A look at PSVita upcoming games that will likely require FW 3.69+ – Is it really worth it to lose taiHEN/h-encore to play these games?
For some reason, our very good friends at Sony decided to release firmware 3.69 for the PSVita/PSTV and that managed to kill h-encore. As usual, newly released games from the next few weeks on will almost certainly require firmware 3.69 so we’ll take a look at what you’ll be missing out on if you choose not to say goodbye to your hack.
What happened the last time a similar situation occurred?
You might get lucky and the game you wish to play still requires FW 3.68 even if it’s released in a few months like what happened in Minecraft’s case (and 3.60)!
Like what happened when FW 3.61 was released, new games will not immediately ask for the new firmware. This is because physical cartridges are flashed days or weeks before release due to shipping. Digital-only games may be updated to require the latest FW quicker but this isn’t always the case. For example, Minecraft (v1.49) kept on supporting FW 3.60 until late May 2017, a whopping 9.5 months after FW 3.61 was released.
Looking at what happened in Aug-Sep 2016 when FW 3.61 was quite new, I was able to conclude that games released a few weeks to a month after the new FW have a good chance of still requiring the previous FW. Keep in mind that FW 3.61 was released on August 8, 2016 and the following were released after that date but only required FW 3.60:
- Alone With You – Aug 23, 2016
- Claire: Extended Cut – Aug 30, 2016
- God Eater 2 – Aug 30, 2016
- Project Diva X (NA/EU) – Aug 30, 2016
- MeiQ: Labyrinth of Death – Sep 13, 2016
Which games are likely to be affected?
If you’re a fan of the Persona Dancing game series, you’ll probably have to resort to playing the Japanese versions!
Here, we’ll be taking a look at games that’ll be released in October 2018 and onwards:
- Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight for EU/NA (December 3, 2018)
- The Japanese version was released earlier this year and runs on hacked firmwares
- Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight for EU/NA (December 3, 2018)
- Like P3D, the Japanese version was released back in May. Sorry Persona rhythm game fans, you’ll have to play the Japanese version!
- Catherine: Full Body (February 14, 2019 in Japan as it was recently announced)
- Death Mark for EU/NA (October 31, 2018)
- Again, the Japanese version was released earlier and supports hacked FWs
- Chicken Range (October 25, 2018)
Sorry Catherine fans, you’ll be forced to play this on your PS4 or lose your precious hack! (Image from Catherine Wiki)
- Anonymous;Code (later in 2018)
- 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim (later in 2018)
- Shovel Knight: King Of Cards (April 9, 2019)
- Other games such as Fate/Extella Link in English which will come in later this year or next year
Some games, like Steins;Gate Elite (JP), Jack ‘N Jill DX and Super Life of Pixel, are slated for release this September so there’s still a small chance that they will require FW 3.69.
It must also be noted that game updates might require the latest FW even if the retail version (usually 1.0) doesn’t.
Conclusion
While there are around two dozen upcoming PSVita titles, I personally don’t think that it’s a good idea to update to 3.69 and lose your hacks. Remember, on your hacked PSVita, you can play thousands of titles via emulators AND dozens of homebrew game ports.
Before updating your PSVita / PSTV, think hard about whether it’s worth it or not because it most probably isn’t!
Are there even any games worth playing on the system now thats been EOL for a while now?
ikr? if they release MH World on Vita, will definitely leave behind henkaku for that lol
no
No, no, no !
Staying on 3.60.
Just use this : https://gbatemp.net/threads/repatch-released-play-any-3-60-game-on-3-60-and-3-65-letmaidie.512583/
Not worth losing the exploit. Honestly people shouldn’t worry. I love my vita and everything it’s received prior the 3.69 update is more than enough.
I’m more than happy to wait for the final exploit that has been reserved for when the vita reaches its end of life.
Also, funny story, I bought my vita when I was married. Barely got to play it until now. So really loving it as I’m having first hand experience on all the games on it.
I wonder if the henkaku spoofer will still let us update games from the LiveArea.
Meh. The switch took all my cares away from the Vita. I can certainly wait for the end of the Vita for either used hardware to get cheaper to play these last games, or wait for another, unlikely, hack. Or just never buy and play these at all. Throwaways and ports, anyway.
The last time I checked there wasn’t even any games that required 3.68 (only 3.67), what makes you think they’re pulling the trigger on 3.69 restrictions?
it will be hacked soon or later we all know… sony was born losing
It’s most likely to happen when Vita goes full EOL (global end of production) in late 2019 or 2020. There is still one kernel exploit unreleased.
