PSP piracy around the world
While many places in the world take piracy very seriously, there are countless other locations worldwide that do not. Many people know this fact already, but it is hard to understand just how much piracy really goes outside of the internet unless you see it for yourself. Recently, I had the opportunity to browse one of the malls in the Philippines (which is a beautiful country), which definitely does not operate the same as any mall in the United States would, but is still fun to visit. Aside from many other things you can buy there, my mission was to get the underground story of the PSP, namely: the services offered to upgrade/downgrade your PSP, the service of loading ISOs, pre-formatted PSP movies, mp3s, and installing PSP wallpapers, which of course, is all done for a price.
More after the jump.
While many places in the world take piracy very seriously, there are countless other countries worldwide that do not. Many people know this fact already, but it is hard to understand just how much piracy really goes outside of the internet unless you see it for yourself. Recently, I had the opportunity to browse one of the malls in the Philippines (which is a beautiful country), which definitely does not operate the same as any mall in the United States would, but is still fun to visit. Aside from many other things you can buy there, my mission was to get the underground story of the PSP, namely: the services offered to upgrade/downgrade your PSP, the service of loading ISOs, pre-formatted PSP movies, mp3s, and installing PSP wallpapers which, of course, is all done for a price.
The voyage started with an always-exciting-ride in a taxi, arriving to the front of the giant mall of just-about-anything-you-want. There were hundreds of technology shops in the mall, cell phone bazaars, PC, PS2, Xbox software, and of course the PSP services. Just to get a feel of what is offered: you have the option to upgrade your PSP, downgrade your PSP, buy ISOs and have them loaded with UMD emulator (and other varieties of such loaders), and get free ISOs with the purchase of a memory stick duo. The prices varied for ISOs, with some stores charging Php150-350 per ISO: the equivalent of USD$3-$7, and the price of a real UMD comparatively USD$50-$60, depending on where you go.
So, with these services offered, I thought “why not see how their upgrading/downgrading process works.” (And I know two things will be asked, so I’ll clarify now: 1. I did not buy any ISOs, and 2. There is no downgrader for 2.01+ on the other side of the world, sorry.) So I went to a nice little shop which offered the upgrade/downgrade service for the equivalent of $10USD. The task: upgrade my 1.50 to 2.0, and then downgrade it back down to 1.50.
The first thing the kind man did was to make sure I had a 1.50, which I did, and then swap out my battery with the one in his PSP since mine was a bit low on juice. From there, he opened up a folder on his computer containing a myriad of familiar programs, all to be run in an automated process for easy upgrades and downgrades, including an appearance from the Wab version changer as well. For some reason, he started the upgrading with a 1.52 update, and judging by the way the files are setup, it is their procedure to first upgrade to 1.52, and then 2.00. Anyways, needless to say, my PSP safely upgraded from 1.50, to 1.52 and then to 2.00. Afterwards, he opened their self-extracting auto downgrader for the PSP (note: a password was needed to run the file), and did the process once again, ultimately ending up with a 1.50 version PSP.
Now that the upgrade/downgrade was complete, he tried to sell me on some games, on which I said no thanks, but they did offer a large selection along with a latest release list. I then asked if they sell homebrew (aside from loaders), and thankfully they do not. Alongside the PSP, the NDS is made its own appearance for ISO loading as well. On another page, they also offer PSPs with different firmwares selling at a different price respectively. For example, a PSP with firmware 2.60 sells at approximately $230USD, while a 1.50 will fetch an extra $80-120USD.
What are your thoughts on this situation going on, is the country at fault, are the software giants letting it slide, and what could be done to have it stopped? Let us know in the comments below.