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Portables (Games) Entertainment Games

PSP Firmware Downgrader Released 300

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the only-a-matter-of-time dept.
roka writes "SonyxTeam has just released a downgrader for the PSP using the toc2rta 2.0 overflow in libtiff. This has been tested and found working by PSP news sites. This is basically opening all sold models of the PSP to homebrew applications and will boost homebrew software development for Sony's handheld."
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PSP Firmware Downgrader Released More

PSP Firmware Downgrader Released

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  • Arrr!! (Score:2, Funny)

    by lasmith05 ( 578697 )
    I smell pirating goodness for all. :) I think its amazing how fast this downgrader came out after the buffer overflow was discovered in the photo section. Simply Amazing.

  • Go on admit it. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by reality-bytes ( 119275 ) on Tuesday September 27, 2005 @07:26PM (#13662858) Homepage
    Admit it.

    Now we're all just waiting for Sony to thow it's Intellectual Property Toys out of the pram and let the attack dogs (lawyers) loose.

    A sorry state of affairs.
    • Now we're all just waiting for Sony to thow it's Intellectual Property Toys out of the pram and let the attack dogs (lawyers) loose.
      No need for that, thanks to the slashdot effect.
  • Create a program that does all the downgrading and re-upgrading behind the scenes to allow full homebrew use but keep it all transparant to the user.

    • Bad idea (Score:2, Interesting)

      by StonedRat ( 837378 )
      Losing power while down/upgrading will brick the psp, making it transparent to the user would be a bad idea.

      • Re:Bad idea (Score:2, Insightful)

        by tepples ( 727027 )

        warning: Slashdot does not support Greek. Automatic transliteration engaged.

        Losing power while down/upgrading will brick the psp, making it transparent to the user would be a bad idea.

        "Please connect the AC adapter to continue, or press D to cancel."

  • Finally! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Spy der Mann ( 805235 ) <`moc.liamg' `ta' `todhsals.nnamredyps'> on Tuesday September 27, 2005 @07:27PM (#13662868) Homepage Journal
    This is the first time a buffer overflow is used for non-evil purposes.

    *SIGH* Wish all the hackers out there were like this guy.

    • Re:Finally! (Score:5, Informative)

      by Fjornir ( 516960 ) on Tuesday September 27, 2005 @07:30PM (#13662886)
      Er. I guess you missed the xbox buffer overflows used for the same purpose?
      • Actually, IIRC, the buffer overflow on the Xbox was only done by purists who neither wanted to chip their Xboxes and/or use software written with an illegal copy of the Xbox dev kit. Because the other two options were easier, the overflow wasn't the preferred method.

    • Re:Finally! (Score:3, Insightful)

      by EggyToast ( 858951 )
      Well, if by non-evil purposes you mean "Allow people to play bootleg ROMs of games they downloaded off the internet on their PSP."

      I don't think people are excited over the ability to play various asteroids clones [edepot.com] on their PSP. Oh, maybe they're holding out for that killer homebrew Blackjack game, or they're really hoping they can downgrade their version to play Pong with their $250 device.

      No, I think pretty much everyone just wants to run emulators of NES, SNES, and Genesis games for free.

      • Re:Finally! (Score:5, Informative)

        by EggyToast ( 858951 ) on Tuesday September 27, 2005 @08:10PM (#13663132) Homepage
        I don't see how that's flamebait. I visit video game forums all the time, and never once have I met someone who actually wants to play homebrew games on the PSP -- they're talking about homebrew for emulators. A visit to any PSP development site pretty much confirms that the development exists for emulation, not actual new content, as the emulation sections are huge, with constant updates, while the "games" sections usually consist of a basic line game that serves little more than a proof of concept.

        • Re:Finally! (Score:3, Informative)

          by The Grey Clone ( 770110 )
          I'm half way through reading Phantom of the Opera on my PSP using a homebrew app. I've got something close to 40 out-of-copyright books that I've been reading via PSPReader, ranging from War of the Worlds to a rather large collection of Shakespeare plays, all that fit just fine on the PSPs screen.

          Now, the PSP isn't the best thing to read on, but as long as the room is rather well lit, I avoid headaches/eyestrain and it's not that much different than reading from an actual book.

