PSP hacks - damage PSP ?

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1.52 For You
The latest PSP update is available in America. Do you feel secure?
by Nix

June 15, 2005 - Sony has been hitting hard on the PSP's ability to be updated, with three updates to the system since it's original release in Japan. Although nothing major has been added for regular consumers (the long-hushed PSP Browser update is still nowhere to be found), a round of security updates have patched some fixes Sony and its partners have been worried about.

Japan received its own PSP 1.52 earlier this month, and now, US gamers can enjoy the fun of updating their PSPs to the latest version. No great features have been added to 1.52 (except the ability to play UMD Music in the main menu, which we hadn't even noticed was a problem -- the only UMD Music release scheduled for America, Eagle Rock's PSP Video Collection, isn't due until later this year). The security updates in 1.52, however, will likely be required in American PSP games sometime soon, as new PSP titles in Japan already require the previous 1.51 update.

Sony is essentially trying to stay on top of the vulnerabilities in Firmware that hackers constantly seek to exploit. Just today, a hack was released on the web that takes advantage of the holes in the 1.50 version of the software. Users download these hacks in hopes of playing classic games with emulators and roms that are found all over the internet. What many of these users don't know is that the process for booting these hacks can damage the PSP.

To update your PSP, use the Network Update feature on your PSP menu (jump to the top link on your PSP's menu under the little suitcase.) Sony will also have the update available on PlayStation.com's PSP Update Page sometimes soon if you want to download the update via USB.

We'll have more on future PSP updates as they roll in.

Thats from IGN : http://psp.ign.com/articles/625/625764p1.html

I personally dont see HOW it can damage your psp, no hardware modification ! no lense being used ! everytime its just fooling the psp to boot in a different mood, nothing major !?

garthv

Id say thats just a marketing scam to stop people using the hacks

Zapho

Ever try installing an emulator to play classic games on your PC and you hear that loud grinding noise and get the smell of smoke coming from your case? Some people say that playing snes games on the psp will crack the screen!

I seriously hate that though, here are Sony making patches to prevent people from making homebrew games or running emulation software and they have the cheek to say that they are doing it to "protect us". True there is the issue of copyright but shouldn't the user be held responsible for breeching that? Maybe Sony are worried that programmers are gonna start writting far superior software for their console and out shine them.

TerrorFirmer

Never know - could be like the N-gage, where people will release purposely bad or riddled software that will corrupt something....

kippy

In My opinion you take a chance anytime you install "non official" software or firmware. Sony are just covering their asses by advising that non official stuff could damage the machine however the reasoning behind how it could damage your machine seems a bit strange.

Zapho

I personnally don't know much about the firmware or opsys on the PSP. The nokia symbian system is quite a secure one though, in that the entire operating system is installed on a ROM chip so no matter what dodgy software you install or what it tries to do to your phone, you can simply reset with no problems. If sony did something similar, then dodgy software wouldn't be much of a problem

Retr0gamer

Bwahaha. Another marketing scam by Sony. Take this piece of advice, never trust anything from sony marketing department.

monkeyfudge

I haven't really found the time to mess around with my PSP yet... but I would imagine that running the emulators on it would require the clock speed to be altered... I'm not too sure how much the PSP hardware would appreciate that.

kaisersose77

the psp is underclocked to 222mhz probably due to battery life so its safe to run at 333mhz as thats probably the speed future games like gran tourismo will use.Only downside is the battery wont last as long. Also umd games are always accessing the UMD drive which would use a lot of power, so if your using emu's then this isn't being accessed and so battery life is probably longer than you would think.

ps: i wonder what % of ppl actually followed sony's warning sticker and updated straight away. Probably a very high percentage.

Zapho

monkeyfudge wrote:

I haven't really found the time to mess around with my PSP yet... but I would imagine that running the emulators on it would require the clock speed to be altered... I'm not too sure how much the PSP hardware would appreciate that.

I don't see why an emulator would change the clock speed, if you're emulating registers, why not emulate a clock as well by programming a timer or something?

dregin

Retr0gamer wrote:

Bwahaha. Another marketing scam by Sony. Take this piece of advice, never trust anything from sony marketing department.

What he said. Complete crap. I've been using the homebrew since the day it was available and it's never given me any bother.

The PSP is deliberately underclocked to 266Mhz to save battery power, but games can switch it to 333Mhz. Some of the emulators default the clock speed to 33Mhz in order to gain a performance boost. I've been using snes9x at this speed and have never noticed any heating or anything that might be caused by the increased clock speed.

[edit]
hah, sorry kaiser hadnt got as far as your post when I wrote this :P
[/edit]

Retr0gamer

Emulators don't require an altered cpu clock speed. A frame limiter is just as effective and less messy to program.

voxpop

emulators never mess with the underlying hardware - they bridge the gap between the hardware available and the hardware required. If an emulator wants to slow down the clock speed - it doesnt change the speed of the hardware it uses software tricks like bremze to make the clock speed look slower