Will Sony Stop the PSP/PS3 Hackers - Not A Chance

[wraggster]

Yesterdays news that the PSP/PS3 Hacker known as Dark ALex has quit the scene sent shivers through our community, part of the problem with being a celebrity in any Scene is that if companys or the police want to trace you they certainly will.

Sony in the past have gone after the makers of VGS a Playstation Emulator for Windows which as you can imagine hurt their buisness. They also went after the coders of Bleem an excellent Playstation emulator not only for windows but also for the Dreamcast, infact on the Dreamcast it was released as Single Game discs that actually improved upon the original game by showing the graphics in a higher resolution than the PS1 outputted.

For Sony to take so long to come after makers of ISO Loaders and Custom Firmwares means they are either getting slow or had too much on their hands with the launches of the PSP and then the PS3 and also court cases with import shops in the UK and the famous battle with Lik Sang.

For those who remember Sony went after the PSP Wiki in Japan because of the Devhook releases and since then the Japanese PSP Homebrew scene has died a death with hardly any news coming from them.

Now getting back to Dark Alex, remember that he is widely known as an Icon in the PSP and also the PS3 Scenes and Sony already sent out a warning to punish any hackers of the PS3. It doesnt take much to realise that he most likely got a cease and desist especially with the news of Sony having a Built In ISO Loader in its newly released firmware.

Will this stop Custom Firmwares, well i would say a big no i dont even think it will stop other hackers who worked with Dark Alex who arent in the public eye from taking the project further and theres also Freeplay and Becus25 also working on Custom Firmwares.

Too many hackers are working on both PSP and PS3 Hacking to halt it now and you can bet they will release hacks anonymously if needed.

So a big thanks from DCEmu to Dark Alex and we wait patiently for the next coder to take up the mantle :)

[Buddy4point0]

we will always love and respect dark alex and whyever you quit the scene im sure it was a good reason. if for some reason you ever get the urge to say april fools and come back, you will be extreamly welcomed

[parkermauney]

We won't lose.

End of story.

[DarthPaul]

That's wraggster talking. :)

[BrooksyX]

There are many other great homebrew developers and hackers out there. The psp-scene will continue on without Dark_Alex, but he will not be forgotten.

[felonyr301]

I like your sig but leave the first guy alone he already got humiliated lol!!!

[porchemasi]

Dark-AleX was a great coder/programmer and im sure his future will be full of prosper! Take care man, hopefully you can release your source code.

[mcdougall57]

you will be missed dark alex as a dark cloud looms over our community and psp's all over the world shed a tear and gather dust in shelves

[molster]

Hopefully it wont be long before we have another awsome CFW coder, only time will show

(dont forget to thank Dark_Alex http://www.thank-dark-alex.co.nr )

[dthpsc]

and you can bet they will release hacks anonymously if needed

I beg to differ about that statement. Honestly, who would spend a massive portion of their time and put so much work into something that will gain them no credit or reputation... there are very few saints among us people, so I wouldn't count on that. My guess is that this cat and mouse game between Sony and hackers will continue, but my guess is often times that will give them a thrill anyways.

It's still very unfortunate the Dark_Alex's reign over the homebrew scene is over. Damn... I remember when he was a small-timer with his DAX compression tool and he became the biggest man on the scene... deservedly too... I'll miss you man.

Oh yeah, I just went through your "Thank You" link molster. Is that supposed to send him an e-mail directly or something?

[molster]

I beg to differ about that statement. Honestly, who would spend a massive portion of their time and put so much work into something that will gain them no credit or reputation... there are very few saints among us people, so I wouldn't count on that. My guess is that this cat and mouse game between Sony and hackers will continue, but my guess is often times that will give them a thrill anyways.

It's still very unfortunate the Dark_Alex's reign over the homebrew scene is over. Damn... I remember when he was a small-timer with his DAX compression tool and he became the biggest man on the scene... deservedly too... I'll miss you man.

Oh yeah, I just went through your "Thank You" link molster. Is that supposed to send him an e-mail directly or something?

no, its going to wait till there are enough thank yous then compile them all into one nice msg, then send them. I will then e-mail it. I also have a few people im going to contact and see what they can do about getting these to him. (trust me, i wont rest till he gets them!)

I want to make sure he knows and see that we all support his choice and wish him loads of luck.

