PS Vita compulsory Firmware 2.61 is out, patches the ‘Arcade’ exploits
That was pretty fast. It’s been about a week since the public announce of a vulnerability in the games Arcade Darts, Arcade Bowling, Arcade Pool and World of Pool; and Sony’s latest firmware 2.61 has already been rolled out a few hours ago to patch the vulnerability.
There’s no doubt that this firmware update is perfectly useless from a gamer’s point of view, and is one of those “improves the stability of the system” updates, a.k.a. “we’re fixing exploits so you won’t play Mario Bros on our $250 device“. No typo on “our” device here, if you thought you actually own your Vita, think about it again 🙂
Needless to say that if you’re currently using VHBL, you should be using OpenCMA to be able to copy your files from and to your Vita without having to update. Updating to 2.61 would make you lose the exploit. Also, as the question comes reasonably often: Sony don’t patch games, they patch the firmwares. Which means that when the games come back on the PSN, technically they still have a vulnerability, but you won’t be able to buy the games without upgrading to 2.61 or higher, technically preventing you from running the exploit. Am I clear? Probably not, but that’s the way it is.

The Z mentioned on his twitter that the update is compulsory to access the PSN and other services (not all Vita firmware updates are like this).
Hackers were fast to show we still have exploits running in the PSP emulator of the Vita, as shown in the screenshot below from The Z. Once again, this was a quick patch to address the issues in specific bugs, but not an attempt at completely patching VHBL related exploits. The cat and mouse game continues.

Finally 🙁
Gotta update to play Killzone:Mercenary beta!
Kill zone feels too easy I went 46 and 3 yesterday which was my first day playing….
Sorry people.. BUT KILLZONE MERCENARY BETTA IS CALLING!!! UPDATE
But, you don’t even need to update your psvita just to get the Killzone: Mercenary beta. You see, you just have to use your PC and purchase the game at the psn store online using your psn account. Link below for US:
https://store.sonyentertainmentnetwork.com/#!/en-us/home/games
The next thing you need to do is to queue the purchased game by going to your download list at the same link above with your psn account. Then turn on your psvita’s wifi and restart. A minute after starting your Psvita the download will automatically start. It really works. I don’t know if there is a blog about this, I am too lazy to search for it online. But, I wonder why not many people knows about this. Too bad, you must have already lost your game exploit.
why its not working.. i did all but when the downloads is in Queue.. waiting then i went to my vita and open the wifi and restart and still nothings happen. I need instructions. Please
I’m updating too because of Killzone and Ys.
Everyone is going to lose their exploit because of Killzone Beta. lol
We only needed CFW to play games that were better than Sonys games. Now that they’re getting their stuff together, we really don’t need a vita hack anymore.
So once that game is finished your gone cry on the forum/topics to make a new exploit are you ?
I don’t wane choose between playing the newest games being able to play mario bros/tetris …
HBL doesn’t allow piracy, in fact we are ages away from piracy as PSP. So why does Sony need to hunt us down, instead they should give money for doing a better job then them. As I see it, HBL is cross-compatible and can be exported to a multitude of exploids.
Sega and Nintendo are still selling thoose games, y’know (check Virtual Console and one million rereleases of sega, there are old genesis games on Steam, even)? And they might be extremely *** at sony just saying “Meh, of course you can use that emulators of yours”.
Many people have two vitas: one for playing latest games, one hacked so it is not a big issue for them.
Yerp, I just hold onto my old day1 PSP for the CFW.
No, you can still download games from PSN store to your vita without updating. It’s not even a trick. Sony made it conveniently easy for us to purchase and download games without ever updating to newer firmware.
Killzone Mercenary is a *** beautiful game. I discovered that i was playing online without having to update to the newest firmware (?) and everytime i join a game it kicks everyone. i’m re-downloading the beta hoping maybe that will fix it. anyhow, looks like you guys have sony’s undivided attention. that’s something.
I’ve still have my 2.60 vbhl AD game will this update remove it
It won’t remove it, but if you lauch the game the exploit won’t load.
no
Some questions. I accidentally updated my CMA, and now OpenCMA doesn’t recognize the new version. I’ve never used OpenCMA before, so is this my error, or is this a problem that needs to be patched? Secondly, someone already asked – So the firmware has been patched, but if I update I can still use the exploit?
Wololo, this is an evidence that your article is not clear lol
Eh, you know how it goes. When it comes to this sort of thing there are paranoid users such as myself who need things spelled out in Alphabet soup.
Anyway, I can see that I would lose the exploit, but my main question about CMA still stands. The other day, right after getting the exploit, Vita locked me out of Open CMA.
I guess download an early version of CMA. And, how did you accidentally update your CMA? Just curious
I connected to my computer and was stupid enough to update the CMA, basically. Nothing more devious than my own stupidity.
you will be able to use OpenCMA again, if you just press ‘update’ (as you did) and then paste the openCMA files in the updated folder. It’s working with openCMA 5 and vita firmware 2.60 / 2.61
Luckily I’m gonna buy the physical version of killzone, so I’ll be able to report what firmware it needs to be played.
