acting just right if you think about how much money they lose everytime people decides to download a new game instead of buying it! How would you act if you had created a game? Let people take the games for free so that you wouldn't have anything left to live on?
Personally, I think the homebrew scene is just great! Playing the games I have on my N64/PSX/GBA/SNES/GENESIS is something you cannot experience on the normal FWs.
It's a fake. www.pspfreak.de is the biggest greman psp site, and we are permanent in contact with sony. there are no hunts!
I don't think ISOs are a serious threat to Sony. THINK. What percent of the millions or PSP users out there a) have the means to run them and b) know where to find them? Not a lot, I guarantee you. The majority of PSP users don't even know about homebrew.
The second point is, with how many crap games there are for PSP, who's going to think that they're actually WORTH buying? If Sony made sure there were better games for the PSP, they wouldn't need to even bother with security measures because they'd be reeling it in like a casino. This is called the 'Nintendo DS' effect. Sad, but true.
(Also, 'stealing' isn't how I'd put it. Since nothing is physically picked up and taken. ;)
I'd pay to see that. Do it man. DO IT.
There is simply no legal-precidence to pursue this anywhere in the world. A person's property is there own.. Sony exercises their only recourse by using the most up-to-date official Firmware in every new game release. It's not illegal to downgrade your PSP. You own it. You can do as you will to it, be it downgrade it, upgrade it or throw it off your balcony.
HOWEVER.. the official firmwares are the sole legal property of Sony Computer Entertainment. If they do intent to hunt websites who offer such "downgrading aids" they can only do so in regards to the official firmwares themselves. They have every right to go after PSP-hacks for listing previous firmwares for download. As much right as any developer or studio going after sites for offering any copyrighted media. Seeing as the official firmware are needed for the downgrade process, it is not impossible that Sony will cut the problem at that root.
Sony doesn't offer previous firmwares for download for a reason.. they can be used to downgrade. And if they dont want you to have it, it is their prerrogative.
So if there is to be any kind of movement against the homebrew scene, I'd say that's the only means they have to do it...
If you're worried.. go now.. right now.. and download every firmware you ever intend to use and back it up.. but be aware doing so technically makes you a criminal.. but that never stopped you in the first place did it.
AND DO NOT DOWNLOAD ISO'S ILLEGALLY.. PSP, PSX, NES, SNES, N64.. whatever..
Buy them and rip them yourself.. I realize corporate giants are *****s.. like Sony.. but the developers of those games are your friends. The reason why PSP sucks in the public eye is because developers are afraid of the PSP's ability to run pirated software so relatively easily. That is why Sony desperately wants to stop it. Do your part.
As for my downgraded PSP itself.. Sony will have to pry it from my cold dead hands.
Affirmation time:
This is fake.
Sony is not starting any "offensive" action any time soon.
The only people who have to worry are those that sell pre-modded PSP's, or illegally copied software.
They do monitor all (PSP) sites for information on what's happening on the scene.
Sony are working on new FW (Really short term) and hardware methods of circumnavigatin g current "Hacking" techniques.
They will work for a relatively small percentage of users. (Read: those who don't know of sites such as QJ, psp-hacks, etc)
There's so much talk about hacking and modding on their forums and they're not even doing anything to stop it. I'm pretty sure that the psp would be dead without the hackers. Probably one of the biggest reasons people keep going out to buy psp's.
Yeah, um try to shut down sites that offer legal content.
Go the ***** ahead, as you know what freedom of speech is.
In my opinion sony sucks *****.
^^ see that. I am freely expressing my opinion hahaha. sony I dare you to stop me.
Is it considered illegal if I download ISO's, if I already currently own the original game, that is so scratched up, it's barely possible to read the disc?
DAM* gotta download everything...lol...this sucks. even though there still be some sites somewhere but maybe not reliable
Unfortunately, a large majority of PSP owners keep up with the latest official firmware. According to a poll I found on the Sony forum once, about 20% of owners were on 1.5 (this was before Dark_AleX's custom firmwares). This is an amazing percentage for a game system's homebrew community, but overall the official software users outnumber us homebrew users in the long run.
The homebrew holocaust has begun....
if they really wanted to take down sites then they would have gone after D_A's website long ago... back then they were lucky to take down booster's page... i think this is just a big bluff...
let the prison time and heavy fines begin. this is the start of something great.
China, Cuba, North Korea, Russia... that will tell these lawyers to fu*k off. You can still always get these off torrents. Try shutting that down! Yeah they thought they killed music download when Napster got shut down... we all see what happened.
Why is there always someone bothering with this is stealing statements....I guess to get someone like me to say something... homebrew is a good thign and that means custom firmware is a good thing running iso's can be a plus for someone that doesnt one want to run there umd out and 2 dont wich to carry all there umds around yes htere are many that illegally dl iso's so be it and so what I hope if they like what they download maybe they will buy it but I know most wont once agian so what and question is what is it to you
I for one think they need to stop bothering with the money spent on stopping piracy as it wont stop but I know this cant happen as now there are only a few % that get isos and use them if there was no protection alot more would if it was easier I know a few that wont dare flash there psp as they know they might brick it ...so if they did not have to flash it they would already use homebrew and isos as game still cost way to much..(my opinion)
I wait till games are on sale to buy or find a good deal last deal was ff12 for $20
well at the top of my page i can see 2 ads for (unlimited psp&movie downloads)!
that says to me sony are targeting the wrong people
ps i gotalota respect to most people posted on this page
"SONY" take my (CFW 3.40) outa my dead cold hands song
kiss my arse sony!
