Sony Taking Down PSP Titles In Response To Vita Hackers [Slashdot]

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Carlos Rodriguez writes "The hacker community has found a way to make the Vita run unsigned code by exploiting weaknesses in PSP games available for download in the PSN store. In response, Sony has made the affected games unavailable for download for all platforms — PSP and Vita both — even if you had already paid for it and hadn't had the chance to download it yet. In the case of 'Everybody's Tennis', the game was removed from the PSN worldwide after the modder community bragged about the game being exploitable but before any exploit was released for it. Is Sony being too overzealous in its fight against piracy?" http://a.fsdn.com/sd/twitter_icon_large.png (http://twitter.com/home?status=Sony+Taking+Down+PSP+Titles+In+Respons e+To+Vita+Hackers%3A+http%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2FGWrMS7) http://a.fsdn.com/sd/facebook_icon_large.png (http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fgames.slashdot.org%2Fsto ry%2F12%2F03%2F28%2F130253%2Fsony-taking-down-psp-titles-in-response-to-vita-hackers%3Futm_source%3Dslashdot%26utm_medium%3Dfac ebook) http://www.gstatic.com/images/icons/gplus-16.png (http://plus.google.com/share?url=http://games.slashdot.org/story/12/03/28/130253/sony-taking-down-psp-titles-in-response-to-vita-hackers?utm_source=slashdot&utm_medium=googleplus)

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[Berserker]

The problem as I see it isn't that they're blocking these games from future purchase, but that they're blocking those who legitimately purchased these games from downloading them. To me it illustrates a lack of respect for the players, and the developers, and I hope they produce either a game or a refund in pretty short order.

[DOAsaturn]

The problem as I see it isn't that they're blocking these games from future purchase, but that they're blocking those who legitimately purchased these games from downloading them. To me it illustrates a lack of respect for the players, and the developers, and I hope they produce either a game or a refund in pretty short order.

I agree with this statement - if Sony takes action like this, then they should do all they can to satisfy the honest customers as well...

I don't understand these hacking communities, all they do is make it more difficult for the people who make an honest living and purchase things like any other reasonable person. I get the idea of "sticking it to" the big corporations, but there are many ways to do that in a civil manner. Thing is - they will always exist. Is it worth trying to fend them off endlessly or just let them do what they please...

[j_factor]

What Sony needs to do is hire a few people who are experts at that sort of thing, and check every release for possible exploits before they put it out there. Shouldn't be that hard.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Sony is always in a damned if they do/damned if they don't situation when matters like these crop up.

Inaction on their part seems to be as equally criticized as swift action.

While I completely agree that blocking the re-download of purchased content is a negative and should be avoided wherever possible, do we know for certain that Sony will refuse to produce a credit or refund on this game(s) if pressed through the appropriate channels?

All in all if it's for the purpose of discouraging hacking/exploits, it seems like a necessary evil, we know Sony has pledged to be vigilant against people attempting to exploit their network security in any way, so this shouldn't be a huge surprise.

Also, since there are hundreds of PSP games that are not available on the Vita anyway, pulling a few titles from the limited library doesn't seem like a huge deal. Yes, it's a deal, it's something, and it's not great for those who REALLY LOVE deleting and re-downloading "Everybody's Tennis" on their Vita, but, not the end of the world.

[WCP]

I don't understand these hacking communities, all they do is make it more difficult for the people who make an honest living and purchase things like any other reasonable person. I get the idea of "sticking it to" the big corporations, but there are many ways to do that in a civil manner. Thing is - they will always exist. Is it worth trying to fend them off endlessly or just let them do what they please...


Normally, I'd agree with this, but if the hackers are just making it so that you can play PSP games on the Vita for free, then I'm not sure if I'm that strongly against it, because Sony should have figured out a legit way for people to send in their physical UMD's for an online code for the download. Or at the very least, a 75 percent off coupon for buying the download of the game they already own the physical copy to. Some of the most hardcore PSP supporters have HUGE libraries of physical UMD games, and if those people want to play those games on Vita, they have to double dip, which is kinda messed up.

