It's probably not too shocking to learn that Sony is taking a decidedly proactive stance when it comes to ensuring that hackers do not find ways to exploit the company's various pieces of gaming hardware. After all, homebrew downloaders lent a good bit toward the eventual downfall of the PSP, and there was all that PlayStation Network unpleasantness last year that one can imagine Sony still being a tad sensitive about.
Intriguingly, the company's first documented push against hacking and piracy on the Vita involves two seemingly benign PSP downloadable releases. As of today, Hot Shots Tennis (Everybody's Tennis, hilariously, in Europe) and MotorStorm: Arctic Edge have been "suspended" from the PlayStation Network store. Sony's official line to EuroGamer was that the titles were being pulled for "stability improvement," but it stands to reason that the more likely cause is that both games feature exploits that allow for homebrew programming to be run on the PlayStation Vita while in PSP mode.
No timetable has been given for these games' potential return to the store, which probably sucks for the surely thousands upon thousands of people who were moments away from buying Arctic Edge and Hot Shots Tennis, only to suddenly find themselves denied, and thus suddenly unsure what to do with themselves. Undoubtedly they will now wander the Earth, searching for some kind of meaning in life now that Arctic Edge and Hot Shots Tennis are no longer available for download. Without those games to entertain them, they'll undoubtedly take up with unruly, meth-dealing biker gangs, find work in seedy, Triad-owned strip clubs, and perhaps even dabble in cannibalism, as all wandering souls eventually do.
This blood is on your hands, Sony.
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