Hackers vs Gamers

Today's 27c3 PS3 Fail keynote revealed that fail0verflow (marcan, bushing, and svpe) have acquired SONY's private key they use to sign games through a mathematical calculation. This essentially means that the PS3 has been hacked forever, something that not even Wii hackers like myself can boast. The only way SONY can fix this problem is to change their private key. If they do that, all games and software signed with it (ie: everything) stops working. SONY is not going to change their private key obviously.

This has flamed up some interesting discussion among people. What it boils down to is fans of SONY and fans of homebrew and Linux unethically fighting a debate of ethics. I'm going to generalize it even more and call it a philosophical war of gamers versus hackers. This article is an editorial on which I am going to express my opinion on the debate. If you have no interest in listening to me blow off steam and bellow out hot air, don't skip past the break for more.

How to Bypass Updating to PS3 Firmware 3.42

As you've probably heard, SONY has made a new firmware for their PS3 called firmware 3.42. THIS UPDATE BREAKS THE USB EXPLOIT FOR THE PS3 (for now at least). According to SONY, this update is mandatory if you want to use your PS3 online and access the PS3 store.

Well, turns out it's not mandatory after all.

Set 67.202.81.137 as your primary and secondary DNS on your PS3 you can still use your PS3 online without having to update. I had a couple friends test it on PSN and it worked - haven't heard if the Playstation Store also works but I would assume it does.

On the Status of PS3 Homebrew

I'm writing this article to try to help clear up a few misconceptions about the current state of PS3 homebrew. This article is intended to be informative and unbiased. Please let me know if there are any problems with it.

Opening up the PS3 has been greatly desired by homebrewers and hackers everywhere. The PS3 is the most powerful video game console on the market today - arguably much more powerful than most computers you could go out and buy for twice the price. I won't dwell on this too much though, it would probably be a good idea to just see the hardware specs for yourself. With the ability to run unsigned (or "homebrew" or "home-made") code on the PS3, we would be able to use many powerful full speed emulators (it would probably even be possible to get Dolphin running decently on the PS3), play many ports of great games, and use lots of original games and software which takes advantage of the unique capabilities of the PS3 (Move anyone?). In short: PS3 homebrew would be awesome.

People have been working on hacking the PS3 to turn it into an open system ever since it was first released. For awhile, people had been using the PS3's OtherOS feature to use Linux to run unsigned code. However, the possibilities through Linux were very limited. Another way to run code was needed. Former hacker George Hotz took the first real steps toward realizing this when he was successful in using Linux to dump important information from the PS3 - the PS3 hypervisor (the software "kernel" which keeps the PS3 security running strong). Xorlorser wrote great plugins and scripts for the "hacker favorite" disassembler IDA Pro so that anyone could easily read the hypervisor in it's PowerPC assembly. Disane (aka Grojcig) recently wrote a great article on reversing the dumps to help people get started too.

Groups of PS3 hackers started to really surface after geohots' exploit. Everyone began looking into the PS3 hypervisor for bugs to help them dump more information or methods to easily execute unsigned code. Yours truly even spent some time doing this and helping people get set-up to do it. Like in any video game console homebrew scene though: Along with people making real progress on PS3 hacking, many people are also just trying to garner public attention for money (via excessive begging and ridiculous promises of course) claiming that they could really open up the PS3 if they got what they wanted. To that end, you should avoid the PS3 "hackers" Mathieulh, DemonHades, and approach most other people claiming they can hack the PS3 for your money with extreme caution. Hackers Xorlorser, Matt_P, phiren, Disane (aka Grojcig), bushing, subdub, AerialX, megazig, and a few others, collectively now called the "psgroove team" are all the real deal as far as people who can actually hack the PS3. Again, use caution if looking at someone asking for something so they can hack the PS3.

However, true PS3 homebrew finally came in an unexpected manner on August 18th, 2010: Ozmodhips revealed that they had in their hands a modchip called psjailbreak which when plugged into a USB port would allow people to run their own unsigned code. As a bonus, the modchip would ship with software enabling users to use make and run "backup" (ie: pirated) copies of games. The modchip also has an SDK freely available to anyone and everyone to write PS3 homebrew.

