Many modern PSP owners do not have homebrew-capable PSP systems. Therefore, when an exploit was found in Lumines that defeats protection in 3.50 firmware, many leaped at an opportunity to purchase the beloved PSP music/puzzle game. Sales on amazon.com have jumped up a whopping 5,900% percent, making it the tenth best selling video game on the retailer's site. Until there's an alternative solution for those clamoring for homebrew on their systems, Lumines looks like it will be experiencing quite an incredible new revival in sales.

[Thanks, ben!]

Homebrew on PSP systems with firmware 3.50 was thought to be impossible ... until now. An exploit was found in the classic puzzle game, Lumines, that allows a Hello World application to run on the system. Users must download a special program, and install it on the Memory Stick. When launching Lumines, the exploit will be taken advantage of.

This is a huge win for the homebrew community. Most likely, downgraders will be created to take advantage of this exploit, which will allow all modern PSP owners to revert to a homebrew-capable firmware. Most likely, Sony has already heard about this exploit, and is working on a new firmware to ensure too many people won't be able to take advantage of this flaw.

[Update: Now included a video, via MAXCONSOLE]
[Thanks, Merc25!]

Every Saturday, PSP Fanboy will answer your burning questions. If you have a question for the team, send an e-mail to andrew @ pspfanboy.com with the subject "Ask PSP Fanboy."

Q: With news of the recent "Hello World" N00bz exploit for 2.81-3.03 PSPs, word is that an un-patched version of GTA: Liberty City Stories will be required for the future downgrader. How can I explicitly tell an un-patched GTA:LCS from a patched one?
A: Hope this image from DCEmu helps:


The unpatched version seems to feature different pictures. As a general rule of thumb, you'll have to look for the oldest copies you can find, so they'll most likely be used. When you pop in the disc, make sure the game offers a 2.0 firmware upgrade, not anything higher. Good luck.

See more questions after the break.

A public message announcement from the PSP Fanboy team: Stop asking if you can downgrade your system. Currently, downgraders only work for PSPs with firmware 2.80 or below. Constantly leaving comments about downgrading from 3.03 will not get responses.

So, what are you supposed to do then? N00bz, "homebrew without a clue," answers some of your burning questions. They note a few key points: there is a "kernel mode exploit" in all PSPs, up to version 3.03, that seems to be unchanged. Once a "user-mode exploit" can be found, it will be theoretically possible to run homebrew on all PSPs--even downgraders should work.

But when will this happen? Who knows. Certainly, there are hard-working homebrew coders trying to find exploits in all of Sony's latest. However, N00bz recommends that if you're ever serious about switching over to homebrew, you should stop upgrading your PSP altogether. 3.04 or whatever future firmware upgrade Sony releases will most likely address these exploits; and it should be much easier to run exploits on 2.81 versus 3.03. There's no guide as to when the homebrew community will release something, but we advise you: please be patient. Personally, I'll keep upgrading to Sony's official firmware because I actually like playing legal games.

[Update 1: Looks like I offended a few of you with my overly bitter comment. I'd like to apologize to those of you that do actually use your homebrew PSPs in a legit manner. As an acknowledgement of the harsh tone I took, I will not delete the comment. Sorry to those that were offended: you are clearly upstanding in an industry where many people take game developers for granted.]

Homebrew can be a little confusing and intimidating. So, I guess it's a little understandable when tons of confused people write comments in the blog, having absolutely no idea what the latest libtiff exploit does. Sure, they could've read the article, or even the helpful comments, but remember: I'm at your service. While I could explain again that the Hello World demo is just a demonstration of the potential of homebrew running on 2.0+ PSPs, I'll let this cosplaying pirate from PSP Hacking 101 explain it all. Arg, everybody likes pirates, matey!

In other news, according to PSP Fanboy reader craig, a downgrader for 2.71 should be coming some time soon today or tomorrow. Check PSP Fanboy regularly to see the latest news!

[Via QJ]

The battle between the homebrew community and Sony has been a long, bloody fight. With Sony finally playing the legal card against homebrewers, PSP 3D takes a retrospective look at the history of Sony's struggle. They claim that Sony has been getting more desperate, and a bit angrier, as seen by this quote from a Sony programmer: "Overall it's [homebrew] frowned on. Our tech guys have gotten madder and madder lately, and it does void your warranty."

The complete article has tons of interesting tidbits. Of particular interest is the infamous GTA exploit which allowed for homebrew to be run even with the most recent firmware release during that time:

"The GTA hack operated in a way which utilized the game's in-game SYSCALLs (system calls) in order to run arbitrary code. This is why kernal (full PSP hardware/software IO access) mode via the hack was impossible; you are only allowed to code as much as the SYSCALLs availability, therefore, advanced SYSCALLs, like those for VSH (update mode) or kernal mode were unavailable for use, simply because GTA: LCS didn't utilize them. This fact brought upon the problem of concern for Sony's engineers. They'd have to release a firmware update which jumbles up the method of loading SYSCALLs in order to prevent homebrew from being loaded. Not easy stuff, really, especially when you need to maintain the working status of all the retail UMD games already released and sold."

[Via PlayStation.com boards]