PSP Hackers Go Retro

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com>
Date: June 7, 2005 8:07:39 PM EDT
To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <dewayne-net () warpspeed com>
Subject: [Dewayne-Net] PSP Hackers Go Retro
Reply-To: dewayne () warpspeed com


PSP Hackers Go Retro
By Chris Kohler

Story location: <http://www.wired.com/news/games/0,2101,67742,00.html>

02:00 AM Jun. 07, 2005 PT

"Hello World!"

That's the traditional phrase that programmers display when they  
create their first piece of software for an unfamiliar operating  
system. Owners of Sony's handheld PSP game system were delighted to  
hear May 5 that a hacker had managed to write a small program that  
displayed those words on a PSP. They wondered what would be next.

As it turned out, it only took hackers five days to go from "Hello  
World" to Mario World.

On May 10, sites like PSP Hacker reported that a Japanese hacker  
known only by the name Mr. Mirakichi had developed a program called  
RIN that let the PSP play software written for the original black-and- 
white Nintendo Game Boy system.

Emulators like RIN, programs that let a computer run software  
intended for a different platform, have long been popular among fans  
of classic video games who want to play the games of yesteryear  
without having to deal with aging hardware. While emulators  
themselves are freely distributable, the files that contain game data  
are protected by copyright. This has barely slowed their popularity.

But the development of emulators for a new operating system is  
usually a slow and laborious process, so the speed and accuracy with  
which anonymous Japanese hackers have mastered the PSP has been  
surprising. New, tweaked versions of RIN appear almost daily, and  
other emulators that run games for different classic systems like the  
Sega Genesis and Nintendo Entertainment System have appeared as well.

Some of the programs, like a Super Nintendo Entertainment System  
emulator, are in early stages of development and run games very  
slowly if at all. But some, like an emulator that runs games from  
NEC's TurboGrafx-16 hardware, are nearly flawless, featuring full  
sound, full speed and the option to stretch the game's graphics to  
fill the PSP's wide-screen display.

There is one catch -- so far, the hackers have only found a way  
around the security of the original firmware that was installed on  
the first batch of Japanese PSP systems. Later units, including every  
one released in the United States, contain version 1.5 of the  
firmware, which tightens up security.

When it became available, Sony made the version 1.5 upgrade available  
to users via download, encouraging them to update their systems.  
Those who did not upgrade are the only PSP users who can run the  
emulator software, as well as all other PSP "home-brew" applications  
such as original, user-created games.

Even without knowing that such software was on the horizon, some PSP  
owners decided not to upgrade. "I'd had previous bad experiences with  
the PSX (Sony's PlayStation-branded digital video recorder)  
firmware," said David Coyles, a Tokyo-based software engineer. "A  
couple of friends and I were suspicious that some functionality might  
be lost in a firmware upgrade.

"The PSP is very open for a Sony product, and the fear we had was  
that perhaps its open nature was by mistake and not design. We'd  
decided we'd always hold off from upgrading until the full effect was  
documented," said Coyles.

Thus, the PSP community in Japan has been divided into users with  
"virgin" 1.0 PSPs and those with upgraded 1.5 PSPs. Sony is using  
even more creative ways to get users to upgrade. New PSP games that  
are being released in Japan, such as Space Invaders Pocket and  
Intelligent License, inform the user that they will not run unless  
the firmware is updated.

"I'll never use my 1.0 PSP to play a new game now that new games are  
forcing the upgrade whether or not you want it," said PSP owner  
Jeremy Parish, an editor at gaming-enthusiast site 1up.com. "If  
anything, I'll buy a second system," he said.

"I'm pretty much back to square one," said Jonathan Lumb, a Tokyo web  
developer, "waiting until good enough games come out that make me  
want to buy a second PSP. I'm not too excited about the PSP's lineup  
right now."

[snip]

Weblog at: <http://weblog.warpspeed.com>



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