PSP/XBOX360:Humble Microsoft, no-so Sony

[nonarKitten]

As posted on Gizmodo (http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/microsoft/microsoft-to-let-regular-joes-develop-xbox-360-games-193954.php) today, Microsoft will be making development on the XBox 360 available to just-about-anyone for a small subscription fee, as well as being able to play other homebrew developers' creations.

This is in stark contrast to Sony who since the inception of it's ill fated PSP has done everything possible to stifle homebrew development in the name of defending against piracy. Ironically, considering it has failed as a movie and portable media player and is falling ever further behind the Nintendo DS in games, perhaps Sony's destroying the last market interested in the PSP.

When consoles have existed solely ON the basis of homebrew development (the GP32 and it's successor) and have done moderately well with only a fraction of Sony's marketing muscle, it's a wonder if Sony is simply being paranoid about piracy, and denying one of the most original and creative sources of software and game development?

[Video_freak]

Sony just doesn't want to give in for some reason. Maybe they think we'll have "won" the "war" (that we've already pretty much won for now ;))

[muffinman]

if i remember wasnt sony talking about doing thuis with the ps3 :p

didnt microsoft have a shout at them for using something like xboxlive?

[Video_freak]

They said the PS3 would have a linux-based OS. I don't know if they said they would support homebrew though. :confused:

[SSaxdude]

Sweet, finally homebrew devs will be able to share their work with the world.
I thought about this yesterday. Ok, say a developer wants to make his own game and then release it on Xbox Live. MS would charge the person 2000 gamerpoints, but to buy the homebrew game it costs 40 gamerpoints and the developer makes 25 gamerpoints off of each sale.

[Video_freak]

Homebrew is supposed to be free though. :(

[SSaxdude]

Well then developers would get something small back in return.

[smith1]

Homebrew is supposed to be free though. :(It's not 'supposed' to be anything, fyi.

[fistikuffs]

plus if the devs have to pay a fee to MS to develop the homebrew they should be entitled to recoup the cost.

Sony have no problem following MS down certain roads but i don't think they will making a similar move this time. Sony hates homebrew:mad:

[DuRoLuRo]

Why doesn´t sony want succes, with their console. I thought they wanted to beat Nintendo!
They must be stupid or something:(

[Basil Zero]

Sony should allow homebrew, because whats the point of paying for games that you could get anyways from downloading..lol..

I'm not talking about ISOs btw, i am talking about roms like snes and nes.

[wilbur]

I think Sony's fear of homebrew and emulation goes far deaper than copyright infringement.

I believe sony feels most consumers assume new technologies are unique and untouchable (ie- it is not possible to learn how they are programmed).

By playing emulators, sony fears that a giant sector of the consumer market will become aware that new consoles are not so much a cut above the rest and they too can infact be tapped into with relative ease.

Sony seems to be very concerned with implying that we need their technology alone in order to progress in the modern world.

It's all a little bit scary, and i think their grip on market domination is loosening as folk learn it's not so.

i agree with the article and think Sony need to rethink their strategy. The best route to take it to give consumers total freedom to do what they will with the technology, after all, they have payed a huge sum of cash for it!

[TheSerpentMage]

interesting (I thought) copypaste from the slashdot discussion:

From the XNA FAQ:

Q: How exactly can I share my 360 game to other 360 users? Will my game only be available to people with the XNA "Creators Club" subscription? Will it be available to all 360 users that have an Xbox Live account?
A: There is currently no supported way to share binaries on the Xbox 360. Currently, there are four requirements that must be met in order to share a game targeting Xbox 360 which is developed with XNA Game Studio Express.

1. The individual you are planning to share the game with must be logged in to Xbox Live and have an active subscription to the XNA Creators Club
2. The receiving user must have downloaded the XNA Framework runtime environment for the Xbox 360
3. The receiving user must have XNA Game Studio Express installed on their own development PC
4. The game project, including all source and content assets, must be shared with the receiving user. The receiving user then compiles and deploys the game to their Xbox 360.


It's not quite what people are thinking.

[PSmonkey]

As posted on Gizmodo (http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/microsoft/microsoft-to-let-regular-joes-develop-xbox-360-games-193954.php) today, Microsoft will be making development on the XBox 360 available to just-about-anyone for a small subscription fee, as well as being able to play other homebrew developers' creations.

