PS3 modders claiming to be able to unban machines
New hack allegedly allows users to ban other consoles, too
Reports indicate that a new PlayStation 3 hack has enabled modders and hackers to unban their consoles from PSN, as well as letting them ban any other console which they have the serial number for.
Just last week, Sony threatened that anyone detected using a hacked or modded PS3 would be kicked from the PlayStation Network and permanently banned.
Now, Destructoid reports that this has been circumvented by a new security breach allowing users to control the ban-state of their machines and accounts.
The move is another escalation in the ongoing conflict between hackers and Sony, which has centred around George 'GeoHotz' Hotz and the hacking team fail0verflow, who collectively are accused of programming and publishing the "Jailbreak" hack which allows PS3 owners to play uncopyrighted material. Sony is in the process of suing those involved.
This is getting out of hand, period. Legitimate gripes against the removal of a function over 90% of the core user base cares not two shits about and a bunch of jerks now threatening a mod that can ban users who shouldn't even NEED to be worrying about this sort of crap are a few leagues apart.
If they all want to get the bag of legal hammers thrown at their heads, let them keep it up. It's just going to turn more folks against THEM in the long run when Sony keeps adding updates and other restrictions because a bunch of talented babies can't let it go. Basta es basta, already.
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Greg Wilcox on 21st February 2011 4:38pm
If they do have access to to be able to ban consoles, then that is a huge flaw and I'm glad it's been given some publicity.
And even if it was a small percentage of users that was actually using OtherOS, it still was a promoted feature and for those people a big reason to buy the PS3.. No the only reason Sony had OtherOS in the first place was to circumvent tax laws in some countries, when the productionprice was lower they could remove it because it wasn't a big chunk of the costs anymore, so it was removed from the Slim with some BS that it was due to technical difficulties (well we all know now that that was pure BS because it runs perfectly on a Slim) but then they still had to support it on the Phat which was a major thorn in there eye (as maintaining it also costs some money), but luckily they found a plausible reason for removing it, which was Geohot..
@greg: even if it's 90% who didn't care about the feature, it's still a feature that the PS3 was sold with and for 10% a reason to buy the PS3 (for me actually it was the feature that made me decide to buy the PS3 next to the blurayplayer, playing PS3 games was a nice extra). Just imagine how you would like it if they removes the gaming part just because it would interfere with their bluraymovie business... The only way to use my PS3 now with all the function when I bought it, is by running a CFW..
Ofcourse I agree with sony banning people who cheat (but you don't need a hacked PS3 for that), or people who pirate games (those are people who misuse the tools given by the hackers), especially with the current alleged 'spying'software running on the PS3 sony could certainly detect if someone is using the CFW for homebrew or for pirating..
Microsoft really nailed it with pretty much everything. I'm assuming from a lack of news that Nintendo got their system security right too (as simple as it is) unless I missed something.
@Andrew: It does not mater why OtherOS was not included in the slim, it did not ship with it period and the slim was never advertised with it. If people didn`t like it the fat PS3`s where discounted and cheaper anyway. Did it save them money? Maybe. When every person is complaining it`s to expensive you look at what you can sacrifice that`s not important. And Linux support for a game console is very very high on the list of not important things. We are talking here about a company that needs to make money in order to keep producing devices in that category. As for OtherOS, as you say yourself it was removed after Hotz started hacking into the system using Linux. It doesn`t mater how far he got, it was a security risk and got shut down and it was thanks to him.
If I would have bought a PS3 for the reason of OtherOS and it got removed I would be very thankful to Hotz since it was his doings that caused that. I`m sure without the hacking it would be still there.
Regarding homebrew, well I would suggest those people to get XNA that`s for free, start doing stuff for Android or just get a PC. With those options they can do a lot more useful stuff and even might make money by doing that. Where was all that amazing homebrew stuff while OtherOS was still there and where is it now? Great now you can unlock trophies and use pirated games, that`s certainly a great homebrew community that Hotz is supporting there. Without them and their awesome creations life would be meaningless.
Edited 2 times. Last edit by Private on 21st February 2011 11:28pm
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Gregory Hommel on 22nd February 2011 3:52am
The facts are simple. Sony tries to stop hacks by remotely accessing PS3 systems as deeply as humanly possible. Their problem being that hackers can penetrate the system just as deep. With both sides having equal access, the current situation cannot be resolved by a shitting contest of who can switch bytes in firmware fastest.
In other words, as long as you don't know your own serial like I do, you got nothing to fear ;)
Just be carefull of emails or something pretending to ask for your serial...even tho they might look completly official, 100% sure they're not.
as for Sony threatening people hacking will be banned from PSN... yeah right... friends and I have reported in access of 150 people running hacks and Sony has done twiddly pop about them, they are still active on PSN, and still running their hacks...
anyone thought of a PS3 serial number generator?
Edited 1 times. Last edit by James Verity on 22nd February 2011 9:07am
Nice try on the tax thing, but the law that taxed consoles more than computers has been gone since 2005.
We can ignore the BS from Sony; you know as well as I do that maintaining features costs money (and often a lot of money), and it's pretty darn likely that they just didn't want to spend the money to maintain the other OS feature, especially given the tiny market for it.
Sony was doing the world a favour by providing the ability to run Linux on a PS3 in 2005; at that point it was a fairly powerful machine for the price. Now, buying a PS3 to run Linux for that reason would be just silly when you can get far, far more processing power for the same price with a PC. If Sony's going to spend money just to make the world a better place, there are better places they could spend it.
As for it being "a feature the PS3 was sold with": it's still in the PS3s sold with it unless you updated the firmware, and if you did that, you knew what you were doing. I don't see why we get all this brouhaha about losing Linux when we lost the PS2 emulation, which is far more valuable to the vast majority of PS3 owners.
Nobody seems to realize that when they say that Sony should have kept the ability to run Linux, they're also saying that either a) Sony should have raised the price of the PS3 to cover the cost of this feature, or b) Sony should have dropped some other feature in favour of this. All software development is a trade-off, folks.
Update: I was incorrect; duty hasn't been an issue for "computers" vs. "consoles" since 2004. Here are the details.
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Curt Sampson on 22nd February 2011 12:01pm
"Er... Graeme. These "homebrewers?" Where the hell are they and if they have games that are so damn good, why aren't they making money selling them as minis on PSN or otherwise getting the word out about what they do that's so interesting?"
Home Brew is illegal. So only subversives with no financial motivations dare try. Arguing there is no legitimate home brew scene (read not just games) when legitimacy is impossible is flawed reasoning to ban hacking.
"Er... Graeme. These "homebrewers?" Where the hell are they and if they have games that are so damn good, why aren't they making money selling them as minis on PSN or otherwise getting the word out about what they do that's so interesting?"
Home Brew is illegal. So only subversives with no financial motivations dare try. Arguing there is no legitimate home brew scene (read not just games) when legitimacy is impossible is flawed reasoning to ban hacking.
I find this entire path of reasoning flawed. Just because only 2% of people contribute to Free Software projects does not mean the free software movement is dead anymore then the fact that only 2% remix content so the pursuit of lesser copyright laws are flawed.
The 2% is why start ups like Google were possible.
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Shane Sweeney on 22nd February 2011 11:24am
Your second article seems to describe the PS3 as a computer - i.e., it has (had) programmable functionality. Also, both articles mention the PS2, which lacked an 'OtherOS' and would seem to support the argument that an 'OtherOS' was added to the PS3 as a tax dodge.
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Paul Cardy on 22nd February 2011 12:30pm