PS3 Jailbreaks Galore Released 167
YokimaSun writes "Following up on yesterday's story about the PS3 being hacked by one of its own official controllers, there's now a guide in English that details how to mod a Sixaxxis controller. But thanks to the very latest releases, if you don't like soldering you can now use an iPod, a Pandora console or even a Dingoo console. Finally, Jaicrab has released a USB firmware loader which will come in handy once the first custom firmware for the PS3 is released. Maybe then we will get region-free Blu-ray, PS1 and PS2 games."
Um.. (Score:5, Insightful)
If you're going to make a guide telling people where to solder chips onto a board, you should really, REALLY make the effort to have those pictures be in focus.
Overblown (Score:5, Insightful)
The PS2 was thoroughly broken via crafted PS1 memory save, yet the PS2 and games live quite a healthy life, only diminished by new technology, not via piracy.
Sony's best move would have been to give more freedom in developing and sideloading apps front and center in the XMB. As many have said, given homebrew access to everything, the only remaining interested party for jailbreaking would be pirates, which seem to largely piggyback on the homebrew devs to do all the hard work. Discless play option for all games delivered via disc would be nice too (main reason I did the PS2 was to load all my games from HD. I legitimately own maybe 60 PS2 discs and I hate managing physical media.
Re:As someone whose income depends on the PS3... (Score:3, Insightful)
Taking a guess, you must be a game developer. While I'm sure it's nice in a business sense that Sony can tell developers and publishers that their console is invincible to hacking, nothing like that can last forever. Ultimately, everything is cracked; it's just a matter of how much time it takes. Personally I am pleased at the level of enthusiasm the techie community is displaying towards cracking the PS3 because it will, for better or worse, eventually lead to a more open system.
And for the record, if you are a game developer, you shouldn't believe the hyperbole and propaganda that Sony and the major game publishers no doubt tell you about the dangers of piracy. It is a popular scapegoat for big companies that don't sell their media as well as they'd like, or that just want greater control over their products post-sale, but there's never been any solid evidence to connect high piracy rates with low or no sales. Just because the PS3 has been broken doesn't mean that sales of PS3 games are going to drop flat.
Re:As someone whose income depends on the PS3... (Score:1, Insightful)
Why? How does having a "cracked" machine necessarily hurt your income? Are you afraid of piracy? Well, what of the people who paid money for a feature, only to have that feature removed by a software update that had to be installed or else you lost other features? You're income apparently depends on stealing from people. I find that distasteful.
Seriously, though. If you are a games programmer, are you worried about piracy? The Playstation has the ability to sell download only games, why couldn't you switch to that instead of discs, require your game to log in to the Playstation Network to play, and if it doesn't have a sale of your game to that account on record, disable the game? Many games already require a log-in (meaning that there are games I now cannot play because I chose the ability to run linux as the feature I would keep when Sony decided to steal that or online play from me), so it's not like it would be too much to ask for...
As a note, I also have a jailbroken iPhone. Many people depend on that for their income (hardware designers, programmers). Yet, I have never pirated software for it. Hardware people got paid when I bought it (boy did they get paid...), app developers have gotten paid through Apple's App Store (I've spent way too much money, though I don't pay for stupid games...I wait until the developer releases them for free trials or special days), and even developers through Cydia have been paid (Over Board, here's looking at you...). I find it distasteful that you seem to think that because I support hacking my PS3 that I'm the one who is an immoral thief out to steal your babies' food money. In fact, I find it rather insulting. However, I'm willing to let that slide.
So please, why do you find this so distasteful? I think having a reasoned, sober opinion from "the other side" would be a healthy addition to the debate on PS3 Jailbreaking.
Re:As someone whose income depends on the PS3... (Score:5, Insightful)
If you were going to write something for a console to be the first thing someone downloaded, do you want it to be an original game that would take a year or so to be fully playable, bug free, or would you rather do a quick port of a SNES emulator so people can -do- something with their newly cracked console?
I for one, think emulators are fantastic on consoles because just think about it, every game you've every played during your childhood you have on a single console. No more blinking red LED of the NES, no more swapping cartridges, no more scratched disks, lessened loading times, etc.
Re:Overblown (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:As someone whose income depends on the PS3... (Score:2, Insightful)
As someone who believes what you buy is YOURS, I find your disdain for freedom to be extremely distasteful.
It's been YEARS since I pirated anything, but I did miss the ability to run Linux and SDL applications on the PS3. Hooking up your laptop to the TV is NOT accomplishing the same thing!
Maybe you should be saying "Gee, I wish Sony did not deliberately lie about their advertised features and that they did not engage in collective punishment. "
It's a pity, because Sony DID do a good job at opening up the PS3 to Linux while still protecting software developers. Now it looks like they only promised Linux support to gain competitive advantage against the Xbox, and it's not needed anymore.
I hope one of your software vendors arbitrarily disables some feature in your development tools, just to teach you how inconsiderate you are. That is what Sony did to us.
Re:As someone whose income depends on the PS3... (Score:5, Insightful)
Sony already blew it by pulling OtherOS. If the PS4 is less open, then, as usual, chances are it will be attacked earlier and by more dedicated homebrew hackers, and it will lead to piracy earlier. The PS3 was the most open system this generation, and also the one that lasted the longest without piracy. This isn't a coincidence. Sony can either learn the lesson and open up the PS4, or not do so and end up like all the others [marcansoft.com] (somewhat outdated table).
Re:Um.. (Score:5, Insightful)
Hmm, is there a "too informative" mod?
Re:It almost makes me sad to have sold my ps3. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Yeah, not quite. (Score:3, Insightful)
It's optional to choose which revision of HDMI audio/video you want, but you must still include the full functionality or not bear the HDMI logo.