Homebrewers and Hackers - The #1 Video Games Fans

[wraggster]

Im sure you have heard by now about the Lumines Exploit on PSP (http://psp-news.dcemu.co.uk/illiminati-lumines-exploit-for-all-psp-versions-1-00-3-50-66798.html) which opens all Firmwares to Homebrew and eventually downgraders etc.

As a community throughout many Homebrew and Hacking Sites we have taken the likes of Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo on and defeated them.

Many have sacrificed their consoles in search of exploits and ways to get homebrew working, a sacrifice that no ordinary videogames fan would do.

Work goes on now trying to bring in new exploits and hacks for the Nintendo Wii, PS3 and Xbox360 and in time we will be playing homebrew on these consoles.

As a community of fans we visit coders and news sites many times a day looking for new releases or tidbits of news, we as a community are in my mind the most loyal community out of all. Look at the Dreamcast, Atari and Amiga Scenes if it wasnt for homebrewers these consoles/computers would have been forgotten about years ago.

So who agrees that we the Homebrew and Hacking Community are the Number 1 Video Games Fans ?

DIGG THIS (http://digg.com/gaming_news/Homebrewers_Hackers_The_1_Gaming_Fans)

http://digg.com/gaming_news/Homebrewers_Hackers_The_1_Gaming_Fans

[starogre]

So who agrees that we the Homebrew and Hacking Community are the Number 1 Video Games Fans ?

I do, even those of who don't sacrafice our consoles or equipment, or even code, downloaders and installers of homebrew, especially emulators, are the most hardcore gamers because they are the ones who want tons of video games to get on one game system, like the psp.

I mean, no non hardcore fan of VG's would ever go to such great lengths as to risk their psp to downgrade to be able to put TONS of (usually old school) games on one console for whereever they go.

Most people just use one game at a time, which is fine, but i don't believe they are hardcore 'in general'...they may be hardcore of that one game, but not TONS of games...

[Mister Klownes]

Aye! Here here!

[R4mbo]

Yes, I do. Fight for the Liberty of all Gamers! Against restrictions!

[JKKDARK]

Yeah I agree, systems get revived via homebrew :)

[ficksucker]

It's not that we're hardcore gamers, but the homebrew community enjoys games without jumping through all of Sony's hoops. We encourage each other and create whereas casual gamers only consume.

[Veskgar]

Well concerning the PSP, homebrew has definitely enhanced the value and opinion of the PSP. Objectively speaking, if I bought a new PSP today and upgraded it to SONY 3.50 firmware to only play some UMD games, I'd constantly come back to my homebrew-enabled PSP.

And what is one of the biggest gripes with commercial PSP games? Load times! Load times whether they are occasional LONG load times or constant pauses for frequent "disc access" have been mentioned in a lot of reviews for PSP games giving them lower overall scores.

However, with a custom firmware homebrew PSP I am more tempted to buy more games because once you back them up to a good quality memory stick, load times are drastically reduced if not altogether eliminated.

Another example is with the recent development of the Lumines exploit. Today I bought a 2nd copy of Lumines. I also had bought 2 copies of GTA (unpatched) so in certain scenario's homebrew can cause people to rush out and buy certain games helping with sales and profits for SONY and its developers.

So homebrew has made me one of the most hardcore PSP fans. The PSP homebrew scene has consumed a lot of my time and is definitely a big part of my life as dorky as that sounds.

I am constantly on a mission to get more people excited about PSP homebrew and the possibilities it presents.

[starogre]

so in certain scenario's homebrew can cause people to rush out and buy certain games helping with sales and profits for SONY and its developers.


no, i'm pretty sure it causes people to rush out to buy an 8 dollar game and download 20 more lol...whether it be for snes, nes, gba, psp, ps1, etc...

[XDelusion]

Amiga and Atari...

...that's really where all this started for me. I recall stacking and soldering RAM onto my Atari 130 XE, and now I'm still pretty much doing the same sort of things, only now with my XBOX and DS. :)

If only our nations did not dumb down there children, then things like the DS homebrew scene and what not would not seem to confusing to the masses and more people would be into things like this. Hacking and homebrew would be the social standard as opposed to the masses who merely consume and play a game, then go out and consume again. Not much creativity and joy there.

[Tesseract]

As a community throughout many Homebrew and Hacking Sites we have taken the likes of Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo on and defeated them.

I generally tend to dislike viewing homebrew as a 'war' against SONY or any other company. If it wasn't for them, these consoles wouldn't even exist.

The best thing I can liken it to is a strict parent who doesn't realise that their child has grown up and needs more out of what they've been given.

