Sony Officially Dont Like Homebrew

[wraggster]

A user on the 1up forums contacted Sony regarding homebrew, heres his email:


I am well yet another PSP owner .

I just found some sites which allow games to be downloaded and then copied into Memory Stick .

Unfortunately i have not been able to run them .

All applications and games were homebrews .

Is there any geniune reason for this ?

To be more specific
Is SONY trying to prevent users from running freely available homebrews .

Hoping for an early response .

The response from Sony was typical and to be honest no company such as Microsoft, Nintendo or Sony will ever publically say that Homebrew is good but heres the response:


Hello Tamish,

Thank you for writing us.

Sony Computer Entertainment America, Inc. (SCEA) does not recommend downloading any unauthorized
software (i.e. games, movies, etc.) for your PSP(TM) portable entertainment system from the
Internet; these software downloads have not been officially tested nor approved by SCEA and may
cause damage to your PSP system.

Any damage caused to your PSP system due to your use of unauthorized software downloads will void
your Limited Sony Warranty for the PSP system. The only approved network updates can be found at
PlayStation.com.

Please visit the link below to download and install available system updates for the PSP(TM)
portable entertainment system.

http://www.us.playstation.com/psp/downloads/systemupdate

If you have further questions regarding this message, please refer to your email case
number:46547XX.

Joseph
Multimedia Specialist
Sony Computer Entertainment America
Consumer Services Department

to be fair you would expect nothing less than this response.

[Buddy4point0]

we already new they didnt like homebrew lol, too bad homebrew helps psp sales by alot

[mavsman4457]

I don't see why this would be posted. Are we dumb enough that we needed to email Sony to find out that they "Officially don't like homebrew"? This is nonsense.

[splodger15]

How do they know I have played homebrew on my console

[TCLCloud]

Ha, i like the bit at the end:

Please visit the link below to download and install available system updates for the PSP(TM)
portable entertainment system

And make homebrew impossible! Cheeky bastards, should be able to do what we want with our PSPs

[JKKDARK]

unauthorized software? But the person who sent the message said the games are homebrew..

[cypressice]

without homebrew there would only be a couple of people that would even use the psp. i know if i couldn't use homebrew my psp would just sit and collect dust, but because of homebrew my psp gets used EVERY day

[mat_dizzy]

Yeah as homebrew and custom firmware is legal... i will never quite understand sony :S

And trying to get them to download the latest official firmware, i sware one of these days that site will be hacked and the official link will be replaced with oe :D

[Cokemusic]

"Sony Officialy don't like hombrew"

We un-officialy don't care.

[DragonPimpsta]

this is stupid.. thats expected of sony

ALSO you cant take 1 persons response for the company as the company as awholes response

[JKKDARK]

without homebrew there would only be a couple of people that would even use the psp. i know if i couldn't use homebrew my psp would just sit and collect dust, but because of homebrew my psp gets used EVERY day

But the PSP isn't only for homebrew. You can also play official PSP games, listen music, watch videos, etc.

[Cloud_35]

Is that supposed to be new??

[mcdougall57]

Ha, i like the bit at the end:

Please visit the link below to download and install available system updates for the PSP(TM)
portable entertainment system

And make homebrew impossible! Cheeky bastards, should be able to do what we want with our PSPs

yeah that bit entertained me too but some people will follow the link

[parkermauney]

They pretty much said they didn't like OE, when half the people that purchase psp's get them just to get OE.

[dthpsc]

What I'm wondering is why the hell anyone would e-mail Sony, of all people, about homebrew issues. That's just calling their attention even more so to the community, and it's obvious why they hate it. I'll just stop right there.

[parkermauney]

It's kind of like asking the sex-ed teacher what a vagina is.

It's funny, and usually gets them pissed. :D

[steve520]

Wow thats sad sony is pleading us to download the offical firmware. somebody should remove and put a link to 3.40 OE-A cause i have a feeling some noobs will actually update.

[emuking]

you do know this is an automated response right, such a useless post zzzzz

[tragedie]

Let's take a look at this as a hardware manufacturer.

