Poll: Is Devhook a Devil Device, or Divine Intervention?

As I’m sure the majority of our frequent readers know, yesterday saw the release of the groundbreaking application Devhook v0.40/v0.41 by Booster. The good part? It allows 1.50 users to fully emulate 2.50 Firmware, not only granting them access to features such as improved audio codecs, the PSP Web Browser, and Location Free functionality but more importantly making it possible to play UMD’s that require 2.0-2.50 Firmware on a 1.50 PSP. Sounds great… at first.

The downside to this, as many of you have discovered, is that it also holds the potential to run illegally obtained backups in the form of ISO’s. Those of you who have been with PSPUpdates for a long while know that we do not support or encourage UMD piracy, so our posting of this news may come as a bit of a surprise to some. However, this decision was not made lightly and it was determined by our staff that the “good” of this program outweighed the negative impact.

Some people insist that by posting this news, we are harming the PSP Homebrew Community which we have the utmost respect for. I can’t say I agree. With Sony’s current approach, supporting homebrew does just as much damage as piracy does – both keep people from buying new UMD games because we can’t play them on 1.5/2.0 PSPs. That’s why Devhook is a “breakthrough” and some of the biggest legitimate PSP news in a long while.

A very slippery slope, and not an easy decision – but I can honestly say that this new version of Devhook does more good for the legitimate PSP scene than harm. Now we can play great homebrew games like Callisto, and buy the latest UMD games as well. Its win-win for the PSP. Those who would use it for piracy do so on their own behalf, and would do so with or without this program.

So what do you think? Is Devhook inherently evil, brought forth on this Day of the Devil, because it can run UMD backups? Or is it a true victory for not only homebrew and hacking, but for the PSP in general? Make sure to take part in the poll which can be found in the sidebar on the far right, halfway down the page. If you are a homebrew developer, please let us know your take on it as well in the comments, since you are the heart and soul of the PSP community!

As I’m sure the majority of our frequent readers know, yesterday saw the release of the groundbreaking application Devhook v0.40/v0.41 by Booster. The good part? It allows 1.50 users to fully emulate 2.50 Firmware, not only granting them access to features such as improved audio codecs, the PSP Web Browser, and Location Free functionality but more importantly making it possible to play UMD’s that require 2.0-2.50 Firmware on a 1.50 PSP. Sounds great… at first.

The downside to this, as many of you have discovered, is that it also holds the potential to run illegally obtained backups in the form of ISO’s. Those of you who have been with PSPUpdates for a long while know that we do not support or encourage UMD piracy, so our posting of this news may come as a bit of a surprise to some. However, this decision was not made lightly and it was determined by our staff that the “good” of this program outweighed the negative impact.

Some people insist that by posting this news, we are harming the PSP Homebrew Community which we have the utmost respect for. I can’t say I agree. With Sony’s current approach, supporting homebrew does just as much damage as piracy does – both keep people from buying new UMD games because we can’t play them on 1.5/2.0 PSPs. That’s why Devhook is a “breakthrough” and some of the biggest legitimate PSP news in a long while.

A very slippery slope, and not an easy decision – but I can honestly say that this new version of Devhook does more good for the legitimate PSP scene than harm. Now we can play great homebrew games like Callisto, and buy the latest UMD games as well. Its win-win for the PSP. Those who would use it for piracy do so on their own behalf, and would do so with or without this program.

So what do you think? Is Devhook inherently evil, brought forth on this Day of the Devil, because it can run UMD backups? Or is it a true victory for not only homebrew and hacking, but for the PSP in general? Make sure to take part in the poll which can be found in the sidebar on the far right, halfway down the page. If you are a homebrew developer, please let us know your take on it as well in the comments, since you are the heart and soul of the PSP community!