Has the Homebrew Scene Become Stagnant ?

[wraggster]

First off let me say that i am a 100% Homebrew Fan but at times even the best of us can see that things seem a little stale or stagnant.

Why do i think the Homebrew Scene has become stagnant?

Well firstly the ease to update our systems using firmware updates has made things very hard to near impossible unless you want to own 2 of each consoles. The PS3, Nintendo Wii and Xbox360 are too easily updated nowadays and that makes homebrew a lot harder to get a footing on these consoles. Nintendo even managed to stop people using the Wii for Gamecube Homebrew and Region Free Gamecube Games. Yes you can modchip your Console but if you want to play the latest games then you have to either buy a new console just for homebrew or sacrifice one or the other.

The handheld Market actually fairs much better, the DS, GBA and GP2X once you buy a Flash Card/Mem Card you are resonably safe. The PSP However suffers the same fate as the mainstream consoles in that firmware updates keep killing homebrew albeit not for long.

The Ipod/Iphone seem to be sufferng the firmware update issue too and that makes a homebrew scene very hazardous unless you want an expensive brick every time Apple update.

Sadly a fully legal Xbox scene seems to be one of those dreams that will never happen.

The Gamecube scene whilst small is picking up and theres rumours of a hardware addon that will turn the GC into a very powerful Homebrew console but is it too late in the day.

The Dreamcast community still produce a few gems a month thankfully.

If im being honest then the PSP Scene once an extremely redhot scene seems to have slowed a lot and most certainly become stagnant and mostly due to the Custom Firmwares and endless amounts of homebrew released for them that for me run the risk too easily of bricking your console.

The GP2X has also slowed a lot of late while people wait for the Craiginator the supposed PSP Beater, but we are nearing the end of October and no more concrete news on that console as of this newspost.

Im hoping that all the consoles that havent been fully cracked for homebrew get cracked soon and that on the handhelds we get back to real homebrew instead of countless releases that enhance a custom firmware.

Obviously this is just my personal view and no disrespect is meant at any coders as they work extremely hard to give us the tools to use on the consoles we own. But the recent stagnancy in the homebrew arena has caused me to ask the question in the title.

Am i right, am i wrong, do you agree that a certain scene needs to focus away from certain areas. Give your views via comments, are you bored of homebrew on the console or consoles you own ?

Discuss Via Comments

[sroon]

Well to be honest.. like 2 or so years ago i was talkin to a buddy that i work with and i told him that the DS was better and stuff cuz of the touch screen and such.. but then he told me that the PSP can have emulators and stuff like that and to hear that i was just so overwhelmed with ecxitement so i bought a PSP and havent touched my DS (till i got Zelda PH WHICH SUX MONKEY TITTIES)
but yeah i have my PSP just for the emulators because i am a retro games.. lol i just finished playing my SNES and my Wii is right beside it but i dont bother because New games arent like they used to be..
but yeah Retro games re the best so homebrew is really good thing for our communities(in my oppinion)
(O )( O);)

[Forsak3n]

No.. the homebrew scene hasn't become stagnant.

We've all been playing Halo 3.

[stevo11185]

No.. the homebrew scene hasn't become stagnant.

We've all been playing Halo 3.

First of all fourskin Halo 3 is OK but i dont think i would enjoy it simply because i dont have much control over tthe aiming. i need something like a stylus or mouse.

I think that the psp and ds are running out of things to create since there is a very large amount of homebrew made. So new ones would either be clones of them homebrews or unoriginal.

I think that we should start having things that are useful in everyday life, such as word processors, powerpoint presentation like things and excel spreadsheets. for the psp they will use a keyboard for the DS the stylus

[CoderX]

wraggster just worry about keeping the site online, and we will worry about writing the programs.

Personally I'm on overdrive trying to get this stuff out

[Kazayami]

The Ipod/Iphone seem to be sufferng the firmware update issue too and that makes a homebrew scene very hazardous unless you want an expensive brick every time Apple update.



Apple have announced that they will release an official SDK early next year. See here: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20071018.WBcyberia20071018164855/WBStory/WBcyberia

[splodger15]

I think that the psp and ds are running out of things to create since there is a very large amount of homebrew made.

Exactly the PSP scene wont live forever nearly all homebrew has been made which leaves coders puzzled on what to create next. I personally havnt touched my PSP in ages I just think everything has been done for it so I looked towards the PS3 and Wii scene instead

[mikeb]

i just want homebrew to get updated theres alot of homebrew incomplete

[`The0n3]

Blasphemy smack him in the mouth!

[JKKDARK]

People should get another handheld/system and don't update them

[VexnadFett]

i weep for the ps3 homebrew prospects, personally i think it would be impossible or nearly so, since sony is often releasing firmwares at sudden, random points in time and not playing online while waiting for the next crack seems mind-tearing... sooo... psp scene for me! tho, that is dead too... damn

[turnerl]

There is some incomplete stuff on the DS that I would love to see. Eg.

FrodoDS
Genesis Emulator

a few others

[paul3100]

I think the DS has the best chance with homebrew as we don't have to worry about firmware updates for a start!

If you own a decent card such as the R4/m3 or supercard they all get firmware updates which sorts out any little niggle y problems.

Ok the DS isn't as powerful as the psp but the psp has loads of firmware updates as we all know and you need to update to play the latest games.

yep ds for me cause it wll take a lot longer to run out of ideas for this baby with duel screen,touch screen, mic and so on and so on

paul

[hicaow]

Nintendo even managed to stop people using the Wii for Gamecube Homebrew and Region Free Gamecube Games.


thats not true at all .. one update stopped the booting of one type of homebrew GC disc .. if made correctly the discs work fine still .. facts rule!

