Was doing some cleaning and found the vita, blew the dust off and decided to give the homebrew hack a try.
spoiler - it works!
You don't need anything special, just a vita with a firmware 3.60 or lower. If you have a firmware newer than that you are completely humped -- there is no workaround. Apparently this is all based on some goof-up specifically in v3.60.
There's a website that outlines the process here:
http://wololo.net/vita-3-60-homebrewsemulatorshacking-guide/Rough run-down
Get to
exactly firmware 3.60, directions above.
Once on, navigate to a website on the Vita and install an exploit. Takes about 5 minutes. Probably the easiest hack/exploit I've seen for a major console.
After that you are good to go. FTP your images over to your Vita.. install them and play some games.
The biggest downside remains those fucking Vita memory cards. They are still expensive so I just have the 2x 8GB cards. Given you need
triple the space of your image to install it (once to copy it, once to extract it, once to install it) you can imagine 8gb is woefully small. I guess i'll have to pony up for a 32gb or 64gb card but at this point the 64gbs cost more than a Vita!
Somebody is supposedly working on an SD card adapter for it but that may be awhile. Never understood why sony decided to be so greedy with the cards given it limits your ability to purchase digital games which was one of the bigger ways to get games on it. Stupid greed.
Anyway hack is legit, give it a go. You don't even really have to worry about fighting future firmware updates to play new games since they're likely won't be any (newer games).
