Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Sony's Playstation Portal hacked, can now emulate PSP games

overkill.wtf

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 123 posts

Re: Sony's Playstation Portal hacked, can now emulate PSP games

#101

Post by dangus »

Zambyte wrote: post #98
dangus wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you want a game console company to sell a totally open console, that’s just a willing misunderstanding of the game market on your part. Even the Steam Deck as the most open commercial console on the market is pretty clever in that it doesn’t stop you from using competing software stores, but you still need to invest significant effort into getting them to work. Getting my free copy of Control on the Epic Games Sto…

> but you still need to invest significant effort into getting them to work. This isn't true for things that actually run on GNU/Linux. Installing the itch.io launcher is as easy as going to desktop mode, opening discover, navigating to the itch launcher, and clicking install.

My point would be that a large percentage of Steam Deck buyers will never even enter desktop mode or do so by accident and leave immediately.

Re: Sony's Playstation Portal hacked, can now emulate PSP games

#102

Post by dangus »

xena wrote: post #96
TheCapeGreek wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>but you still need to invest significant effort into getting them to work This is far more related to their lack of Linux support, and forcing launcher usage via Steam for some games (EA, Ubisoft) than Valve making it difficult on purpose. Nothing stopping you from using Desktop Mode to do whatever you want on the device otherwise.

Nothing is also stopping you from putting Windows on the Steam Deck, Valve even provides drivers for you to do it!

My point would be that a very small percentage of users will ever go through that effort, and the Windows experience is so obviously inferior with its lack of tailored UI that it’s not going to be very attractive.

Valve knows that the lowest friction activity is buying a game in Steam Deck OS and clicking play.

Re: Sony's Playstation Portal hacked, can now emulate PSP games

#103

Post by cubefox »

Nowadays there are so many great handheld devices specifically optimized for emulation, like the ones from Anbernic, that hacking doesn't seem worth it anymore. There are also hardware button add-ons that convert Android phones or tablets into emulation handhelds, without any hacking.

A common problem with those devices seems to actually be that they work too well, which leads to choice paralysis. If you can play anything, any game ever up to Dreamcast or so, it's hard not to lose interest in any one game quickly.

Re: Sony's Playstation Portal hacked, can now emulate PSP games

#104

Post by bdw5204 »

colonwqbang wrote: post #14

What's the market for a (non-hacked) device like this, when the Switch and the Deck already exist? Surely the appeal of a handheld is that you can bring it with you on the train, airplane, etc. What am I missing?

Supposedly, the market for it is people who want to play their PS5 but can't because somebody else in the household is occupying their TV. But that begs the question of why they wouldn't just go buy a bedroom TV instead and move the PS5 into the bedroom?

Other possible markets would be people trying to collect a complete set of PS5 accessories and people impulse buying it without thinking about whether it'd actually be useful. Of course the people buying it right now are mainly the scalpers and Sony likely produced very small quantities to ensure it'd sell out and get them positive press.

Re: Sony's Playstation Portal hacked, can now emulate PSP games

#105

Post by Rudism »

solardev wrote: post #34
colonwqbang wrote: post #14

What's the market for a (non-hacked) device like this, when the Switch and the Deck already exist? Surely the appeal of a handheld is that you can bring it with you on the train, airplane, etc. What am I missing?

I have Logitech's version of this ( https://www.logitechg.com/en-us/products/cloud-gaming/cloud-... ), one of the earlier entrants into the field, and I use it both at home and when traveling, though only when there's good wifi (so no trains or planes). In conjunction with GeForce Now, it's better than the Steam link in a few ways for my use case: better screen (1080p and slightly bigger), quite a bit lighter and eas…

As far as local games, if you're into retro gaming the G-Cloud is also powerful enough to play PSP games at 2x or 3x resolution (as well as anything else you can find emulators for up to and including the PS1 and N64 generation of consoles). I got a G-Cloud around when it first released and still use it quite a bit for both emulation and streaming, though I use Steam Link to play games running on my desktop instead of GeForce Now.

Re: Sony's Playstation Portal hacked, can now emulate PSP games

#106

Post by solardev »

rcarmo wrote: post #73
solardev wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have Logitech's version of this ( https://www.logitechg.com/en-us/products/cloud-gaming/cloud-... ), one of the earlier entrants into the field, and I use it both at home and when traveling, though only when there's good wifi (so no trains or planes). In conjunction with GeForce Now, it's better than the Steam link in a few ways for my use case: better screen (1080p and slightly bigger), quite a bit lighter and eas…

Yep. I got one recently too: https://taoofmac.com/space/blog/2024/02/03/2000 But you're wrong about the gyro input. I have it working with Yuzu -- I am very happy with it, and am running Steam on Bazzite ( https://bazzite.gg ) inside Proxmox.

Oh neat! Thanks for the information.

> running Steam on Bazzite (https://bazzite.gg) inside Proxmox.

Does this mean you can pass the gyro controls onto Steam Link or GeForce Now or some such? I have no interest in retro games, but it would be awesome to use gyro aiming for shooters...

Re: Sony's Playstation Portal hacked, can now emulate PSP games

#107

Post by solardev »

yurishimo wrote: post #61
solardev wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see. Yeah, $200 seems like a great price point for that device and build quality. Too bad it's locked to PS games! Just Sony being Sony, sigh.

It doesn't even play games though; it streams them from your console over wifi.

So's the GCloud, and I paid like $250 for that. At least the PS Portal has better ergonomics, and maybe the screen is nicer too, hard to tell from the pictures.

Re: Sony's Playstation Portal hacked, can now emulate PSP games

#108

Post by Sverigevader »

spike021 wrote: post #42

News like this makes me so nostalgic for the PSP homebrew and "hacking" scene of the 00's. It's what got me into software in the first place.

Same for me! It was like a brick of programming in the face. If I recall correctly, I owe my gratitude to someone called "DarkAlex" on the "PSP-Hacks" website/forum for getting me interested.

My reason for starting with that scene was to play my "backed up" games but I remember screaming with joy when I got a C++ program onto the PSP which displayed some colours and bars. I could change them with the buttons and joystick.

Re: Sony's Playstation Portal hacked, can now emulate PSP games

#109

Post by solardev »

ErneX wrote: post #63
solardev wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see. Yeah, $200 seems like a great price point for that device and build quality. Too bad it's locked to PS games! Just Sony being Sony, sigh.

It’s a streaming device to play the games from your PS5 remotely. Just an accessory.

Right, which is why it's a bummer (not that it doesn't play games locally, but that it doesn't even work with other streaming services like GeForce Now, GamePass/xCloud, Shadow, etc.).

The "streaming only handheld" isn't uncommon anymore (like in the GP: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39436797), but most of those are service-agnostic and let you pick where you want to stream from. The Portal is locked to PS, as far as I can tell... not sure if it even supports PSNow (Sony's cloud streaming solution)?

Re: Sony's Playstation Portal hacked, can now emulate PSP games

#110

Post by davidsergey »

zerocrates wrote: post #3

Why not just sell something like the Portal as open in the first place? There are no Portal games to worry about protecting. What's the percentage in locking it down?

I wonder if customer support and warranty is part of the calculation. If they sell open platform – they will have to provide support and potential warranty for it.

But I guess that most people are not interested in open platform, only tinkers like us are. And if they make it officially closed platform, they don't have to deal with our complaints, when something does not work, or more likely underperforms.

Post reply on HN