I have it posted in a lot of the majer sites, and it has a lot of support. (up to 69 thanks now within only a few hours)

[FreePlay]

Hopefully it wont be long before we have another awsome CFW coder, only time will show

*cough* (http://forums.qj.net/f-psp-development-forum-11/t-preview-the-ultimate-custom-firmware-112709.html)

[Muhu]

Oh Raptor Jesus, what shall we do?

[molster]

*cough* (http://forums.qj.net/f-psp-development-forum-11/t-preview-the-ultimate-custom-firmware-112709.html)
haha, true true, when i first read that, i was a bit surprised about getting the game onto the flash0

Keep up the good work freeplay! You have my full support =) (not that it really means much i guess)
if you keep improving on that, youll have once amazing fan base xD

[jmendes]

We Want The Cfw Sources! =]

[FreePlay]

The 1.50 PoC is open-source.

And I've got a
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybeZcq5hiQE for you.

[factor remix]

English:

"It's so sad that Dark_Alex gone... lot of people will miss him, others will belive that it is a joke, I belive that he had to do it."


Español:

"Yo creo que es triste que Dark_Alex se retirara... muchas personas lo van a estrañar, otras van a creer que es una especie de broma de mal gusto, yo creo el tenia que haberse retirado"

[gunntims0103]

The custom firmware just won't be the same for me without dark-Alex or anyone of his team working on it. I think ill retire my PSP for a long while until someone picks up exactly where dark_Alex left off............

[jvabbdac]

So, i'm portuguese, and my english is not too good, but i will explain my point !

I have psp about 2 years ! And everytime i say that Sony don't show no respect for consumer ! Everytime say about upgrade firmwares..But never, since 2.00 and only in 3.00, show something new ! Its sad...showing a Company who's falling ! Just see...Computer Batterys, Ps3 and (just see magazines) PSP !!! Since Psone and ps2...sony don't bring nothing really new !

Like i say, i have a PSP too ! Very great machine ! But...imagine without homebrews !? It's i sux ! My girlfriedn have a DS ! She love it, a lot of games (ok, "girls" game ! But why psp don't have more "men games?") ! Nintendo, ever show great respect for gamers and, why not ? for coders (just see nintendo supporting the news one).

So...Sony doing this crazy things... Is only falling more fast ! Closing Lik Sang, enforce against hackers, bla bla bla...And forget the basic !
Us ! Consumers and players !!!

Lik Sang is past, DA is now ! How is next ??? I think next is just $ony !!! I will write this again !

SONY WAKE UP !!!!!!!!!!!!

[factor remix]

And I've got a video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybeZcq5hiQE) for you.

Dude, no offence but that sounds very fury...:rolleyes:

Btw, good look with that Custom Firmware...:D

[mike_jmg]

The 1.50 PoC is open-source.

And I've got a video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybeZcq5hiQE) for you.

I've seen the videos

no offense but two things are bothering me

All that bunch of code lines on the instalation really freak me out, i don't know but i feel like if one goes wrong, bye bye psp (maybe it's just me)

and two, Do you need to go through puzzle boble every time you turn on your psp?:confused:

[Buddy4point0]

grrr. sony just craps on everything. i still cant beleve da is gone. im still waiting for him to post something like
haha! april fools!
god damn this sucks

[DarthPaul]

Yeah same here Buddy,I still can't believe this. That was the first thing that came to my mind when I read the news...the April's fools but then I said "Wait...it's July..." Damn! Nooo!!

[Basil Zero]

its sad, but i'll stick with my 3.40 OE, i stayed with 1.5 for almost a whole year, i'm sure i can with 3.40 OE

[h4s30]

everything will be fine

[mike_jmg]

quick question

if future games come with a higher firmware, let's say GOW comes with 3.50 (with all my heart I hope this is not the case)
Then, will it be posible to backup MY umd game and play it in 3.40-OE?

[Gawker]

My PSP was an original OOB 1.5 and I've had it that way since I got it in April of 2005. That's TWO YEARS without any updates. I made do with things like Devhook until about 3 weeks ago when I discovered 3.40-OE. Finally I have the full capabilities of the PSP without losing my homebrew. I'm sorry to see DA go, especially since I only so recently discovered his work, and I think I too will let my PSP fester as is for a good long time unless someone picks up the reigns and shows us the same sort of results DA and his crew did. Hell, I'd be happy if he only changed his name and "became" the person who picked up the reigns. **** Sony.

