PlayStation 3 could suffer more piracy than PSP
Sony won't "regain control" says former head of Massive Entertainment; constantly connected consoles could beat hackers
Sony will be unable to effectively combat piracy on the PlayStation 3 now that the system has been hacked, and the system could face levels of piracy greater than those seen on handheld systems.
That's according to Martin Walfisz, one of the founders of Massive Entertainment (later sold to Ubisoft), and deeply involved in the development of new DRM technologies and strategies, told GamesIndustry.biz that without needing a specific mod-chip to run illegal copies of games, Sony is unlikely to be able to detect which consoles are using security circumvention.
"If that hack works as reported, I don't believe that Sony can regain any control," Walfisz said. "They could try to employ a similar system to Xbox Live, so that people running hacked systems won't have access to PSN. But Sony won't be able to stop people from running pirated game copies as long as the machines are not hooked up online.
"And given that it seems that users won't even need a hardware mod-chip to play pirated games, I don't believe that Sony can even detect which users to lock out from PSN."
Piracy levels on the PlayStation 3 are likely to climb to those seen on the PSP handheld, warned Walfisz, if not further considering the installed base of the system.
"They way the PS3 seems to have been hacked, it is now completely open. The hackers can create pirated copies that completely mimic the official Sony digital signature, making it extremely easy to use pirated copies of games, without the need for any hardware chip modifications.
"I would assume that pirated copies can be stored on the HDD as well, making it so easy to use that PS3 piracy, given time, might even surpass the handhelds."
He added that the only way Sony could take back control of the PlayStation 3 would be to release new hardware, entirely unlikely considering the cost.
"I don't think that they can do much. Once a console is hacked this completely, the hardware manufacturer can't really do anything. They could maybe update their hardware for new console sales, which would be a long and expensive process, but that won't stop users from running pirated copies on the current hardware. And updating the hardware needs to be done in a way that doesn't prevent users from running already-released games. I doubt that can be done."
Walfisz, who sold World in Conflict studio Massive Entertainment to Ubisoft in 2008, said that future games consoles must be constantly connected to the internet if they hope to remain piracy free.
"I believe that future-generation consoles will require a constant online connection," he said. "If they have that in place, they can run a much more powerful DRM scheme, where parts of the game logic will only be executed on secure servers - in effect partially mimicking a client-server scheme such as MMO's use.
"Then it doesn't matter if the console is hacked, since users won't be able to play the games without being online with a valid and unique registration key."
Yesterday Sony hit PlayStation 3 hackers George Hotz and the fail0verflow group with legal action, seeking restraining orders against them and up to 100 others involved in what it called trafficking of circumvention technology. They have been ordered to remove and give up all code, software and hardware related to the hack.
In support of the group, Carnegie Mellon University research professor David Touretzky has mirrored the PS3 jailbreak files on the university website in the interests of "free speech and free computing rights" and accused Sony of "doing something breathtakingly stupid, presumably because they don't know any better."
But according to lawyer Jas Purewal, Sony had "no choice" but to go the legal route, and Hotz will be unable to avoid a successful claim against him under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
"A DMCA action was pretty much inevitable once word of this got out," wrote Purewal on the Gamer/Law blog.
"The DMCA makes it illegal for you to try to circumvent technological protection measures which a software company puts in place to protect its software. One example is The Warden, the anti-bot program used in World of Warcraft (and recently in the court's spotlight as part of the WoW Glider case).
"Another is the technical measures put in place by Sony in the PS3 which Hotz has now broken. [It's] difficult for me to see how Hotz will be able to avoid a successful DMCA claim."
He will also face a challenge fighting the claims of violating the Copyright Act. "The PS3 console software is a copyright work, which you are only allowed to use in accordance with a EULA," continued Purewal.
"If you jailbreak that software, you are outside the scope of the EULA and therefore likely committing copyright infringement. Which is a bad thing - not least because, in the USA, it can lead to huge damage awards against the infringer."
Despite the disastrous start to the year for Sony, Walfisz said PlayStation 3 security has been a success, outlasting other hardware that was so quickly hacked.
"I think that Sony should be happy that they managed to get as much time as they did before the PS3 was hacked. All the big consoles have been hacked historically, so it's hard to estimate how the lifecycle would change for a console that is never hacked."