Yeah, yeah... I know that there is no unwritten law that states that we have the God given right to play media that we purchased for a previous console, on the new console, but Sony started this shit with PS2 and the initial batches of PS3's. (backwards compat)

[kedawa]

Hopefully, this leads to a more complete hack that doesn't just run in PSP mode.
Being able to run whatever you want on the hardware you own is not a bad thing.

[kupomogli]

The problem as I see it isn't that they're blocking these games from future purchase, but that they're blocking those who legitimately purchased these games from downloading them. To me it illustrates a lack of respect for the players, and the developers, and I hope they produce either a game or a refund in pretty short order.

When they removed Motorstorm Arctic Edge, they refunded everyone who purchased the game for the amount they purchased it. The same will probably be done of any other title.


Hopefully, this leads to a more complete hack that doesn't just run in PSP mode.
Being able to run whatever you want on the hardware you own is not a bad thing.

But you know that's not going to happen. Once the Vita is hacked, it won't just stop at homebrew. People will find a way to play Vita games and while there are some people who will continue purchasing their games, a lot will just steal them. Nintendo has one good thing going for them and that's that the 3DS is owned mostly by kids or people who don't really look up gaming news all the time and purchase what they see at the store. A lot of these same people probably own a DS or 3DS, but it's not going to put as much of a dent in the market when there are other people that don't know will still buy.

[Berserker]

When they removed Motorstorm Arctic Edge, they refunded everyone who purchased the game for the amount they purchased it. The same will probably be done of any other title.

Source for this? All I've been able to find are people saying they haven't been refunded, and articles stating that Sony hasn't refunded anyone for anything at this point.

[WCP]

But you know that's not going to happen. Once the Vita is hacked, it won't just stop at homebrew. People will find a way to play Vita games and while there are some people who will continue purchasing their games, a lot will just steal them. Nintendo has one good thing going for them and that's that the 3DS is owned mostly by kids or people who don't really look up gaming news all the time and purchase what they see at the store. A lot of these same people probably own a DS or 3DS, but it's not going to put as much of a dent in the market when there are other people that don't know will still buy.


Man.... I'm so conflicted by this. On the one hand, I'd kinda love it for the Vita to be hacked like that, because I'd want to have all my games on my Vita memory stick, and not have to swap game cards. On the other hand, I know that if it got hacked wide open like that, developers would abandon the thing en masse, and it would essentially kill the Vita as a platform. Yes, I'm fully aware of the fact that I can buy all my games digitally via PSN, and not have to swap game cards but....

1. I like being able to sell my old games to somebody else when I'm done with them. (Yes, I would delete the iso image from my mem card if I sold my "legit" copy)

2. I like being able to give one of my old games to a cousin or relative.

3. There really aren't any "legit" sales on PSN. Yeah, you can buy the games 10 percent below MSRP, but who the heck pays MSRP anyways? Target right now, has a B2G1 free deal, which means you're basically paying like $28 per Vita game. Amazon has B2G1 on Vita games as well (some games excluded), and with Amazon, you're getting the games for like $26.66 each, when you buy 3 ($39.99) games under that deal. I can get Fifa Soccer for $26.66 from Amazon via the B2G1 deal, but if I buy it from PSN it's $35.99 or whatever.



So, for now, I'm sticking with physical media, because it just gives me WAY more options as a consumer to do what I want with the item. I want my cake, and I want to eat it to, but at the same time, I don't want the Vita to die an early death because of piracy.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Source for this? All I've been able to find are people saying they haven't been refunded, and articles stating that Sony hasn't refunded anyone for anything at this point.

Motorstorm Arctic Edge was pulled from the PSN store when a save-game exploit was developed to run homebrew on PSP.

