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Hacking the PS4 / PS5 Through the PS2 Emulator

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Re: Hacking the PS4 / PS5 Through the PS2 Emulator

#71

Post by Asooka »

morsch wrote: post #68
Cyph0n wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You underestimate the impact of piracy in developing countries. It’s true that almost no one bought games at full price, so Sony was only seeing unit sales. However, once these countries developed further and the people who grew up with PS consoles started to make more money, guess which consoles and games these people decided to buy? Hint: it wasn’t Xbox! Long story short, easy access to piracy was a gateway to futu…

About 130 of 160 million PS2s were sold in North America, Europe and Japan. Developing countries don't appear to be a significant market for the console. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_2_sales

"developing countries" in that context are places like the former soviet union, i.e. half of Europe at the time, or latin america. The hardware was hella expensive, but with several months of savings it was possible. The games were a different matter. You were basically buying imports from the other end of the continent with all the shipping and customs taxes that incurs. Piracy was what drove people's buying decisions.

Re: Hacking the PS4 / PS5 Through the PS2 Emulator

#72

Post by selfhoster11 »

numpad0 wrote: post #64
pdntspa wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We need to get past this idea that IP holders have any say over their work once it is in the hands of the public. Information wants to be free!

From the Berne Convention, Article 6 bis , Moral Rights: > (1) Independently of the author's economic rights, and even after the transfer of the said rights, the author shall have the right to claim authorship of the work and to object to any distortion, mutilation or other modification of, or other derogatory action in relation to, the said work, which would be prejudicial to his honor or reputation. Ref: https://wi…

Yes, because the Berne convention is a beacon of moral virtue to be respected in all possible ways.

Re: Hacking the PS4 / PS5 Through the PS2 Emulator

#73

Post by 2000UltraDeluxe »

yamtaddle wrote: post #29
babypuncher wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> something which was a way bigger deal than the transition from DVD to Blu-Ray. I always find that interesting, because to my eyes the quality jump from DVD to Blu-Ray is the biggest we've ever seen (and likely ever will see) in home video formats, way bigger than the move from VHS to DVD. I don't think DVD has aged particularly well, especially in a world of non-interlaced digital flat panel displays. A properly ma…

The difference between blu-ray and dvd was barely perceptible—if at all—on most people's TVs, when they came out, while DVDs were plainly much better than VHS on any non-tiny TV manufactured in the 10+ years before they came out, is part of why DVDs made a bigger splash, I think. Also, DVDs were fundamentally very different from VHS, while Blu-Ray is just the same thing but incrementally better (yes, I know it's pret…

> The difference between blu-ray and dvd was barely perceptible—if at all—on most people's TVs, when they came out, while DVDs were plainly much better than VHS on any non-tiny TV manufactured in the 10+ years before they came out, is part of why DVDs made a bigger splash, I think.

This. DVD arrived back in the CRT-era when most screens were both smaller and had lower resolution than modern screens. When Blu-ray hit the market, 32"+ flatscreens had started to become mainstream.

If you try watching a Bluray on a 24" CRT TV then you'd hardly notice the difference when comparing to a high-quality DVD release.

Re: Hacking the PS4 / PS5 Through the PS2 Emulator

#74

Post by boomboomsubban »

Sunspark wrote: post #57
joshschreuder wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As mentioned in the article, it's sacred to the highest tier of PlayStation's new subscription service, so they won't remove it.

A service can change at any time. OtherOS came with the system in the box, and Sony tore it out after consumers had already purchased the system. A subscription service, they can just end it and refund people's money and call it a day. It's absolutely not set in stone. Unless they decide the revenue from the highest tier is worth leaving it in place. To be determined.

They also lost a class action lawsuit over OtherOS, needing to pay people that used it $55.

With PS2 emulation, I suspect far more people do use it and it would be much, much easier to prove you used it. This could lead to a huge settlement against them.

Re: Hacking the PS4 / PS5 Through the PS2 Emulator

#75

Post by boltzmann-brain »

morsch wrote: post #68
Cyph0n wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You underestimate the impact of piracy in developing countries. It’s true that almost no one bought games at full price, so Sony was only seeing unit sales. However, once these countries developed further and the people who grew up with PS consoles started to make more money, guess which consoles and games these people decided to buy? Hint: it wasn’t Xbox! Long story short, easy access to piracy was a gateway to futu…

About 130 of 160 million PS2s were sold in North America, Europe and Japan. Developing countries don't appear to be a significant market for the console. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_2_sales

This is heavily skewed. If you lived in Eastern Europe it was customary to drive down to Germany to buy PS1/2 because they were much cheaper there. I know several people who started their retail business just by bringing back car loads of PS2's. One guy even got a mocking nickname (something like "playstation") that stuck with him for decades after when he moved on to selling HiFi and AV out of his store.