"It's certainly interesting that the PS3 wasn't hacked until they turned off the OtherOS feature, allowing Linux to run on the console. Once they turned that off, it seems that skilled hackers decided to try to turn it on again, and in the process hacked the entire console," he concluded.
You're kidding right...
What if my ISP fails? What if PSN or XBL fails? What if servers of those games fail (ubisoft anyone?)? What if i'm at a friends house who doesn't have access to the internet, so we cant play in multiplayer...
/sigh @ hackers & sigh @ the suggestion this guy makes.
Echoing sentiments above, but isn't this exactly why a vast majority of gamers appear to hate Ubisoft's DRM approach right now? I'm pretty sure it is...
martins definitly got it right there.
The menace George Hotz presented it’s not new and just after the major security breach - one that may not be reversed – was released to the world, Sony takes the only remedy they were able to think of: sue him. This is very naive. Of course once they face this problem with lack of an open mind, lawsuits are the usual solution, mostly to mitigate director’s responsibilities before the Shareholders, not to cure anything. If a lawsuit was the only solution, they should sue George Hotz at least one year ago, at the time he said publicly he will get PS3 code cracked eventually. Now it’s late, and most curious is now Sony is spreading worldwide the jailbreaking thing because of this lawsuit. Once only in the underground realm, the jailbreak is getting the headlight news all over the word. Wrong strategy!
But let’s face it: the existing laws are incapable to cover the quick transformation we are facing caused by all new technologies we are subject nowadays. All copyright system has become extremely old, and gaming business is no exception. All the TOS and User Agreements are getting ridiculous (yesterday, to update an application, I had to agree with 56 pages of an agreement in my iPhone, nonsense!!!)
Allow me to quote Professor Georges Ripert again: "Confronted with such a tight regulation, can man pretend to be free because the tyranny he is subjected to derives from the law? Of course, the legal power is not called "tyranny" since it appears to be established by the general will in the common interest, and since, in any event, occurrences of arbitrary power are infrequent. But a master's equity does not mean that his subjects are not slaves. ... And when their servitude lasts and their thoughts follow their behavior, the state becomes totalitarian and subjection is complete. Since it is legal servitude, the regime is still said to be democratic. Such is the hypocrisy of political language." (Le Déclin du Droit. Etude sur la législation contemporaine - Paris: Librairie Générale de Droit et de Jurisprudence, 1949, p. 69)
People wanted to do a lot of creative things with the power PS3 console. And one good thing the PS3 was able to do was run Linux, feature later removed by Sony, but admired by early adopters and gaming/computing fans. At some time, probably because the earlier weak sales, Sony changed their market strategy and aimed the console to the masses. Nothing bad here, but by removing the Linux support they got the anger from this specific customer type, forgetting they are powerful indeed. Not listening the call from thousands of customers who paid for the Linux support AND ability to play online, they took clearly the wrong road. Again, bad strategy!
Now the thing is: it’s time to console makers change their strategy and get smarter about piracy protection and security. We all know there is no 100% secure system so it’s not about to make “The Impenetrable System” but it’s about to make pointless someone break security. It’s all about STRATEGY, not CRYPTOGRAPHY.
Now it is shaping here a kind of crusade: Sony X The Free Computing. I just saw minutes ago a well know professor for defending open sourcing - Dave Touretzky - mirroring George Hotz website at the Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, clearing challenge the courts temporary restraining orders.
I am for sure, there are much things at the stake and what will happen here will shape of future because our life is more and more ruled by the CODE, that piece of software that runs every system we use.
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Wesley Williams on 13th January 2011 2:36pm
I'm a gamer that plans on buying the games I want when I can afford them but I can't really afford a new console right now.
Well no, if you electricty goes down so does everything else and you do something else with your time like you state, but if your console needs to be online for the duration of your playtime there's a lot of other factors that can happen as i said in my first post.
It doesn't happen much that my electricty goes down (at least not in my house), PSN down, ISP down etc etc happens a lot more frequent and still it doesn't justify people that don't have internet at all (i know some peope who don't take their consoles online) or going over to a friend's to play some multiplayer offline, it just isn't right.
I know what you're getting it tho, but i find it a bad comparison cause your electricty is a necessity and your internet connection isn't.
