Ps2dev.org

Happy 7th Birthday.

Sat Apr 05 23:28:16 GMT 2008

Every year this time comes around I'm always amazed that the site is still here. And more amazed that the site keeps growing. I do little more than make sure the server keeps running and scan the forums for bad content. It shows what a great community that the site has become. The site receives around 50,000 unique visitors every month. Alexa even ranks us in the top 100,000 web sites, ranking 67,353.

Its also nice to see that through all the years we've managed to keep the forums a great place for developers. Sure its a bit of an exclusive club, but at least the site isn't covered with questions about warez, game cheats or other such subjects. I've got thank all the moderators that do such a great job at keeping the place full or great information. The forums now have over 65,000 posts which is a great resource.

Of course as far as Sony is concerned this site doesn't exist. They see what's going on here but have yet to recognise its existence. I would have liked to co-operate with Sony with the PS3, as its a great combination of keeping games copyrighted while allowing homebrew development. I'd even go as far as splitting the site in two to keep the PS3 area separate from the PSP & PS2 areas, if it meant that there was some communications between Sony and "otheros" developers. I doubt that will happen anytime soon.

Anyway.. seven years! A lot has changed over that time. PS2 development is now the old man. PSP development is where its at.. and the PS3 is the baby.

Happy birthday ps2dev.org! If you're new or old to the site, come say hello at this thread here.

Introduction to PS2DEV

Mon Jan 21 11:47:06 GMT 2008

Lukasz Bruun, a long time contributor to the ps2dev scene has put together a great introduction to PS2 homebrew development. It covers all you need to know about the ps2dev tools, hardware & software. It also has a great history of the ps2dev community with many of the important releases since 2001. Check it out over at Lukasz' site. http://lukasz.dk/playstation-2-programming/an-introduction-to-ps2dev/. If you've got any comments you can give him feedback in the forums here.

Is Sony blocking 3D access?

Thu Dec 20 11:54:29 GMT 2007

The "otheros" option has provided a great opportunity for the homebrew development community to develop and innovate with the PS3. Over the last few months a few people that use our forums have been investigating using the 3D aspects of the PS3 GPU. It's a very powerful element of the PS3, so naturally people want to use it. In the last firmware update (version 2.10), the ability to access the 3D graphics has been modified. The method our users have been using has been removed. It is not currently clear if Sony is intentionally removing access to 3D aspects for "otheros" users. Can we get an official statement on whether Sony is intentionally blocking 3D access?

One of the interesting aspects of the "otheros" aspect of the PS3 is that Sony do not provide any information on the hypervisor security. In fact, Sony provide no developer information regarding the "otheros" facility, other than the fact it is there. Homebrew developers have had to look through open source code and experiment with the hypervisor to discover its bounds. Many people have already documented many of the hypervisor calls in the wiki here.

The Playstation "otheros" facility is a fantastic and innovative part of the PS3 capabilities. It gives Sony the opportunity to expand the knowledge of how to program the power of the cell architecture to universities and other homebrew developers. The more developers that can develop for and exploit the true power of the cell architecture, the better the industry will be at developing new and innovative software. I believe the "otheros" facility is an important aspect for ensuring the long term success of the platform. Importantly, the "otheros" facility and hypervisor security mechanism has been positively accepted by users of forums like ours.

The advantage of the "otheros", is that it is the first platform to provide controlled access to a game platform's hardware through a controlled API. This is something I have wanted from the first day I created this web site over six years ago. I am impressed by how Sony have been able to provide homebrew and universities access to the hardware without jeopardising its investment in the software and hardware. I personally do not want to see developers on this site trying to hack the hypervisor to gain deeper access to the hardware than what is supplied. Of course I can only discuss this with other moderators and decide on what is considered on topic. In particular, we have always disallowed discussions on hacking commercial games or hacking for the purpose of circumventing security (for the purpose of playing copied games). We can't stop these from happening, but we can stop it in our forums.

The main reason for this post is that I am concerned that it is Sony's intention to block access to the 3D aspects of the GPU entirely. I believe this is extremely short sighted. The level of access provided by the firmware prior to 2.10 has been accepted and understood by developers. By blocking access to 3D aspects of the GPU, Sony will encourage developers to find exploits that bypass the hypervisor security. These exploits once found may lead the way for further bypassing of security mechanisms. I understand that Sony might want to keep access to the 3D aspects of the hardware for exclusive use by PS3 commercial games. However, what is the danger of allowing homebrew developers access this hardware? Is Sony concerned a developer will create a great homebrew game and sell it through a different channel? The market for "otheros" developers is so tiny that it would not be worth while. It would actually be an opportunity for Sony to potentially pick up and improve some small games ready for the Playstation Network. The reasons to allow access are numerous. Developers will create a better experience when using Linux, create great demos that explore the hardware?s capabilities and maybe create some basic games. None of these things are threatening to Sony's core business.

Another reason for this post is that I believe it will be beneficial to have a contact point with Sony so that we can understand what aspects of the hypervisor Sony does not want investigated. Discussing these will help me and other moderators develop the right forums rules for the PS3. I believe that by having some communication between "otheros" developers and Sony will ensure that the facility is used for what was intended; to create a thriving innovative knowledgeable community.

Do you have any comments on the above? Discuss in forums here

PRXTool 1.1

Wed Oct 24 21:23:01 GMT 2007

PRXTool 1.1 (WIN32)

Wed Oct 24 21:22:20 GMT 2007

This is a build of the latest prxtool with disassembly support.

psdev on facebook

Sat Oct 20 00:08:35 GMT 2007

If you're not with the facebook craze, you're just not with it anymore. So to stay with it, we've joined facebook. I've created a group called psdev! If you've already succumbed to the blackhole of time that is facebook.... go on... add one more group to your list! If you haven't succumbed, we'll see you soon.

Insomniac Games R&D

Sat Aug 04 10:48:47 GMT 2007

Insomniac Games is currently in development on one of the first second-generation PlayStation 3 titles, Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction. This page documents Insomniac Games' current research and development in hopes of supporting the PS3 development community and enhancing overall development for its core technologies such as the CELL processor and RSX. In addition, it gives interested tech-heads a deeper look into Insomniac's game development and production philosophy and show a bit more of what goes on behind the scenes.

Toolchain and SDK updates

Thu Jun 28 20:50:39 GMT 2007

ooPo has been busy. His updated the toolchain build scripts for the PS2 and PSP. More importantly, his made available the all new PS3 toolchain script! If you need any help with the PS3 toolchain then read the forums here. His also taken a snapshots of the PS2SDK and PSPSDK and put them online to make getting started nice and easy.

MIT Multicore Programming Primer: Learn and Compete in Programming the PLAYSTATION?3 Cell Processor.

Thu Jun 28 10:39:04 GMT 2007

The lectures provide an introduction to parallel programming and parallel architectures. The recitations echo some of the lectures in a Cell specific context, and offer in depth programming examples, exercises, and labs.

ps2sdk-20070626.tar.bz2

Wed Jun 27 11:18:39 GMT 2007

A snapshot of ps2sdk from the subversion respository.