Perhaps you’ve heard about homebrew games. Because you don’t know much about it, you didn’t take a chance on them. Today, you’ll learn what the name stands for, why it may be good for you, and how you can install a homebrew game in your PSP.
What Is Homebrew?
Home brewing is a very popular term among video gaming communities. It simply refers to an application (such as a game) that is created outside the proprietary hardware or program of the brand, in this case Sony.
You see, companies such as Apple and Sony make money by selling their merchandise. With Apple, they earn through the many developers that are trying to sell their apps in iTunes, for example. They may give away freebies, but they’re not a lot. Worse, they have very stringent security features you don’t have a lot of control over the device and what you want to do with it.
In came creative and aggressive developers and enthusiasts. Through a lot of experimenting and studying, they have found out ways on how to go around these solid rules and create apps that can be stored in these company’s devices for usually for free.
Benefits of Home Brewing
There are some small-time firms that release homebrewed games in order to test their potential product. First, they want to see their possible buyers’ reactions, and second, they want to discover loopholes or areas that need improvement in their games.
A number of developers also create homebrewed games to develop their programming or app design skills. Normally they are the ones that give away these apps for free. There are also others who simply like to “get even,” or determine how good they are in breaking certain security features.
Even if you’re not a programmer, you can also benefit from home brewing. There’s a huge possibility you can add more games into your console without spending a single cent. We’re talking about titles like Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2010, Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince, and WWII: Battle of the Pacific.
The Risks
Of course, there are risks that go alongside home brewing. One of these is you can lose your device’s warranty. Your device may also be damaged irreparably. Nevertheless, you can minimize these risks if you choose your home brewing website properly. Go for the commonly recommended ones. You can also take note some means on how to officially remove homebrew from your PSP.
How to Run Homebrew Games in Your PSP
First, before you can officially start downloading, storing, and running homebrewed games in your PSP, you need to do a custom firmware update. This may sound complicated, but as long as you follow the instructions correctly, you’ll never go wrong, and everything will be easy. There are already a lot of tutorials you can find online. But to give you an idea, a custom firmware allows you to match your PSP’s firmware with that of the homebrewed games, reducing or even preventing technical issues.
Now here’s how you can start playing homebrewed games:
Step 1: Search for homebrewed games.
There are many sources online, such as psphomebrewdownloads.com. The website lists down all the games you can potentially download. Just choose one by clicking on its link. It will then take you to its dedicated page.
Step 2: Download the game.
Usually, you’re going to need a third-party website to accomplish this. Once you reach the third-party webpage where the file is stored, choose your download speed and save the file in your desktop. Sometimes the page may ask you to copy the CAPTCHA code or paste or type the password.
You have to be a patient since it may take a while before all files are already downloaded.
Step 3: Extract the file.
Once you have already successfully downloaded the homebrewed game, you can then extract it from its zipped folder. If it’s in .exe format, you have to activate and install it properly by following the wizard.
Step 4: Connect your PSP to your computer using a USB cable.
If you don’t have the USB cable, you can just buy it online, such as in Amazon or eBay. You can opt for the fastest shipping if you’re in a hurry to get these games into your device. Meanwhile, your PC should be able to detect the connected device. If it doesn’t, start looking for it in your network.
Step 5: Open the Root menu.
This should automatically open the moment you connect the PSP to your PC. Otherwise, manually open it. It’s the one with folders such as Video or Theme.
Step 6: Store the game into your PSP.
You can create a Games folder in your PSP if there isn’t any yet. In the meantime, drag and drop, or copy and paste, the game into the folder. It’s best to not store the file in a subfolder, or the PSP may say the file is corrupted.
What do you think of homebrew? Should you download it? Share your thoughts.
About Aurora Freegard
