eBay features PSP devkit for sale

[wraggster]

via pspfanboy

PS3s aren't the only thing ending up on eBay. It appears that someone posted a PSP devkit on eBay . These plain looking gray boxes are used to develop and test PSP games, and in the wrong hands, could possibly compromise PSP security quite swimmingly. The bids got up to $329 before the auction was closed, most likely by an angered Sony lawyer. According to PSP3D, these kits are contractually licensed to developers, meaning some developer somewhere is probably going to be in a whole world of legal pain very soon.

Screengrab Via Comments

[buildit92]

What is this? and if it does what i think it does then gamers are in luck ( i think when i first read it, it can produce firmware and games , which sony made it for (not really))

[Project.funky]

wow, that looks cool , i want one

[AvengedSevenfold Fan]

probably used to work for sony

[Emeriastone]

Its possible too that it's a fake though I heard that the seller's feedback is very positive and it's hard to dismiss that... I don't know.

[DCergo]

What is this? and if it does what i think it does then gamers are in luck ( i think when i first read it, it can produce firmware and games , which sony made it for (not really))

It's a development kit used to make PSP games. There's a kit for just about every console in existance in one form or another.

Do not get the mistaken impression that this would help you or the scene:

It does not "produce firmware".

It does not publish signed/encrypted eboots. Only Sony can do that.

It does not press/burn UMDs. Only Sony can do that.

The seller has no legal right to sell this as well. Sony only licenses the kits. The license agreement strictly prohibits the sale of the kit. Someone violated the agreement and this kit can get reclaimed by Sony if they desire it (Not likely, this isn't the first time a development kit has been sold on ebay). Sony can take legal action if they want to, but again, they probably don't give a $#@!. If you aren't a developer, the kit is not much more than a useless novelty.

[Veskgar]

It will be cool if the homebrew scene grows and evolves to be able to make big-budget style PSP games that rival commercial games.

[the_eternal_dark]

It's a development kit used to make PSP games. There's a kit for just about every console in existance in one form or another.

Do not get the mistaken impression that this would help you or the scene:

It does not "produce firmware".

It does not publish signed/encrypted eboots. Only Sony can do that.

It does not press/burn UMDs. Only Sony can do that.

The seller has no legal right to sell this as well. Sony only licenses the kits. The license agreement strictly prohibits the sale of the kit. Someone violated the agreement and this kit can get reclaimed by Sony if they desire it (Not likely, this isn't the first time a development kit has been sold on ebay). Sony can take legal action if they want to, but again, they probably don't give a $#@!. If you aren't a developer, the kit is not much more than a useless novelty.

Thanks for the update.

But this could be used to possibly find ways around the security in the firmwares currently available.

It will be cool if the homebrew scene grows and evolves to be able to make big-budget style PSP games that rival commercial games.

If I win the lottery, I'll get a good team together and pay them for their development time and other things (like lunches and beer).

It's only a dream though.

[F9zDark]

I don't believe this would help the community much at all, the only real benefit it would have is hacking the dev-kit and its included peripherals to see how it (the dev-kit) and the PSP communicate.

Even though Sony doesn't hand out AES keys, devs need to be able to test their games on the PSP, so I am thinking something plugs in via the serial port on the PSP that allows for beta testing and debugging of games. It also probably has serial device for debugging the PSP itself, maybe even reflashing (a bit of a stretch, but maybe).

Point is, that we might never see homebrew from the person who buys this dev-kit, but we may see guides on making our own serial devices to run homebrew off the computer or reflashing, etc.

[PSP_Newbie]

I'm not sure as to how useful this could be to the homebrew scene.
I've used a devkit before in testing an unreleased PSP game, and the psp used is very different from a standard (missing UMD drive, has extra port that feeds into devkit).
However, if it has more unrestricted access to the psp, there is always a possibility that someone manages to take advantage of that in the future.