          There is some benefit to the

        • Re:Finally! (Score:4, Interesting)

          by slapout ( 93640 ) on Tuesday September 27, 2005 @10:32PM (#13663799)
          Don't forget that games whose source have been released (like Quake) can also be ported too. These people [feetoffury.com] wrote a commerical game for the Dreamcast using homebrew tools. (See Question #10 of their faq for more details.)
        • Parent was flamebait for assuming the ROMs played were downloaded off of the internet. Many devices are available for dumping SNES and Genesis carts (among others) on your own, and while I admit I've only used my PSP for emulation, I have never done anything that would violate copyright laws in the United States.

      • Re:Finally! (Score:2, Informative)

        by Viper168 ( 650370 )
        Right, because we know no one actually owns a copy of the games they want to emulate.

        Apparently, I just imagined that there was a VNC client, ScummVM port, PDF reader, file manager, Doom port, Heretic, Hexen, a port of Quake in progess, etc... in addition to some pretty decent homebrewn games...

        I would be lying if I were to say I don't enjoy playing my old genesis favourites on the psp, but even those I own.

        Most of which, and many more can be found here: http://psp-news.dcemu.co.uk/ [dcemu.co.uk]

    • Re:Finally! (Score:5, Informative)

      by alan_dershowitz ( 586542 ) on Tuesday September 27, 2005 @08:22PM (#13663203)
      Actually, it's not the first time. When Texas Instruments released the TI-92, it only came programmable with a crappy version of BASIC. Then, some hackers figured out that if you used an overly large firmware image with their system restore tool, you could insert instructions into the calculator that let you execute arbitrary code on it. Someone built a hook that let you upload your own assembler instructions, and TI-92 homebrew took off.

      The hack was so popular that Texas Instruments ended up releasing an assembler application so that people didn't have to hack their calculators to run their own custom code.

      • Different market, different situration (Score:4, Insightful)

        by MMaestro ( 585010 ) on Wednesday September 28, 2005 @12:17AM (#13664258)
        Texas Instruments sells their TI- calculators at a profit with little intention of making a profit on the accessories (the only thing you ever need to buy in its lifetime are batteries).

        Sony sells the PSP at a huge loss (the fancy screen and marketing blitz couldn't have been cheap) and is designed to make up losses with PSP movie sales and PSP game sales. Neither of which have amounted to anything (yet).

        Unless Texas Instruments launches their own 'Virtual Boy', they're pretty much the Nintendo of professional, high quality calculators. Don't expect double digit percentage growth, but constant and consistant growth. Sony on the other hand is already in the ditch. Yes they've made some headway into the market, but so did the Game Gear (arguably the Gameboy's strongest competitor) as did the Neo Geo Pocket/Color and they both lost, horribly for the latter.

        The PSP isn't going to go anywhere if it just pushes itself with homebrewed software. It needs games. Badly. Movies are nice, but the DVD versions blow PSP versions out of the water. Sony needs to stop bashing Nintendo and give Sony fanboys something substancial to bash Nintendo.

  • Will this seal the PSP as THE homebrew enthusiasts handheld platform?
    • The preferred device for handheld emulation will be GPX2. GPX2 is the sequel [gpx2.com] to the former gamepark device.

  • "homebrew software development " ? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 27, 2005 @07:29PM (#13662881)
    Is "homebrew software development" the new euphemism for "piracy"? You know, how 99.99% of everyone who got mod chips for their ps2 and xbox was just so they could "run linux" ?
    • The 'homebrew software development' that people seem most intersted in are emulators.

    • Re:"homebrew software development " ? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Dachannien ( 617929 ) on Tuesday September 27, 2005 @08:27PM (#13663231)
      Is "homebrew software development" the new euphemism for "piracy"? You know, how 99.99% of everyone who got mod chips for their ps2 and xbox was just so they could "run linux" ?

      "Homebrew software development" is about making legal use of the technology we pay for. Piracy is just along for the ride.

      It's sort of like how you can kill someone with a hammer. Murder-by-hammer is already illegal, but that doesn't mean that hammers should be encumbered by use management technology that both prevents homicides and blocks you from using nails made by someone other than the hammer manufacturer.

      • Re:"homebrew software development " ? (Score:4, Insightful)

        by quinxy ( 788909 ) * on Tuesday September 27, 2005 @11:57PM (#13664138) Homepage
        Woah, that's not an accurate analogy. Because hammers are generally used for the purposes of construction rather than for illegal purposes. And that's an important point, at least practically speaking, and as the laws appear to often be applied. The right analogy would be about bongs/water pipes. Many states outlaw them outright because they are considered drug paraphernalia, because while they "can" be used for smoking tobacco, they rarely are. Other states allow their sale and the stores which sell them claim they are intended for tobacco use only, but of course, they know they will not be used that way. Anyway... not saying which is right. Just saying that is at least the right analogy, IMHO.

