PSP EMU Apps

General Chatter
1

I know that, generally speaking, EMU discussion is a no no round’ here.

But I digress.

I practically haven’t slept for the past 24 hours, as I’ve been toying with all of the PSP EMU applications that have cropped up…practically out of nowhere and overnight…with stellar results.

I’m really AMAZED…no, SHOCKED at how quickly they popped up, and how amazingly functional they are!!!

I guess with all the previous EMUS on PC, PS, PS2, X-Box and GBA…the time that it takes to get one up and running on a new device…that is, a device with something like a memory stick (with built in game booting properties no less!) shouldn’t really surprise me at all.

That’s all really.

I’m not endorsing the use of EMUs or Roms, and I don’t advocate that it’s legal, because it’s not.

2

Well, looks like Sony is forcing an upgrade to firmware Version 1.51 or 1.52 or whatever the current non-homebrew/emu/hack firmware is if you want to play any game releases from July on.

So, here’s my plan, because

A.) I don’t want to lose these awesome EMUs

and

B.) I want to play some of the new games coming up (Coded Arms and Death Junior mainly)

I’m going to give the hacking community a few months, say, 4-5 to get the new firmware hacked.

Each month, I’m going to put $63 aside.

At the end of 5 months, if they don’t have 1.5X hacked and able to play the emus and homebrews, I’m going to buy a SECOND PSP strictly for UMD gameplay use.

WHEN they DO hack the firmwares (or create some other convenient work-around) I’ll go ahead and sell PSP #2. (not to GameStop or EB, probably through personal channels, so I get a good %75 percent of it’s value back.)

That’s my plan.

I know. I know, it’s extreme, but, I’ve got quite the sweet emu setup going on, and there’s NO WAY that Sony is going to take it away from me.

(shakes fist in the air)

And with god as my witness, I’ll never go hungry again!!

(dramatic music swells)

(awaits impending flaming and insulting responses)

3

yea, they are using UMDs to update the system too, there was an updater on my coded arms disc…i still have yet to see a coherent reason as to why it’s getting such bad reviews…lol. But then again, I love FPSs so thats no problem. I do hope they crack it! I wanna play Tales of Phantasia on my PSP DAMN IT!

4

files.pspupdates.com/cgi-bin/cfi … 0,0,38,751

Dammit, I’ve been falling behind on all the PSP homebrew stuff. Lumines will do that to ya.

5

I think that this is going to kill the PSP, same as Dreamcast. People are just buying PSP to emulate other things, download movies and junk.

6

Well, downloadable movies is one of it’s features, but I play the real games on it (just got coded arms the other day :anjou_happy: ) but the emulator wont work on anything but the first jap ones, america’s were already updated… DAMN YOU SONY! DAMN YOU FOR DOING THINGS THAT…DO…STUFF…

7

I don’t think there’s a reason to worry, I’m sure that the PSP emulation scene will be very popular and all the well crafted emus will be receiving updates that work with newer firmware versions.

8

I hope so, I wanna carry around Mario RPG, Killer Instinct and Tales of Phantasia with me :anjou_happy:

9

As far as I know, all PSPs sold in the USA come with ver 1.50 firmware, which works just fine with many emulators.

If you updated it you’re screwed, though.

10

“Emulation = no profits for game developers”

That statement is partially true.

Here is some other truth, perhaps the other side of that equation…

If a game is still commercially available, and a person is in a position to see profits from it’s shelf/internet sales, (read - ROYALTY sales, which are NOT common in the industry, most developers get paid hourly/salaried time for their studio work, and get a paid bonus at the time the game makes it’s initial shipment.) every pirated copy THEORETICALLY diminishes POTENTIAL sales by X amount, where X=somebody who might purchase the game instead of pirating it.

Okay, now, before I go any further, let me say that I do NOT endorse game piracy. It’s bad, it’s evil, it’s illegal any way you slice it, and yes, I’m a horrible human being for using game emulators on my GBA, PC, PSP, PS1, and PS2.

BUT.

And this is a big but, and one which I believe to be a HIGHLY VALID talking point that I hope to get some SERIOUS (keeps fingers crossed) responses from you of the Panzer community, in light of some butting-heads in recent weeks over PSP emulation and how “bad” it is for game developers, game companies, and their overall profits, or lack thereof due to game piracy.

