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I Interviewed Wololo

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Post Tue Apr 24, 2012 9:20 am

I Interviewed Wololo

This is the first exclusive interview that I’m doing for [url="http://www.crait.net/"]crait’s Lunchbox[/url]! It’s with Wololo, the hacker and programmer. Currently, he works hard to get homebrew running on the PS Vita. He also works on a program called Wagic:The Homebrew. It’s a rip-off of Magic: The Gathering, but you can load official cards onto it and play on your PSP, PS Vita, or mobile phone. So, let’s get down to the interview!

crait: What are your current projects and which platforms are they for?
Wololo: I have been working on an open source card game named “Wagic” for a few years now. Is is available on Windows, Linux, Meego, Maemo, PSP, iOS (iPhone/IPad) and Android. Some lucky people can also run this game on the playstation vita, and I’ve seen rumors of people being able to compile it for MacOS as well. In parallel of that, I’ve been working on Half-byte Loader, an open source project started in 2009 by developer “m0skit0″, which aims at loading homebrew games on the Sony PSP and PS Vita.

crait: Sony is attempting to get the PS Vita SDK in the hands of more developers. How do you think this will effect the homebrew scene?
Wololo: It depends on the definition of “homebrew”. If we talk about indie games, I think lots of indie devs who were into “homebrews” on the psp will jump into the playstation suite and start making small games “officially”, and make money out of it, which I think is good. If we’re talking “unofficial” games, I think these will become a minority, or only “not so legal” stuff. There will still be people to code emulators for example though, and I am pretty sure Sony will not allow that on their official store.

crait: In general, what are your feelings in regards to more developers having access to developing for the PS Vita, either through homebrew exploits or the official SDK?
Wololo: I’d love to say it’s great, but I am thinking Sony is a bit late in the game. The devs I know would rather focus on the user base on Android and iOS. Nevertheless, the more the merrier, so it’s great. More devs will mean more apps and more games, and selection is always good. I’m also much more of a casula gamer now than a few years ago, I don’t have time to play long and complicated games.

crait: Have you signed up to get the official PS Vita SDK that is coming out later this month? (Playstation Suite+)
Wololo: I signed up for the closed beta but wasn’t accepted. The Open Beta started today though, hopefully I’ll have some free time to try it out. :)

crait: Regarding homebrew, what is your ultimate goal? What will make you say, “Wow, we’ve done it. I can finally sleep tonight.” (If that is even an option for you.)
Wololo: My personal goal is to make my own game (Wagic) “perfect”, but with time I’ve realized this is never going to happen. In more generic terms of hacking/homebrews, I don’t have any specific goal. I think even if Sony was making a purely open source device, there would be reasons (probably even more) to look into what the device can do.

crait: What kind of homebrew do you have planned for the Vita after securing homebrew access?
Wololo: As I said above, I’d love to improve my own homebrew Wagic. If I had all the free time in the world, there are lots of projects I’d like to contribute to on the vita: improving Lamecraft (a Minecraft homebrew clone on the PSP), emulators (N64 is not running great on the psp, it could be better on the Vita, also lots of people would love to see a dreamcast emulator on a portable device… I have to mention I never worked on any emulator before, so I am not sure how much horsepower would actually be necessary for a dreamcast emulator), and Prince of Persia went open source recently… a port for handhelds would be awesome But realistically, I have a full time job and will probably
not have much time to work on any of those projects :(

crait: Developing exploits to allow homebrew, what kinds of homebrew or applications are you looking forward to seeing the most on the Vita?
Wololo: Haha, I just answered the same question above, I think… can I say the homebrews I’d love to see on the vita are the same I’d love to contribute to?

crait: What kind of message do you have for all of your haters out there? (That blame you for piracy, etc.)
Wololo: Piracy is a matter of personal responsibility. Hackers are not the ones who downloaded that pirated game on people’s device.


Wololo releases updates to a homebrew portal called the VHBL. (vita homebrew loader.) It loads a program that can access other programs that people make. The VHBL actually loads a different way than normal programs on the Vita or PSP would be loaded. Whenever a specially modified savedata is loaded on the PSP or PS Vita, the machine will be exploited into running the VHBL instead of loading the data for the games. Only certain games have these exploitable loop holes and they can easily be patched. Whenever an exploit is found, Wololo will notify people and they’ll download the game from the PSN… which costs money. Wololo will then release the modified savedata. Sony always responds by pulling down the games and patching them, and the puts them back online. Sadly, people will blame Wololo for access to homebrew ISO loaders that load pirated or backed-up copies of games. However, this is unjustified since the Vita has never been able to load any pirated games.

crait: Do you have anything to say to aspiring developers or programmers that look up to you?
Wololo: First, don’t look up to me, because there are lots of people much more clever than me out there, so you’d rather take a cooler role model.
Second, get some programming books or go to school to learn it. Programming is fun and you can start on your own, but in order to really make progress you will have to get some good theoretical knowledge at some point.

crait: I have strong feelings towards many programming languages. Love some and hate others. Which are your favorites and least favorites that you have to work with?
Wololo: I like C++ for no good reason, maybe because I had to work with C and Java for a while and hated both (C was not structured enough, and Java was too verbose)… I love ruby for its simplicity, but I hate Ruby on Rails (had to work with that on a project a while ago).

crait: On a random note, which is your favorite Magic: The Gathering card or character?
Wololo: Ok, I’m super old school on this one (I played Magic in the 90s): I love “The Rack” and “Black Vise”. I love the nastiness of these cards, how effortless it is to constraint your opponents with these two cards. I am assuming it is not ok to play these cards in tournaments nowadays…

crait: Lastly, where can people go to get the latest news on your current projects? What’s your website?
Wololo: My blog is where you’ll find my rant and news about my work on the PSP and the Vita, it can be found at http://wololo.net/wagic

crait: Any thing else you’d like to say at this point?
Wololo: Stop fooling yourself, chickens *are* scary!


Full article on my site: http://crait.net/craits-lunchbox-exclus ... th-wololo/
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andree23

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Post Sun Nov 20, 2022 11:41 pm

Re: I Interviewed Wololo

Intereating post!
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riennespinka

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Post Thu Jun 08, 2023 6:30 pm

Re: I Interviewed Wololo

I appreciate your fantastic article. Thanks for sharing this post, it made me pleased to read it.

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