        Quincy
    • While I think that piracy is often just as much behind these things as homebrew software, at least homebrew software for consoles does exist, unlike the old "I use my modchip to play backups..." excuse.
    • Is "homebrew software development" the new euphemism for "piracy"?

      Check out www.atariage.com. The homebrew scene around the A2600 is quite healthy. The other Atari consoles also have homebrew scenes although A2600 development is the most active. There have also been some nifty ColecoVision homebrews out lately as well. AtariAge sells many of these.
    • I'm not going to lie that there aren't pirated psp games out there. But I look at my psp. VNC Client, a text reader, sudoku, pspCalendar

      I've even dabbled in coding for it myself.

      I would gladly pay a reasonable amount of money, for a "Homebrew Compiler".

      Look at bittorrent. Same arguments. "Look at all the piracy it supports!!!!*fap*" meanwhile, its legitimatized.

      People will -always- pirate software. This isn't something that can be solved. I paid for my PSP with my honestly earned money. If I want to

  • IT MUST BE STOPPED (Score:5, Funny)

    by s388 ( 910768 ) on Tuesday September 27, 2005 @07:31PM (#13662894)
    consumers increasing the value of the products they've purchased? tailoring them to their own sinister ends? i predict massive retaliation.

    and the best kind of retaliation! fruitless retaliation.

    gg.

  • How long till they patch (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Brianech ( 791070 ) on Tuesday September 27, 2005 @07:36PM (#13662924)
    It didn't take long until they patched 1.50. This has been an ongoing process. They will patch the overflow, make the next gen of game require the patched update (Although there is a loader that fakes the psp's firmware). All this means is that everyone who buys a PSP up until the next firmware starts hitting the market will be able to run homebrew, and we will hear whining from all the 2.X people about being locked out of the homebrew scene. But its good news for a little while!
    • Yeah, but if you can downgrade the firmware, I see no reason why you can't make your PSP pretend like it's running the 2.1 version. Sure, there might be functions in the newer API that certain games require, but 99% of the games will PROBABLY run fine on earlier firmware.
      • Sure, there might be functions in the newer API that certain games require

        That function that returns a higher version number than the last release seems really popular.

        Really, though. Games that are coming out now were started years ago. They'd probably run just fine on the API from some old beta firmware. The only thing changing now is bug fixes (if you're lucky), incrementally higher version numbers, and more "copy" protection.
    • "It didn't take long until they patched 1.50."

      Ah, but 2.0 was the first firmware that had other reasons to upgrade beyond "Because Sony wants you to." How many more times can Sony come out with a "killer firmware app" before they run out of flash space?

  • Long awaited (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Sv-Manowar ( 772313 ) on Tuesday September 27, 2005 @07:38PM (#13662938) Homepage Journal
    At last, a second chance for those who upgraded their original 1.0 firmware and instantly regretted doing it once the homebrew hacks were discovered. This hack comes at a much better time for enthusiasts to benefit and make use of the hack, if they desire, before Sony patch the hole (not to mention leaving a large number of PSP's out there on the available market running a hackable firmware..). Of course all this would be moot if Sony would just embrace the developer community surrounding the PSP and support it appropriately, instead of them having to go to these lengths.

    • Re:Long awaited (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Brianech ( 791070 )
      I use to feel that way about homebrew, BUT now that there are decent working ISO loaders out there, and memory sticks large enough to handle full games, or atleast decent rips, it is very understandable why Sony wants to stomp out these problems. If they found a way to somehow prevent images from working, then there would be no reason to fear hoembrew. Problem is, if you can run pong, you can run a loader...

  • The best part of the article is the credits... (Score:4, Informative)

    by HotNeedleOfInquiry ( 598897 ) on Tuesday September 27, 2005 @07:40PM (#13662955)
    "Who we would like to give greetings: Every people devlopping on psp or making the psp scene going further, psp-spot for at least releasing the true side of alonetrio's story, maxconsole.com for their reliable news, killerx for his kxploit, the real founder of the 2.0 overflow (that isn't toc2rta)...

    Who we say Fuck to: Alonetrio and what remains of the WAB team, Artik from SPAXXX, Toc2rta lamerz and especially Niacin (as they stole the 2.0 overflow discovery from a pspupdate's forum member) and released crappy code like a useless kernel dumper), Cpasjuste who said Yoshi is a liar but whose main hobby his to steal code form others. Any people who joined toc2rta, People who said shit about Yoshihiro or blamed him, people claiming we had to release the downgrader to them as they owned that priviledge, and people who forgot that devs have a life.

    now you have the proof Yoshihiro knows to code and doesn't code shit !

