PSP homebrew using the Half-Byte Loader
posted Jun 21st 2010 1:30pm by Mike Szczysfiled under: playstation hacks
[Rich] tipped us off about the Half-Byte Loader which lets you run homebrew on late-model Sony PlayStation Portables. Above you can see a PSP Go running Doom (a screenshot from the video after the break), which is a prerequisite for any cracked device. HBL uses an exploit in the game demo of Patapon 2, which is free for download. A crafted game save loaded onto a Memory Stick gets you to the loader when selected from the continue menu of the game. Right now this method works on all know firmware version 5.0 and higher. Who knows when Sony will take action to kill an exploit like this one.
Wouldn’t it be a nibble loader? :) I’m sure this exploit will be patched pretty quickly – but it’s a worthwhile exercise.
What would be better is if Sony allowed homebrew. I’m sure they’re already making money on the hardware – why not let people run their own code on it, too?