This is in stark contrast to Sony who since the inception of it's ill fated PSP has done everything possible to stifle homebrew development in the name of defending against piracy. Ironically, considering it has failed as a movie and portable media player and is falling ever further behind the Nintendo DS in games, perhaps Sony's destroying the last market interested in the PSP.

When consoles have existed solely ON the basis of homebrew development (the GP32 and it's successor) and have done moderately well with only a fraction of Sony's marketing muscle, it's a wonder if Sony is simply being paranoid about piracy, and denying one of the most original and creative sources of software and game development?

Jesus man, Will people stop being stupid for a change.

PS1 & Ps2 both had officialy released hardware & software to allow homebrew developers. Hell sony even went 1 step further and had contest in japan which would land the winning team funding and resources to make their game a comercial release.

Sony has been alot more suportive of homebrew then people give them credit. I even bet you that if we never figured out how to hack the psp, sony would have eventualy done the same for psp, hell there is rumors that they plan to after the ps3 comes out.

[felonyr301]

sony likes to copy from MS but i dont know about this and yes sony needs to get their head out of their ass.

[Galiano]

sony know full well about the homebrew scene and i believe that off the record they're reasonably happy about it, it sells machines.
it seems to me that the major updates that close exploits were released to combat iso loaders( fair enough ) and homebrew was the victim.

if more homebrew sites were like this one and banned hosting and talking about iso's and iso loaders then i don't think sony would have a problem. fact is when a coder like say fanjita finds a way of running an unofficial programme on psp a less respectable coder will find a way to run pirate copies on it, forcing sonys hand.
and considering the money they spend on development, they can't afford to let piracy become rampant on psp.

[slayer2psp]

sounds good lets hope someone makes a boat racing game havent been any since the dreamcast aqua gt and hydro thunder

[mr_nick666]

Jesus man, Will people stop being stupid for a change.

PS1 & Ps2 both had officialy released hardware & software to allow homebrew developers. Hell sony even went 1 step further and had contest in japan which would land the winning team funding and resources to make their game a comercial release.

Sony has been alot more suportive of homebrew then people give them credit. I even bet you that if we never figured out how to hack the psp, sony would have eventualy done the same for psp, hell there is rumors that they plan to after the ps3 comes out.

Interesting... It will be nice if $ony let homebrew run wild and free! :D (No more crazy firmwares!) :rolleyes:

[felonyr301]

actually they dont make money off of selling machines its the games they really make money off of it so they getting screwed either way that why they trying to lock us down i mean would you like your system to be known as you just need to buy the machine and never spend another dime again i mean look at all the emulators can play thousnads of classics on the go. Sony doesnt want that.

[nhlhockey]

Jesus man, Will people stop being stupid for a change.


Well said man. Think for yourself people. One guy posts that the PSP is dying and then you all start fearmongering and believing it. Something like 20 million PSP's have been shipped worldwide. I would hardly say that it is dying. Stop listening to the microsoft propoganda and start thinking for yourself. Don't believe everything you see on TV or read on the internet.

[felonyr301]

psp is not going to go down as of right now IMO well i think lol.

[donne]

I was a happy PSone owner and more than happy PS2 owner. True, I think PSP lacked great games but I'M STILL a happy PSP owner (five installed EMUs and counting..) Those guy really can produce great gadgets.

The belief in gaming industry is you don't really get profit from selling consoles (infact, mostly they're at loss for a year or two) but from selling softwares. Sony fight ISO piracy. Believe it or not, they're very-very well exist. Homebrew perhaps like a double-sided knife to Sony.

[ACID]

Sony doesn't have enough people to cover the world even with computer technology

[stotheamuel]

I expect to see an pretty good xbox emu on the ps3

and a perfect ps2 emu on the xbox 360.... by the end of the consoles.


listen to this... this is worse than sonys plan

ok sony 200$ linux kit... consoles last 4-5 years

microsoft (30-40$) a year (thats my guess) plus u have to spend microsoft points to download i think

it equals out

[jwilds73]

I hope this develops into full fledged homebrew apps being allowed to run on a standard x-box 360. I think Microsoft is taking a small step in the right direction. Sure it costs alittle money for them to develop and use the development tools but at only $99 a year it is well worth it. This certainly makes the x-box 360 more appealing to own for me. I can't wait to see how this unfolds.

