Hackers use Xbox for more than games By Byron Acohido, USA TODAY SEATTLE -- Microsoft's strategy of selling the Xbox, its video game console, at a loss has wrought an unforeseen consequence. Some users increasingly view the Xbox as a cheap appliance easily rigged to operate as a fully functioning personal computer.
The Xbox is being hacked so it can be used for more than playing video games. By Tim Dillon, USA TODAY
Forget zapping aliens. Thousands are souping up their Xboxes to house movies and music, serve up Web pages, even write software. All it takes is a few hundred dollars and free tip sheets on the Web.
Microsoft's news Wednesday that it is dropping the price of a new Xbox $20 to $180 could drive more users to give it a try.
The software giant views the $100 or so it loses on each Xbox as the price of entry to compete against Sony's dominant PlayStation 2 gaming console. While it says it will attack hackers on a case-by-case basis, analysts say the company has so far tolerated the Xbox hacking as an unavoidable nuisance. "I don't think they see it as a major threat," says Jay Horwitz, game analyst at Jupiter Research.
Not just for games
In part, he says, that may be because the activities are relegated to the tech savvy, a small part of all Xbox users. It's also not a new problem. Shortly after Xbox hit stores in November 2001, hackers set to work cracking the technology intended to restrict the Xbox to playing Xbox games.
But it does highlight the complexity of Microsoft's struggles to make its products more secure. Because Xbox has so much capability, hackers have found it works well as:
Media hubs. Unlike a PC tower, the compact Xbox fits well next to the TV. By adding a start-up chip and a bigger hard drive, the Xbox morphs into an inexpensive media center for storing and playing a vast amount of games, movies and music. The TV screen serves as a monitor.
XboxHacker.com, one of several Web sites packed with information on building Xbox media hubs, logs 8,000 visitors a week. "It's like putting custom parts on your car," says Webmaster Ken Robinson, a dockworker and amateur programmer in Federal Way, Wash.
Linux PCs. A group called the Xbox Linux Project advocates bypassing the Xbox's Windows operating system and replacing it with the free Linux operating system. This lets users run a wide variety of free software. More than 150,000 copies of Linux for the Xbox have been downloaded, says founder Michael Steil, a computer science student from Munich, Germany.
Linux is continually improved by volunteer programmers worldwide, and Microsoft considers it to be one of its biggest competitive threats. Steil says Linux Xboxes are being increasingly used as Web-site servers and to write new Linux programs.
Web tunnels. Microsoft charges gamers $4 a month to use Xbox Live, its fledgling online gaming service. It hopes to add more subscribers and raise the fee. But GameSpy.com and XBConnect.com offer free "tunneling" software that lets Xbox gamers interact with each other online using unmodified Xboxes. GameSpy President Jonathan Epstein said it took technicians just two days after the Xbox went on sale to create the first Xbox Internet tunnel. "We did it to show we're really cool technologists," Epstein says. While some Xbox hacking -- copying games, for one -- is illegal, tunneling, installing Linux and building media hubs fall into the gray area of what rights owners have to change a technology once they've paid for it.
Microsoft is pursuing several initiatives that could make it illegal to tamper with hardware embedded with certain security codes.
In addition to saying it'll stop illegal hacking, Microsoft also warns that opening the Xbox -- required to install hardware -- voids the warranty. "We're very committed to respecting the intellectual property rights of others, and we request the same respect for our innovations and those of our partners," says J. Allard, Xbox platform vice president.
-- Everything I say is a lie...
Re:X-Box Troll Handbook
by
gergi
·
· Score: 1, Troll
not a troll but the following are true... re: # 3 - not all FPS on consoles EXCEPT (;-)) goldeneye are crap but many are. however, Goldeneye and Timesplitters 2 are both great and metroid prime (more of an adventure game that happens to be from the 1st person) is absolutely incredible. on the other hand, the "pride" of the xbox is Halo which i have played and have no desire to play again... very boring, very generic, etc and see #10 # 5 - the controller IS huge and very hard to use. especially compared to the ps2 dual shock and the brilliantly designed gamecube controller. #7 - XBox is 2nd in the US and 3rd worldwide. It's not selling well. It's outsold many weeks by the PSOne in Japan. #8 - The only good games for the XBox are out for the other systems, except for Halo which i was not impressed with #10 - A buddy bought an Xbox while I was visiting and picked up Halo and and an NHL game (dont' remember which one). No doubt, the graphics looked great (but don't they look great on all the systems?). We decided to stop playing though when the Xbox started crashing consistently. The screen just froze. This happened roughly 5-10 minutes into each game. Needless to say, my buddy returned it and picked up a Gamecube.