Not everyone who owns a console has an internet connection. Nor does everyone who has the internet have it on wifi. What if someone has their console in the bedroom and his mom/girlfriend/wife doesn't want a 10 meter cable running through the house so he can play a single player game like Vanquish. By the same train of thought, not everyone has a 10meg line that they can download digital titles. We take it for granted we all have 10 meg lines and wifi but that is not the case.
Now I am switching ISP, apparently their was supposed to be 10 days between my phone changing and internet connecting (they failed to tell me this) but that is irrelevent because a month later they have failed to send the router, and the particular isp won't give log in details over the phone.
I can't play online at the moment, but I can play 1 player Xbox and Wii games (and Steam when offline mode works).
The electricity is something needed to power a console, internet isn't something needed for a single player game, and if I was unable to play a single player game due to my ISPs incompetence, I would be fuming. How many people who prefer PC but also own an Xbox or PS3, bought recent Ubisoft titles on console when they heard of the DRM?
Also, still not everyone can get broadband, and you can bet there would be technical problems trying to allow for dial up.
I've not taken my PS3 online yet and my 360 only went online to download some of the patches and to update my profile after i linked it to my PC GFW account. The only DRMed games i've bought at full price have been Bioshock and Crysis: Warhead as I was only able to find out about the DRM after purchase because publishers and sellers try and hide the fact which i find reprehensible.... It's not enough that you can't see all the terms of the ToS/EULA but that you hand over your money at point of purchase and important information about usability is hidden from you - it's ridiculous. Imagine buying a game and not knowing which platform it was for!
Internet is still not a reliable thing.... nor is it a requirement for 'life'. You are guaranteed to have water and electricity but not necessarily an internet connection and then there are download caps and also, with all the encroachments on net neutrality by various companies, the possibility that you'd have to pay extra to send the information across or to access certain services...
Edited 1 times. Last edit by James Prendergast on 13th January 2011 3:26pm
There are still a few things that could be done with FW updates for consoles connected to the internet if they can`t decrypt the FW data to implement the new security measures into custom FW.
I don`t know how far he is looking into the future, but I can`t see the next generation of consoles requiring a constant connection to the internet. I never really have problems that my ISP is down, but still many people wouldn`t be very happy about it. That`s something that has to change slowly probably by starting with making games that are not MMO`s that require constant connection to the internet instead of the console requiring it. You just need to sell it good to the gamers and give them some good reasons why it is that way by disguising it in some cool feature. It would have been possible to do that with something like Demons Souls. The problem with anything like that are the servers that are getting shut down sooner or later and we all like to play some older games once in a while, so you would need to patch away the connection requirement.
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Private on 13th January 2011 3:46pm
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Graham Simpson on 13th January 2011 3:42pm
Mummy, mummy, can I have a Wintendo Pee? or a Claystation Tree?
Yes sweety of course you can! I'll even get you a game for it.
Muuuum! My game wont play!
Oh right... apparently I am supposed to have a connection to this into net or something with the service provider of my choice and keep the console with game connected to it at all times, in order for the things I just paid hundreds for to actually work?
In what other industry would it be permitted, that in order to use the product you'd just purchased you had to continually buy another product from somewhere else.
Electricity is completely uncomparable. In the developed world it is considered a necessity and every household has access to it. Therefore if you buy a console you have the power to supply it.
A connection to the internet is in no way a necessity, it is commonplace but not a necessity and no product should be sold which is not fit for purpose without being tethered to the original creator of the product.
Another analogy is simply to say that I have never walked on to the show floor of a car salesroom and said "yes, I'll take that model" only to be told.
"Wonderful, and you can get petrol from anywhere you like... but you cant drive it unless one of our salespeople is in the back watching you, just to make sure you don't do anything we dont like of course."
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Kevin Danaher on 13th January 2011 3:57pm
"In what other industry would it be permitted, that in order to use the product you'd just purchased you had to continually buy another product from somewhere else. "
The mobile phone industry? I bought a Phone from Apple and have to pay 3 to be able to use it's primary function.
Salesman: No, Madam, the console always has to be plugged into the Internet because Sonsoftendo believe all their customers are potential criminals
Customer: That doesn't sound very consumer friendly
Salesman: Well, they got the idea from North Wales Police who are now charging drivers a monthly £60 fine due to potential speeding offences
Customer: Ah, well that's okay then, after all speed kills
Salesman: Just one other thing, it won't work in a few years time when Sonsoftendo stop supporting it
Customer: I've changed my mind, I'll stick with the Wii
I guarantee I won't be purchasing a machine with such a requirement ...