I absolutely assure you no one, ever, bought original games in those countries. Especially not the (relatively) rich who could afford them.

DVD playback wasn't a selling point. No one had DVDs back then. Everyone watched xvid on their PC. That was the only way to obtain digital movies. DVD stores were very minimal and saw no attention. Rentals were mostly VHS.

Re: Hacking the PS4 / PS5 Through the PS2 Emulator

#76

Post by trhw4563 »

Cyph0n wrote: post #44
1970-01-01 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

PS2 was dominant because it had great games, backward compatibility (for awhile) and was also a DVD player. The piracy angle didn't affect sales, despite what Sony says.

You underestimate the impact of piracy in developing countries. It’s true that almost no one bought games at full price, so Sony was only seeing unit sales. However, once these countries developed further and the people who grew up with PS consoles started to make more money, guess which consoles and games these people decided to buy? Hint: it wasn’t Xbox! Long story short, easy access to piracy was a gateway to futu…

That's me. As a kid 15+ years ago, buying a video game for PS2 was ridiculously expensive. I was buying cheaper copies from local "distributors", then I eventually got Internet connection and learned to download them myself. I did buy a PS4 a few years ago and purchased a few games - which does not sound like much, but I basically have 0 time for that now, but if I did have time, it would not be PC, Xbox, it would be PlayStation. If it was just for the exclusive titles. God of War was one of my favorite games and I was happy to play its recent continuation (though I only had the time to finish like 1/3 of the story, I really enjoyed it).

I also bought PS3 before Hotz by the way. Over the span of 2 years I bought like 3 games I cared about the most, that's all I could afford with the money I had available as a kid. After the jailbreak I had some 20 titles.

Re: Hacking the PS4 / PS5 Through the PS2 Emulator

#77

Post by kotaKat »

Sunspark wrote: post #53

I wonder if Sony is now going to rip out the PS2 emulator. They've removed features before. They tore OtherOS out of the PS3. I don't see PS2 compatibility as being sacred to the PS5.

They also ripped the user-facing Web browser out of the PS5 because "zomg Webkit exploits", despite leaving in web browser features like the online user guides, social media linking, etc, that could all still be used to the same conclusion.

(I'm frustrated over this because as an ISP employee that has to answer to 'slow device speed' complaints, we try to speedtest from the device, and the built-in PSN speed test is woefully low compared to a browser-based test proving our network isn't to blame.)

Re: Hacking the PS4 / PS5 Through the PS2 Emulator

#78

Post by Cyph0n »

morsch wrote: post #68
Cyph0n wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You underestimate the impact of piracy in developing countries. It’s true that almost no one bought games at full price, so Sony was only seeing unit sales. However, once these countries developed further and the people who grew up with PS consoles started to make more money, guess which consoles and games these people decided to buy? Hint: it wasn’t Xbox! Long story short, easy access to piracy was a gateway to futu…

About 130 of 160 million PS2s were sold in North America, Europe and Japan. Developing countries don't appear to be a significant market for the console. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_2_sales

A console being sold in a country doesn’t mean it was bought to be used there. Many travelers and immigrants brought consoles back home for family.

Re: Hacking the PS4 / PS5 Through the PS2 Emulator

#79

Post by Cyph0n »

trhw4563 wrote: post #76
Cyph0n wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You underestimate the impact of piracy in developing countries. It’s true that almost no one bought games at full price, so Sony was only seeing unit sales. However, once these countries developed further and the people who grew up with PS consoles started to make more money, guess which consoles and games these people decided to buy? Hint: it wasn’t Xbox! Long story short, easy access to piracy was a gateway to futu…

That's me. As a kid 15+ years ago, buying a video game for PS2 was ridiculously expensive. I was buying cheaper copies from local "distributors", then I eventually got Internet connection and learned to download them myself. I did buy a PS4 a few years ago and purchased a few games - which does not sound like much, but I basically have 0 time for that now, but if I did have time, it would not be PC, Xbox, it would be…

Very similar story to mine haha! I started off with a modchipped PS1, and was only able to buy titles from PS3 onwards.

Re: Hacking the PS4 / PS5 Through the PS2 Emulator

#80

Post by Cyph0n »

dizhn wrote: post #66
Cyph0n wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You underestimate the impact of piracy in developing countries. It’s true that almost no one bought games at full price, so Sony was only seeing unit sales. However, once these countries developed further and the people who grew up with PS consoles started to make more money, guess which consoles and games these people decided to buy? Hint: it wasn’t Xbox! Long story short, easy access to piracy was a gateway to futu…

I agree with what you're saying but I would not exclude Xbox. They were also hacked to play ripped games.

Thanks for noting that. My experience growing up in the Middle East was very skewed towards Sony consoles.
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