    The next one who will say shot about him or any respectable devlopper will get my kick on his ass.
    • The translation of the 'who we say Fuck to [sic]' :


      Ceux qu'on emmerde profond:



      Which, back in literal English, is 'Who is in deep shit' . I get the impression 'deep shit' means something slightly different to what we're used to in English ....

      • To quote Princess Bride, I think it doesn't mean what you think it means.

        Emmerder quelqu'un means "bothering someone" in a vulgar way. A literal translation would be "those we throw shit at" (when doing so, French people usually wear gloves) :).

        Profond here is used as an adverb ("beaucoup"), ie "much".

        Anyway "ceux qu'on emmerde" is rather soft compared to "those we say fuck to".
    • I love how the bastard who steals everyone's code says that toc2rta stole the exploit code from the site he tells people NOT to visit ;D

  • To Those PSP V2.0 Owners who have Downgraded (Score:4, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 27, 2005 @07:43PM (#13662964)
    Welcome to the world of Homebrew and Emulation on the PSP, theres emulators for most of the popular systems and nearly 150 games, demos, multimedia and apps for the PSP Emulation and Homebrew scenes, the 2 sites to visit to get all of these are http://psp-news.dcemu.co.uk/ [dcemu.co.uk] & http://psp-archive.de/ [psp-archive.de] Be sure to pay em a visit One quick comment i hope Sony havent noticed that a certain PSP site (pspupdates) are hosting the firmware file which im sure is illegal, oh well its up to them i supose. Thanks to Yoshihiro and JohnMPH for this great release :)
  • Perhaps including a disclaimer like this with all my programs would help reduce the criticism:

    The next one who will say shot about him or any respectable devlopper will get my kick on his ass.

    I like it!

  • s/SonyxTeam/MPH/ (Score:5, Interesting)

    by roka ( 211127 ) on Tuesday September 27, 2005 @07:49PM (#13663007)
    I learned from Skylark who was part of the downgrade developing group that SonyxTeam was NOT involved in the creation of this downgrade AT ALL. Instead MPH did released it.

    Sorry for messing up, please update the story for I don't think SonyxTeam's name deserves to be mentioned in the news :(

  • Waiting for the GP2X. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by OpenGLFan ( 56206 ) on Tuesday September 27, 2005 @08:20PM (#13663194) Homepage
    Yes, I know it's less powerful and less sexy, but I'm still waiting for a GP2X. Should be cheaper and DESIGNED to run my own programs. I write silly little games for my laptop (not worthy to be sourceforged, mostly about the level of addictive flash games), and I want to write silly little games to play on the shuttle bus to campus. And I want to run other people's silly little games and Yar's Revenge, which I bought Back in the Day and feel no urge to buy again.

  • ALL LIES (Score:5, Interesting)

    by millennial ( 830897 ) on Tuesday September 27, 2005 @08:23PM (#13663206) Journal
    According to PSPUpdates [pspupdates.com], SonyXTeam has NOTHING to do with this. It is the sole creation of Team MPH.
    SonyXTeam is comprised of former members of Team WAB, a group that conned hundreds of people out of their money.
    WAB said that they would be releasing a downgrader on September 1, and opened up a Paypal account for donations.
    Then members of WAB claimed to have been arrested, and they claimed that their hard drive crashed. If anyone came on their IRC server and asked about the downgrader, they were kicked off. Then the team split up, and the "main coder" of the supposed downgrader went over to SonyXTeam.
    This coder, Yoshihiro, is well known throughout the XBox scene as a fake who stole the code of others and claimed it as his own. He is doing the same thing here with the real downgrader.
  • The owner is SonyXteam is scammer and liar. He didn't create anything. Check out http://www.psp-updates.com/ [psp-updates.com] and http://www.psp-spot.com/ [psp-spot.com] for the REAL DEAL. Yoshi, the owner of SonyXteam is a know thief who recently ran off with a bunch of donation money for a promised PSP downgrader, got kicked out of his coding group and now is trying to take credit for something he had nothing to do with.

