Slashdot Mirror
PS3 Hacked Using Official Controller
YokimaSun writes "The PS3 Hacking War took on a new turn few days ago with Sony releasing a new firmware that blocks USB devices, supposedly aimed at cloned PS3 Joypads, but more than likely to stop the efforts of hackers. Today the PS3 is now hackable using its own Sixaxis/DualShock 3 Controllers. How will Sony stop people now from playing emulators on the PS3?"
Many thanks to all the people who use their time, so that I can use my own hardware the way I want to!
That's a great idea for those who don't have a PS3 yet. For the rest of us, Its a fight to use what we've already paid for. (and not purchasing future product from a locked down device)
My PC supports every major game that comes out, and I'm free to use my system however I wish.
When I bought the PS3, it had OtherOS and was not as locked down. They changed all that after purchase, which is ridiculous and I haven't bought any more PS3 games.
-]Phreak Out[-
The Escapist's webcomic Critical Miss seems disturbingly accurate.
Sony removed OtherOS citing worries about piracy, despite the fact that the system was uncracked after years of OtherOS inclusion.
Very shortly after its removal, various groups publicly announced their intention to crack the system specifically because of the OtherOS removal. They very quickly succeeded, and now Sony is going to have to live with nearly instant cracks of every version of their firmware because they riled up the wrong people. Piracy is now trivial on the PS3, with the usual caveat of no online multiplayer, all thanks to some executives irrational fear of at the time nonexistent pirates.
It's a pity that the executive in question will probably be rewarded because the current rise in piracy proves that he was right about the menace of game copiers in the first place!
"I zero-index my hamsters" - Willtor (147206)
"I don't understand why... keep buying ... consoles and other such devices".
Allow me to help.
1) PS3 allows any hard drive, any video camera, any keyboard, any tablet, any printer, etc. It allows you to download random files from the internet, it allows you to play random files and store them on the hard drive, and it allows you to download PSN games onto up to 5 other consoles and let your friends play your games on their profiles. Compared to EVERY OTHER CONSOLE, the PS3 is the most free.
2) Most new games come out for consoles now, due to the fears of piracy on Computers and other non-locked-down devices. And for games that come out on console AND pc, the console has less security and more stable hardware targets. For example, most PS3 games have no 30 digit id codes, no constant Internet access required for single player games, and easy joining with friends with games.
3) Updates are not forced. If you wish to use every service available on the PS3 that worked before the last update, you can. It is only if you want the new features, the new games, and the new services on PSN that you have to upgrade.
4) The Other OS was only taken down AFTER someone started bragging about the ability to copy $60 PS3 games and play them. Until then, people could play emulators, PS1 games, PS2 games, n64, etc. Only 5-6 assholes who are too cheap to afford new games but feel deserving of free stuff ruined it for the rest of us. Or did you want Sony to let this turn out like the PSP, which is so hacked that almost no new games get released for it? They tried to open their system, and they got slapped for it.
So yeah, I bought a PS3 to play PS3 games. The fact that it had all these other benefits were just frosting on the cake. People bitched about the price, so Sony took $100 ps2 out of the system and sold it separately so you could enjoy PS1 and PS2 and not pay for it if you didn't want it.
Sorry, you can get back on your high horse about how evil Sony is. Just wanted to point out that out of all the evil companies out there, Sony is the only one letting you use generic parts and share purchases. Ooo, scary.
I steal signatures. This one used to be yours.
Sony, now 5 months after you killed linux on the system, there have been 4 different hacks, whereas for the 3 years you had left liunx being available to your customers, there where no hacks. I think we can now successfully say, "We told you so", when you decided to unilaterally removed an advertised feature from the PS3. The people with the knowledge to hack the system were finally given the reason to do so, because they wanted their linux back, but in doing so, that also released the floodgates of the tools used/developed to the people who simply want free games. Real smart move Sony.
We were all warned a long time ago that MS products sucked, remember the Magic 8 Ball said, "Outlook not so good"
From what I gather, it's some sort of whitelist of device or manufacturer IDs. The practical effect is that now only official Sony devices and devices that look exactly *like* official Sony devices work. But there is no crypto-auth on them, just some numbers it reads off. Some third-party accessories simply copied Sony's official ID numbers, and those still work. Some used their own, and those do not.
That's a great idea for those who don't have a PS3 yet. For the rest of us, Its a fight to use what we've already paid for. (and not purchasing future product from a locked down device)
I don't understand why you folks keep buying such consoles and other locked down devices. You're only encouraging the business model.
That's a great idea for those who don't have a PS3 yet. For the rest of us, Its a fight to use what we've already paid for. (and not purchasing future product from a locked down device)
That's disingenuous and you know it.
It was clear from the start that the PS3 was meant to be a locked down device and that Sony would resist any attempts to open it up. The only justifiable area in which people can reasonably complain that they were burned was the withdrawl of its Linux support (which was never sold as giving full access to the hardware's capabilities).
But this doesn't justify your implication of bait-and-switch over the general nature of the machine. The PS3 was locked down from the day it came it, and everyone knew it.
This smacks of people wanting to have their cake and eat it, i.e. wanting to complain on Slashdot about Sony's obnoxiously controlling and authoritarian hold on the hardware, then buying it anyway because when it comes down to it, shiny new tech trumps principles. (Same old Slashdotters' story). *Then* complaining that their machine- which they already own(!)- is locked down. Well, yeah. You knew that before you bought it.
(Disclaimer to tl;dr skimmers, this is not an endorsement of Sony's locking down the hardware, but a rebuttal to the implication that anyone who cared about the issue could ever have bought a PS3 imagining it would ever *not* be locked down).
I used to regularly buy stuff from PSN. Then they removed linux. I thought I wouldn't miss it much, so I updated anyway. But I do. So now that there's a hack and a hope for getting linux back, I'm not updating. Sadly, that means I can no longer buy anything from PSN. Too bad. I was hoping to get the new Lara Croft and the guardian of light game and maybe the deathspank expansion. Hey Sony! I have money right here! You can have it if you let me back into your store and/or put linux back in!
May the source be with you.
Nerd rage? There is a world of difference between putting out a new product with fewer features than the older one and removing features from a product I've already purchased through the use of firmware updates.
3) Updates are not forced. If you wish to use every service available on the PS3 that worked before the last update, you can. It is only if you want the new features, the new games, and the new services on PSN that you have to upgrade.
No you can't! It's not just "new services on PSN" that requires an upgrade. PSN itself requires it! Without upgrade, bye-bye PSN, yes, even for your old game you used to play on PSN before. Goodbye! Or upgrade. Seems totally unforced to you?
4) The Other OS was only taken down AFTER someone started bragging about the ability to copy $60 PS3 games and play them. Until then, people could play emulators, PS1 games, PS2 games, n64, etc. Only 5-6 assholes who are too cheap to afford new games but feel deserving of free stuff ruined it for the rest of us. Or did you want Sony to let this turn out like the PSP, which is so hacked that almost no new games get released for it? They tried to open their system, and they got slapped for it.
No one bragged about an ability to copy PS3 games via OtherOS, because no one could copy PS3 games via OtherOS! Sony used the hypervisor hack as an easy excuse to remove a feature they no longer cared about. Remember, it was removed from the Slim a long time before any hack!
Sorry, you can get back on your high horse about how evil Sony is. Just wanted to point out that out of all the evil companies out there, Sony is the only one letting you use generic parts and share purchases. Ooo, scary.
Sony consoles are also the only one to lose features over time.