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Sony Threatens PS3 Hackers With Legal Action
Eurogamer reports that Sony is going after users sidestepping the PlayStation 3's protection software. Firmware 1.10 and 1.11 have both been cracked, and as a result illegal game copies can be booted from the console. "Booting games and playing them are two different things, however; so far, hackers have not been able to get any of the copied games to run, nor have they been able to run homebrew software. Every hardware launch brings with it a race for hackers to defeat the system's protections, whether for the technological challenge, to run copied software, or to allow for homebrew games. Despite Sony's attempts to prevent its emergence, the PSP has a strong homebrew community - and hackers are doubtless hoping to establish a similar base for PS3."
You can't stop them anyway. So why bother trying. Etc, etc.
As Cereal Killer would say, 'Hack the Planet'.
Sony have been control freaks for years. No surprise here, nothing to see.
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They also want to prevent you from running Linux with full access to the hardware, because they won't get licensing fees if people play games that don't require that someone pay one. Preventing piracy [as much as possible] is of course a real goal, and important to protection of revenues. But this is just as significant, in the same ways.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
No burnt PS3 games are playable. And there is no sign that they will be.
"Despite Sony's attempts to prevent its emergence, the PSP has a strong homebrew community"
Uh, only a fool would think Sony is actually trying to actually stop homebrew on the PSP. But they do need to keep up the illusion they are.
The grass is green, the sky is blue, and most people enjoy puppies. More at 11.
It will be interesting to see how much the hardware protection mechanisms built into the CBE slow down these attempts. For example, see the reference documentation on the SPU isolated state flag.
Sony reserves the sole right to hack your system. Please use one of their root-kits for your hacking needs. All others will be sued!!
Get real Sony!!
Nintendo recently announced (citation missing) a homebrew contest on the Wii.
Makes me glad my roommate bought one, although my arm hurts today...
Your ad here. Ask me how!
Sure, if it helped _piracy_, I'd even understand that. But here's what irks me: region codes. And that's one thing that's circumvented by those modchips and such.
_And_ please consider this: Sony likes to present circumventing region coding as some form of piracy. Heck, even without any copying or hacking the console or anything. Even just buying an original DVD from Japan to play on your imported PS2 counts as piracy for Sony, or at least they'll try to handwave it as such.
Now I'll admit I don't know whether the PS3 has region coding or not, but Sony did annoy me with that before. Repeatedly.
Region codes on games serve _no_ legitimate purpose. The excuse on movie DVDs was that it eats into theatre ticket sales: someone who bought the US DVD early has often seen the movie that way before it even gets into the theatres. OK, I can even live with that mercantile reason. But that just simply doesn't apply to games. There simply is no big-screen theatre version of, say, Gran Turismo. Here at most... it replaces the sale of a localized copy, which, wtf, is the same price anyway. (After you subtract the VAT.)
I just refuse to feel like an evil pirate for buying an imported game. Sony got my money fair and square there. It's _not_ piracy.
Better yet: for some games it actually made them _extra_ money. Some games were never released in Europe. So they wouldn't have sold a single copy here and made Sony a single cent, if it weren't for imports. Those imports that Sony tries to choke actually are extra copies sold.
I look at my shelves of PS1 games for example, and about a third of that stuff is... well, stuff I bought imported, in _spite_ of Sony's doing their best to not sell it here. Really, I'm that evil a pirate: I gave them some money they were trying not to take.
I don't even know why companies pull that kind of crap and treat the European market as some pariah to be avoided. I can understand that there are costs and delays related to localization, but, really, I can live with an US version. Most people down here understand English, even if you have to coax them into actually admitting it. And some of the die-hard manga fans took Japanese lessons too, so they can even play the Japanese versions.
At any rate, it's irking to see Sony demonize us too. "Auugh, those evil importers and modchip sellers and their customers are a bunch of evil pirates. Must stop them!" WTF.
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
Sony "rootkit" Corporation can kiss my ass.
"I think game consoles are one of the areas where the manufacturer can make a decent argument for why they bother."
I disagree. Microsoft has shown a better way to control this: when you detect it, just don't let them hook up to the online service. Threatening people to stop them from *modifying their own equipment* is just crazy and isn't backed up by any sort of common sense.