Here it is.

Game piracy = no money for game developers.

BUT…

Game rentals = no money for game developers. (other than the initial purchases of the software, which is purchased at wholesale pricing, often lower by rental services, i.e. Blockbuster, Hollywood Video, Gamefly etc.)

That is, Blockbuster rents GTA:San Andreas 100 times over a period of 4 months at $6.00 a rental. Rockstar isn’t seeing cent one of that money, when they could have SOLD 100 copies at $50 a pop IF game rentals were not available.

SECONDLY…

Used game sales = no money for game developers. (EB, Funcloand, GameCrazy, etc. retain 100% of sales on used merchandise. Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony see NOTHING from the sale of used games, consoles, and accessories. This is a considerable problem for software profitability in certain parts of Asia, to the point that the sale of used games is prohibited by Sony and Nintendo, else the shop owners are not allowed to carry NEW products.)

SO, what is my point??

While game piracy through the use of emulation remains a sticky wicket, as well as remaining illegal…the argument “it hurts game companies FINANCIALLY” wears a bit thin in my book.

Especially when GAME RENTALS and USED GAME SALES are such VERY ETHICALLY ACCEPTED practices.

Not that I’m opposed to either of the above services. On the contrary, I think that they both serve their purposes, and that they do them exceptionally well.

However, for those of you who have waved the finger of judgment at emu-enthusiasts and shouted down from your soap boxes “piracy hurts game companies bottom line profits!!!”

I sincerely hope that you’re buying ALL of your software brandy new. Otherwise, you might want to think about how YOU’RE hurting the industry that you love so very very much.

Thoughts? Flames? Mindless psychobabble?

11

Yea, Shin seems correct about this. I in no way condone the use of emulators, but I do it anyway lol. I only use them for things I have no way of getting. Like Tales of Phantasia, that was a jap only release. I only do it to the 16 bit era though, I can still get things for the 32/64 bit era that I would like very easily.

12

[quote=“Shin_ATproof”]
ROYALTY sales, which are NOT common in the industry[/quote]

Sorry, but that’s not quite true. Developers often get backend royalties for games they develop, though it depends on who owns the IP, etc. Then there’s the royalties that may be due to the platform holder, etc. There’s a lot of money exchanging hands.

I ask you this question: If a game that you have on your emulator is released for the PSP in a retail version, would you diligently delete the emulated version? And then would you buy the retail version? If not, then it’s all just rhetoric :slight_smile:

in addition, the difference between trading/buying used games is that there is still only 1 copy of the game. With pirating and emulating, the product becomes a lot more available (since the original is not lost or destroyed in the process), making the comparison difficult in the least.

I’m not saying emulation is wrong or right, but saying, “Hey, these other things are kinda gray, too!” is no real way to prove your case :slight_smile:

Really, the only way I think you can justify emulation is if you actually own the software, but prefer to play it on a different hardware and you would purchase that game if it were actually commercially available on that hardware.

13

Considering 95% of the games ever released are crap, I would say that emulation is a good way at getting back at the retarded develepors who don’t have an ounce of talent in them.

Emulation is just another means of going through the deluge of crappy games, without paying for them, and eventually finding (if you’re lucky) the 5% of the games that are gems - of course, you won’t be paying for those either…but like all technology, it’s a double-edged sword.

14

I know that’s a question for Shin, but I actually would buy the retail version. I always want the real thing for somereason, my friends burn cds for me sometimes, but I always end up going out and getting the actual cd. I think I’m just weird that way :stuck_out_tongue:

Other than that, you have a good point… I’m getting my mind jelly all confused reading this now lol.

15

[quote=“Abadd”]

[quote=“Shin_ATproof”]
ROYALTY sales, which are NOT common in the industry[/quote]

Sorry, but that’s not quite true. Developers often get backend royalties for games they develop, though it depends on who owns the IP, etc. Then there’s the royalties that may be due to the platform holder, etc. There’s a lot of money exchanging hands.

I ask you this question: If a game that you have on your emulator is released for the PSP in a retail version, would you diligently delete the emulated version? And then would you buy the retail version? If not, then it’s all just rhetoric :slight_smile:

in addition, the difference between trading/buying used games is that there is still only 1 copy of the game. With pirating and emulating, the product becomes a lot more available (since the original is not lost or destroyed in the process), making the comparison difficult in the least.

