The Future of PSP -- Fanjita of NOOBz
Here's an other interview posted by IGN. This time it's not from a Sony executive, but rather from PSP hacker Fanjita of Noobz fame. Here's a little taste of what IGN and Fanjita talked about:
:: Hackers come from all sides -- some do it for the anarchy of f***ing with a major corporation and its sisyphean efforts to lock users out of their purchases, others have a strong disbelief in the reasons and implications of DRM and wish to remove it for the principle, and still others approach it as they are repairing the hardware that they respect but feel is hobbled by the lack of access a company like Sony felt it had to impose to protect its corporate interests and partners. Where do you feel you are coming from in your work with PSP?
Initially, I just wanted to be able to play with the hardware in interesting ways. It seemed so dumb to just be able to play one or 2 UMDs, when the platform had so much potential as a portable, well-connected, high-performance general computing device, with such a nice display.
Once I got stuck into the whole homebrew scene though, it became more of a duty to help others to achieve that same dream. That's actually a more efficient way of getting more use out of the platform too - what's better, to write a couple of programs yourself, or to open up the way for thousands of others to write thousands of other programs? So long as the challenge is still fun, I'm up for continuing the fight.
Besides, now that the vast majority of PSPs are homebrew-enabled, I have a little more time to pursue some other PSP projects - such as my recently-released keyboard driver.
:: Sony has, curiously enough, been the biggest proponent in the console game of open access -- Net Yaroze, Linux Kit, PS3 Linux OS, USB and Firewire inputs, standardized video and audio support ... why do you think Sony is fighting so hard against the PSP homebrew scene?
It is a little surprising that they haven't attempted a controlled homebrew environment for the PSP, a la Yaroze or similar. Obviously they have to be careful with homebrew, as there's always the risk that it can somehow lead on to piracy, and they have to be careful with that, especially with the PSP, which is still struggling with software sales, and attracting major developers to have confidence in the platform.
I suspect there are 2 factors that make them especially resistant to homebrew on the PSP - the first is that point I just made, about not wanting to dent the already shaky platform image. The second is that we already know our way around almost all the PSP internals, and so they probably feel that there's a risk that a publicly endorsed, restricted homebrew platform would soon be cracked wide open, leaving them with an officially endorsed route to piracy. I like to believe that the capable homebrew devs would be respectful of a move from Sony to open up the platform, but it's obviously impossible to have any guarantees.
Read the full interview here...
Source: IGN