First PSP game to force firmware update via UMD game

Well we've all heared the rumors and announcements, but we didn't want to believe them. Now we have more proof that future games will force firmware upgrades. This indicates that it does not require an update to firmware version 1.51 or 1.52.

These screenshots were submitted by one of the users, Ekayuth Potiwongvanich, which originated from a Thai PSP website. (click to enlarge)

http://www.pspupdates.com/mbk5_thumb1.jpg http://www.pspupdates.com/mbk33_thumb.jpg http://www.pspupdates.com/mbk26_thumb1.jpg http://www.pspupdates.com/mbk27_thumb1.jpg

We just have to hope that forced firmware upgrades to 1.51 or 1.52 aren't in the near future. The US release of Coded Arms is has recently been delayed, and is now slated on the 15th of July.

Source: PSPHacker

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This indicates that it does not require an update to firmware version 1.51 or 1.52.

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Huh? Don't you mean this does indicate?

In any case, bad news. Very lame of Sony to do this, here's hoping the hackers make a fix around it.

Oh and I can't wait for Coded Arms, anyone know if it will have online?

No. It doesnt indicate because if you look at the picture. It requires Japanese users to upgrade from 1.0 firmware to 1.5 inorder to play the game. The game doesnt have the newest firmwares.

Oh, yeah I see what you meant now. Misread. But yeah, I'm afraid it's inevitable for us here. They won't keep forcing Jap owners to update without eventually forcing us. And Coded Arms having the update may indicate the U.S. version will require it too.

PSP Sales -1 :D

Zerodash redundant posts +1

Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories will require an upgrade. I can imagine that the PSP sales will rise considerably once the game comes out, and a lot of people are going to be awfully disappointed when it says they can't play the game because of system software. Half the people won't even know what that means.

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Originally Posted by Zerodash

PSP Sales -1 :D

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lol Hoo boy...*waves goodbye to this thread*

Dylan turns on his PSP, loads up Coded Arms and the Zero Wing/'All your base' guy appears on the screen

"How are you gentlemen!"

Oh snap! Someone set us up the firmware!!

Yeah, it's a 3 year old joke. Sue me like I'm McDonalds.

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Originally Posted by Swift

Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories will require an upgrade. I can imagine that the PSP sales will rise considerably once the game comes out, and a lot of people are going to be awfully disappointed when it says they can't play the game because of system software. Half the people won't even know what that means.

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That's depressing to contemplate. :confused:

Maybe the UMD movie overload and forced updates will the PSP's achille's heal the same way Nintendo made a stupid move with carts on the '64?

Supposedly a crack to the 1.51 and 1.52 firmwares are near. We'll see.

I'm sure any game that requires you to have a certain firmware, will include the firmware on the UMD, so anyone that purchases will be able to play the game, much like PC software that requires a certain level of DirectX that is include on the install disc. It will just be a small step before being able play the game.

I feel terrible for phone tech support people come Christmas time...

I already feel bad for them. I called them once to ask about a screen replacement(I have the biggest fucking gash in my PSP screen EVAR!) and the guy sounded like he was ready to jump off a bridge. If I had to answer the same questions over and over to a bunch of ignorant people, I guess I'd want to walk in front of a bus, too.

You know folks, its REAL easy to hack a piece of firmware to report a different revision. Unless Sony gets smart and does some sort of checksum check, but they are Sony and thus not smart.

Also you need to plug in your PSP in order to update the firmware (if you run out of power you have a $250 paper weight). So if you do buy the game and it requires a firmware update you have the choice if you want to or not. Personally no games announced yet have me interested enough to upgrade and lose emulation.

Boycott games that force you to upgrade to a certain firmware - at least until an exploit for that firmware is found.

your wallet will thank you, and it'll send a message to sony (hopefully).

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Originally Posted by Shapermc

Also you need to plug in your PSP in order to update the firmware (if you run out of power you have a $250 paper weight). So if you do buy the game and it requires a firmware update you have the choice if you want to or not. Personally no games announced yet have me interested enough to upgrade and lose emulation.

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Actually, with the games and firmware update, you have to update. If you dont update, you cant play the game. See the fourth image in my first post.

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Originally Posted by johnk_

Boycott games that force you to upgrade to a certain firmware - at least until an exploit for that firmware is found.

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Exactly. Since the emulators are better than any game either released or announced, fuck them.

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Originally Posted by Wildkat

You know folks, its REAL easy to hack a piece of firmware to report a different revision. Unless Sony gets smart and does some sort of checksum check, but they are Sony and thus not smart.

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Not really because with the new updates, it does a authentication check or something like that.

Can someone explain what the big deal is about automatically updating firmware?

Do they automatically update to new firmware that's on the game/UMD, or do they always ask you to upgrade in order to play the newer games?

If the game doesn't automatically update the firmware, my PSP is never getting it done. I don't know how important Sony thinks its $250 paperweight is to me, but it's not so necessary that I'm going to track down how to do it.

In a few months I'm going to have a fantastic handheld emulator with a small library of retail games available. Right now I've got my PSP sitting in a case on a shelf, waiting for something beyond Lumines, and those emulators are almost up to speed. I'd rather not jeapordize all the emulating I'm looking forward to doing for the sake of one or two retail games.

James

How can they force you to get the update on your own? I can see if the update is built into the game, but not allowing you to play the game if you dont have it? Bullshit. Considering the PSP doesnt come with a USB cable and most people dont have WIFI, Sony tech support is fucked come X-mas.