I’m not saying emulation is wrong or right, but saying, “Hey, these other things are kinda gray, too!” is no real way to prove your case :slight_smile:

Really, the only way I think you can justify emulation is if you actually own the software, but prefer to play it on a different hardware and you would purchase that game if it were actually commercially available on that hardware.[/quote]

I didn’t set out to justify anything regarding whether or not emulation usage was right wrong or otherwise, in fact I said it was wrong.

I was just throwing some food for thought out there.

And, I didn’t say royalties didn’t exist, they simply are NOT common for the MAJORITY of the game developing industry. The guys doing art design, pushing code, and toiling away for hours and hours at a time don’t see profit from the royalties, and at the end of the day, those are the guys I see as the life blood of the industry.

16

And what do you think will happen to those people if whatever company they work for doesn’t receive enough incom from royalties and what not?

And, the majority of the industry sucks so, yeah, it doesn’t matter what happens to it, it matters what happens to the few good developers…

17

Which is why I also said that I was staying away from whether emulation was right or wrong… but your entire post was a justification for emulation. I’m not pointing any fingers, so don’t worry :slight_smile: Just providing counterpoints as usual. It’s just that when you say, “‘A’ is wrong… BUT, there’s point B, point C, and point D that make me think otherwise,” you’re justifying.

Hm… Define “majority of the game industry.” Do the individuals see royalties? No. Is their company’s bottom line affected drastically by royalties? Yes. Every company likely has royalty payments that come in through one source or another. While the individuals may not see X% of those royalties on a direct level, those royalties go to paying their salaries, etc. That’s money that the bookkeepers count on when planning people’s salaries, benefits, bonuses, etc. Particularly with smaller companies, every drop in the bucket counts.

And additionally, every major emulation that gets released potentially hurts future business opportunities as well. Publishers become more hesitant to release classic content (except for Nintendo, that is :P) when it becomes rampantly present in the marketplace via other means.

18

[quote=“Abadd”]Which is why I also said that I was staying away from whether emulation was right or wrong… but your entire post was a justification for emulation. I’m not pointing any fingers, so don’t worry :slight_smile: Just providing counterpoints as usual. It’s just that when you say, “‘A’ is wrong… BUT, there’s point B, point C, and point D that make me think otherwise,” you’re justifying.

Hm… Define “majority of the game industry.” Do the individuals see royalties? No. Is their company’s bottom line affected drastically by royalties? Yes. Every company likely has royalty payments that come in through one source or another. While the individuals may not see X% of those royalties on a direct level, those royalties go to paying their salaries, etc. That’s money that the bookkeepers count on when planning people’s salaries, benefits, bonuses, etc. Particularly with smaller companies, every drop in the bucket counts.

And additionally, every major emulation that gets released potentially hurts future business opportunities as well. Publishers become more hesitant to release classic content (except for Nintendo, that is :P) when it becomes rampantly present in the marketplace via other means.[/quote]

Well, no, I start out saying point A = Emulation is wrong, and I say it first, so nothing else is misconstrued as an endorsement.

It’s wrong and I know it’s wrong, but I partake in it anyway. I don’t emulate or copy new games. ie. I’m not using my 1meg memory stick to boot ISOs of PSP games.

There are plenty of terrible things that people do in this life that are destructive and damaging. People do things that are self-destructive, people do things to hurt others, destroy the environment, and hurt industries.

I was just pointing out that EMULATION ALONE isn’t financially destructive to the video game industry.

RENTALS and USED GAME sales are OTHER practices that don’t provide any profit (or very very little profit) to the game industry’s bottom line.

That’s what I was getting at.

**Emulation is wrong, and most people think it is. Game rental and used game sales are considered by most to be COMPLETELY ACCEPTABLE practices, and probably do MORE to discourage the purchase of new games than emulation.

I mean, think about it…the AVERAGE gamer probably doesn’t know how to emulate games on a PS2, Xbox, or GBA, but the AVERAGE gamer HAS most likely rented games at blockbuster, or bought a used game at Gamestop.

The average / casual gamer probably makes up more than 1/2 of the consumer base of video games.

The tech savvy gamer, who knows how to emulate via system / software modification is surely a smaller percentage, probably less than 1/4, and likely even less than that.**