[Murdock]

Dark Alex, if u r reading this ... here a message 4 u:

I don't know where u live, but if u live in Europe, keep going! $ony can'T sue u because u didn't change the firmware. U just offered applications that make this possible. And as far as I know, this is not accusable/criminal in Europe.

So keep working, u did a great job! Sry, that I once complained about ur Firmware. I think it's been one of the 3.0x, that had some errors and I had the bad fortune to install it ...

As long as u do not offer any Firmwares that are changed (like some boards do), $ony should be unable to sue u.

Or if u really stop working on newer Firmwares, offer ur work for download, okay? I mean then at least other people who want to keep ur heritage alive needn'T start again from zero.

It's been such a good time, having my SNES Emulator AND the newest games at the same time ... now I'll soon have 2 decide ... keep buying new games or stay with homebrew.

And I think I already know how this decision will be: No more money for $ony :D

[Buddy4point0]

quick question

if future games come with a higher firmware, let's say GOW comes with 3.50 (with all my heart I hope this is not the case)
Then, will it be posible to backup MY umd game and play it in 3.40-OE?

yea, people will start making umd loaders again. a umd loader were made back in the past when there was no oe. they let you load games from the newest firmwares on old ones, so now that he is gone im sure there will be more umd loaders to come

[Veskgar]

We should look at it like the final duel between Obi-Wan Kenobi & Darth Vader. Obi-Wan warns Vader that if he should strike him down he will become more powerful than he could possibly imagine.

Well, we need to show SONY that when they try and use bullying tactics to scare people and developers away from homebrew, it will only backfire and the ensuing outrage will create an even stronger buzz about PSP homebrew. We need to become more powerful than SONY ever could have imagined. I have never liked looking at this as a war against SONY. But until it is confirmed that SONY had nothing to do with Dark_AleX's withdrawal, it seems to have gotten ugly. And I'm pretty damn angry.

I call on everyone, and I mean EVERYONE to step up participation in the PSP homebrew community. Coders and devs can pump out new releases, those who can afford to donate a few bucks should do so, and whatever other skills can be called upon to help the scene, start utilizing it. Beta Testing, offering help to newbies, downgrading everyone you knows PSP, learning to code, etc. etc. etc. Lets take this to the next level so that in 2 or 3 years we can still be as passionate as we are now about PSP homebrew and new developments. The PSP homebrew revolution starts now.

My craft is web design and I have already started work on a website that will strongly support PSP homebrew and encourage as well as enable more people to utilize the power of a homebrew-enabled PSP. And at the same time, honor and contribute to the much deserving developers in the PSP scene. More details will be unveiled when the site is closer to launch.


quick question

if future games come with a higher firmware, let's say GOW comes with 3.50 (with all my heart I hope this is not the case)
God of War will require a much higher firmware than 3.50. You raise an interesting point. I myself never saw the big deal with playing ISO backups on the PSP at first. But then because of SONY's mandatory updates, I was forced to choose. The freedom of a homebrew-PSP or commercial games. I had gotten UMD games as gifts from family which meant a lot to me and I could not even play them. I was not happy. So then the MPH game loader was released and I dabbled in decryping and swapping .prx files, etc. etc. etc. (Gosh I don't miss those days)

And now we may unfortunately get to that point again. SONY is trying to defeat the use of ISO's but they don't seem to understand that it is only going to encourage more usage of ISO's and at the same time lower sales of commercial games.

At this point, I would not care if the homebrew scene took over the PSP and 51% or more PSP's were downgraded and had 1.50 or 3.40 OE firmware. Then SONY will take us more seriously maybe. I know that with no more future OE firmware releases I won't be buying as much, if any more commercial PSP games. I'll focus more on my DS Lite for commercial gaming.

So my point is that if SONY is going to require mandatory updates for games, and then try to stop OE custom firmware, they don't deserve our hard earned money. And once again, SONY only encourages more of what they try to stop. Which will do more damage to them then if they just left us alone.

With OE firmware occasionally updated, I buy commercial UMD games.....

With OE firmware abruptly ended, I buy no more commercial UMD games.....

