Alert! With the PSP Go slated for an October release and PSP-2000s being phased out, the mad grab for PSP consoles ready to run homebrew applications are dwindling. Break the piggy bank, its time to get a PSP is now!
Like an economics student would tell you, if supply were to fall while demand remains constant or rises, the price of a product would inevitably rise accordingly. With the PSP it is no different. At the moment, a shortage is expected especially when it comes to sourcing consoles that come with an inbuilt firmware that is ready for homebrew. The word on the street is that newer batches of PSP-3000s would come with a firmware that would not allow users to downgrade it.
As of writing, the latest PSP version is 5.50 and with the PSP Go no less than 3 months away, newer firmware upgrades would most likely be rolled out to support the newer features of the PSP Go as with any new product launch.
Taking the latest iPhone as a case study. The most recent 3.0 upgrade was welcomed update for many except the Jailbreakers. While it did not take long for a new Jailbreak to be released, its creators have recommended users to take a breather and wait for a more stable 3.1 release instead.
With the PSP a parallel scenario could play out. If history were to repeat itself, newer PSPs and the PSP Go would take no lesser than 8 months before a crack is discovered and ready for public use. Although it is in the homebrewers’ interest that a crack is found as soon as possible, the ball is in Sony’s court at the moment.
At present, the current hassle of the semi-permanent mod is enough to drive many a potential PSP buyer away. With the PSP Go on the horizon, it looks like déjà vu when the TA-88 v3 put a monkey wrench into the plans of many a PSP buyer circa August 2008.
We do hope that modders may be able to circumvent the current firmware/motherboard and create a mod which is able to last on a more permanent basis. While it remains a mystery when that day would come, it could even be tomorrow for all we know.
There is no better time to get a PSP, and that time is now.
It’s absurd that Sony is trying to block homebrews! Blocking game piracy is reasonable but doing the same thing to homebrews is unacceptable.
PSP GO ! ! !
they did it right w ps3, by embracing linux….. but for Go…. shrug…..
no offense, but i do hope there is no more permanent mod to 300x series, just feature updates instead.. just think it as little goodwill
, after all, with that mod, it can play all games (alr wrong), so why must go further than this?
I have to agree with your idea of time for buying psp. GO need a long time to have mod, but it will be very unlikely to have mod that able to play downloaded games. Remember, Davee created chickhen for homebrew (not game piracy), while Xenogears and Becus25 created the Enabler mostly, for mobility (easy to carry). GO has the internal memory of 16gb for games, which already covers this purpose.
And if you have tried to participate in psp forums, you will realize most (if not all) programmers are interested in homebrew, not in game piracy. I do think Sony realize this, and this strategy is reasonable enough. After all, those coders are not the pirates, but we are.