Several problems arose from the PSJailbreak modchip. 1)The development SDK offered is illegal and is mostly composed of code from SONY's official PS3 SDK. 2)SONY has already filed lawsuits against everyone selling the modchips making it impossible for retailers to ship them until the lawsuits are resolved. This has essentially stopped distribution of the chip. 3)Not necessarily a problem, but the modchip was way overpriced (in my opinion at least) and carries the risk of SONY blocking it in future firmware updates.

Merely days later, phiren and the rest of the "psgroove team" solved all these problems. They reversed the PSJailbreak modchip and released an open source version of it called PSGroove. By flashing PSGroove to a micro controller like one from the AT90USB family you can have a USB stick that does essentially the same thing as the PSJailbreak modchip (without the piracy features though). So finally, after the years of work by hackers, people can run homebrew on their PS3's. A completely legal homebrew SDK for the PS3 is currently under development so we should be seeing lots of PS3 homebrew once it's functional. I've personally got plans (despite not owning a PS3 or one of these USB microcontrollers yet -- donate plz :3 ) to work on a few ports with some people once it's done.

Now the PS3 homebrew "scene" is finally taking off lots of great stuff should be coming soon. Hopefully a software exploit will come about some day so people can more easily run unsigned code; However making a USB PSGroove device is not that bad of an alternative at all - you should check out rvlution.net if you need help.

Thoughts on the PS3

Like most homebrewers and hackers (not necessarily just those of Wii "scene" fame like myself) I'm experiencing a growing interest in the PS3 all of a sudden. It's an amazing and beastly console that has simply gone too long without any serious hacking attempts made. Now that the Wii has been thoroughly disassembled and capable of being made to do anything, the PS3 is the next most interesting target. In my opinion, it's more interesting than the XBOX 360 because the XBOX 360 has already been hacked a couple of times in the past, the PS3 has better controllers, and the PS3 is simply a more powerful machine.

Geohot's efforts of hacking the PS3 have certainly been entertaining to watch. He's managed to dump information using the PS3's OtherOS feature and it's yielded some interesting finds of course. If you haven't read RootLabs writeup of the hack, I strongly advise you to do so.

Before I go any further with just spewing out the thoughts running through my head on the PS3 I want to take a quick moment to mention something. MaxConsole orchestrated a devious scheme to get hits on their site started a rumor that Sony intends to remove the OtherOS feature in the next update from PS3s which support it (those of you just tuning in, newer models of the PS3 already don't support the OtherOS anymore). This rumor is the most uninspired attempt to cause senseless panic that I've ever seen. Sony has stated that they will not remove the OtherOS feature on PS3s which support it so there is nothing to worry to about. Any news site that says or even implies otherwise should no longer be thought of as a credible source of information and should suffer a fiery 404 death. Sorry I had to go off on a tangent here, I'm sick and tired of hearing this rumor day in and day out.

Now where was I? Oh yes, even though geohot's hacking efforts are extremely interesting, they're not going to make any huge waves. The information obtained from them (dumps of lv1 and other internal goodies for example) will certainly help in the future, but it's a future that's a long way off for the moment. Right now, what's first needed is way for the average consumer with and PS3 model to be able to run homebrew code on their system. In other words, we need a sort of Twilight Hack for the PS3. Whoever finds a way will be met with fame and respect from all around the world. Thus, the PS3 has become a very tantalizing machine to try and hack right now and thus people who have already had experience working with the Wii are turning their attention to it now.

It's a very exciting time to be a PS3 owner for sure on what I hope is the verge of PS3 homebrew. I don't own one myself at the moment but I would like to pick one up the instant I get the cash for it. For those of you as interested in the PS3 as I am right now, I encourage you to join #ps3dev on EFNET,  to hang around the PS3 homebrew development forums, and to closely watch the wiki documenting hacking and homebrewing on the PS3.