PS3 now perma-hacked...

[Deuce Bigalow]

A few things I think would be cool:

1. native MKV playback
2. having the ps3 hard drive show up as an external drive on my mac so I can download files directly to the ps3. (or is this possible already?)
3. tighter integration w/ Plex

[Jimmy Stang]

Originally Posted by kevman

How might this affect me if I have no desire to tinker with my PS3? Ie, What security measures could Sony try to take (new firmwares, etc.) that could get in the way with me playing my legitimate games and blu-rays?

I can't see Sony doing anything that would alienate people who are using it to do "normal" things. Changing the copy protection system would probably render previously purchased games unusable, which would be a public relations, customer service, and legal nightmare.

[Russic]

I wonder if somebody could develop something to allow music to play in the background of games now? Currently it's up to the developer to implement and not all of them do it.

The first person to suggest I just play my music through my speakers and the game through my tv loses my impossible-to-regain respect.

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by kevman

How might this affect me if I have no desire to tinker with my PS3? Ie, What security measures could Sony try to take (new firmwares, etc.) that could get in the way with me playing my legitimate games and blu-rays?

Nothing. They cannot change the current key without locking out the currently released game library. It's their fault for using the same number every time instead of a randomly generated number as required by their chosen encryption method.

[Deuce Bigalow]

adding in air play would be sweet as well...

[johnnyrocket03]

its a shame you basically have to be a programmer to understand how to make use of this...

[FlameOn]

Originally Posted by johnnyrocket03

its a shame you basically have to be a programmer to understand how to make use of this...

Sadly half the programmers out there still wouldn't know how to make use of this. You'd need to understand a lot about low level systems, platfrom security, etc. So this falls on two groups, uber crazy hacker nerd types or engineers with lotsa spare time on their hands.

[Roast Beef]

Originally Posted by johnnyrocket03

its a shame you basically have to be a programmer to understand how to make use of this...

Not really. All you have to do is wait until a programmer creates something that interests you. Since they can digitally sign that software with the proper encryption key, it will be no problem installing it on your PS3.

Originally Posted by FlameOn

Sadly half the programmers out there still wouldn't know how to make use of this. You'd need to understand a lot about low level systems, platfrom security, etc. So this falls on two groups, uber crazy hacker nerd types or engineers with lotsa spare time on their hands.

This opens it up to an entirely different level though. The other hacks and exploits on the PS3 and other systems were just that, hacks. Finding a security flaw and exploiting it to run unauthorized code. (usually some type of buffer overflow) Or actually modifying the hardware itself to bypass some of those security checks. The difference with this current discovery is now ALL code can now be authorized code. No modding or flaky bypasses needed. Installing custom firmware and software will be as easy as plugging in a usb stick and copying it over to the PS3 Hard Drive.

[johnnyrocket03]

so this doesn't really help me if I (hypothetically ) wanted to download a game instead of paying $60+ for it?

[Roast Beef]

It busts the system wide open to piracy. I never mentioned that aspect because I have no intention of downloading up to 50 gigs of data just to pirate a game.

The more ominous aspect is that it opens up the online community to cheaters. Someone can take a retail game and decrypt the program code. They can then alter it however they want, re-encrypt and sign it as authorized Sony code. This will be much harder to detect and deal with than the Xbox live cheaters.

[Russic]

Originally Posted by Roast Beef

It busts the system wide open to piracy. I never mentioned that aspect because I have no intention of downloading up to 50 gigs of data just to pirate a game.

The more ominous aspect is that it opens up the online community to cheaters. Someone can take a retail game and decrypt the program code. They can then alter it however they want, re-encrypt and sign it as authorized Sony code. This will be much harder to detect and deal with than the Xbox live cheaters.

ugh. Good point. That sucks. Ah well ... I prefer playing with people I "know" anyway.

[Roast Beef]

Originally Posted by Russic

I wonder if somebody could develop something to allow music to play in the background of games now? Currently it's up to the developer to implement and not all of them do it.

It wouldn't surprise me if there is a custom firmware released that would allow you to do that. It also wouldn't surprise me if it broke some games in unimaginable ways.

[Russic]

Originally Posted by Roast Beef

It wouldn't surprise me if there is a custom firmware released that would allow you to do that. It also wouldn't surprise me if it broke some games in unimaginable ways.

Ya I'm with you there. It took so long for Sony to allow developers to add this feature into the games that there has to be a reason. I don't think it's as simple as it seems.

[mykalberta]

I guess this means we will be seeing the PS4 earlier than expected. Has the 360 game code been cracked yet? It would be a strange twist of fate if Microsoft had better security on its system than Sony has on theirs.

People have always wanted to hack things, its in some peoples nature. And as with this as with all other available hacks if it eventually leads to the system screwing up then I will laugh at them as I laugh at the people who mod their system to hack it.

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by mykalberta

I guess this means we will be seeing the PS4 earlier than expected. Has the 360 game code been cracked yet? It would be a strange twist of fate if Microsoft had better security on its system than Sony has on theirs.

People have always wanted to hack things, its in some peoples nature. And as with this as with all other available hacks if it eventually leads to the system screwing up then I will laugh at them as I laugh at the people who mod their system to hack it.

Xbox 360 has been cracked via hard and soft mod for several years.

Mod chips and other hardware mods that are detectable or can cause issues are nolonger neccessary. If they have the encryption keys for PS3, it's like having the encryption for DVDs and BluRay. You can just burn your own discs with the key and the system will think they are real.

[The Yen Man]

Does this mean the PS3 will finally have a half decent web browser? The one on the PS3 is just brutal.

On a side note, isn't piracy one of the big reasons why the PS1 won over the N64? The silver lining for Sony is that at least this happened in the middle of PS3's lifecyle and not early on when they were taking a loss on each console. Now they're at least turning in a profit with every system sold.

[Kerplunk]

I'm kind of torn about this. On one hand, I don't really care what people do to their systems. On the other, this might cause developers to stop making good titles for the PS3, or make online play horrible if people are able to start hooking into or changing applications. If that happens, I have many suggestions for what these people can go do with themselves, many involving fire and pain.

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by The Yen Man

Does this mean the PS3 will finally have a half decent web browser? The one on the PS3 is just brutal.

On a side note, isn't piracy one of the big reasons why the PS1 won over the N64? The silver lining for Sony is that at least this happened in the middle of PS3's lifecyle and not early on when they were taking a loss on each console. Now they're at least turning in a profit with every system sold.

No, the PS1 won because optical media was so much cheaper (in terms of manufacture and low royalty costs charged by Sony) and had so much more storage capcity than cartridges. Piracy was easy but modchips were not as widespread then.

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by Kerplunk

I'm kind of torn about this. On one hand, I don't really care what people do to their systems. On the other, this might cause developers to stop making good titles for the PS3, or make online play horrible if people are able to start hooking into or changing applications. If that happens, I have many suggestions for what these people can go do with themselves, many involving fire and pain.

So what system are they going to make titles for? Piracy exists on every system. It existed on the PS3 before all of this, just via another method. If you are worried about hacking in multiplayer games, that exists on all systems too. Those are server side issues though that they can deal with on their end if they are diligent.

[Mazrim]

Originally Posted by The Yen Man

On a side note, isn't piracy one of the big reasons why the PS1 won over the N64?

Not even close. In fact, the Dreamcast was the loser in that whole generation simply because it openly allowed burned games from day 1.