Gamernode: News - Do you practice hack-fu? Sony wants to know

Do you practice hack-fu? Sony wants to know

Sony is not coy. In a recently released survey Sony asked its public strait up if they hack their PSP's and why. That's kind of ballsy don't you think? The survey is part of "ongoing consumer research" into why PSP owners enjoy destroying all the hard work and effort Sony employees put into building the PSP. 

Maybe it's just the Japanese translation but the survey (pictured below) has some hilarious wording. Things like "Hacking a PSP makes me feel like a rebel" and "It's my PSP, I can do whatever I want" are almost too good to come from official channels.

I'm not quite sure what Sony is hoping to gain from this kind of research. Are they just trying to get an estimation of how many PSP's are hacked? Would that change anything if they knew?

I mean even if half, no, ninety percent of PSP's were hacked so people could play classic games or homebrew games or allowed people to use a custom interface, would that bad for Sony? They are still getting your 170 bucks for the system. And if I see my friend can do all this cool stuff with his PSP I would be more inclined to spend 170 bucks on one of my own. So regardless of weather or not I think "hacking a PSP impresses others" the fact that I own a PSP to hack should be more than enough information for Sony.

Or perhaps this: Sony is considering releasing a version of the PSP that is a completely blank slate.

The look would be the same, but it would have internal memory that could also be expanded with a Memory Stick. It would be completely unlocked with only a basic operating system. Users would have to write their own and install. If you wanted any games from official channels you would have to write the code to play them, and they would be purchased from the PSN on your PS3 or computer.

Think about it. If Sony wants to differentiate itself from Nintendo they should be supporting the homebrew community not disheartening it. Give people a blank slate to play with and see what they can do. If anything it would save some money by not paying programmers.

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