PSP-3000 proving to be difficult for hackers to crack

The PSP has proven to be quite the popular system among hackers and modders of all sorts, but it looks like Sony has turned the tables a bit with its latest PSP-3000 model (otherwise known as the PSP Brite), which has so far put up a stiff resistance against folks' attempts to put it to some decidedly unofficial uses. Among other things, the PSP-3000 has apparently completely shut shutting down the popular Pandora battery hack, and it's even managed to stifle new attempts by heavyweight modders like Dark Alex to crack it open. One modder, known only as Royginald, even went so far as to swap the PSP-3000's CPU out in favor of one from a PSP-2000, only to discover far too late that the 3000's new interlaced video made the entire setup quite useless. Maybe that's one of the "features" Sony was talking about?

[Via PSP Fanboy]

[MrFairladyz @ Oct 30th 2008 8:33PM]

meh im sure theyll have it soon enough... looks a lot like the ipod touch 2g jailbreak situation.

[Vander @ Oct 30th 2008 8:51PM]

They were waiting this article to start hacking.

[E71 @ Oct 31st 2008 9:52PM]

Nobody wants the 3000 series ones anyway... not with the new interlacing "feature".

[whiskey @ Nov 1st 2008 3:02PM]

Hackers hack... Crackers crack!

Yup, those ugly interlacing lines will keep you away for sure. (Unless they also happen to know how to correct that issue by replacing the screen)...

[viern @ Dec 10th 2008 10:26AM]

Now you can CRACK psp 3000! I bought Datel Lite Blue Tool battery yesterday,after i replaced the original battery pack i can now modify the firmware and play homebrew games all the way.. thanks to datel battery it will boot your console in service mode..

[Aguiluz @ Oct 30th 2008 8:35PM]

Maybe they need some cheering to go on.



*grabs some green and blue pom-poms from the cabinet and waves them wildly*

GO HACKERS! GO DARK-ALEX! GO HACKERS GO!

[Mike @ Oct 30th 2008 9:07PM]

hacker colors aren't just plain green and blue....they're BSOD blue and Ubuntu's Desktop brown.

[RainMotorsports @ Oct 30th 2008 8:37PM]

The swap uses the Tachyon(which contains the nand on the slim as well) that has customfirmware intended for a 2000.

Once the 3g components of the firmware are decrypted (something that hasnt been accomplished yet), screen support can be added to custom firmware. But the screen itself has nothing todo with it its the fact that its using custom firmware for the slim, with no support for 3g modules.

This has proved that once an ipl has been written for the TA-088v3 PSP 2000's, and how service mode is initialized on the 3000 that it can be hacked. Dark Alex has already commented on the new IPL security with great detail though it has not been broken yet.

A challenge yes, but it will be done sooner or later.

[jimmyfinch @ Oct 30th 2008 10:22PM]

File: jargon.info, Node: cracker, Next: cracking, Prev: crack root, Up: = C =

:cracker: /n./

One who breaks security on a system. Coined ca. 1985 by hackers in defense against journalistic misuse of {hacker} (q.v., sense 8). An earlier attempt to establish 'worm' in this sense around 1981-82 on Usenet was largely a failure.

[RainMotorsports @ Oct 30th 2008 10:54PM]

@JimmyFinch - Reread my post. I made no mention of hackers nor did i improperly use Hacked.

Hacker, as in the term of code modification.

Once the new IPL Security is Cracked, the psp will be Hacked. The PSP will be Hacked via hacking, the modification of firmware code to suit the needs of the end user. Cracking will be necesarry due to it being propietary close source. In the end both Cracking and Hacking will take place.

[Wolfticket @ Oct 30th 2008 8:42PM]

It is still only a matter of time. If it can run code, it can be hacked. It's just a matter of whether enough hackers think it is worth while.

[Chris @ Oct 30th 2008 8:46PM]

Sony should make the PSP open like the PS2 is, I'm sure it could only help sales.

[Thomas Bags @ Oct 31st 2008 2:49PM]

How is PS2 open?

[htd @ Oct 30th 2008 8:47PM]

I am sticking to my psp1000...

[Zeus.:God @ Oct 30th 2008 8:51PM]

You guys are all so far behind... I'm sticking to my PSP-1000000. Yeah- that's right, the one with a built in 72" 1080p TV!

[Chris @ Oct 30th 2008 8:59PM]

I still use mine daily. The one I got for Christmas of 2005 or maybe 2006? Not sure but I have had it a very long time. Let custom firmware live on!

[austin @ Oct 30th 2008 9:43PM]

well zeus, that wouldnt be very psPORTABLE

[Backlin @ Oct 30th 2008 10:12PM]

Zeus:God:

Don't confuse the acronym of PSP with the television model "SXRD".

[gabe @ Oct 30th 2008 8:49PM]

the psp is a failure - i can't believe they still come up with iterations of this garbage.

dark alex and his CFW's gave little life to my psp 2000 -

god i wish i just kept with my nintendo DS

its about the games stupid

[Melenor @ Oct 30th 2008 9:42PM]

Yes, it is about the games, and when you mod your PSP, not only do you get access to any of the numerous solid games on the system, but almost the entire PS1 library as well (not to mention the emulators that run on the PSP). I don't know about you, but nothing beats playing Final Fantasy VII in the palm of your hand when you're on the go.

[Uncontrol @ Oct 30th 2008 9:57PM]

Failure? Have you seen the sales?

disliked on the internet =! product failure

[Valicore @ Oct 30th 2008 10:10PM]

Well then go back to your DS and play make believe that you and America Ferrera are playing hangman. If the PSP didn't do it for you that's fine, we all have different tastes... but don't think that a product is a failure just because you don't like it.

