PSP UMD Format Cracked

slewfo0t writes "PS2info.com user Paradox has found a way to read the files off of the new UMD disks for the PSP. Good to know that those files aren't completely locked. "

for now..

[selfabuse]

"Good to know that those files aren't completely locked. "

...yet.

Cool, I guess

[Jarlsberg]

Good thing for all wannabe PSP "pirates", although this certainly doesn't increase the chances that Sony will produce a consumer UMD burner, but those chances were slim to begin with anyway...

This is early days, for sure, but I wonder if it will be possible to play UMD extracted games from a memory chip in the future (whenever 2GB chips are released...). Would be a bugger to copy 1+ GB to a memory chip, I guess, not to speak of the memory chip being so expensive in the first place. ;/

Fascinating device.

[Grendel Drago]

I'm seriously considering picking up *something* to occupy my attention on the flights I'm going to start taking over the next couple of months

There's this fascinating device, you have have heard of it. It's called a "book", and it's rather cheaper than a PSP.

Snark, snark, snark.

-grendel drago

Wow

[Tufriast]

I don't even know why companies bother making proprietary formats anymore. Games are games, and systems are systems. They get hacked so fast now it's almost a waste of money to bother layer on the security. Unless they can 100% control the H/W from being taken apart, or the code being looked at - it should just be open source. I think using an obscure ISO standard is a joke as well. If it's a format anything outside of a self-invented multi-layered security device - it's gonna be blown open.

yay!!!

[mangus_angus]

Now I just have to download the games, run down to my local best buy and buy a UMD burn.......er...ummm never mind.

Re:Mobile Gaming

[acvh]

The PSP is absolutely a good handheld gaming device. The screen is gorgeous, the games (I have Wipeout, Lumines and Mercury) are eminently playable and enjoyable. I chose those games because I wanted something I could pick up, play for a short time, and put down again. RPGs and the like demand a longer time investment than I have available to me.

It came with Spiderman2, I watched the opening few minutes and it looked great, but I didn't like the movie enough to watch the whole thing again. Apparently you can convert ripped DVDs to lower resolution to put on 512MB memory cards to watch, but I haven't tried.

No, it doesn't replace reading. But it's a nice diversion, and I think it well worth the prioce.

Re:Great. So when can we start warezing games?

[gasp]

History disagrees with you. A flashcard system for the GBA costs about the same ratio, and that doesn't seem to be a barrier. Forking over the cost of 4 games to pirate dozens is often a no-brainer for the less ethically-challenged.

They Posted the ISOs? *shakes head*

[ewhac]

Are these people completely stupid? What on earth possessed them to publish the fscking ISOs? If there's a clearer way of establishing a case of copyright infringement, I can't think of it.

Let me be clear: I am no fan of the current copyright regime, since it's at loggerheads with the fundamental nature of computers. The DMCA is an especially execrable piece of... legislation. But by publishing the ISOs to games, the people behind this reverse-engineering effort are almost immediately discrediting the value of their good work. Sony will calmly stand before a judge and say, "See? There's no academic or social or Fair Use argument here. Upon successfully bypassing our security regime, the very first thing these criminals did was copy and publish the games. We therefore ask for a permanent injunction."

Posting the ISOs was completely unnecessary. Now that the discs are (apparently) readable, anybody interested in reverse-engineering the games themselves could just as easily bought their own copy and worked from that.

I expect this to end poorly...

Schwab

Re:Great. So when can we start warezing games?

[GutBomb]

I can't see many people forking over that much for a memory stick when the legit copies of the games are that much cheaper.

I can buy every game currently available and all games that will ever come out for the PSP for a total price of $200?

$200 for every game currently released and every game to be released in the future is quite a bargain. sure you can only have 1 game on the memory stick at once, but you can have an entire library of games on your hard drive that you can copy onto the memory stick one at a time.

not that i would pirate software... no way... not me...

Re:Still can't download games

[radish]

Just as a clarification - the PSP already supports playing games from sticks, it's just that no-one has released one yet. I'm guessing there's some packaging and signing that has to happen rather than just mounting an ISO.

Re:They Posted the ISOs? *shakes head*

[goldspider]

"Posting the ISOs was completely unnecessary. "

Unless, of course, that was their (sole) intent all along. Pretending that these people don't exist, or are few and far between, isn't going to make it so.

Re:Wait for it...

[jericho4.0]

I think Sony will be madder than that. From TFA, it appears that Paradox not only showed how to read the UMB, he also distributed several games in ISO format.

That was totally unnecessary, and moves from hacking into piracy. Ethical arguments about piracy aside, it would have been cooler to let the first script kiddie who figures out your crack upload warez.

Re:The worst assignment (Part II)

[Anonymous Coward]

This should really read:

PHB: "Make us an uncrackable format that your average consumer won't be able to crack."

You: "Ok. But, there will be a small percentage of people who will be able to crack it."

Three months later, most consumers still have no clue (or don't care) and continue merrily along their way.

This is the reality, my friend.

A bit of a rant on UMD's

[tkrotchko]

Sony is being dumb with the UMD format.

Here they have a device which for most users will ancillary to their home or laptop DVD player. So people would buy these things as travelling movies.

I assumed the movies would be in the $8-14 dollar range.

Nope. Full price, and in most cases *more* than the DVD.

Now, I'm not a marketing expert, but if I were sony, I'd drop the price to $8 for UMD movies, I'd throw them into the box along with the DVD ("Buy the DVD and get the UMD for free!!!"). Get the format established.

Nobody will buy UMD's at $23, yet that's the price. And if nobody will buy them, Sony can't get the format established. Which means nobody will commit to the format.

I guess they're just too smart for me over at Sony marketing.

Great!

[punkrockguy318]

Oh great! Now I need three copies of Spiderman 2 for each device in my house! A VHS for my old TV, a DVD for my other television with a DVD player, and now I need to buy another copy of it for my PSP! Joy, I love buying the same product three times!

But really, can we decide on one format, instead of pumping out a new format for every single device?

Re:A bit of a rant on UMD's

[Abcd1234]

You must remember, though, that one of the reasons to go with a proprietary format is to curb piracy. Using something like CF means piracy is incredibly easy, as media readers and writers are universally available. The only solution is encryption, but that can be got around with a mod-chip. A proprietary media format solves that problem, as writers are simply non-existant, meaning large-scale piracy is virtually impossible.

Re:Lumines is already playable

[fr0dicus]

Apart from the trance-like mix of music from the same sonic creator as Rez of course, half the point of the game.

Re:Mobile Gaming

[Doomstalk]

The concept of "juvenile" vs. "adult" games really drives me nuts. What, exactly, makes running over a guy in GTA so much better than hopping on a goomba in Mario Bros.? If it's fun, it's fun. Oh, and if you want to see juvenile, check out God of War. Great game, I know. But did it really need to have you mash buttons to have sex with polygon women? If this is what "mature" gaming means, why don't I just eschew the expensive hardware and games, and just borrow some middle schooler's notebook. The doodles of big breasted women therein should be effectively the same thing, and I won't even tire out my thumb.