You buy a car from Ford, GM, etc. Who sells you the petrol?
The point in this case is that it's draconian DRM. It's something new to games consoles (relatively speaking). A game that in previous generations needed no internet connection will now need an internet connection. Not to add any functionality, just so that they can minimise piracy.
Plug and play? Not anymore. Plug and set up your net connection, register your system, create an account, wait for it to be validated, register your game, download any required content, hope that nothing in the preceding steps has gone wrong, hope that your net connection is stable, play.
No thanks.
Edited 2 times. Last edit by Wesley Williams on 13th January 2011 4:55pm
In agreement with Wesley, I think in a few years or so the internet will be as reliable as electricity is, and at that point, I would have absolutely no issues with any "always on" anti-piracy measures.
(Just so long as I don't have to pay for an adaptor to get the console online..)
Agree with most of the statements above:
-Ubisoft denying the DRM system on their games, but saying Playstation should.
-Massive PS3 sells to be seen too bad for publishers/game dev.
The I-phone would be an Ipod touch without the phone contract, its a seperate and distinct service.
You stop paying your phone bill the I-phone will still work, just as an Ipod touch.
Even if you jailbreak the phone the network operator does not care, they will still accept the phone on the network and if you need to you can always switch your simchip to a different phone any time you like (provided the phone is unlocked as most are these days)
It is known that a car requires fuel, but all filling station sell fuel that is supposed to be compatable with your car but car makers do not require you to verify you own the car, have permission to drive it and that the car has not been modified in anyway before you are allowd to get more petrol.
You bought a communications device and were surprised to have to pay for connected funtionality?
End sarcasm :)
I was referring to the pure nature of PS3, it is to play games, online or offline it shouldn't matter.
(Coincidentally, if you wanted to you could buy a sim free iPhone and have no contract with anyone, you'd still be able to use WiFi, the App Store, Games etc. Heck even jailbreak it and use cydia to buy content instead of the app store.)
@Robert
You'll see in my analogy I mentioned the petrol was of no consequence to the vendor. The fuel for a PS3 is electricity. I know I can get this and it's required for electronic devices to work.
The DRM part of the analogy was the car manufacturer looking over your shoulder as you drive to ensure that you do it the way they want you to.
As far as I know people crash Hondas, Toyotas, Renaults, even Ferrari's all the time. But the car companies don't try throwing their weight around by monitoring how everyone drives and cutting of their access to driving if they don't do it the way the car was intended to.
People even mod their cars, bodywork, engine... engine software too ;)
My overall point is that my analogies were to relfect that although I work in this industry the amount of bad press it brings upon itself by attempting to control it's products once they've left the warehouses it ever growing. This hugely frustrates me, especially as I got into this line of work through being a fan of the industry in my young life.
I can pick up my copy of Monkey Island from my shelf and play it now if I like, decades later.
We are heading in a direction where retro gaming will not exist anymore because servers will shut down a certain period of time after games have been released and all the games on our shelves will be worthless.
This is surely illegal as well, in many countries at least, regardless of any games EULA. No product should be sold with the manufacturer in full knowledge that after a certain (potentially arbitrary) date it will simply stop functioning.
In this way the pirates get more game for their (lack of) money than the genuine customers, who feel cheated for being loyal ( I know I do but I cant stop buying more games, lol). Anyway, thats a recent but already old arguement and an aknowledged fact that the some in the industry choose to ignore for some unknown reason.
I hope nobody listens to this guy
At the point home consoles go digital only that internet thing becomes a non issue because you can get the content anyway only via the internet so you need to have it connected anyway.
PC games require now internet at least for activation so the thing has already been set in motion.
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Private on 13th January 2011 5:58pm
Also if I buy or activate a game online, I hopefully can play it offline afterwards. If i buy something from steam, I can then play it on my laptop in a place with no web access.
If one console manufacturer releases an always on for authentication console, I promise to buy their rival that doesn't.
Did you know that in Finland the Internet is part of the human rights?:]
Still, I do think we're far away from the point where everyone, everywhere has access to Internet all the time. Making the idea of a console that requires you to be online at all times quite ludicrous. Simply because it limits the potential installed base.