[stotheamuel]

My bad! 99$???!

yeah sony's will be more expensive i bet but not yearly..

[goa]

Heres a thought..... perhaps if things really start to go downhill for the psp Sony could release a new version of the PSP that does allow for homebrew, but has some kind of improved copyright protection on new games. So that hombrew and emulation are encouraged, but piracy not.

They could charge a higher price for these special psps and so that they cover their costs and make abit on the product. I guess what i'm trying to get at, is they could aim to get money off the product itself, like Apple would off an iPod, and then software sales would probably grow anyway from the increased number of users.

I know I would at least be keen to shell out more for a psp in order to take on this approach, as opposed to the cat and mouse game that we currently play.

[NoQuarter]

Ok, psmonkey is right about sony supporting homebrew,but it is always in a limited capacity.I believe this is a step in the right direction for microsoft,but once again not a solution.The problem that needs to be solved is the idea of intellectual property.Thoughts or ideas can no longer be owned once the have been released,no matter how much the "owners" resist. Simply once you share your idea it is no longer solely yours.

I'm all for dev's being reimbersed for dev cost's, that's not the problem.The problem is that the dev kit's are not free,which the should be.I personally believe game hardware companies should focus on turning profit from hardware.

I've said it once and I'll say it again sony does make money from hardware just not at first.The profit comes when production cost's drop.

[jwilds73]

I'm all for dev's being reimbersed for dev cost's, that's not the problem.The problem is that the dev kit's are not free,which the should be.I personally believe game hardware companies should focus on turning profit from hardware.

I've said it once and I'll say it again sony does make money from hardware just not at first.The profit comes when production cost's drop.

I really agree here, Though I can understand them charging developers for their official tools. I would also like to add I really think the music industries business model needs to change also to work well with technology. They need to shift away from making money on disc sales and even song downloads and switch to a performance based business model.

[NoQuarter]

Yeah, the problem really is the business model.
Keeping everything open source=no piracy

[jwilds73]

Yeah it's like if when the first cars started being produced horse ranchers formed mobs went around burning and destroying them because they needed to protect their horse selling businesses. They don't want to adapt to what technology is capable of. Just like the movie industry doesn't want to change either. I don't want to go to the theater. Nor do I want to purchase the movie in a store front. I want to download it burn it to disc and watch it from the comfort of my own couch. However they aren't willing to allow this to happen. Though there is some development here it's crawling at a snails pace and I am not willing to wait for them to play catchup.

[NoQuarter]

yeah,they're trying to milk the last bit of profit before the industry changes forever.
Ever heard of elephants dream,worlds first open source computer graphics movie.
That's the direction everything is going,we're just meeting so much resistance cause the companies don't wan't to change.
But they will have to,it's inevitable.
Most companies operate on the theory of the established model and resist any change due to profit loss risk.
The idea of paying for homebrew on a subscription plan doesn't really sit to well with me,I like the donation based model.

[nhlhockey]

Homebrew is great but I think "homebrewers" are the minority. I think most people don't care about it one way or another. We all like it, after all thats why we are all here but in reality most people that I know aren't even aware of homebrew. Sony probably isn't concerned about the 5% percent of people that live and die for homebrew. Homebrew causes more problems than gains for them like people bricking their psp while still under warranty and then expecting a replacement at sonys expense.

[NoQuarter]

Fortunetly for sony a bricked psp is simple to fix, they just reflash it with the most current firmware.Which is kinda win,win for them.
Unfortunely for us most people are still big media driven,but that is changing though,because of the net.

[jwilds73]

Homebrew is great but I think "homebrewers" are the minority. I think most people don't care about it one way or another. We all like it, after all thats why we are all here but in reality most people that I know aren't even aware of homebrew.


And that is the largest problem. We need to put the paper and crayons out for our children to play with. Meaning giving them the development tools for modding and making their own games. Giving people the ability to develop content will only help the industry in the long run. With more and more talented people getting into the field because of being exposed to it right from the start. Games like the RPG Maker series were great for this. However development needs to start with the console first and game developers need to add the ability to create and add content to their games. Look at SmashGP it's a great and fun game based on Super Smash Brothers. Just imagine if we could have created our own character models, combat moves and abilities for the N64 version. Also look at the GTA series with all the hacks and mods being done to it. It's wonderful to see people do these things. I just want to see these companies give our children these tools so they can grow and learn to do these things from childhood onward.