There is at least one report of a user who states that they called Sony and got a refund.

http://n4g.com/news/952367/sony-removes-motorstorm-arctic-edge-from-ps-store-following-ps-vita-exploit/com#c-6337124

PJF_Josh
I don't think Motorstorm is going to be patched and put back up on the store. I actually didn't know anything about this and went to download a bunch of my PSP games tonight including Motorstorm. When I couldn't find it, I looked for the email from when I purchased it, back in October 2009, called Sony and they refunded my $42.

I don't think that refunds are automatic, but if that's the precedent, I'm sure if people call and press for a refund on Hot Shots Tennis/Everybody's Tennis they can get it.

[Berserker]

Motorstorm Arctic Edge was pulled from the PSN store when a save-game exploit was developed to run homebrew on PSP.

There is at least one report of a user who states that they called Sony and got a refund.

http://n4g.com/news/952367/sony-removes-motorstorm-arctic-edge-from-ps-store-following-ps-vita-exploit/com#c-6337124

PJF_Josh
I don't think Motorstorm is going to be patched and put back up on the store. I actually didn't know anything about this and went to download a bunch of my PSP games tonight including Motorstorm. When I couldn't find it, I looked for the email from when I purchased it, back in October 2009, called Sony and they refunded my $42.

I don't think that refunds are automatic, but if that's the precedent, I'm sure if people call and press for a refund on Hot Shots Tennis/Everybody's Tennis they can get it.

Thanks Frankie. Good on Sony for at least refunding on request without any apparent runaround.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Thanks Frankie. Good on Sony for at least refunding on request without any apparent runaround.

Yeah. Like any customer service thing ... it's probably going to be a small pain in the ass to get it sorted out ... but I'm sure if you get somebody on the phone and explain that you bought the game digitally it's no longer available for download and that you'd like for them to refund your purchase (and I assume fully remove it from future download availability) they can probably help.

[xelement5x]

I don't think that refunds are automatic, but if that's the precedent, I'm sure if people call and press for a refund on Hot Shots Tennis/Everybody's Tennis they can get it.

That's kind of shitty. It's like if a bank switched all their "free checking" customers over to accounts with fees, but will switch them back and refund them if the customer calls in and complains about it. The onus shouldn't be on the customer to get a square deal, it should be on the provider. (at least, this is how I believe it should be in the world)

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

That's kind of shitty. It's like if a bank switched all their "free checking" customers over to accounts with fees, but will switch them back and refund them if the customer calls in and complains about it. The onus shouldn't be on the customer to get a square deal, it should be on the provider. (at least, this is how I believe it should be in the world)

I don't disagree with the scenario you present, but if Sony intends to put the purchased content back online when they get it patched, automatically doing a refund on every existing purchase would be unnecessary.

If it's temporary pull off the store/download history and a call us for refund on a case-by-case basis, I think that's okay.

If Sony does decide that the game is never ever going back up, then yes, auto-refunds/credits would be good.

[RCM]

I support Sony's right to combat piracy, plain and simple. They're never going to eradicate it, but it should at least be pushed back down to a level where your average seven year old can't steal. It's sounds cliche, but you wouldn't think of stealing from a Gamestop, but some folks are more than happy to download a game.

And at the same time, I do support piracy to an extent. In some cases "it" has helped preserve code, and is a nice little equalizer in the face of publishers who are more than happy to offer day 1 DLC.

I'd rather piracy didn't exist at all, but if it has to it should be relegated to the "hacker ghetto."

[j_factor]

Sony is always in a damned if they do/damned if they don't situation when matters like these crop up.

Inaction on their part seems to be as equally criticized as swift action.

They should have been more proactive. Sony is one of the largest entertainment companies in the world, and they can't screen their products for potential exploits before putting them out? What do these hackers know that Sony can't pay someone to know? You'd think Sony would have learned, after what happened with the PSP, and again with the PSN hacking incident last year, to cover their asses.


All in all if it's for the purpose of discouraging hacking/exploits, it seems like a necessary evil, we know Sony has pledged to be vigilant against people attempting to exploit their network security in any way, so this shouldn't be a huge surprise.

They've already broken that pledge.