First, I make a videogame console, or other device (like say iPod). Somebody hacks it. Great, that's cool. They post how to do these fun hacks on-line where technically challenged individuals find them. Inevitably, somebody is going to screw up, void their warranty, and have it replaced. I, as the manufacturer, just lost money because of some feature that someone else implemented. If I don't fix it, I lose face to the public, so its a lose-lose situation.

Sony isn't the only one recommending their own software, Apple, iRiver, Cowon, and Archos, among others, don't either. Installing Rockbox an unofficial firmware into many MP3 players is generally safe, but what happens when it goes bad? Why should the manufacturer be punished for unofficial "upgrades". Generally these homebrew are great and fine, but then there are malicious coders who will generate programs with intention of harming your precious console (remember the fake 2.7 downgrader?).

They are just covering their asses all thsee updates are designed to stop the warranty abuse. Piracy is a big concern but it is not the main one. Please enjoy homebrew responsibly.

[mike_jmg]

they don't say anything agains it, they just don't recomend you using it

[cloud_952]

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say.. slow news day? Really, I've read this same e-mail before, many times, any time Sony talks about homebrew. o_O Any one of us here could e-mail Sony and likely get the same form response.

[pt9087]

Lol thats pretty funny! Sony dont like homebrew but hombrew sells Sony!

[Asuki]

Ever thought about what the GAME function had back when PSP was released?

Except for starting the Firmware upgrade and playing "demos" which didn't exist back then, as far as I can remember. Other than that, it had no other features.

You bought it, so it's your responsibility for taking care of it. You wanna upgrade to something that makes you able to use less of your PSP? Sure...

Sony made the mistake since FW 1.0 and we know it, Next time, don't let that happen if you really want the "public" to buy your games and your UMD videos which totally failed.

Sure the MD's were nice but that's in the past. Think about scrapping the UMD idea and let people download games to the PSPv2's flash memory (if that's ever gonna get released) So we can either hex or think of a way to get those image files running/file packs running.
without buying em.

Sure PSX idea was nice, but you guys blew it.
Why the hell should I pay for games that I probably either own or have bought as "pirated copies" ?

[b8a]

BWAHAHAHAHA!

This is what I find so hi-larious:

Sony Officially Don't Like Homebrew

That Sony response is exceedingly tame and would have to be way misconstrued to read that message from it. On top of that, Sony refrained from commenting on homebrew for over a year, but in the past six months alone I've read two separate interviews where Sony acknowledges supporting homebrew. The same company that brought us NetYarouze when no other commercial games company was offering anything even remotely similar (in case you need reminding). This is incredibly bad comedy.

This is total proof that the majority of people don't hate the PSP, it's only the die-hard fanboys of competing companies that are being overly vocal in an attempt to cover up their shame over buying a Sony product. Even Microsoft have had to admit that the PSP is a success and it's time for all of the anti-Sony fanboys to admit it as well and move on to something a little more productive then over-analyzing every single news release that has the word "Sony" in it, looking for the slightest negative connotation.

Sheesh. I wonder how often the Xbox and Nintendo forums have to put up with this tripe...

[bah]

unauthorized software? But the person who sent the message said the games are homebrew..

All homebrew except on 1.0 requires an exploit to run and even if it didnt, it has never been approved by sony to run on the PSP so of course homebrew is unauthorized.

Unauthorized != illegal, it just means they can deny you warranty if you break its conditions as listed on the last cpl of pages of the manual.

Sony doesn't love homebrew, coming up next week: Water is wet.

[Plowking]

What I see here is simply that Sony would never like to admit that the PSP is a success because of homebrew.

I'd guess they wish their machine did well on the merits of what they only allow to be produced for it, and are probably really embarrassed that it's the homebrew scene that's made it a great machine.

[reakt]

They're not saying they don't like it. Only that they don't recommend using it as it could cause damage to your PSP and it will void your warranty. That's absolutely true, homebrew which writes to the flash of the PSP certainly can damage it.

[bah]

They don't directly say they don't like it, but honestly do they really have to? Isnt it obvious that a company who produces a console would prefer you to be buying games that generate profit for them rather than homebrew.

The fact that a homebrew enabled PSP is also capable of running ISOs doesn't even need to come into it.

