I get new consoles the day they come out; usually the first models are the most...erm...for lack of a better word, "hackable"

Censored? Why, does the company cripple them in some way.

Yes; as new flaws and h-acks are found, a company will fix them and then release it as a new version, hence why there are over 14 versions of the PS2

Because they are the least secure, thus making life easier for reverse engineers such as I

But also the most unstable, making your gaming experience inferior. I for one would prefer a superior gaming experience over hackability.

Eh, gaming experience doesn't really change from one version to the next; example PS2. The first few generations of lasers were crap, so to keep them going strong, we just messed with the drive angles, the pots on the lasers, etc. Also, it's *so* much easier to do a swap trick on the v3 PS2 than it is on the v11 PS2. But then again, that's just me

Oh, and they also have the highest modchip compatibility rate (or at least that held up in the past...with the exception being the PS2 this time; the most compatible ones now are the v9-v11 saga)

Interesting...I never even considered that the consoles change over the course of their availability.

They didn't really used to in the past, but during the turn of the millenia, you start seeing more frequent fixes.

Are they more hardware or software patches?

Hardware mostly, with the exception being the PSP; there's been over 5 BIOS updates so that people can't play homebrew on them

How lame. Wouldn't that cut out some of their userbase?! And can't people just flash the BIOS to the old versions?

Eh, people try to downgrade, but the BIOS fixes are released and automatically installed by new games, so you really can't downgrade...the only way to play homebrew effectively is by using the Wipeout Pure h-ack.

Its not the BIOS, but the firmware - BIG difference. And newer firmwares have often added new features. 2.0 gave AVC playback and a webbrowser. 2.6 has a locationfree player, RSS feed support, and WMA playback. 2.7 adds Flash support to the webbrowser, ability to save RSS, and AAC playback.

@Kerm: You can't downgrade because the firmware updates check to see if it is newer than the firmware it is replacing. And since all the apps are signed and encrypted, you can't just remove that part easily - and trial-and-error can result in a "bricked" PSP. The reason Sony blocks homebrew is mainly as piracy prevention. If they allow homebrew, they allot ISO loaders, and PSP game ISOs are already on the internet.....

Ah, gotcha. That makes a lot of sense. I guess in the long run you're better off just doing the upgrades, getting the better features, and avoid screwing up your $300 machine.

The BIOS IS a part of the firmware. (I see what you're saying though; techically, users are upgrading the firmware in its entirety, not just the BIOS)



But sometimes getting better features entitles risks, such as modchips (but then again those aren't official...)

Actually, I think you have that backwards. The firmware is part of the BIOS iirc. The BIOS contains both settings data and the software that controls them (the firmware).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firmware
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BIOS

Now I'm confused; they sound practically the same to me

EDIT: I get it now (got my Dad to explain it to me; apparently the line between BIOS and firmware has gotten fuzzier over the years...)

Glad you get it. They're certainly not the same thing at all; one refers to an actual piece of hardware, and the other can be classified more closely as software.

doesn't the BIOS more deal with comps also where Firmware is almost anything electronic?

Most embedded devices don't really have a BIOS, though a lot of people use BIOS as a synonym for firmware (kinda like how people call tomatoes vegetables when they're really fruit)