  • SonyXteam Confirmed to be Liars (Score:5, Informative)

    by brakken ( 607726 ) <{moc.sserpxe-eyekcub} {ta} {xmotnahp}> on Tuesday September 27, 2005 @08:40PM (#13663306) Homepage
    Yoshi, the ex-member of WAB who recently got kicked out for mischievous activities including stealing money in a PayPal SCAM and ripping off code from other authors now states on his new page that he created the PSP v2.0 Downgrader with MPH and that MPH simply "forgot" to include that in the readme. With his past history and apparent lack of ability to spell correctly I highly doubt that he had anything to do with this downgrader, but until MPH responds or if they don't respond we'll know who is telling the truth or not. UPDATE: MPH has just spent some time online and didn't mention a single word about Yoshi's involvement. Guess Yoshi is trying to take credit for something he had no part in afterall. UPDATE: www.wab.com the group Yoshi was kicked out of has an information article about Yoshi and the fact that he didn't have anything to do with the downgrader.
  • I need a downgrader to Windows 95. That will protect me from all the hackers targeting XP!
  • Sorry if I speak of the evil.

    However, is this something that Sony could use the DMCA to fight in the U.S.?

    (to, you know, alienate current users and cause potentially new customers from purchasing the thing.)

  • I've tried it - it works (Score:3, Informative)

    by Dark Paladin ( 116525 ) * <jhummel.johnhummel@net> on Tuesday September 27, 2005 @09:37PM (#13663540) Homepage
    I tried it about an hour ago, and it works. Scary procedure, as I:

    1. Upgraded to 2.0 firmware from 1.5.
    2. Installed the downloader.
    3. Ran the downloader - the PSP had a weird screen. It wouldn't shut down, and just showed a screen of garbled text. I wound up having to take out the battery.
    4. Put the battery back in, and turned it on. From here, I could run the 1.5 firmware installer. It went to 99% and failed. I had to take out the battery out again to reboot, and it came up fine.

    So, a success. Now, there are only 3 PSP games I want to play, and one comes out next month, the other two over six months - and odds are, 2 out of 3 of those games will be made for a 2.01 firmware that removed this exploit. (Which is why the DS has 6 games coming out, two in this week alone, that I want to play, so there's a trade off.)
  • Here is a list of PSP 2.0 Firmware features [uncyclopedia.org] so really who wants to downgrade to 1.5 of the Firmware anyway? Sure there are a few warnings, so what? The PSP 2.0 Firmware upgrade works good enough for most people's needs. After all, you bought a PSP not a Nintendo DS, because of the Sony Quality and the Sony good name and image, right?
    • But staying with 1.5 you can do so much more then the 2.0. I agree, I would rather use 2.0, but I want to keep my benefits I get with 1.5:

      Run UMD images instead of disks, saves battery and lets me carry three games without the disks. I have three games on my memory stick right now, and a forth in the UMD drive. Four games (which I ripped from my UMD's).. Thats nice.

      Run my emulators, which give me handheld ability to play games that I have been playing for years on my computer.

      I was running 2.0, and missing
  • From the Wall Street Journal this morning:

    http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB112776717132552 400,00.html?mod=asia_technology_primary_hs [wsj.com]

    "A WALL STREET JOURNAL NEWS ROUNDUP
    September 27, 2005; Page C5

    TOKYO -- Moody's Investors Service put Sony Corp. on review for a possible ratings downgrade, citing doubts about the electronics company's revival plan as its shares fell 3.1% to a three-week low yesterday.

    The review reflects concern that Sony will be unable "to regain the strong profit and cash flow generation p

  • homebrew..... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by KillShill ( 877105 ) on Tuesday September 27, 2005 @10:22PM (#13663754)
    homebrew != arbitrary code execution.

    and remember, each purchased unit belongs wholly and solely to you. you own the chips inside the machine, you own the lcd screen, you own the interconnects, you own the speakers, you own the right to fully access each of them.

    calling it "homebrew" does a disservice to the property rights "movement". it makes it sound like you have no business using and programming the chips you paid good money for.

    Arbitrary Code Execution, ACE.

    using technical means to prevent you using your own property is a crime in my book.

    and no, "business model" is no excuse in removing your lawful rights in using your own property any way you wish. sell it for 3 times as much but leave my access alone. i want it to make it illegal to rent products but call it buying. if you want people to have limited access, call it renting and then set prices accordingly. if you want to sell items outright, then behave accordingly. the problem is, they want the benefits of selling with the benefits of renting. that's a commerce no no not to mention unethical and immoral.

    please don't use the word "homebrew" or if you feel you must, at least give it some thought each time you do.... see if it matches up with the world you want to live in. words have a lot of power... use it wisely.

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