Slashdot Mirror
Xbox 360 Update Shuts Out Hackers, Fixes Issues
Gamasutra reports on the update to the Xbox 360's Live element, which fixes a number of bugs and smooths out certain elements of the system. It, allegedly, is also intended to shut out folks trying to hack Microsoft's new console by making the demo disc unusable on retail machines. From the article: "The demo disc in question was produced for Xbox 360 retail demo kiosks, and was found not to contain any copy-protection when hackers obtained their own unauthorized copy of the software in mid-December ... meaning it was possible to run demo versions of the Xbox 360 software on the disc on burned media. Several commenters on website Xbox-Scene seem to confirm that the disc is no longer functional."
Despite MS's efforts, I feel safe saying it's still only a matter of time before a modded 360 becomes a reality.
If forums teach us anything, it is that logic and critical thinking should be required courses in the public schools.
Every console manufacturer makes money from the sales of software, not the sales of hardware. Giving modders full blessing is actually a lose situation for Microsoft, as those people will buy hardware (which loses money) without buying much (if any?) software.
Microsoft loses money on each system sold currently, and (hopes to) make it up on license fees for game sales. More games sold is more money in their pocket. Each unit sold is money lost.
So every unit sold for homebrew modding for Linux, or modding for running pirated titles, is a financial loss, since it won't have any game sales to offset the loss and turn a profit.
Hunt your preferred prey at Aliens vs Predator MUD. Join the war at avpmud.com port 4000
Intentions allege results.
Just becuase Microsoft may want to make something hack proof, doesn't mean they did.
Don't know something? Look it up. Still don't know? Then ask.
What's the surprise? It's not marketed as a "hack this for fun" box. It's a box marketed to play games licensed for the XBox 360. There's no deception, and spending your money on something designed to foil you is silly indeed.
The problem, as I see it, is that big industries are beginning to just assume that people have to buy their stuff. They seem to feel that it's their system still. Like Blizzard and the Warden, like all this DRM nonsense, like all the crap the music and film industries are throwing out there. Big Companies can't accept the idea that their industry as a whole can shrink. They assume that there is no way their industry could shrink, and no one else is allowed to enter their market. Both of which assumptions are completely anti-capitalist.
"Microsoft loses money on each Xbox 360 sold."
WRONG. Microsoft loses money on each Xbox 360 MADE. They partially recoup their losses with every sale.
If you buy an Xbox 360 unit, you are giving Microsoft money and creating a potential scenario where you MIGHT buy a legitimate game just because you "might as well."
The demo disc was meant to run in retail kiosks - not as a general demo for advertising.
Because the demo disk contained unsigned, unencrypted code, which means that arbitrary code could potentially be run. Locking out the demo disk means that crackers can't find out how to run unsigned code on the machine, preventing softmodding
All code on the demo disc is signed/encrypted - but some of the data files used by the code are not signed (raising the possibility of a buffer overflow exploit).
Most Xbox code requires that the application/files be on a Microsoft-"pressed" DVD. The Retail kiosk disc code didn't have that extra check - so it was possible to burn your own copy (and replace datafiles looking for an exploit).
- Paulb
"So every unit sold for homebrew modding for Linux, or modding for running pirated titles, is a financial loss, since it won't have any game sales to offset the loss and turn a profit."
You know what's an even bigger loss, both financially and in a PR sense? An unsold unit. I can't believe the doublethink some people go through to justify buying an MS product.
Vino, gyno, and techno -Bruce Sterling
The PSP's anti-piracy measures force the user to choose between either homebrew or retail games, a distinction which may (in a very small way) be part of the reason why the PSP doesn't sell very many games.
And let me guess, the DS games are just flying off the shelves soley because Nintendo lets people run homebrew off their machines...OR you could come back to the real world and realise that probably the main reason the PSP doesn't sell very many games is that:
a)first and foremost the number of great games on the machine is quite limited
b)The machine and the games are quite expensive. You have to plop down $250 for the console, and $50 per game(though that can vary depending on the game publisher). For the cost of a PSP and 2 games, I can get a DS and roughly 7 games, 4 at $35 and 3 at $30.
But yeah, you are probably right, the whole "anti-piracy" thing is really killing off the psp, because you know every other console ever created lets you run emulators....
Monstar L
Damned if they do, damned if they don't.