PSP Piracy is a Problem, Sells Systems

[Logan Frederick]

PSP Piracy is a Problem, Sells Systems

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe President David Reeves is upset over Playstation Portable piracy, despite the boost it gives hardware sales.

Speaking at Sony's DevStation conference in London, Reeves stated, "There is a piracy problem on PSP. We know about it, we know how it's done."

Reeves reluctantly confirmed that piracy "sometimes fuels the growth of hardware sales, but on balance we are not happy about it."

To combat the growing illegal activity, Sony is hoping for more exclusive games [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/83753] and updates that will clamp down on offenders.

Piracy, besides the activity of hackers itching to crack any system, has been an alternative for gamers in dire need of enjoyable software on the system. Reeves previously acknowledged [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/83753] the slower software sales when he openly admitted that "Hand on heart, would we like more PSP games? Yes, we would." Rampant emulating of older games on the handheld may be deterring PSP owners from purchasing licensed software off store shelves.

PSP owners should expect more anti-piracy patches that will secure the system firmware from emulators and other third-party applications.

Source: MCV [http://www.mcvuk.com/news/30912/There-is-a-piracy-problem-on-PSP] via Next-Gen [http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=11004&Itemid=2]

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[ratix2]

"PSP owners should expect more anti-piracy patches that will secure the system firmware from emulators and other third-party applications."

how? ive hacked my psp, im not going to lie about it (i did it, and even purchased my psp for that matter, with the intent of hacking it for a portable emulator), and from my knowledge there is NO way to run unsigned (or unauthorized) code on a psp that hasant been hacked, so what the hell is this new firmware going to do? stop people who DONT have hacked psps? all thats going to happen is that the hacking community is going to decrypt the firmware, remove whatever sony has done to it, throw in the usual perks of custom firmware and release it to those who have hacked their psps within a few weeks. if they mean make it harder to hack then they are still screwed. no matter what sony does to their firmware the psp will always be hackable since the release of pandoras batter, and hell, thats the only way to hack a psp which has firmware 3.51 or higher, and the ONLY way to hack a slim, but no matter what they do they cant make a firmware that will make it impossible to be hacked, that chance passed ages ago.

and i can tell you right now its not the emulating of older software that is killing sales, its the fact that hacking a psp gives an iso loader, its the same thing with pc games, so many people see no reason to buy the games when they can get them for free, emulating older systems has little to nothing to do with it.

and for the record i dont pirate games, go though my posts and youll see that im deathly opposed to the notion.

 

[Jimmyjames]

The best thing Sony can do right now is to support PS1 emulation. They'd double PSP sales in a heartbeat.

It's not as if you can buy PSX games in shops anyway, so I don't wee what their problem is.

Fuck yeah, that's a great idea. Make a tool to rip PS1 isos that will run on the PSP. I HAVE a PSP, I'd probably buy another.

Only problem I can see is that publishers of old PSX games might have an issue with it.

 

[UpInSmoke]

the psp is a portable emulator, like someone above me said. They should embrace it, or at least ignore it. I don't think the damn thing is going to take off in sales at this point regardless of what games they put out.