A Primer on Sony PSP Flashing Services
Right through the history of computer games, people have been compelled to tweak both hardware and software for pleasure or profit. Right from the classic POKE hacks on the ZX Spectrum handing you invincibility on Jet Set Willy back in the 1980s, to Sony PSP flashing services allowing one to play a wider range of applications on their Nintendo.
Console producers and games developers have had a tricky relationship in regards to modders and gamers who are often are all part of the same crowd. In one way, hackers add extra worth to the systems and games – e.g. modified chips give great convenience to games players who can play backups on their consoles. Similarly, game hacks brings extra value to “uncompletable” games, and nowadays it’s a convention for games makers to actually embed “easter egg” cheats for games players to discover.
But to balance that out, games manufacturers state that this type of chip modification damages their revenue, as mods can also be used to short-circuit steps to try and prevent illegal copying, and short-circuiting hardware that limits discs to work just in certain geographical locations. These are compelling causes for hardware and games manufacturers to continually add progressive measures to make modding more difficult to carry out.
Still, no matter how powerful the grounds are against modifying chips, chipmodding is now a large industry that isn’t going to go away.