The Dreamcast saw the homebrew community really take off, as it no longer required difficult soldering or whatnot. Anyone with a little bit of spare time and a CD Burner could suddenly relive all their Commodore 64 favorites again. (BTW, the recent PSP release of Impossible Mission made me giggle like a schoolgirl.)

Since then, our only real 'battle' is simply to be recognised as a viable subset of the consumer base. You can see the first indications that we may be getting the big dogs to see things our way. Linux Distros for the PS3, the RSS Reader for the PSP (which was homebrew-inspired, according to a SONY interview), Virtual Console on the Wii, even all the retro compilations that have started cropping up in the PSX and PS2 days. The Consolemakers are realising that there IS a demand for doing more with one's console than just the games that they think are worthwhile.

THIS is the real message that we need to get across. SONY and Microsoft and Nintendo don't need to be 'defeated', they just need to learn. And to be brutally honest, SONY's done more of that than any of the others.

[XioN980]

Good article, but i think the phrase "We have taken on the likes of...and won" is slightly worded wrong, we cant have beaten them if they didn't make the console, homebrewers and hackers didn't spend ages programming and designing the console.

Also its just silly sony who makes firmware upgrades, i think the big N have noticed they can still kick everyones arses without patching homebrew hence no firmware upgrades, im not sure about microsoft though....

[ficksucker]

I generally tend to dislike viewing homebrew as a 'war' against SONY or any other company. If it wasn't for them, these consoles wouldn't even exist.

Since then, our only real 'battle' is simply to be recognised as a viable subset of the consumer base.

Sure, homebrew isn't a war, but it is a form of resistance. We want changes to be made to unfair policies, but not to bring down the whole system.


Since then, our only real 'battle' is simply to be recognised as a viable subset of the consumer base.

It sounds to me like you're talking in thier language now. Which is fine when you're talking with the companies, because that's what they understand, but not with us. We may be consumers to them, but that's not who we really are. When was the last time somone asked you "what do you do?" and you told them that you just consume. What we want is to be treated like people, but we know that's not gonna happen so we'll settle for being treated seriously as consumers.

[Tesseract]

It sounds to me like you're talking in thier language now. Which is fine when you're talking with the companies, because that's what they understand, but not with us.

Think of it more as a 'translation'. If we just say "Yeah, we're just here to have fun with all the ways we can REALLY use the console", that's not gonna get through to them.

They, unfortunately, have to worry about the Bottom Line. Sometimes I get the impression when I'm watching Phil Harrison play with his duckies on the Eye of Destruction demo that if he could make the console and all the games he wanted to and do it for free with no ill-effects, he would. Same with lots of software developers.

So you basically have to get the point across that we want to have fun with programming (and using) homebrew, and that that simple reason has probably lead to a solid majority of the PSP's sales. I know it's the main reason I bought mine over a DS.

If they can embrace Homebrew without running afoul of the myriad of OTHER considerations they have to worry about, I think they may do so eventually. Things seem to be moving in that direction. The PS3's 'OtherOS' feature seems to be an experiment in seeing how much freedom they can give without giving away the whole farm. It's even concievable that down the road, they could open up Linux access to the Graphics accelerator in a Firmware update. Who knows?

All I can say is that it looks like the message is definitely being heard, it's just a matter of how quickly Sony and the others are able to move.

[Atari]

I didn't allow myself to be dumbed down enough, by the ineffectual US public school system, to be turned into a "good little consumer"; one who constantly buys buys buys to impress people I don't like. So my attitude towards homebrew is one of freedom to create without the confines of really caring what those who do not matter think. By those who do not matter, I mean those who look at someone else's creation as merely a commodity, to be used up and thrown away like so much other disposable crap.

I could care less one way or the other if the big corps embrace homebrew, as long as I can continue to create. Of course, my choice of platforms are usually considered among the underdogs. Works for me, as I really write games for my own pleasure. If those who play them enjoy them, then great. If not, then great too. But I've digressed...

I'm not trying to spew elitist "artiste'" crap here. To each their own. But I don't count on large conglomerates to EVER give anyone what they truly want. So I just ignore it and go on creating.

Now if only I weren't so goddamn perfectionist about my games, I'd actually release a complete one...

[Tesseract]

Hah! I wish I could actually code! I've had an epic game Idea floating around in my head for AGES, with no way to output it. :(

I really DO wish I could contribute to the scene, honestly. I just REALLY don't have the head for programming anything more squirrely than HTML/CSS/XML.

[mnuhaily22]

I agree...

[onetwentyeight]

hackers are only the greatest video game fans if they do so in cosplay. "coscoders" anyone?

