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Phoenix666 [soylentnews.org] writes:

When we gave our impressions of Sony's Vita-based PlayStation TV microconsole last year, our biggest complaint was with the tiny unit's widespread lack of compatibility with existing portable software. Hundreds of games that work just fine on the portable PlayStation Vita just refused to load on a PlayStation TV. That makes sense for games that make heavy use of the Vita's camera or rear touchpad, but not for Vita games like Mortal Kombat, Call of Duty: Black Ops Declassified, Uncharted: Golden Abyss, and dozens more portable titles that seem ideal for TV play but are nonetheless incompatible with PlayStation TV.

Now, some enterprising hackers have apparently gone a long way toward fixing this problem [arstechnica.com] by increasing the PlayStation TV's software compatibility with a simple hack. The method, as outlined on HackInformer, exploits an error in the PlayStation TV's e-mail app that lets users write files to the system memory by attaching them as fake images in a message. Using this method and a specially built "whitelist" file, players can unlock the ability to play many (but not all) previously incompatible Vita games and apps on their PlayStation TV.

Were there more of this sort of news, the term "hacker" would probably enjoy a much better reputation...

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