You were mistaken. Which is odd, since memory shouldn't be a problem for you
sony is suing because their SDK leaked and is being directly used in this technique. this could not be MORE illegal. please, fuck off with the "we have a right to.." whatever bullshit as this is clearly not the issue here.. jesus.
It seems, only free PS3s and games will keep /. crowd happy.
Maybe you should try spending the cash you are using on piracy prevention to develop...*gasp*...games worth buying?
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This is where things get fucking stupid. Why homebrew applications are not ENCOURAGED is beyond me. Granted, it's not a massive number, but I would be willing to bet my car that if the big three made their consoles open to homebrew developers without any kind of sidestepping, hacking, or putzing around required, they would find the sales of their gaming consoles go up. Yes, there will be people that pirate games, but you know what? The people that want to pirate games WILL find a way. I am quite confident that people wouldn't say "What? Homebrew apps are ENCOURAGED? Well fuck that, I'm not buying that open system!" ::sigh::
Living With a Nerd
Yes, it is still true that PS3 games have no region encoding. The PS3 will honor the region encoding of DVDs, PS2 and PS1 games, and Blu-Ray movies. But no, there is no region encoding for PS3 games.
I really don't see a legitimate reason for trying to hack the PS3. If you want home brew apps, install Linux on it. If you want that game from Japan that you can't get in your own country, buy it and place the disk in the drive. Apart from hacking it just for bragging rights, or to play pirated games, there really isn't a good excuse to bypass the protections on the PS3.
Why does someone bother to bring homebrew to that hated/too-expensive/rip-off/dualshock-free PS3 when there are systems like Wii with extremely innovative input devices?
Just imagine what cool homebrew stuff could be done on the Wii, and I certainly do not mean just games.
Really, spending time and skill on the PS3 with such a customer and enthusiasts hating company behind it is absurd and a waste.
If the PS3 ever becomes as thoroughly hackable and useful as my xbox, I'll consider a purchase.
Sony Exec: Let's try to alienate even MORE of our playerbase...OH, I hear a lot of them like to use custom programs on their products... LETS THREATEN LEGAL ACTION PREEMPTIVELY!!!!
One of the reasons Microsoft and Sony tries to prevent piracy is that they try to recover losses from game system sells by charging more for the games. Maybe one can soften their stand by petitioning them to sell their consoles with a nice profit. That business model works for Nintendo. Third party game developers don't like it that much but who cares. Homebrew would replace their games in no time.
If Sony's trying so hard to keep third-party hacks from working on their boxes, why the hell did they make such a big deal about the ability to put Linux on them?
But Sony Computer Entertainment America stole your money from Sony Computer Entertainment Europe.
Still, PSP and PS3 are largely region-free for gaming.
Thats what I think when I think of this. I understand they want to protect their revenues, and I for one don't understand pirating games as writeable media, to me, is more assessable to damage and really, how long do you want that junk on your pc's hd. But I do get fustrated that home brew can't "bloom" the way I think it should on these consoles. I think homebrew is a viable way to get people interested in a console and I really hope at some time in the future they can provide a means for Homebrew while keeping the "badies" out
Region free DVDs are blocked if they're from a different broadcast system. I.e. US PS3 units will not play PAL region free DVDs, even though broadcast standard is down to the display. Which for most PS3 owners is an LCD or plasma screen which are monitors where broadcast standard is irrelevant.
The PS3 is advertised as a multimedia hub and yet it artificially restricts playing home made movies, meaning we have to keep a dvd player around just for one set of DVDs. Clearly it can play them, just added an annoying block. The more cases there are like this, the greater the mindshare for hacking the PS3.
Ahem. Suck my dick.
So nobody is buying you $600 console what do you do? 1) Lower your price 2) Make games people want to pay that much to play 3) Sue the few people who bought your overpriced console
Its in the article, but perhaps it should be (re)noted that games are not actually playable. The article is light on details, but the hack originates from the debug firmware included with the dev-kits. Sony is well within their rights to pursue the leak of that firmware, as the developers signed NDA's with Sony.