I guess you’ll have to choose whether VHBL or Killzone but I choose the latter. Killzone is addicting you won’t notice you’re playing for hours, what more if it’s a full version.
Perhaps play emulators on a smartphone or buy another vita, oh well thanks for the hard work guys!
I just wanna play my jap vns on my vitas 5in oled screen
im still at 2.10 lol
As for when i update, well, as soon as disage 4 is ported over then its goodbye
And killzone on vita amd ys celta = .<
Yes, I was finally celebrating that I could finally play Dragon’s Crown after sitting on 2.10 for so long. Then this comes and I just know you’ll need the latest firmware to play Killzone and Ys.
Oh the dilemma.
***! i need it too to play killzone. But i think this is a good sign for the future of the system. a really good and adicting game that could make us to think twice about a hack
every update here in vbhl & kernel exploits is monitored by sony … your just helping them to improve their system & help them find on what games in psn is still vulnerable ..
i hope for the best 😀
But when they come with an exploit after the patch means that Sony is still inferior to the hackers. Sure they may work fast but it won’t stop the hackers. Think about many other games that have updates but the hackers find a way to surpass it
Man i bet Sony is laughing their *** off saying : look! these iditos bought our expensive vita to play tetris and mamrio from the 90’s.
LOL!
aw thats a slap to their faces LOL
besides you can play old games that play in vhbl in pc you just need emulator to play it you dont have to wait for a new vhbl exploit
plus theres a ppsspp to play iso games in pc & in keeps on improving
PPSSPP is apiece of ***. Most games won’t even start up.
lol I am not updating my Vita at any cost. I don’t care about Killzone for Vita as I am not a big fan of it from the start. I’m gonna stay at 2.12 and going to wait for TN-V4. 😀
The feeling is mutual here 😉
I am also feeling the same. I wont be updating KZ or another Vita game. I am enjoying VHBL and soon TN-V4 i hope. I enjoy playing “Mario” on the vita. If sony were so good on releasing great games and allowing openness and adding features to the vita, well people wouldn’t need to have vhbl or TN-V, but sony is sony, trying to get the most $ from people thanks sony!! great hardware. and Even more thanks to the people here who brings us these exploits and allows more features to the vita. I would have sold my vita if there was no exploits and stick to my PSP.
another block, hope you’re all happy
For those with PS3’s, can they purchase the games on the console (when the games supposedly do come back), then copy the games file onto the PC using a USB, then using openCMA to transfer it to the vita? Worth a try? :SS
Either Way, I have an in depth tutorial for NOOBS on my channel for the 2.60 VHBL exploit for all the games, its a very in depth guide, along with a clear speaking voice, good editing and perfect 1080p clear resolution 🙂
the PS3 trick should always work, yep.
still working, 1.67 updated to 1.80 from cod game cart, open cma ps3 and pc combo, got the MBA with no hassle.
sources: tested
thx for your tutorial.. but clear voice.? you are speaking so fast without any break.. slow down my friend.. 😉
Hey , thanks for the information but my vita doesn’t seem to care, I’m playing Killzone Mercenary online on 2,60 now 😀
Okay question… I’m currently on 2.60. I didn’t grab the game in time. If the game comes back up on the PS Store, and I get it onto my Vita without updating (for example, by buying off my PS3 then transferring) will I then be able to install VHBL on it?
Thanks.
sure 😉
Thanks. I’m kind of a noob – how would I be doing things with OpenCMA? Will OpenCMA v5 work with the latest version of content manager assistant or would I need to download an old version of it, if so where from?
Thanks
I think several other web site masters must consider this online site as an model, extremely clean and also good user genial style and design, let alone the content. You are a guru in this topic!
What possible advantage can the 3G service have?I ask that as a person who doesn’t use cell phones a lot. I have one for emergencies – and of course when the emergency comes the battery is flat or I have forgotten how to make a call.I would have thought wifi would be sufficient.
i got a vey important question, i got keylogged now i use spybot to find it first 2 times i found cookies with a e-mail adres wich i deleted.the day after i rescanned, spybot shows u what it searches when i looked at what it scanning i saw some names like “goldkeylogger” and other names with keylogg and some “fraude”names but when my spybot is done loading it says that my computer is safe, i think thats kind of weird because i see names like “goldkeylogg” but it doesnt detect it as dangerous
Just be making good gratify. Come again? exactly I needed! I have been before browsing search engines like google the complete day for some correct editorial such as this
i wanted to spend some money, but now.. shame on you Sony!
There were exploits till 2.60, there will be more in the future 🙂
As for Killzone, I just finished playing a few rounds. I am certainly not an FPS player, but holding a tiny war between my hands just blew me away 😀 everyone should try it !
