The man wants to brick your PSP/DS. Discuss.

By Vladimir Cole

A good detective knows that every crime requires motivation. Bank robbers are easy to understand. They want the bags of cash. But how about the misanthropes who release software designed to turn your
Sony PSP or
Nintendo DS into a shiny but useless brick? It has been suggested by those who trade in conspiracy theories that the industry itself has strong reason to release such software into the marketplace. Here's why this nutty theory makes sense:

  1. There's precedent for it. The music industry has been releasing dud music files onto fileservers for some time
    now. They reason that people will get sick of downloading files that do nothing and will instead decide to purchase
    their entertainment legitimately. This tactic easily translates to the game piracy scene.

  2. There's financial motive for it. More than a few gamers that comment on this site have suggested that they would
    not be using their PSP if it were not for the homebrew scene that allows them to play older games (some of these
    games are perfectly legitimate, but the majority are pirated). Without homebrew, players might reason that they may
    as well purchase new titles and UMDs.

  3. There's know-how. Who knows best how to brick a PSP or a DS than the companies that architected it or develop
    for it?

  4. It passes the "what would a pissed-off developer do?" smell test. Piracy fundamentally undermines the business
    model that keeps developers and publishers afloat. If you were in their shoes, would you close up shop, or strike
    back?

Does this conspiracy theory have legs, or is it just too nutty?

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