3.40 OE-A --- Perhaps the last of the "daywalker" firmwares.

[urherenow]

Just a tad bit off topic, VGS and its takedown was mentioned in the news post... iirc the main guy is not only working for microsoft now but is also one of the greatest coders of all time (hint.. he's currently in charge of maintaining/releasing MAME source/builds) sometimes good things can come from this type of situation. The girl who created the melissa virus? Yea she's making $$ at Micro$oft too now

[RV2006]

It's very sad to see DA go. But if it means he's safe then thats fine with me...

I don't really see why sony should even update the firmware as much as it does, because most of it is security patches.

I mean look at the DS, it has had about 5 different type of firmwares (mostly the same, and built into the hardware), but no updates at all. It has flashcarts, but you don't see nintendo injecting firmware updates into all its cartriges.

In fact, by making updates mandatory, their gonna have alot less sales, as people will prefer to use iso's as they get to keep their homebrew.

DA has done alot for this community, and his OE's have made alot of people here very happy!
And that is more important than that scroooge company $ony!

[Buddy4point0]

ive got an idea for sony... ALLOW HOMEBREW

[ZeakStarwind]

It just won't be the same anymore with Dark_AleX being out of the scene. It gave me a reason to buy a psp when I heard of the word Custom Firmware & Homebrew creations. These two combined with Dark_AleX made me get off my rear end and start doing something that makes me have something I always enjoyed; games, videos, emulators, oldschool, applications and etc. These are what made me got into the scene when I heard about enabling the psp do do unsigned code to run homebrew. Without this I wouldn't be here now. Thank you for your utmost flourished achievements to us all Dark_AleX. You won't be forgotten.

[Bane King]

First, Awesome sig Buddy4point0. I will take it and say thank you....Thank you.

I figured that Sony had something to do with Dark_AleX's departure but this doesn't surprise me though. I also find mo surprise in his departure DAYS after the ISO loader found in recent Firmware. Even though he's not with us anymore, he still supports the scene and will forever be a part of the us.

I posted my 2 cents on the PSP forum explaining that what they say ain't nothing but a big bunch of crap.

If anyone cares, it is located HERE (removed by Sony)

EDIT: Didn't take them long.

[Goemon4]

Dax we will miss you, if it werent for ya id still be on 1.20 cause homebrew >shit>commercial psp titles imo, sony are to bent up in well, idk, i have no idea what they are thinking, since the release of the psp i have had no idea what pills their poppin up their rectums, but they just craping on their fanbase. (i still have yet to see why shutting down Lik Sang was beneficial to them)

But i hope this encourages more hackers to hack their shitty products, if the psp didnt have such good brew, and if DS's werent sold out that day i went to gamestop, id never have one! DAX FTMFW!!!!!! SONY FTMFL!!!!!

[yaustar]

Everyone should just calm down a take a step back. Has ANYONE got an concrete evidence that Sony had a hand in DA leaving? Anyone at all? No? Then don't go on a witch hunt. Plain and simple.

The day that the 'scene' thinks they are fighting a war is the day that the scene has lost meaning. The whole point of homebrew is to create programs for others to enjoy. We have fun developing programs because we want the users to have fun playing it. If it is only developed because of a 'war' then we might as well not bother.

If you truly want to 'stick it' to Sony, then sell your PSP and buy a GP2X which completely supports homebrew 100%.

[Bane King]

You have a point sir but I seriously doubt that Sony's cease and desist warning didn't help play a role because it doesn't even take a n00b to know he got a lot of them.

I'm also sure that the PSM issue brought some publicity that most people trying to keep a low profile didn't want.

You can argue that if he really didn't want the publicity that he could have ignored them altogether but let's be honest. If you had the chance to write an interview with one of the coolest Playstation magazines, would you pass it up to keep it on the "downlow"?

I don't think so.

[yaustar]

You have a point sir but I seriously doubt that Sony's cease and desist warning didn't help play a role because it doesn't even take a n00b to know he got a lot of them.
Do we even know he got a C and D?


I'm also sure that the PSM issue brought some publicity that most people trying to keep a low profile didn't want.

You can argue that if he really didn't want the publicity that he could have ignored them altogether but let's be honest. If you had the chance to write an interview with one of the coolest Playstation magazines, would you pass it up to keep it on the "downlow"?