[Fanjita]

The PS3 already has homebrew, don't forget - and that concession from Sony is something that should be encouraged.

To my mind there's very little legitimate reason to seek out PS3 exploits, when what is already legitimately available is sufficient for most purposes.

The only major reason to exploiting the GameOS is to be able to play non-legit game copies - which doesn't seem like a good reason to me at all.

[starogre]

ya, i believe sony does try and add features the public wants...they take surveys all the time - way more additions and updates than the DS has i think...

sony doesn't want homebrew because it opens up to illegal downloading and copying of their games, and if everyone is playing old GBA games on an emulator, no one will be buying the actual psp games in the first place

that means they will sell more psp's but way less games

i think sony should release a smaller, inexpensive, machine that has a sole purpose to run homebrew, then maybe people will ease up on the downloading of the psp and ps1 games in a desperate attempt to cure their boredom.

it's like the wii virtual console, technically its the same thing as the ps1 games on the psp. if u could get all the wii virtual console games for free, i'm sure nintendo would lash out also...its not just sony, imo, sony wants the public to have more of what they want than nintendo - whether its just extra features and surveys, nintendo doesn't seem like they do those things

[DragonPimpsta]

wow everyones saying alot, im just gonna say i kind of agree, cuz i check updates like everyday and use my psp everyday. Where as my other systems were almost short lived once the games for them got boring and old the psp which i check releases for from hackers and homebrewers continues its life without me getting tired of playing hte smae game over and over :)

[h4s30]

i think we have potential to be the number 1 community

but i think instead of just some of us just being fans get invovled in the community a little more of course i'm also included in this category

only when everybody works to better the community will we truly flourish

[Basil Zero]

SNES emulation FTW

Homebrewers and hackers 4 LIFE :)

[jerrt]

i agree, its like the finishing analogy [adjusted of course.] give a person a video game console, they will game till they get bored. give them a video game console with the ability to do what they want with it and they will keep themselves entertained forever.

[the_eternal_dark]

Im sure you have heard by now about the Lumines Exploit on PSP (http://psp-news.dcemu.co.uk/illiminati-lumines-exploit-for-all-psp-versions-1-00-3-50-66798.html) which opens all Firmwares to Homebrew and eventually downgraders etc.

As a community throughout many Homebrew and Hacking Sites we have taken the likes of Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo on and defeated them.

Many have sacrificed their consoles in search of exploits and ways to get homebrew working, a sacrifice that no ordinary videogames fan would do.

Work goes on now trying to bring in new exploits and hacks for the Nintendo Wii, PS3 and Xbox360 and in time we will be playing homebrew on these consoles.

As a community of fans we visit coders and news sites many times a day looking for new releases or tidbits of news, we as a community are in my mind the most loyal community out of all. Look at the Dreamcast, Atari and Amiga Scenes if it wasnt for homebrewers these consoles/computers would have been forgotten about years ago.

So who agrees that we Work goes on now trying to bring in new exploits and hacks for the Nintendo Wii, PS3 and Xbox360 and in time we will be playing homebrew on these consoles.the Homebrew and Hacking Community are the Number 1 Video Games Fans ?

DIGG THIS (http://digg.com/gaming_news/Homebrewers_Hackers_The_1_Gaming_Fans)

http://digg.com/gaming_news/Homebrewers_Hackers_The_1_Gaming_Fans

Mostly for the sake of running pirated software/games. This is the reason the homebrew community has a bad name, just as I'm sure 95% of the people on this site aren't only into playing user created games, if you know what I mean. "Backups" are the joke of the new century.

Look at the Xbox360 modding community and tell me that it's all for running homebrew, because I'd die if that was the case. Lol, I don't get why everyone is trying to fool everyone else here. And try to tell me that you're using a modchip on a console to play homebrew, because that may be a bigger joke.

[JKKDARK]

And try to tell me that you're using a modchip on a console to play homebrew, because that may be a bigger joke.

My PAL PlayStation 2 has a modchip because I want to run NTSC-U and NTSC-J games. And most of the PlayStation 2 used games are cheap, so piracy on this console is useless.

[R4mbo]

@Fanjita:
Hi There! You should know that there are enough people which want to run there own code on a console in first place, or use homebrew on it. It's a kind of freedom to use all the resources of a console for what you want. And I'm glad that people like you offer us this possibilities!

But yeah, there are many people using it for running illegal copies, but I don't care about them, most of them just don't have the money to buy the games. And, they are just Games, no one dies if they get copied. And... if companies get way to much money, they often start to treat their customers like shit, take Sony as an example. Haha, but thats just speculation.