It comes with the game.

Okay, let's say this nice, clear, and slow:

Future games, depending on the game, may come with a firmware update on the actual UMD that the game is on.

When you put it into your PSP, it will tell you that the game cannot be played without updating the firmware. From there, you can decide to update the firmware either via the firmware update on that UMD, or via the "old" way, or you can decide not to update your firmware and not play the game.

In order to update the firmware, you PSP much be plugged into the wall, so there will be no problem of the battery dying while doing so.

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Originally Posted by shidoshi

Okay, let's say this nice, clear, and slow:

Future games, depending on the game, may come with a firmware update on the actual UMD that the game is on.

When you put it into your PSP, it will tell you that the game cannot be played without updating the firmware. From there, you can decide to update the firmware either via the firmware update on that UMD, or via the "old" way, or you can decide not to update your firmware and not play the game.

In order to update the firmware, you PSP much be plugged into the wall, so there will be no problem of the battery dying while doing so.

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Wait, are you trying to tell me that to play games, I have to buy Coded Arms to get the upgrade or else I won't be able to play Wipeout Pure anymore?

FUCK YOU SONY

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Originally Posted by sethsez

Wait, are you trying to tell me that to play games, I have to buy Coded Arms to get the upgrade or else I won't be able to play Wipeout Pure anymore?

FUCK YOU SONY

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I am sure every single game will come with whatever firmware version it requires on the game disc. Like how every PC game comes with the Direct X required to use it.

If anything else occurs then Sony are a bunch of ape asses. But I don't see them being that dumb.


edit: and I am not so sure hacking it to report a different firmware version will work, because what if the game uses features added in the new firmware?

VVVVVVVVVV
edit2: oh heh I thought everyone for some reason seriously lost their mind and went retarded in this thread :)

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Originally Posted by piku

I am sure every single game will come with whatever firmware version it requires on the game disc. Like how every PC game comes with the Direct X required to use it.

If anything else occurs then Sony are a bunch of ape asses. But I don't see them being that dumb.

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I was being facetious.

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Originally Posted by shidoshi

Okay, let's say this nice, clear, and slow:

Future games, depending on the game, may come with a firmware update on the actual UMD that the game is on.

When you put it into your PSP, it will tell you that the game cannot be played without updating the firmware. From there, you can decide to update the firmware either via the firmware update on that UMD, or via the "old" way, or you can decide not to update your firmware and not play the game.

In order to update the firmware, you PSP much be plugged into the wall, so there will be no problem of the battery dying while doing so.

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This is true. I had to do this to play Space Invaders Pocket.

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Originally Posted by RoleTroll

Can someone explain what the big deal is about automatically updating firmware?

Do they automatically update to new firmware that's on the game/UMD, or do they always ask you to upgrade in order to play the newer games?

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It doesnt automatically update. It tells you that you need to update the firmware inorder for you to play.

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Originally Posted by SamuraiMoogle

How can they force you to get the update on your own? I can see if the update is built into the game, but not allowing you to play the game if you dont have it? Bullshit. Considering the PSP doesnt come with a USB cable and most people dont have WIFI, Sony tech support is fucked come X-mas.

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The update is on the UMD itself. If you look at picture #3, there is a section for the firmware.

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Originally Posted by Swift

If I had to answer the same questions over and over to a bunch of ignorant people, I guess I'd want to walk in front of a bus, too.

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Welcome to my job. Fortunately it's just for our local IP and I get to watch cable, download crap and post or play games in between calls. But oh man, when the people are stupid, man they make my head hurt.

One thing I do not get is, 99% of the time when I tell someone to shut down their computer (so we can reset the modem before we try a ton of other things), even if I word it "Please shut your computer down, sir/ma'am and leave it off" they ALWAYS ask "Do you want me to shut it down and then restart it?" ahhhhhhh

Does this mean that you will have to update firmware each time you play a game? Or, once you have the most recent firmware, all games will work? (Eg, if you have 2.0, games that require 1.5 and 1.51 will work.) If it's the latter, it doesn't seem like a big deal.

I get the impression that this makes it hard to use emulation. Why is that? Do the emulators not work with the newer firmware?

No, you're not going to have to update the firmware for every game.

Alright, think about it this way - let's say that you have Windows XP. A new game comes out that requires, for whatever reason, Longhorn. Longhorn is on the disc, and it says, "Before you can play this game, you need to upgrade to Longhorn." They aren't going to make different versions of Longhorn for every game that comes out, you're just going to have this problem the first time you play any game that requires Longhorn. From there, you're perfectly fine until some point in the future where they may require you to upgrade to the next OS/firmware past Longhorn.

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Originally Posted by RoleTroll

I get the impression that this makes it hard to use emulation. Why is that? Do the emulators not work with the newer firmware?

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So far emulators work with 1.00 and 1.50 versions of the firmware. 1.51 and 1.52 have not been exploited yet.

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Originally Posted by bandit

Actually, with the games and firmware update, you have to update. If you dont update, you cant play the game. See the fourth image in my first post.

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All I was saying when the option comes up you can choose to not play the game if you want to keep your current firmware, it does not update with out you knowing it.

What if you have a US PSP and you've just bought a new Japanese game i.e. Sengoku Cannon which is out next month and it forces your to upgrade your firmware?

I wonder if there are going to be any major conflicts with running firmware upgrades designed for a different bios PSP?