[camcorderdoctor]

I agree and disagree. Couldn't all the homebrews out there use some spiffing up? I mean there are some good home brews but some have serious problems and should be perfected and not left for dead - I am still excited that strmnnrmn is working on a usable n64 emulator (well ... hopefully. He was supposed to release R13 two weeks ago and hasn't yet - maybe he's had some kind of break through with it or has given up on it or something.) Anyways it's a 50 / 50 call - The game releases that are coming out are getting better and better all the time so I think that it stands a chance of living on for quite a while.




Exactly the PSP scene wont live forever nearly all homebrew has been made which leaves coders puzzled on what to create next. I personally havnt touched my PSP in ages I just think everything has been done for it so I looked towards the PS3 and Wii scene instead

[Kojote]

homebrew doesn't stagnate... if we look at the past there were always ups and downs...

* most students have university and school these days, vacation time is over
* there are a bunch of coding competitions, people are holding back their releases to parcitipate
* etc...

some systems will never be open for homebrew, we have to deal with that, but hell... who cares, there are plenty of nice systems to code on.

i am more than 10 years into homebrew stuff now and most "veterans" have resigned and switched to commercial development. don't forget sony, nintendo, sega & co force ppl to sign a contract to not do homebrew if they are "official" developer.

console coding is mainly an underground thing and considering mostly demosceners started with hacking on different machines and there are no people to follow up with "classic" consoles/handhelds... what you expect? :)

still... there are enough guys touching new consoles and handhelds, so i guess it compensates the (partitially forced) inactivity of veterans.

in short: homebrew doesn't stagnate and will not stagnate.

my three cents

[Safari Al]

To Wragg:

mabye this is just a time were many coders are working on projects at the same time or (more likely) everyone is taking a break. Don't worry wraggster i bet soon (and hope) that there will be a big breakthrough in the homebrew scene.

To the coders:

it really has been slow and it seems as if everyone i know is taking a break. How about reviving some old projects or mabye forming a team to create a game faster. Yes i understand the pressure on all of you so thanks for all the hard work.

[shadowprophet]

I like cheese

Has anyone ever told you, you look like Dr, dorian from scrubs?


http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/8125/drdoriandx0.jpg


Um, are you dr. dorian from scrubs?:p

Jk bro,

But you really do look like him though.


As for the homebrew scene. No the problem is people expect something new every time they turn around. The homebrew scene still has as much to offer today as it did two years ago. People are losing faith in sony's Devil Box. And that has had its effects on the scene.

But history always repeats itself. The next big thing is always right around the corner.

[zodttd]

http://zodttd.com/index.php?/archives/13-GADGET-Why-You-Should-Preorder-The-GP2X-F200.html

Wraggster: I'm pretty inspiring eh? ;)
It's not so much as things have slowed down, but the appearance of such due to how things have changed.

With custom proprietary handhelds and consoles, homebrew has been within commercial gamings reach. It's an offshoot of sorts at this point.

What's unusual is how different each handheld/console treats homebrew. Some pride themselves over being completely open source, and others just like to see the end product/result.

Luckily I had a lot of positive responses from the ZodTTD site over the upcoming, completely written from scratch PS1 emulator for the PSP. It was surprising to see such support for a homebrew emulator, considering how much use the supposedly commercial emulator from Sony gets. It at least gives those who think homebrew is dying, some hope.

I'll make a write up on the site soon. In the meantime I'm getting some new iStation handheld information for homebrewing as we speak. :)

[Shadowblind]

First of all fourskin Halo 3 is OK but i dont think i would enjoy it simply because i dont have much control over tthe aiming. i need something like a stylus or mouse.

I think that the psp and ds are running out of things to create since there is a very large amount of homebrew made. So new ones would either be clones of them homebrews or unoriginal.

I think that we should start having things that are useful in everyday life, such as word processors, powerpoint presentation like things and excel spreadsheets. for the psp they will use a keyboard for the DS the stylus

Stylus= worst control for fps since the PSP. The 360 has the second greatest control pad when it comes to FPS. Mouse and Keyboard is still the best though.

Everything is becoming illegal to homebrew. its slowing, also because strmnrmn refuses another release...

[Johnny Rash]

I don't think the homebrew scene has become stagnant.

I think Sony has become stagnant.

They constantly worry about firmware security and rarely add features.

[repuken2]

I think that there are a lot of updates, lately, of hardware and software-hardware optimization oriented.

In general new gen consoles are more and more powerfull but the games are loosing their soul. I always play old school games, emulation of past consoles, generally from the golden 16 bit days.

That's because i don't find in new games the feeling the old games had.

Arcades are almost dead and the only consoles were you can find decent games are on handheld consoles but once in a while.

With the growing technology i can imagine a new generation of consoles after ps3 and xbox360 and Wii, Barely, but i can't imagine a new generation after that one that can attract my attention.

Companys are focusing too much on technology, forgetting the most important things. I haven't seen an original game that takes my breath away in a long while.

Same goes to movies and music. Everything tends to be retro and remakes.

[Shadowblind]

Companys are focusing too much on technology, forgetting the most important things. I haven't seen an original game that takes my breath away in a long while.

And thats where Bioshock is the shining star in the world of Darkness. But after Bioshock, it really is hard to think of another game besides Too Human thats as original as this.... :(

[Kojote]

just adding up about stagnant homebrew, past month was the most busiest month ever on pdroms with over 450 news!!! so considering that fact, there was even a BOOST and not the opposite...

[jmendes]

endless amounts of homebrew released for them that for me run the risk too easily of bricking your console.

Wtf are you talking about? Homebrew doesnt risk bricking the psp unless it´s kernel mode code.