They don't want to make too big a fuss over the whole scene as it will only make more people aware of it.

The most popular homebrew would have to be emulators, and they surely arent going to be supporting homebrew coders in writing emulators due to the legal issues of being seen as promoting this as a use without permission from the trademark/patent/copyright holders.

[onetwentyeight]

i doubted the universal involvement with homebrew selling psp's until lumines became the #1 seller at amazon overnight.

[b_simpson1999]

without homebrew there would only be a couple of people that would even use the psp. i know if i couldn't use homebrew my psp would just sit and collect dust, but because of homebrew my psp gets used EVERY day

yes I whould agree with this cos i upgraded my psp to 3.03, I whould never use my psp much i whould use my nds till there was HEN then the downgrade and now enjoying custom firmware and homebrew

[General Plot]

Indeed. It would only be obvious they don't want you using free stuff when they could have you pay for it. That's any company's business model. No surprise in the response email at all.:p

[kjetil1991]

sony=( the psp is going die slowly if you close the system for home brew but oe makes more sales like lumines game sony give up...

[Tolin]

Not surprising in the least - I sent Sony an email, mentioned homebrew as an example while asking if there were any plans for official support for things like XMB Custom Icons... just because the look and feel thing interests me far more than lots of the other homebrew out there... The letter posted is exactly what I got, word for word... from the same guy too, I think.

Stupid form letters - he didn't bother to actually READ what I sent. Knee-jerk "Oh! It mentions homebrew! Form letter 37!" reactions... grr.

So for your viewing pleasure, here's what I sent them:
With some of the recent advancements in homebrew programming I've been sorely tempted to utilize them, but strip most of those temptations away and I'm left with only one that I find myself REALLY REALLY wanting. Several sites I've visited have people designing various custom Cross Media bars (graphically, not functionally different from the stock icons) - I doubt you have many requests for such a feature, but I'd personally LOVE to see some kind of customizable user interface officially supported. If this generation of gaming is truly all about user sharing and Mr. Harrison's vision of Game 3.0 then I believe something like this would open up avenues for several of us who have remained cautiously optimistic that some custom user functions could exist... I could create a media bar theme that lets my bar look like something out of a favorite television program or my own illustrations... it could be a lot of fun! I'm also curious, will we ever see animated cursors for the bar? That'd be very neat too.


I barely touched on homebrew, but instead of actually addressing my question I got nothing but a form letter and a case number... I'm tempted to write back and ask them to actually read my original submission carefully. *rolls eyes*

No matter how badly written :o

[Cap'n 1time]

I dont see much wrong with it. Naturally they arnt going to support homebrew and since it isnt their code they dont know what to do about it. Viruses could easily be created for the PSP that could be released on several news sites and hundreds of PSP's could be destroyed. Sony is merely warning you that they wont take responsibility for the code and they lack the interest to discuss it.

[mfz64]

the psp sucks without homebrew

[Omega weapon]

i dont see why sony dont like custom firmwares but that being said it does cost them some money as most peeps just download theyre games but it is pushing up the psp sales, i mean like just the thought of being able to play final fantasy 7 while on the loo !! lol would get lots of old fans raving to get theyre hands on a brand new psp so quit crying sony it isint all over yet, oh wait it is the ps3 was a failure to date lol!.

[h4s30]

if sony didn't have to make me pay 600+ bucks for a psx game i wouldn't want to rip my own games

80 percent of psp games are medicore or crappy

and don't get me going about the tales games you'll release them in japan but oh we don't care about the other gamers and if you've never had the joy of playing a tales game go find one

so sony if you don't like or support homebrew then why do you force me to look to homebrew

[Omega weapon]

:thumbup: yes i think the above comment is v good the ps3 is far too expensive but the reason why could be argued further and i am sure eveyone has suggestions

[Iceman^2]

I don't understand why Sony cares what happens to your PSP. They already made money by selling it to you. They have a right to deny your warranty if you use homebrew. By using homebrew you're always at risk for bricking your PSP. It should be YOUR fault if your PSP gets bricked. Sony should let people know this and still let them use homebrew. PSP doesn't have much appeal without homebrew...