Quote: The Z mentioned on his twitter that the update is compulsory to access the PSN and other services (not all Vita firmware updates are like this).
Well all Vita firmware updates have been compulsory since the the first exploit was released and will probably always be. I’ve got iPhone 4 Jb on 4.1 and can still access the app store. Apple doesn’t care about it and force me to update. $ony needs to concentrate on making it a better product rather than us playing frogger on our devices that WE own.
I need to update only for KZ mercs beta
Screw the hombrews ,will play them on psp
No game release could sway me from getting Total_Noob’s TV-V on GOLOR.
is that when they find an exploit because instead of publishing it better if they know they will always sony patching, better work on perfecting it and make it a separate CFW as well as those used for hackiar the psp, otherwise we will always be the same story you always find the exploit and sony removes it, you find the xploit and sony it off and so on …
If you’re looking for handheld emulation, I think an Xperia Play is a far better choice than a Vita and/or PSP. You can grab all of the *.emus (gba, neo, snes, genesis, etc.) from the Play Store and they’re frequently updated and run much better.
For example, the gba.emu can play both Golden Suns at pretty much full speed with no crashing. Plus you’re not constantly fighting a losing firmware battle that restricts your PSN/Online access.
I’ve seen them go pretty cheaply on ebay with bad ESNs. Or clean ESNs if you’re actually looking to use it as a phone.
if you really want to play retro games i suggest buying a nvidia shield or an android gaming tablet from willgoo they will be selling the iReadyGO Much i5 Quad Core Console Phablet for only 165 euros only 50 pieces in stock so preorder now
Retro games can be played easily on majority of android smart phones and the PSP without the need to hack the devices.
Guys why my ps vita is promting me to update to latest firmware even im using open cma 5 and my pc and vita are both turn off the wifi. anyone here can help me. and also how to install 138 menu, im using arcade dart vhbl
Shut down your Vita, restart it again und set in flight mode. Now u can using open cma and voilà! it works without requesting for latest firmware.
Dude, thanks it works!!
Too bad i need to update, i didn’t even get around to installing any homebrew yet but Killzone is pre-ordered and im needing my beta fix until then lol
I need a beta fix too, but I can hold out a little longer. Does anyone know how to tell if a game from the PSN requires an update?
Nevermind I see it in the forum.
Its not that Sony has a problem with us playing homebrews in the VITA. Its just that they cannot take a risk of an kernel exploit game to be released in the name of a homebrew game. So if they did not prepare counter measures, you guys can take advantage of that and lie which can result in a huge number of people getting their hands on a kernel exploitable game thanks to your lie. Its funny how Sony has Trust issues XD.
Solution: You can just write a formal letter to Sony informing them that they can trust you. 😉
Is so long to get kernel exploit ….. again
As you might have guessed by now, those are rare and very few people know how to find them, even fewer people know how to make something out of a kernel exploit (or have the patience to create a homebrew enabler), and even fewer are willing to publicly release the result.
We all know that Sony is allowing this. They have all the money and resources to patch all these exploits and completely block VHBL from running. But they are playing us, as expected.
Every new exploit brings them and the developers some money and exposure. Seems like a good plan for now.
Okay I’m codiencvn. Let’s put it to action.
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I remember an article on this way back in the early 1960′s I guess. Probably in the ‘Daily Mirror’.Then they used a typical miss UK figure and gave all the vital statistics in metric units. I think they did much the same with food and drinks.No fuss back then, the press and public were pretty much in favour of metrication. Unfortunately the government were more interested in the Atlantic bridge than the UK.
You can still go online on 2.60 just use charles 3.7
Guys don’t update if you want to play KillZone and as well as keep the VHBL! Just restart your PS Vita (While the WIFI is turned off) then connect to OpenCMA, then turn on the WIFI on your Vita and then you can play KillZone without updating.
Picked up a retail copy of Killzone Mercenary here in Gemany, and no update was required for my firmware 2.60. 2.61 Not needed. Game works. Waitin 4 kxploit!
I have 2.61, i’m sc***?
listen guy im a ps vita newbie is there a tutorial for playing downloaded vita games or something i aint got a clue 2bh i came on this page thru google and the comments on hear sound like u guys are all experts any info for a newbie like myself would b gret please i got a brand new vita in the box for my boy xmas presentn if theres a way i can download games n save or buck or an emulateor and play classics that wud b amazing any info would b much appreciated many thanx …bongo ….
Hey bongo. There is no way to play PS Vita Game Backups on a PS Vita. There are just some ways to play old PSP Game Backups on the Vita, but these exploits are found in games which you have to buy on PSN. And then, with every new firmware version of the ps vita, these exploits are fixed.
So this is a hard game for the szene cause of sonys biiig control over the vita.
If time is money you’ve made me a wetaehilr woman.