[HOOPER @ Oct 30th 2008 8:53PM]

I for one have the utmost confidence in the hacking community.

[a ham sandwich @ Oct 31st 2008 12:44AM]

good. for a second there i thought you were gonna...nevermind..

[Anthony Smith @ Oct 30th 2008 8:55PM]

Among other things, the PSP-3000 has apparently completely shut shutting down the popular Pandora battery hack

...


Really?

[John B @ Oct 30th 2008 8:58PM]

Wait ... you can read that language? I've been trying to decipher its meaning for a while now.

[Bandit5317 @ Oct 31st 2008 11:25PM]

So, it's allowed for use of the Pandora battery.

[Nugent @ Oct 30th 2008 9:01PM]

A while back some Sony exec said that they had something in the pipeline to deal with PSP piracy, maybe this is it.

Its just a matter of time before somebody cracks it. The question is, how easy will it be for the "masses" to hack their PSP-3000s? If its difficult, it'll cut down piracy by quite a bit.

[Clinton RRoD sept.3 @ Oct 30th 2008 9:11PM]

are you saying it will cut down on new piracy.

[Ridgecity @ Oct 30th 2008 11:44PM]

He was referring to stop releasing games on UMD to get rid of piracy and everything will be done from the PSP Store. Kind of a "Final solution", that hopefully will work.

[Travis V10 @ Oct 30th 2008 9:49PM]

Thats too bad. I used the pandora battery and it totally made me use my psp wayyyy more! (datel tool battery from codejunkies.com ftw)

[Chris @ Oct 31st 2008 8:02AM]

You can make a Pandora Battery for free.... Datel just uses the FREE homebrew tools to mod the batteries and sells them...

[Ramin @ Oct 30th 2008 10:05PM]

As with all things - if it can be made, it can be broken. The hackers will get to this too, all we need is time and hard work. :)

GO HACKERS!

[John @ Oct 30th 2008 10:12PM]

The PSP-3000 is also proving to be difficult for crackers to hack.

[Blazeitup123 @ Oct 30th 2008 10:35PM]

r u srs?

[yui @ Oct 30th 2008 10:28PM]

Is it difficult for those hackers and crackers learn to use Macro mode in their camera?

[aznofazns @ Oct 30th 2008 10:59PM]

Yeah it pisses me off when people take in-the-wild/unboxing/first impressions/review photos that are just plain awful and blurry as hell. And don't give me crap about them using cell phone cameras... if you're going to post a photo online then make sure you hold the phone still and take a nice shot with it.

[crackp1pe @ Oct 30th 2008 11:16PM]

The funny part of this is that once d_a hacks it, one of the first things he will create is a way to make the psp3000 screen render progressive instead of in the ridiculous interlaced mode. And then I'll buy one. I'll stick to my 2000 model until then.

[Ray @ Oct 31st 2008 1:33AM]

PWND

[Joseph @ Oct 31st 2008 2:03AM]

alternate titles:
PSP-3000 proving to be difficult for crackers to hack
PSP-3000 proving to be difficult for hackers to hack
PSP-3000 proving to be difficult for crackers to crack

[GoCarnivore @ Oct 31st 2008 4:09AM]

Some of us are against piracy 100%, and hate having to haul around 20,000 UMDs just to play a few games. It's easier to put everything on a memory stick or two. It makes the Playstation Portable more... portable.

[ApplePuff @ Oct 31st 2008 6:38AM]

I agree. Plus running games off of the memory stick makes loading 3x faster. Not to mention all of the extra functionality homebrew offers. I still buy games, not all of them that I download, but the ones I get use out of. There are just no regrettable purchases anymore.

Having Opera Mini, PSP Maps, SuperPSPtube and emulators for every 5th generation and below system makes the psp way more enjoyable. I would probably have already sold my PSP at this point if I didn't have CFW. After this, I will never buy another electronic appliance that is not already open or hacked.

[bluecrayon @ Oct 31st 2008 7:38AM]

Wow! didn't realise PSP had so many games, can you kindly list them.

I recommend you only carry 10,000 thats 50% lighter.

[Platinum_Skeet @ Oct 31st 2008 11:20AM]

@bluecrayon


Emulators. You can carry every portable and everyconsole game before the PS1 in the palm of your hands on your PSP

[nxp3 @ Oct 31st 2008 8:41AM]

The psp is anything but a failure, It has a lot of great games. Sometimes it's form factor is too good that it's bad. It's not necessarily the most ergonomic equipment to play portable gaming...but it's no different than any other small gaming device out there. I really like the grip of the sega game gear...it's big..but it fits just right. You can't have it all I guess.

I'm really enjoying my psp 2000, right now there's not much change for me to want a 3000 so I'll stick to the 2000.

[Mega 777 @ Oct 31st 2008 1:33PM]

I agree with you.
So until they find a way to hack it, Im gonna keep my
psp-1000.

[Kagemaru @ Nov 1st 2008 6:34AM]

Yeah psp-1000!

as for homebrew and such I looove it!

had this psp since 05 i think, and i still love it, only thing is that my analog stick is broken, tried to replace it,
but no good, so i use joysense, but it sucks that i cant use the analog and D-pad as one(have to switch back and forth all the time)

[Chris @ Nov 1st 2008 11:45AM]

Maybe now people will go out and buy UM... HAHAHA!

[OWNED BY SONY @ Nov 2nd 2008 7:28PM]

Dark Alex and every hacker is being OWNED right now by Sony.

[viern @ Dec 10th 2008 10:01AM]

Now you can CRACK psp 3000! I bought Datel Lite Blue Tool battery yesterday,after i replaced the original battery pack i can now modify the firmware and play homebrew games all the way.. thanks to datel battery it will boot your console in service mode..