RESPECT!!!!
tell it how it is
FIRST *****ERS !!! ***** YEAH!!!
"We got word" from who? Qj isn't posting their sources. For all we know, this rumor could simply have been started by qj itself. :\...
Oh well, if it is indeed true about the crackdown on mod/hack sites for PSP... That would be unfortunate. Folks like us would have to be more sneaky and under-the-table about our submissions with programs and mods D:! Maybe that'd be a good thing though? It would lock Sony out of the loop.
BOO!!!!!
what did the australians do?
The article says downgrading _services_ are targeted by Sony Germany's lawyers. A downgrading service is a company or a person who is making money by downgrading a PSP.
I don't think the final users are concerned afaik.
OH MY GOD ***** YOU, ***** YOU YOU *****ING NAIZ GERMAN *****S!! SONY ARE ALL NAZIS AND SHOULD ALL *****ING BE *****ING KILLED ARRRRRRR!!
Oh year, and everyone as a precaution dowload the latest downgraders and custom firmwares and keep them somewhere safe just incase nazi sony germany bribes te court with a psp or a ps12 or something.
Think seriously for a second, every single homebrew app and game sucks big time, the main reason for downgrading and custom firmwares is ISOs and emulators.
Seriously give me 1 homebrew game or app that is slightly good (apart from emulators, iso loaders and that bochs windows thing that i cant seem to get working).
You muppet, he is saying Australia gets boned over game laws and scrict procedure
Once again... Muppet!
stop trying to protect a 10? year old playstation 2 system and the psp is a waste of time. forget about the old tech and focus on the *****ing playstation 3 for god sake!
hey guys check this site out it rocks! Download Free psp games and moivies over 100 movies and games at
www.pspmov.info
well.. it´s one thing to say it, another to do it! It´s like the Swedish govement has made it illegal to download movies and music.. still almost 1 million people of the Swedish population download illegal.. what are thy gonna do? Arrest them all?
Fake rumor, and even if it isnt can you blame ANY company, who's main purpose is to make money for protecting their bottom line?
Sick of all these *****ing post napster babies who dont know what copy right laws are and think every peice of software or work of musical theatrical or artistic work in digital format is free for the taking.
Fake rumor, and even if it isnt can you blame ANY company, who's main purpose is to make money for protecting their bottom line?
Sick of all these *****ing post Napster babies who don't know what copy right laws are and think every piece of software or work of musical theatrical or artistic work in digital format is free for the taking.
Modding consoles is legal in Australia, idiot. What the hell does Australia have to do with this?
if they made decent games maybe more ppl would buy them.
as a former pc gamer now a psp one i'm discusted by the quality of the games. most seem like dodgy betas or alphas even! if every game was a gta lcs vcs they would be selling out all day long. i'll download a game but if its sh1t it gets deleted and i won't buy a copy.
its a huge pain to copy the isos to the memstick every time you want to play something else. much better to just slap in a umd. but at £30 and more a pop. too right i try before i buy!!!
Like DUCK HUNT???
the secret police is out to get us~ noooooooooooooo
/zips all custom firmwares and puts it in to a usb thumbdrive
iRshell dude!
and i know for a fact that at least 3 million people of the swedish population has downloaded illegally at least once!
Well if there umd games werent so expensive, maybe more people would actually buy them. I mean, if you buy a game for the ps2 for $50, and the same game for psp for $50, the ps2 version has more stuff in it and better graffix. Its a *****in ripoff.
YOU STUPID AMERICAN`S PIECES OF *****!!! NOTHING OF THAT WHAT IS STANDING HERE IS THE TRUTH!!! YOU STUPID MORON´S!!! THE AMERICAN´S ARE THE REAL NAZIS!!! YOU MOTHER*****ING PIECES OF CRAP!!
QJ.NET IS ALWAYS TELLING ***** ALL OVER THE WORLD!!! YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED YOU PIECES OF FINGERNAILSCRAP !!!
MODCONTROL.COM HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS!!! AND EVERYTHING´S JUST A BIIIG LIIIEEE!!!
STUPID AMERICANS!!! I COULD BOMB THIS *****IN´ STATE DOWN!!!
I downloaded every Dark Alex custom firmware just in case the NAZI Sony germany pulls through and fully bans it but I also dought it but you cant be too sure of anything so **** you sony germany.
i know for sure that Australians mod like hell. Go to a store and they will even help you mod a psp or even buy a modded psp.
