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360 Hacked To Play Backups

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the no-time-for-microsoft-to-enjoy-post-e3-buzz dept.

xorkid writes "Microsoft Corps ' unhackable' Xbox 360 console has been hacked. It is now possible to play copied games from recordable DVD DL discs without any soldering or hardware modification. The ingenious hack involves replacing the original 360 DVD firmware with a modified version that authenticates recorded DVD DL discs as original game discs. The hack does not require any modification devices but it requires a 1:1 copy of an original signed disc from the same region as the console. So it does not allow booting of unsigned code, yet. No Linux on the 360 for now, but its a start. There are rumours that there is an as-of-yet unreleased version that allows booting of unsigned code."

2 of 157 comments (clear)

  1. Interesting.... by caffeinatedOnline · · Score: 5, Interesting

    As E3 just gets over and the next-gen console wars start to heat up, a hack for the 360 comes out allowing for 'backup' games to be run. Now, I realize that MS loses money with each console sold, but how many people wait to buy a console till a way comes out to play 'backup' games?

    I know many people that didn't own an original Xbox till they found out how easy it was to hack it, then ran out to get one. I am sure that MS will shut down Live for any systems that are running this hack just as they did for the Xbox running the softmod hack, but could this be something that MS planned on to sell more systems?

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  2. Re:Once again... by generic-man · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Nobody but Slashdot said the 360 was "unhackable.' The quote in the BBC article linked from the summary says: "Microsoft plans to make its next generation games console, the Xbox 360, as difficult as possible to hack." (emphasis added)

    I attended a Microsoft presentation last year before the 360's release. The engineers there said that the console wouldn't be totally immune to hacking, they just want (a) to make sure that it's very hard/costly/complex to hack it and (b) to keep hacked 360s off of Live. From the linked article about the hack:

    "Can Microsoft detect it via Xbox LIVE? They probably can ... and when they start checking they will probably act like with the Xbox1, ban your Xbox 360 console serial for life from the LIVE servers ... or maybe even more, who knows what they are planning. You've been warned!"

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