I don't think so.
Regardless of the interview, it was widely known who was releasing the OE's and downgraders. From that, it isn't too hard to track down the identity of the person behind the username.

This isn't an underground scene, it was very public within the first year of the PSP was released.

[kelvinwu]

Sit down and wait for the good news ... oe will revive.

[Lodis]

Why the hell are people talking about selling their Psps or no longer using them?

We have full speed near flawless Ps1 emulation, full speed GBA emulation, Snes, Nes, CPS1 and CPS2. We have too many great emulators to mention and a huge library of commercial games that play on 3.40 OE and people are talking about the Psp scene being dead?

We have so much and should be grateful and think positively regardless of who has left.

[reakt]

It doesnt take much to realise that he most likely got a cease and desist especially with the news of Sony having a Built In ISO Loader in its newly released firmware.


Please explain... What do you mean about Sony having built in a ISO loader in their latest firmware?

[Keitaro Urashima]

Without Dark Alex. No more improvement of downgrades PSP. Sony is also after in maker of PS3 modified chip too. Im hard time buying original PSP & PS3 games. They are so expensive.:(

[bah]

Please explain... What do you mean about Sony having built in a ISO loader in their latest firmware?

http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=67431

http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=67447

[Shadowblind]

And people wonder why so many are anti-Sony.

[Veskgar]

Why the hell are people talking about selling their Psps or no longer using them?

We have full speed near flawless Ps1 emulation, full speed GBA emulation, Snes, Nes, CPS1 and CPS2. We have too many great emulators to mention and a huge library of commercial games that play on 3.40 OE and people are talking about the Psp scene being dead?

We have so much and should be grateful and think positively regardless of who has left.

I would hope people are exaggerating when they say they will sell their PSP. You do bring up a great point. We have so much and should encourage more work on projects such as Snes9xTYL, gpSP, and other emulators/apps.

Honestly, I've had a hard enough time just keeping up with the homebrew scene while still having a life as well so I have not been able to play nearly all the great commercial PSP games out there that I would like to.

So the PSP is not dead, neither is the homebrew scene. If SONY wanted to get tough on the homebrew scene, they picked a hell of a bad time to do it. They are way too late. Scare tactics might have worked in the early days and that may or may not have prevented some of the great homebrew developers, but at this point there isn't much SONY can do.

The thing with me and a lot of people is that the upgrade process to a new OE custom firmware was always so exciting. It was like getting a brand new PSP every time a new OE firmware was installed. And what's even more disconcerting is that with OE, you knew it was pretty damn safe and it had lots of checks built in to prevent accidents. I don't think I'll every feel as comfortable and confident in installing anything else but an OE custom firmware. And if you look at the alternative, upgrading to SONY official firmware has always been a dreaded experience. So many people have regretted it and after having a homebrew PSP, you just can't imagine not having homebrew.

SO the biggest sense of loss I feel is that I may never have that exciting time of upgrading to a new OE firmware release.

I can only hope that Team C+D and others continue to decrypt and analyze every single firmware that SONY throws at us so that maybe someday, and I wouldn't care if it was a couple years from now, a new OE firmware could maybe be mysteriously "leaked".

I will never stop using PSP homebrew and trying to be a part of the community, again, recent events should trigger a growth and not a decline in activity, releases, developments, etc. etc.

[Sketchy]

Do we actually have an official date in which Dark_Alex left? If not we need to come up with one and put it on our calenders '2 Minute silence tribute to a PSP Icon'

The PSP Hombrew Scene will miss u dude :(

[punkonjunk]

See... I'm really anti-sony... because sony just doesn't listen to the masses anymore. PS2 and before, they were fine. But sony really has changed alot. I can't believe how hard they're fighting us, and what they did to lik-sang, or whatever it's called. I even used to buy some stuff there.

Why would they care so much?

Nintendo of course, is trying to stop piracy also, but I'm really glad to see that we haven't seen any cease and desist letters go out from them... at least, not for stuff I'm particularily happy about. (Zelda classic, LemmingsDS, ect)

I don't understand why sony cares so little about some of us. Even if we aren't the majority (and I don't know, but we're probobly a big chunk) doesn't the squeeky wheel get the oil?

[Musoka_Eimin]

I hope Alex will see these threads. Thank you for all your great work, best of luck to you in the future. A talent like his should not be wasted. A sad day for home brew we will all miss you.