I’ve emailed Limited Run Games to see regarding their last upcoming 13 Vita games and the ones they’ve recently sold. I’ll email the admin here if I get a reply back.
Death Mark would have been a massive deal breaker for me if it wasn’t also coming to Switch. I’ve waited years to play that in English
A dreamcast emulator or ps2 emulator for the vita is all we need that would really make me spend hours on it but i’m definitely not updating to 3.69 it’s not worth it.
That is impossible or at least we won’t be getting a playable/decent performance emulating those two on the Vita.
Actually, there is a decent Dreamcast emu for android devices, I played it about 2 or 3 years ago on a relatively weak tablet, so I don’t see a reason why there can’t be one for the PSVita.
just run a babylonjs gulp server with exploit ported in 3D and 3.69 rofl
“Is it really worth it to lose taiHEN/h-encore to play these games?”
No game is worth this. None.
Isn’t Shovel Knight: King of Cards just an update? Or do updates require higher firmwares than games themselves?
Well, it is DLC and, likely like Spectre Knight, it’s own game for the most part.
This is a farce. Sony killed off the Vita. Now they just want to kick the last of their fans in the teeth. F^ck sony!
I don’t play dancing game. So no worries for me.
As for Catherine, I didn’t manage to finish that one on PS3 but no biggies.
Can always get a PS4 ver.,
My 3.65 enso says update so my spoof is now 3.69 and my back psn
I have 10 ps vitas and around 8 pstvs….
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge%27s_law_of_headlines
oh hurry go port me a webgl drupal theme with dat.gui.js.VR
dubbed drupal.VR
so i can blog in 3D about the latest ploit xDD
so i can run the latest playground in a 3D init 🙂
cant wait for the site offline code
and ofc a psvita homebrew cma store :))
or a full vita cma store client for pc
for use with cma ofc :p
electron vitastore.js
LOL what are you talking abot? Version spoofing is works
Version spoofing doesn’t let you run encrypted games from higher firmwares. Because f00d (the unhacked security layer above kernel) will refuse to decrypt them.
but…Fate/Extella Link…oh come on, sony i hate you
I played the JP version of Fate/Extella Link and it worked perfectly well. I think it’s unlikely that they’ll change the NA version too much to demand the new update, so keep your hopes up. .
3.69 doesn’t even have any new encryption keys… It’s literally impossible for games to be 3.69+. A 3.70 may come along later with new encryption keys, but it hasn’t yet and probably won’t.
The problem is:
– We don’t know the f00d keys, they are not accessible to us (above the kernel).
– Even if the keys don’t change, the firmware check still can. And f00d will refuse to decrypt if the firmware is too high. We are not controlling it, so we can’t tell it to ignore the check.
Like I said in a comment above, it’s not just about the keys.
This article focuses on the upcoming games and uses them to try and help you making your decision of updating or not. It does not, however, mentions all the things that you can actually do with your hacked Vita.
People often see the Vita as a dying console with barely anything to offer and nothing more, and would rather invest their money and attention on newer consoles, like Switch. PS Vita and it’s games get more and more devalued as time passes, but that’s because most people can’t see this console’s true potential. Or rather, many never even find out. The prospect of hacking might sound like dangerous or too complicated for some, and maybe they’re right to some point. Thanks to that, many never even consider it as an option, and end up missing all the things that makes the Vita anything but a mere gaming console.
Among all the many amazing features that were born from the Vita’s hack, here are some of the most meaningful
– Customize your PS Vita, from custom themes to the very starting logo (the latter is only possible in 3.60/3.65 Enso)
– Download and play through countless emulators, such as PSP, GBA, SNES, and even Nintendo DS.
– Download and play pirate copies of PS Vita games, as well as their DLCs (if available)
– Normally access the PS Store (tested on 15/09/18 in non-*** units, 3.68 h-encore) without the constant demand to upgrade.
– Make use of plugins such as VitaCheat (to use cheat codes on your games), shellbat (to see the battery percentage on your Vita) and many others to enhance your Vita experience.
– The exploit is simple to install and can be just as easily removed.
– H-encore comes with VitaShell installed, a file-managing app that is pretty self-explanatory. Browsing, moving, deleting, copying and pasting files from the deepest folders of your Vita not only become possible, but it’s also very easy to do.
This, and much more, can be done with your hacked Vita. I doubt I need to say this after sharing this much, but updating to the newest version and losing the ability to do all these things isn’t worth it. Some of these titles might be very interesting, but it’s not 100% sure that they’ll demand this update anyway. If you want my advice, stick with 3.60-3.68 until we get a better picture of what we’re facing or until a new hack is released.
Won’t repatch fix the problem of update req. like it has done so far?