Hacking the PSP Blog

Off Topic: iPhone - Will It Blend?

I don't know if any of you have seen Blendtec's series of Will It Blend videos for it's Total Blender line but their latest episode features the recently released Apple iPhone. Check it our for yourself to see an iPhone turn into iPhone dust.

Will it Blend? iPhone

Via Blendtec

Fanjita on the morality of downgrading

As many of you may know, the Noobz team released a downgrader for firmware 3.50 about a week and a half ago that works in conjunction with a buffer overflow vulnerability in the original Lumines UMD. As a result, Fanjita, part of the Noobz crew, received a blast of messages accusing him and his group of encouraging piracy with the PSP. Here's some of his response:

By opening up homebrew on PSPs, we're giving freedom to the end user. They can choose how they use that freedom. If they care about the platform, then I hope they'll use the freedom responsibly, and run only legitimate homebrew, or at worst, backups of their own UMDs. Those that choose to pirate have themselves to blame if the platform suffers. If you choose to shoot someone, it is not the fault of the gun manufacturer. If you pulled the trigger, then you committed the crime. In other words, just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should.

Modern society seems to place very little stock in individual responsibility - all we seem to hear about is "I want my rights", and not "I want to have the responsibility that goes with them". In my opinion, that's what's wrong with the world today - a refusal to take responsibility for our individual actions.

Downgraders are tools. We provide them because we believe in individual freedom and have faith that human beings can be responsible. We do not like being treated like children by those with whom we spend our money. So it's your choice what you do with it.

For Fanjita's full respose, which I encourage you to read, just follow the source link below.

Source: Fanjita's Rants

Sony readying PS3 movie download service

Sony is preparing a high-definition movie and TV download service for the PlayStation 3 to rival that of Microsoft's current Xbox 360 offering.

According to Newsweek, the service will be announced at E3 in the coming days, but Sony will not go into details until the technology for the system nears completion.

Microsoft announced its own DLC service back in November and currently offers content from Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, The Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, CBS and VH1, amongst others.

Matt Martin
July 7, 2007

Source: GamesIndustry.biz

US retailer applauds PS3 price drop

Best Buy has told GamesIndustry.biz that the company thinks the recently-announced price drop will increase interest in the PS3.

"We think the price move is great and will help drive increased interest, particularly in light of the dual functionality as a BluRay player," said Best Buy's Brian Lucas. "It becomes a viable, cost effective option for people interested in next generation DVD."

As for the inability of retailers to keep the Nintendo Wii in stock, he added "The situation should improve over the course of the second half of the year, but it's difficult to predict when supply and demand will level out with any certainty."

Best Buy had no comment upon speculation that Microsoft would announce a similar price drop for its Xbox 360 console.

Mark Androvich
July 20, 2007

Source: GamesIndustry.biz

Take-Two Criticizes AO Ratings

During a conference call today, Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick said that the firm is “evaluating its options” regarding the release of the “adults only” rated Manhunt 2.

“We’re determined to bring Manhunt 2 to the consumers for which it was intended, and to do so in a responsible fashion,” he stated.

The Entertainment Software Rating Board recently gave the game an “AO” rating because of intense violence. Many large retailers don’t carry games with an AO rating, and console manufacturers don’t allow such rated games on their machines.

“We don’t see ourselves in the AO business,” Zelnick explained. “But if we find ourselves in the AO business, it would be because we have a title that we consider art and entertainment, that we consider is appropriately rated at AO, that we’d like to bring to market, and that I and Ben [Feder, CEO] are prepared to stand behind.

“In that instance, one has to ask oneself what’s the purpose of a rating if it in fact means that a title cannot be released? But I don’t think that that issue falls at the door of retailers. Retailers are acting responsibly, frankly, and I think a retailer has a right to say, ‘This is what I’m prepared to put on my shelves.’ It’s not correct to be critical of the retailers at all.

“Because this is a voluntary ratings system in the US, we have to be critical of ourselves if we’ve allowed a system to develop that prevents us from bringing a title to market that we want to bring to market. That’s something that we have to address.”

Zelnick said that the upcoming Grand Theft Auto IV “fits squarely in the M (mature) category,” so Take-Two doesn’t expect to run into similar ratings issues.

Kris Graft
July 9, 2007

Source: Next-Gen

Off Topic: New survey shows that kids like games rated M for mature

Research concerning video games tends to be controversial around these parts.  There are now many studies on violence in video games, and the data are not always terribly convincing, yet even the American Medical Association has felt compelled to take a position on the issue.

Now there’s a new study, published in the Journal of Adolescent Health, that seeks to gauge just how widespread the use of violent video games is among children in the US today.  Conducted by a team from Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital and Michigan State University, the study surveyed a total of 1254 students, aged 12-14, from Pennsylvania and South Carolina in 2004.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the results showed that most boys, and many girls, played games that the ESRB had rated M, signifying that they were for mature audiences only. Of the games played by the boys, Grand Theft Auto and Halo were both in the top three, and GTA was also the 2nd most played game by girls, according to the data. Over half of all boys agreed with the statement “I play electronic games because I like guns and weapons.” On the other hand, over 60 percent of boys and girls agreed with the statement “I play electronic games because there’s nothing else to do.”

Although some people are worried about childrens' exposure to violent video games, they are just one of many forms of violent content that kids are exposed to these days. These games might be rated M for mature, yet the latest Die Hard movie, entertaining though it might be, is only rated PG-13 despite an awful lot of carnage, including a lengthy scene where Bruce Willis beats a woman half to death and then drops an SUV on her.  If misogynistic violence is OK for the silver screen, why not the Xbox?

Johnathan M. Gitlin
July 3, 3007

Source: Ars Technica

Dark_AleX calling it quits?

According to online reports, and apparently a posting on Dark_AleX's site that I missed while on vacation, Dark_AleX is calling it quits on PSP homebrew development to avoid future legal issues between him and Sony. The post on the official Dark_Alex site is no longer up and has been replaced by a black ribbon with his name, but I was able to find it (or at least part of it) on QJ.NET. Here's what he had to say:

Bye, scene.

I've decided to cease OE development, and leave PSP scene. The reasons are various. One of them is the time it consumes, which I'm losing from other things. The other is related to my security. I didn't like Sony menaces to PS3 hackers. I think it is better to leave now rather than end paying the consequences.

Some of you may remember his botched downgrader release, which bricked 100% of the PSPs it ran on but was later patched, but most of you probably know him for his numerious positive contributions to PSP homebrew software development. While we can all hope that this isn't true, it appears that Dark_AleX will be ceasing public releases of PSP software. To Dark_AleX, we wish you the best of luck in your endeavors.

Via PSPUpdates & dark-alex.org