Slashdot Mirror
I don't like the portrayal that people are "hacking" (in the media term) their XBOXes.. I'd call it unleashing hidden features.
Hackers use Xbox for more than games
By Byron Acohido, USA TODAY
SEATTLE -- Microsoft's strategy of selling the Xbox, its video game console, at a loss has wrought an unforeseen consequence. Some users increasingly view the Xbox as a cheap appliance easily rigged to operate as a fully functioning personal computer.
The Xbox is being hacked so it can be used for more than playing video games.
By Tim Dillon, USA TODAY
Forget zapping aliens. Thousands are souping up their Xboxes to house movies and music, serve up Web pages, even write software. All it takes is a few hundred dollars and free tip sheets on the Web.
Microsoft's news Wednesday that it is dropping the price of a new Xbox $20 to $180 could drive more users to give it a try.
The software giant views the $100 or so it loses on each Xbox as the price of entry to compete against Sony's dominant PlayStation 2 gaming console. While it says it will attack hackers on a case-by-case basis, analysts say the company has so far tolerated the Xbox hacking as an unavoidable nuisance. "I don't think they see it as a major threat," says Jay Horwitz, game analyst at Jupiter Research.
Not just for games
In part, he says, that may be because the activities are relegated to the tech savvy, a small part of all Xbox users. It's also not a new problem. Shortly after Xbox hit stores in November 2001, hackers set to work cracking the technology intended to restrict the Xbox to playing Xbox games.
But it does highlight the complexity of Microsoft's struggles to make its products more secure. Because Xbox has so much capability, hackers have found it works well as:
Media hubs. Unlike a PC tower, the compact Xbox fits well next to the TV. By adding a start-up chip and a bigger hard drive, the Xbox morphs into an inexpensive media center for storing and playing a vast amount of games, movies and music. The TV screen serves as a monitor.
XboxHacker.com, one of several Web sites packed with information on building Xbox media hubs, logs 8,000 visitors a week. "It's like putting custom parts on your car," says Webmaster Ken Robinson, a dockworker and amateur programmer in Federal Way, Wash.
Linux PCs. A group called the Xbox Linux Project advocates bypassing the Xbox's Windows operating system and replacing it with the free Linux operating system. This lets users run a wide variety of free software. More than 150,000 copies of Linux for the Xbox have been downloaded, says founder Michael Steil, a computer science student from Munich, Germany.
Linux is continually improved by volunteer programmers worldwide, and Microsoft considers it to be one of its biggest competitive threats. Steil says Linux Xboxes are being increasingly used as Web-site servers and to write new Linux programs.
Web tunnels. Microsoft charges gamers $4 a month to use Xbox Live, its fledgling online gaming service. It hopes to add more subscribers and raise the fee. But GameSpy.com and XBConnect.com offer free "tunneling" software that lets Xbox gamers interact with each other online using unmodified Xboxes. GameSpy President Jonathan Epstein said it took technicians just two days after the Xbox went on sale to create the first Xbox Internet tunnel. "We did it to show we're really cool technologists," Epstein says. While some Xbox hacking -- copying games, for one -- is illegal, tunneling, installing Linux and building media hubs fall into the gray area of what rights owners have to change a technology once they've paid for it.
Microsoft is pursuing several initiatives that could make it illegal to tamper with hardware embedded with certain security codes.
In addition to saying it'll stop illegal hacking, Microsoft also warns that opening the Xbox -- required to install hardware -- voids the warranty. "We're very committed to respecting the intellectual property rights of others, and we request the same respect for our innovations and those of our partners," says J. Allard, Xbox platform vice president.
Everything I say is a lie...
not a troll but the following are true...
re:
# 3 - not all FPS on consoles EXCEPT (;-)) goldeneye are crap but many are. however, Goldeneye and Timesplitters 2 are both great and metroid prime (more of an adventure game that happens to be from the 1st person) is absolutely incredible. on the other hand, the "pride" of the xbox is Halo which i have played and have no desire to play again... very boring, very generic, etc and see #10
# 5 - the controller IS huge and very hard to use. especially compared to the ps2 dual shock and the brilliantly designed gamecube controller.
#7 - XBox is 2nd in the US and 3rd worldwide. It's not selling well. It's outsold many weeks by the PSOne in Japan.
#8 - The only good games for the XBox are out for the other systems, except for Halo which i was not impressed with
#10 - A buddy bought an Xbox while I was visiting and picked up Halo and and an NHL game (dont' remember which one). No doubt, the graphics looked great (but don't they look great on all the systems?). We decided to stop playing though when the Xbox started crashing consistently. The screen just froze. This happened roughly 5-10 minutes into each game. Needless to say, my buddy returned it and picked up a Gamecube.
Nothing but the truth.
Nosce te Ipsum