PEOPLE KEEP GETTING THE GAMES FOR REAL SO THE COMPANY DOESNT GET ENOUGH MONEY THEREFORE CRAPPIER GAMES AND HIGHER PRICES. Its a huge loop. (i wrote that big to get my point into peoples' head and get them to think)
BTW, Why do u hate sony that much? they are the reason why u are holding a psp. Basically, u need both sony AND the hackers (as u would call them.) Without Sony, there IS NO psp and without hackers, there is no reason to buy the psp and all of its (psp) potential will never be known, let alone, wasted. Now, im not saying that im happy about their choices but just use common sense! Its the only thing sony can do. Sony HAs to stop homebrew for the sake of the game devs and movies (whatever u call it). If the csos, isos,daxs didnt exist then sony would gladly open the system to homebrew as it was planned ever since the begining of the psp launch.
No Gravity. Dude. I dont care if u like homebrew or not but that is just YOUR OPINION. Homebrew is great. Everyone can easily code something no matter how old they are. This is a dream come true. A 13 year old can finnally code a game simply by using lua. Its better than using Sony's firmwares.
There are alot of good games for the psp and it isn't hard to find out which games are good. Just go to http://www.gamerankings.com/ and you will find out... Now, is that hard?
You will find out that the psp has alot of good titles besides GTA.
Ps2 isn't portable, comparing it with a psp just isn't fair. Do you compare the NDS with the wii/GC? And think about the games for the NDS, isn't psp THE best portable console right now?
You guys are just making up excuses for downloading...
Yes, this is the real little lad from the infamous berries and cream starburst commercial. When I was a little lad, and I wanted berries and cream, mummy used to make me do the berries and cream dance. Now, mummy's gone. Nevertheless, I still do the berries and cream dance whenever I hear or see berries and cream starbursts. So, as a special treat on this comment, I will now do the dance for all of you! You look lovely!
"Berries and cream, berries and cream, I'm a little lad who loves berrriiieess aanndd cccrrrreeeaaamm !"
Selling a mod or owning one is not an illegal act.
Using one could be contested in court but only to
try to tap you out of money in the dispute.
You can sue anybody for almost anything but
their intension my be just to drain you dead.
They can't sue sites for offering services such as these. It is not illegal to do it yourself, neither is it to do ti for someone else in exchange for money.
Not really, you can't just drop into EB Games and buy a modded PSP. Most commercial companies won't mod a console for you. However there are plenty of people who advertise in newspapers that will mod a console.
TAKE IT EASY ON SONY GUYS BECAUSE 1ST OF ALL W/OUT SONY THERE IS NO PSP.iMAGINE LIFE W/OUT YOUR PSPS'S.ALL THEY ARE TRYING TO DO IS STOP PIRACY.YOU GUYS SOULD BE THANKING SONY INSTEAD.SO MANY OF YOU TAKE SO MANY THINGS FOR GRANTED SHAME ON YOU. ALSO GO EASY ON QJ, NO ONE IS PERFECT. AND YOU GUYS TOTALLY FIND THE SMALLEST MISTAKE AND POINT IT OUT IN THEYR FACES.AND IF YOU CAN MAKE A PERFECT WEBSITE ID LIKE TO SEE IT
THANX QJ YOUVE BEEN DOING A GREAT JOB
AND THANK YOU SONY W/OUT YOUT THER IS NO PSP
the heads at sony are just jealous: they upgraded to version 3.40, and couldn't downgrade back to 1.50, so in a fit of jealousy, they want to attack those of us who weren't noobish enough to upgrade. You suck sony! LOLZ! Nintendo pwns joo! (I'm not a fanboy of DS. i like the DS and PSP equally)
BOYCOTT SONY @ GAMES CONVENTION in LEPIZIG.
hahahahahaha
KURWA? nice ;-D
Jedyne nasze s%u0142owo które zna ca%u0142y %u015Bwiat
Ale zgadzam si%u0119 z Tob%u0105, amerykanie to pierdoleni ignoranci.
FAKE
Hm. Ever since I bought LCS, it's been in my UMD drive.
Fortunately, after fw 2.80, 8GB memory cards work!
Plus with a little bit of ingenuity, you can haul around 160GB of media with a battery powered 2.5" laptop drive and a linksys NSLU2!
Most of the games I've bought, I havn't even opened the plastic wrap yet, because I already have the ISO on my 'stick.
Burnout Legends & Dominator -- hell yeah!
Can't wait to get Castlevania, I'm buying two copies and never opening them; I still have my second copy of Symphony of the night from 1997 that's still in the original shrink wrap
Just because people can download a copy of an ISO doesn't mean illegality is involved.
I've got an 8GB card, and every ISO on it, I own the original UMD. Fair use ;)
***** you sony ***** you and your ***** whipped friends
because you think every german is a Nazi.
Just because of F.U.C.K.I.N.G people like we never get rid of prejudice.
Yeah all germans are bad blah blah blah.
i hate these *****ing american biches who doesn't
get rid of his WW II problem.
I totally agree with you.
Scheiss Ami Schweine!!!
these things come and go, there's no need to worry. at worst, any all out assault against us will leave us playing our 150 isos for a while, (oh, the hardship) until some other ingenious idea starts it all off again......
nothing to see here......move along please.........nothing to see here, nothing to worry about.........