On PSN DRM and piracy

The big news is that Sony PSN games DRM was hacked. Don't know what I am talking about? To put it simply in plain English: downloadable titles from Sony online store are now cracked and can be played on any PSP. Although the creators of this hack made it for the use of people owning downloaded titles (their program checks for licence files when decrypting eboot files), apparently some people didn't bother and shared it with everybody.

You might be curious if I am going to bash them or actually enjoy it. Well, it is complicated. Let me elaborate a little more on this topic.


I really wanted to play these titles legally. I went through the whole registration process on the Sony online store, including checking my credit card information, then I installed some silly program to put the downloaded game on my PSP and when I finally wanted to buy Beats! - I was denied the right to do it. Sony didn't like my Custom Firmware and wanted me to revert to their official one, otherwise I wouldn't be able to play the game. Of course I did not do that, but I was cursing Sony under my breath when waving bye-bye to Beats. This really annoyed me. Why can't I play the game if I want to buy it?

I have written numerous times that I do not encourage piracy. Yes, I do download game isos, but I always buy the games I like. I often carry iso images on my Memory Stick after I have already bought the game, too, in order to cut down loading times (such is the case with Dungeon Siege: Throne of Agony) or simply not to bother with taking UMD cases with me (Lumines and Every Extend Extra, which I play every now and then in short bursts - their images are relatively small).

Nevertheless, while I admit using and downloading isos (I am too lazy busy to rip them myself), the main point of using Custom Firmware is homebrew. The homebrew applications are the selling point of the PSP for me, enabling additional functionality well beyond the scope of what official PSP firmware can do. They give me freedom of choice in what I want to do with the damn device.

Thanks to homebrew I read books in PDF (a feature that Sony might one day chose to implement in their firmware), I repeat my Kanji lists, I revisit 8-bit games through emulators and I rearrange files on the Memory Stick without using PC (PSPFiler, which I have not yet described on this site). My coworker amuses himself with creating music on the go and uses his PSP as a GPS terminal - while I feel no need for these functions, for him they are what makes PSP his weapon of choice. Oh, and one more thing, very important for a Linux-infected mind like mine (coming from poor country counts too) - it's all free.

Hence, Sony decides to punish me for using Custom Firmware by not allowing me to play their games legally. Well then, tough luck, I will do it illegally. Not my call, but hey, as the French would put it: "Tu l'as voulu, George Dandin".

And Sony obviously didn't learn anything after the very similar thing happened with PS1 emulation that got deciphered by smart hackers, making PSN Store virtually unnecessary, since anyone could just make PSP eboot of their old PS1 game by themselves. The pattern was the same - overly restrictive approach, which in turn resulted in a torrent (actually, many torrents, hint, hint) of converted PS1 games. Since people were asked to pay again for the possibility of playing games they already own and paid for, no wonder they started searching for alternatives, even less legal ones (ahem, I am a bit of a socialist myself, I am afraid it shows here).


This time the case is different, but the outcome is even more annoying. I want to play the game they sell and give them money for it, even though they complicate the procedure of buying it to the point where only really devoted Sony zealot will have the patience to follow it. Sony, however, assumes that since I use Custom Firmware, I am probably pirating their games and won't sell me the game I want, trying to force me to comply and give up on my CF. I am not a pirate, but Sony knows better. Hence, the result is that I actually will be pirating PSN games, because I am denied the right to play them lawfully. Paranoia worth of Kafka.

Therefore my final opinion on the subject is: yes, I am glad someone cracked it. You asked for it Sony. I will definitely download and play them this very afternoon. Personally, I will remember to pay for these titles, should I ever have the chance, for example if Sony changes the procedures for buying PSN games, but for now I will be a filthy pirate (Arrrr!) and everybody doing the same thing is fine in my book.

So people, download and enjoy!

PS. Down with the corporations and so called intellectual property! Working masses will prevail! We shall overcome!

PPS. Ahem, disregard that. I was actually born in the communist Poland, so some residuals of early brainwashing might have remained.