Does the playstation suite make VHBL obsolete?
Some of you might have read an interview of me on website Eurogamer, where I said I am not sure I will keep actively hacking the Vita myself now that the playstation suite SDK is available in open Beta.
Recently, some interesting things have been released through the PSS, such as a NES emulator. Technically, Sony are giving us the tools to develop homebrews on their platform, so in theory their shouldn’t be any need for more hacks, right? Well, I believe that’s not true, and I’ll explain why.
Ok, first of all, don’t worry, I did say to Eurogamer I am considering to stop hacking the Vita myself, but if you think about it, it’s not like I did much so far. 3 exploits were revealed in the past 6 months on the vita, and none of them were directly by me. I merely helped with releasing them and porting HBL to them, but I was not actively the person hacking.
My point here, and this is also indirectly what I meant when I said that to Eurogamer, is that for once I wouldn’t mind using my programming skills to create an official game that can make a few bucks. I doesn’t mean I’ll stop using my other skills to help with the hacking of the Vita π
Sadly though, my free time is not what it used to be, and it has become extremely hard for me to make progress on anything PSP/Vita related recently (I was barely involved in the latest Wagic release, for example). This includes both hacking and trying to program an actual game on the PS Suite. I actually only installed the PS Suite, and never found the time to even open the editor yet.
Anyways. I’m not leaving the scene anytime soon, so you can stop crying π
Back to why I think the PS Suite will not replace VHBL, or hacks in general:
Well, first, looking at the NES emulator that was released, I heard it is currently fairly slow, and it will be difficult to make it run better than, for example, NesterJ on VHBL. But the difficulty is not only technical. After all, after some tweaks, maybe that emulator will run at a decent framerate. But the issue is that the PS Suite SDK Beta will end at some point.
At this point, somehow, Sony will manage to prevent people from installing those “work in progress” cool homebrews. I have no clue how they plan to do this, but if my understanding is correct, in order to install one of those homebrews, one has to connect their own PS Suite software to Sony’s server? OK, I might be completely off here, I was on holiday when most of the hype on the PS Suite was happening, so I am not really sure. But somehow, it will not be possible after the beta to install this emulator.
In a way, this is the same as VHBL: VHBL is available to a limited number of people, and stops working if you update your firmware. But I am thinking that in the PS Suite case, even without updating their firmware, people might lose the ability to copy PS Suite homebrews freely (in all meanings of the word) to their Vita. At least for VHBL there is the option to keep your old firmware, also I am convinced that unless Sony does massive changes to their CMA system, we should be able to have more PSP hacks available for a while on the Vita (knocking on wood).
That’s not the only reason. VHBL comes with a gigantic library of PSP homebrews (thousands if /downloads is correct). A majority of them run with VHBL. By comparison, finding games that run through the experimental PS Suite nowadays is quite difficult. We’re not going to get hundreds of games overnight, while VHBL brings 6 years of homebrews development with it.
Of course, once the PS suite gets out of beta, we *will* see hundreds of indie games on the PSN store. They will probably be of much higher quality than your average homebrew, since money will be involved. But don’t dream, you won’t find emulators in this list. NesterJ, GPSP, Snes9xTYL,… these guys run on VHBL today, but you will never see them on the PS Suite. What about ports of games such as Doom? I can’t start to imagine the nightmare it would be to port to C#, and then the legal nightmare to get it to the Vita…
A game such as Wagic would also not make it to the official PS Suite, not only because it is programmed in C++ (not C#), not only because it is borderline legal, but also because the PS Suite terms and conditions specific that after the beta, the PSN will not accept free games, or open source games (check the T&C and see if I lie about this… I’m pretty sure I read that correctly). I’m not saying this is bad, but it will prevent a huge group of good games to ever see their name on the Vita.