I do not think people are ready for such a big change so soon. Just a few years ago I read an article about a guy who was pissed because he couldn't play World of warcraft without a subscription.
Check back with me in ten or twenty years though and I might have changed my opinion.
The thing is the console makers are too eager to make money also with the hardware sales, but as is today, the dilemma still clear: the customer buys the console but he is not able to do what he wants to do with it because there are tremendous limitations and serious consequences if he does not accept the license terms the console makers presents unilaterally from time to time.
The OtherOS support – Linux – removal was a clear example of breach of contract by Sony against customers who bought the PS3 with the ability to run Linux and play online.
If we limit to say that the hackers groups are doing just plain piracy at the end, so it’s equally valid to say the console makers cheat the customer when they change the TOS, agreements and licenses, at they will and disposal, leaving the user to agree and proceed or don’t agree and be prepared to throw away his console, like saying “accept it or die” or “I fight for the programs”.
Over time consoles have adapted many things from PC`s and I would not rule out this will be one of the things or that PC`s will stop at just requiring internet for activation.
If MS, Sony and Nintendo see a way to reduce piracy and that would be the way they see, I can guarantee you there will not be one of the consoles using this method but all of them. As I said once they go digital only there is nothing that could stop them from doing this because for digital content you need an internet connection. Who knows maybe they start then to team up with ISP`s to even offer console bundles with internet so you can buy a console that includes a flat rate or they become ISP`s. Right now you can get internet for home wireless without the need of cables just a modem from Clearwire. Where would be the problem in 15 years to implement a wireless modem in the consoles so you can always stay connected with the servers of the manufacturer by charging a monthly fee that would include the internet access of the console and at the same time an Xbox Live like service for the console. If you wouldn`t have already internet at home you could choose to use the service of the integrated modem.
Also more and more games are online only so requiring PSN for online games will also enhance the possibility for people not to 'hack' their console.. At this moment not all (older) online games require PSN access as they have their own servers, but that might change (or already has) because of Trophy's.
Also, if one platform holder introduces it, all may follow, but equally, the one or both(or a new) rival may see an opportunity to steal marketshare by not implementing it.
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Andrew Goodchild on 13th January 2011 7:31pm
What this could potentially - stress that word - mean is that we have to pay a premium for the system, which will require broadband internet (not even *available* in all areas yet), which itself will probably require a Super Duper Gamer Plan, for an extra price. So the cost of this system just went up *more*.
I will not buy a console that requires internet access to use it offline. When the console is replaced by the latest model and they switch off the servers you'd have a useless hunk of metal and plastic instead of a retro console - no thanks. It's bad enough now that developers on Xbox 360 and PS3 rely on downloading patches, so in the future when the servers are switched off and you only have the game disc you can only play the original buggy release.
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Luke McCarthy on 13th January 2011 8:57pm
If my game has to be connected to a dedicated, secure server to work, how long will that server be running? They're not the cheapest things in the world to run and eventually they all get switched off (like EA regularly does with multiplayer servers). Does that then mean the game I have paid money for will no longer work (on the console that I have paid even more money for)?
I hate this future we're heading into where we only licence technology. What if I want to play my favourite game 10 years after I bought it? Or even longer? I still boot up classics on various consoles from time to time. I hate the thought of that become something I can't do in the future.
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Josef Brett on 13th January 2011 10:44pm
COD series hacked to death on the PS3... Sony say its Activisions problem... Activision says its Sony's problem... SONY should be banning the hackers on PSN wrecking any games on the PS3...
Edited 1 times. Last edit by James Verity on 14th January 2011 12:41am
And all to just combat pirancy?
Believe me, no matter what you do, nothing will stop piracy unless if you are going to just make it harder for the average consumer just to play a game that they have brought.
It is hard when you don't get the money from games because of people pirating, but it is even harder for a gamer when all they want is just to play a game and things like DRM and other things make their enjoyment even harder to obtain.
Yeah PS3 has been compromised, but PSP is exceptional in it's piracy issue in my opinion.
One reason for PSP piracy is the battery life - if you play from UMD, it has a mere two hours, if you backup the game to the memory card, it could go on for 3-4 times longer without recharging. Though i havent used my PSP since 2007, so i cant comment on upgrades since then.