Vita HBL, how the release will happen
As the release of the PS Vita in the US and the EU gets closer, I’m getting an increasing amount of requests from people about HBL on the vita. I did post a FAQ a few weeks ago, but people still seem to have questions. When will it be released? Will it allow to run PSP isos? Will it work with a demo like for the patapon 2 exploit? Does it support this or that homebrew? etc…
Let me try to answer some of these questions, with more up-to-date answers.
First of all, the easy ones: VHBL (that’s the super new cool name of HBL on the Vita, I’ll let you guess what the V means, I know, I’m super original) will not support loading PSP isos. Basically VHBL will have the same limitations and features as HBL on the PSP, and, last time I checked, running psp isos was not possible through HBL. The same HBL limitations apply to compatible homebrews. In a general way, user mode homebrews should work for the most part, while homebrews that require kernel access will not work. For now (but that could change), homebrews requiring network access might not work (or at least, the network part of them will not work). Like in the patapon exploit era, it is possible, depending on the success of VHBL, that we progressively increase compatibility if we (as a community) keep improving the HBL code in the weeks following the release. Oh, and I am talking about PSP homebrews, running in HBL within the PSP emulator. So, for now, don’t dream about a full speed N64 or psp2 emulator. What we’ll get are the PSP homebrews that you already know.
Second, the vulnerability we rely on to run VHBL is a vulnerability in a PSP full Game, not a Demo. This means you will have to buy that game on the PSN in order to run VHBL (just like in the good old days of GTA:LCS for the first eLoader on the PSP). This also means that as soon as we reveal the name of that game, Sony can probably remove it from the PSN and/or patch it.
This leads to the most asked question: when and how will this be released? Well, I have a basic idea on how the release will happen. Nothing spectacular but it should hopefully be enough to guarantee that people who are really motivated in getting their hands on HBL on their Vita will get it. I’m hoping that constantly reminding people that this doesn’t allow the to run any pirated content will attract the right people to this exploit, and not the 95% of pirates that define any console hacking scene these days 🙂
In the past weeks I’ve been polishing the release process, and I can’t predict the future, but hopefully it will go well.
Nevertheless, getting access to this exploit for you guys will be a matter of being at the right place, at the right time.
For now I’m thinking Sony’s reaction wil be to remove the game from the PSN within 24h of the public announcement. Worst case scenario, Sony is already aware of the vulnerability and have already patched the game. This is unfortunately not something I can test without getting any more guinea pigs… these guinea pigs will basically be you when the release happens, I can’t really do any better than that. Obviously, the release will not happen like your typical hack release (a dramatic article on every news site of the planet copying the hacker’s initial blog post). It will be, I expect, a bit more subtle than that.
Anyways, I added a page on this blog where the VHBL downloads will be available, so if you’re waiting for HBL on your Vita, just check that page (and our /talk forums) regularly for updates.
Hey Wololo you can now transfer us and uk games to the vita as I have just sent over the grand theft autos etc to my UK psn account on my import vita so are you going to check if it works on both US and EU soon?
Wololo!, U.s Ps Store for the PsVita is Up, I just downloaded some games for it last night around 8-9pm
Thanks for the info. I’m away from my Vita for a week or so, so it might take time for me to test. However, I don’t plan to buy the game in every store, I’m not made of money, I can’t really afford to buy the same game 4 times just for the sake of homebrew.
U.s Ps Store for the PsVita is Up, I just downloaded some games for it last night around 8-9pm
Sony just makes me sad these days. I’m gonna buy a PSV, but I’m disappointed it has no UMD drive. I have quite a PSP library of UMD games, and I want to be able to play them on the PSV, not have to carry around a PSV AND a PSP. Sony has some *** idea to release some registration program that lets users register their UMD games, but then they have to download the games at a DISCOUNTED PRICE. Sony wants us to pay TWICE for our games. I’m gonna wait until there’s an ISO hack for the PSV, then use the PSP ISO maker to convert my UMDs into ISOs to play on the PSV.
Sorry for the double post and I know, I just wanted to inform you that the store was up
Hi. About loading PSP backups, would it be possible to use the new Fake NP 1.0 (with 6.60 support) from tpu to pack them? Just a guess: after all, the eboot which was made through the fake np doesn’t require a kernel mode, so that would possibly work with the current situation. That’s not to feed the pirates, but it can still be worth given a try 😀
PS: do you know if it’s needed to buy again the games that you bought on PSP?