I could go on for hours, trying to give valid reasons why hacks in general, and VHBL in particular will still be a valid alternative to the PS Suite. Of course, the main reason is that hackers don’t need a good reason to hack. I’ve seen comments saying that now that the PS Suite is out, there is no justification for hacking. It’s as if hacking ever needed a justification in the first place. That’s a gross misunderstanding of why most hackers do what they do: because understanding how the device works is what they believe to be the game in the words gaming device
yes wololo, when you open the PS Suite Dev app on the Vita, it will ask you every day to connect to the internet to verify the developer’s license (right now all people who installed the SDK have a “beta” license which also must be confirmed), otherwise it will not allow you to run any stuff you installed or are going to install. If you still don’t know, the apps that you have created through a SDK can only be ran and accessed from within the PS Suite Dev app on the Vita, they won’t appear as bubbles in the live area.
also, if you are interested what good apps are being developed using sdk, check this out π
vhbl rulez.
Sony would never allow NES, GBA, etc. emulators because that would also get them in legal trouble with Nintendo, Microsoft, and any other competitor unless they came to some agreement and that would never allow us everything that we have for each emulator currently.
I had hope for Sony with this but have lost it after reading this and thinking about the Suite in great depth. It’s not going to be friendly at all. It’s just the least that Sony is trying to do to reach out to you devs and it’s no where near enough. No free games? Wow…that’s really shady of Sony too. And I doubt that you would even get any bit of that profit off of your games made for the system.
I’m keeping VHBL, Sony. You can keep your pathetic PS Suite.
no point if ps suite sdk not free to develop and at least free to deploy at ur own devices π
it’s okay to pay $$$ when i throw my apps to the market..
I do not know if U wololo understand this or not but your contribution to the scene is huge and that is not because of the things you actually code yourself but because the great community you build and because of your support to the developers who code. This kind of support was kind of rare on the PSP scene.
Wololo can’t you guys not just port VHBL to PSvita using the playstation suite? and Sony will then release a firmware update for the Vita once the playstation suite time is over?
as nice as that would be, afaik no its not possible
Afaik afaik afaik afaik afaik Afaik afaik afaik afaik afaik Afaik afaik afaik afaik afaik Afaik afaik afaik afaik afaik Afaik afaik afaik afaik afaik >=o
lol impossible.. vm =/= native
That would defeat the purpose of the PS Suite from Sony’s angle.
Sony made the Suite in hopes of reaching out to this community that wants better apps and homebrew made by third party individuals, but Sony hasn’t gotten it straight because they want ultimate control which is why there are so many limitations and restrictions for developers that will use the Suite.
Developers cannot upload HBL to PS Suite because Sony would just block it and the Suite requires that developers submit their work to a Sony server somewhere where Sony would not allow it to go any further. Sony has been trying to stop the releases which is why they have taken down the games used to use HBL exploits. HBL allows unsigned software which is what Sony does not want on their system because they’re not in 100% control. That’s probably why they don’t want open-source apps. So no, he can’t just upload it to PS Suite. We might be able to exploit some of the games that come from the Suite later with HBLs.
I don’t think VHBL will be obsolete, until Sony get their heads out of their *** and stop trying to punish their customers for wanting to use a platform they paid for. I love the Vita, but I’m going to use it the way I want, not the way they dictate. Just like I did with the psp, and those who ignore the history of their handhelds are doomed to repeat it.
Very nice Wololo.
To bad you cant enter Wagic in the PlayStation suite because of it being C++ and it being barely legal and stuff. lol, I think I know why I like Wagic so much now. :/
Anyway glad to hear you’ll be around for a bit longer. π
And grate job on the Wagic update, best update so far.
VHBL 4 LYFE BITCHEZ!!
PSS has too many limitations in the development..
PSS has too many limitations in development..
As the other post said sony cares for hardware then programming which means if hackers go on and surpass whatever blocks them from hacking the vita, the games coming ahead for vita from sony will never see the spotlight. As long as hackers exist small gaming systems will begin to die, for example the vita, it has a limited amount of games(vita games). If they don’t sell then why even put out games. Sony needs to give in to the idea of letting a few free games peak in and give more to programmers in order for the vita to live in sony’s hands other than the hackers hands. The vita has soo much potential.
Does the playstation suite make VHBL obsolete? heck nooooo!!!…what kind of thought is that sailor? ( wololo)
The ps vita scene hacking community needs you. we need you. Don’t talk like you’re a quiter man…Or I will tell your mom to spank you for having quiter thoughts =)
Haha, sir yessir! π
So you’re opposed in principle, even though you admit you have no real idea how it will work? Hackers are always full of excuses. Previously it was, “if they’d give us a legitimate route for home brew we wouldn’t have to crack the hardware”, but when they do give you access all of a sudden it’s not good enough because it isn’t free, the hardware access isn’t good enough or they won’t let you freely distribute the means to emulate competing platforms.
I think I’ve made it pretty clear that I myself am considering using the PS Suite for legitimate purposes, but that I don’t see anything that would make it replace hacking in the long term. Haters also are always full of excuses, it seems. I’m merely a blogger these days, as I explain in this article, I am not the one driving the hacks here, and I am just stating my opinion. “Shoot the messenger” type of reaction from you maybe?
Also, “no real idea how it works” is seriously stretched. I haven’t confirmed by myself yet how it will work, but it is pretty obvious that as soon as Sony wants to close the beta, people who want to distribute their stuff open source won’t be able to do so (check in the comments above, where StepS explains how you need to be constantly connected to Sony’s server if you want to copy a file). I’m not saying it’s bad or anything, just that with such a behavior, there will still be lots of valid excuses for hackers to do what they do.
Its okay Wololo you explained enough. π VHBL and Playstation Suite are just tools for getting the most out of our systems.
not constantly wololo, but once a day it requires you to connect to their server π i didn’t try to change the date though
They haven’t given them access, they will not allow free distribution and won’t allow open source projects… I am sorry please tell us how linux, firefox, open office and all the rest of the open source projects on the net are made by dirty horrible scum who should all sell their products.
They won’t let people distribute FREELY FOR ANYTHING.
I posted first about the NES emulator on PlayStation Suite: http://wololo.net/talk/viewtopic.php?f=52&t=11625
I was going to tell the person to search before he posted, but I never did.
>understanding how the device works is what they believe to be the game in the words “gaming device”
well said wolz. ^^
The NES emulator that is currently for the SDK is limited by the SDK itself, once SONY updates the SDK the emulator will run at normal speed. Unfortunetly this may be at the time the pay window starts for the sdk. I personaly wonder how many licenses will the 100$ get you.
Thats a really good question!
100 Bucks for a private developer license is a fair price in my opinion. I consider subscribing one when I have enough free time, but my problem is, if I want to develop something bigger together with others, will they need to buy a license too?
It wont make hacking obsolete, but when an official solution excist to create homebrew, then the arguement about that hacking is needed to run homebrew will be somewhat weaker.
They’re just pulling an Apple, give it time, $ony is trying to compensate for the market they lost & will continue to lose until the PSS branches out and becomes just like the Apple App store.
awww you’re not allowed to release free apps? That’s sort of a major flaw to me; as I like to release stuff for free if possible. I hope that does change cause not every developer is in it for the money.
They say “freemium” will be ok though. Nevertheless, that will still leave all open source apps away from the store.
Not sure if this has been said before but technically isnt it possible for a developer to make an app on ps suite, then get the source and release it to the public so people can use the source in their own PS Suite without actually releasing on the store.
So basically Dev makes an app, releases source, public compiles it and runs on own device?
Here is the thing. As much as I love running my old games on emulators, aside from that this is Sony reaching out and trying to put the power and variety in the communities hands. It’s a tool for small developers to make a few dollars at a reasonable licensing cost whilst providing more variety to the platform. I do wish the model of their store was different and allowed for more open source and free materials. I do have vhbl, but I’m thinking at some point I will eventually just go back to emulating with my PSP and other devices and support the PSSuite community. I personally hope that it grows into quite the opportunity for inspired small developers and that a community builds and backs the formula. Time will tell.
But if so, why would you use Playstation suite rather than the Apple AppStore or the Android market? If the goal is to make a bit of money by creating a small game, why wouldn’t you go where the audience is?
I know this is a necropost, but I believe I have something to contribute to this discussion. Just because the main venue of delivery is somewhat limited at it’s initial release, namely, the Playstation suite SDK, that does not mean that all sony 3rd party projects must be released via that avenue. Although it took time to develop the three major appstores: Apple, windows, and Android, other alternative appstores also sprung up alongside, and are flourishing. Amazon appstore, Barnes and noble appstore, just to name a few. Just give it time. Playstation suite is also compatible with sony ericson smartphones, you never know what can be achieved until you try…