No, it’s not possible (for now) because you can’t copy eboots to the psvita.
And yes, I think you need to buy the games twice.
All you guys on about piracy are dicks, end of. It was guys like you that *** up the psp and made the software devs turn there backs on it. I really hope and think this exploit is known by Sony and they’re allowing low level psp home brew access in order to thwart piracy of the actual Vita games. That would be a good move on their part and maybe make sure the Vita stays piracy free.
Wololo you will be waiting for the official feb 22 release day correct? Not feb 15 when the early bundle goes out? I am still unsure if I am going to use hbl myself after jail breaking my iPhone, wii, and psp, because of the cat and mouse game of updates I find I don’t have the time for, I would rather spend my time gaming, and with this cma from Sony it seems like this will be more time consuming than before, I have too much money spent on psn just give me games, I do appreciate all that you have done for me wololo ( and all the developers ), making the psp users experience better and easier, keep doing what you do, thanks !!!
I can’t reveal too much details about the release plan, just stay tuned on the Vita HBL page and on the /talk forums
i live in Iran which is going through some kind of Domes day and i am in no way able to get anything from psn! so there is no way i can use hbl or anything like that unless it be a demo.
the funniest thing is now the pirated games price is kinda like the original games in other countries(just kidding its almost there 😀 )
this hacking will kill the ps vita, just like what it did to psp.. developers will stop making games, and sony themselves will stop supporting it..
Well, first, that could be true if HBL allowed people to play pirated games, which it doesn’t. Second, the few official games I play, I buy them, so how about you go complain to pirates instead of me? Third, honestly, I couldn’t care less. I like the PSP and the Vita for their hardware, not the official software on it. So, I don’t care if Sony stops supporting the Vita. Actually, my psp has never felt better than the day Sony stopped releasing useless firmware updates that are here only to patch exploits.
The psp never had developers stop making games for it, it just never had many consoles shifted FROM THE START..
We never got many great games over in the west to start with far beyond when it was first hacked and even when it was hacked don’t think that this suddenly changed the minds of all the developers… That is incredibly naive and just you listening to the excuse of why the console failed.
Piracy was an issue but not a huge one like was said, look at the freaking DS… more piracy on that than any other console in existence and even easier than the psp.
The psp failed because sony likes to cripple itself and over in the west we got *** movie port games and the like, over in japan they have the visual novels and rpgs… This is why it succeeded more over there, simple… Better games.
Also their pricing and need for accessories just to play it added to the consoles size stopped many as well and by the time a year or two passed most people I encountered online and EVERYONE I encountered in person didn’t want one because “it sucked and the ds was better” or just “it sucked”
Oh and before you call me a pirate I am not, the only game I have “pirated” is KH BBS because I bought a go and then found out they weren’t releasing it but I wanted to play it on something better than my psp 1000 (oh and I did buy the game too)
^ quoted for truth!
You should announce another game that isn’t the exploit first, then see how sony reacts. After then, collect the data and plan out how to do the real thing.
sony won’t react till it sees the exploit in action… a bit hard to find out what is being exploited in a game without knowing what to patch.
And I think they MAY loose a fair bit of business if they start taking games off their network with NO PROOF of any exploit existing
The anticipation is killing me :))
Hey does this mean we can run user made apps too? such as remotejoylite?
Today is the day!!! I hope I can get my hands or virtual hands on this game! 🙂
50 mins and counting!
btw what do u recommend? a physical game or a psn card?
the exploit is in a PSP game, so there is no physical version available for the vita. Don’t buy a psn card yet though, please wait for more info before buying anything.
Ups sorry about that, i just have my hands on this fancy hardware and its awesome. Btw pandora detects it as an android device 😉
Very excited for this release! With the Vita’s fancy new hardware, I’ll bet some impressive new games/apps can be made (unless the cpu||gpu are limited in some way?).
are you *** kidding me still waiting for the release of the hack and we have the 23th of feb. ? ..-.-
Where the heck is it already?
Hello now I could be doing something wrong, I want to lead with that because this is my first time doing anything with hbl or vhbl. But I utilized the PS Vita Homebrew Preparer tool and preped a DGEN 1.70 Lite package and then installed it into VHBL. I instantly got a crash.
Posted this in the wrong area plz disreguard.
You should have some kind of sign up of email to the the name of the game to. Just an idea.
we already have that, except it’s not an email, it’s the forum. http://wololo.net/talk