PlayStation 3 'hacked' by iPhone cracker!

[fizz]

Took 3 years for somone to hack it but only took the guy 5 weeks in total.

Didn't realise that the kid was only 17 when he hacked the Iphone! Impressive stuff.

So when do you reckon he will be offered a high paid job by Sony?

A US hacker who gained notoriety for unlocking Apple's iPhone as a teenager has told BBC News that he has now hacked Sony's PlayStation 3 (PS3).

George Hotz said the hack, which could allow people to run pirated games or homemade software, took him five weeks.

He said he was still refining the technique but intended to post full details online soon.

The PS3 is the only games console that has not been hacked, despite being on the market for three years.

"It's supposed to be unhackable - but nothing is unhackable," Mr Hotz told BBC News.

"I can now do whatever I want with the system. It's like I've got an awesome new power - I'm just not sure how to wield it."

Sony said it was "investigating the report" and would "clarify the situation" when it had more information.

'Open curiosity'

Mr Hotz said that he had begun the hack last summer when he had spent three weeks analysing the hardware.

After a long break, he spent a further two weeks cracking the console, which he described as a "very secure system".

He said that he was not yet ready to reveal the full details of the hack but said that it was "5% hardware and 95% software".


The hack could allow gamers to play pirated games
"You can use hardware to inject an insecurity and then you can build on that," he said.

He admitted that he had not managed to hack the whole system, including the protected memory, but had worked out ways to trick the console into doing what he wanted.

Mr Hotz said that he was continuing to work on the hack and, once finished, would publish details online in a similar way to his previous iPhone exploits.

In particular, he said, he would publish details of the console's "root key", a master code that once known would make it easier for others to decipher and hack other security features on the console.

He said his motivation was "curiosity" and "opening up the platform".

"To tell you the truth, I've never really played a PS3," he said. "I have one game, but I've never really played it."

Opening the system could allow people to install other operating systems on their console and play homemade games, he said.

In addition, he said, the hack would allow people to play older PS2 games on their consoles.

Recent versions of the PS3 do not have the ability to play PS2 games after Sony controversially removed a piece of hardware.

He admitted that it could also allow people to run pirated games.

"I'm not going to personally have anything to do with that," he told BBC News.

Gaming firms do not take the issue of game piracy and console modification lightly. Recently, Microsoft disconnected thousands of gamers from its online gaming service Xbox Live for modifying their consoles to play pirated games.

Mr Hotz said that the nature of his PS3 hack means that Sony may have difficulty patching the exploit.

"We are investigating the report and will clarify the situation once we have more information," said a Sony spokesman.

Mr Hotz rose to fame in 2007 at the age of 17 when he unlocked the iPhone, which could only be used on the AT&T network in the US at launch.

The hack allowed the popular handset to be used on any network.

He has since released various other hacks, allowing people to unlock later versions of the popular handset.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8478764.stm

[H3RB]

saw it on ps3news.com a few days ago.
good news if its true tho
sony are looking into it now tho so expect a new firmware in the next few weeks lol

[JohnnyC]

good news if its true tho

Give me one good reason why it's good news?

[Ekona]

So people can yarr all their games and not pay for them like us normal decent folk do. There's no other reason for it that I can see.

[matt_mr2t]

good news if its true tho

Give me one good reason why it's good news?

Because H3RB only plays pirate games...

If it happens he could finally sell his Xbox and become a full time PS3 fanboi

[JohnnyC]

So people can yarr all their games and not pay for them like us normal decent folk do. There's no other reason for it that I can see.

Exactly!


I do like:

In addition, he said, the hack would allow people to play older PS2 games on their consoles.
Recent versions of the PS3 do not have the ability to play PS2 games after Sony controversially removed a piece of hardware.

Now then, how's he going to manage to bring PS2 emulation back for those PS3s that don't have the PS2 GPU hardware?

[matt_mr2t]

I do like:

In addition, he said, the hack would allow people to play older PS2 games on their consoles.
Recent versions of the PS3 do not have the ability to play PS2 games after Sony controversially removed a piece of hardware.

Now then, how's he going to manage to bring PS2 emulation back for those PS3s that don't have the PS2 GPU hardware?

The hardware on the PS3 was to read official PS2 games. If he's hacked the PS3 to play games from any disk, then you'd just need to have a copy of a PS2 game in order to play it surely?

[Ekona]

Who cares? Who actually desperately wants to play PS2 games on their PS3? For those six people it's probably amazing, but it's just a cover-up so that he can pretend that the sole purpose of hacking the console is to play pirate games.

[H3RB]

good news if its true tho

Give me one good reason why it's good news?

Because H3RB only plays pirate games...

If it happens he could finally sell his Xbox and become a full time PS3 fanboi

indeed, thats why i own over 150 original games for the ps3/360 and only 30 copys all of which i own in my collection anyway.
there are MUCH more things to be done once the console is unlocked. main reason being home brew.... i dont fancy spending £20 a disk to burn blu rays off so ill let you off. all im interested in is the homebrew side of things (quite possibly the only reason the xbox 1 sold so well, and now the 360 will pick up also)

[matt_mr2t]

I'm taking the p1$$, lighten up

Thats why I put the smilies in there.

I know some people have the hump about pirate gamers, I personally couldnt give a monkey's, if thats what you wanna do, thats what you wanna do. I've been tempted myself tbh as I think £40 for games is joke. A bad joke.

[H3RB]

So people can yarr all their games and not pay for them like us normal decent folk do. There's no other reason for it that I can see.

Exactly!


I do like:

In addition, he said, the hack would allow people to play older PS2 games on their consoles.
Recent versions of the PS3 do not have the ability to play PS2 games after Sony controversially removed a piece of hardware.

Now then, how's he going to manage to bring PS2 emulation back for those PS3s that don't have the PS2 GPU hardware?

the ps3 doesnt have ps2 hardware of any sort, its an emotion chip emulating the software same as the 360 its all software based emulation.

[H3RB]

I'm taking the p1$$, lighten up

Thats why I put the smilies in there.

I know some people have the hump about pirate gamers, I personally couldnt give a monkey's, if thats what you wanna do, thats what you wanna do. I've been tempted myself tbh as I think £40 for games is joke. A bad joke.

thats the whole reason i do it. i see a game come out and unless im certain i want it then i grab a copy offline and try it, if its any good i buy it (usually special edition) if its cack i just throw the disk in the bin usually within the first hour... its hardley what id call heavy piracy more along the lines of 1 big demo lol
now that the 360 is fully hacked i have 2 upstairs, one for xbox live use and gaming and the other for old emulators and a media center when it comes along like the old XBMC. (i get my 360s for free incase u wondering why i spend £200 to play old roms lol)

[matt_mr2t]

I've never been comfortable with the idea that I could end up banned from Xbox live or that tinkering with the already delicate console might cause it to go pear shaped.

[JohnnyC]

So people can yarr all their games and not pay for them like us normal decent folk do. There's no other reason for it that I can see.

Exactly!


I do like:

In addition, he said, the hack would allow people to play older PS2 games on their consoles.
Recent versions of the PS3 do not have the ability to play PS2 games after Sony controversially removed a piece of hardware.

Now then, how's he going to manage to bring PS2 emulation back for those PS3s that don't have the PS2 GPU hardware?

the ps3 doesnt have ps2 hardware of any sort, its an emotion chip emulating the software same as the 360 its all software based emulation.

Which is why the (newer) PS3s cannot emulate the PS2.
Older PS3s that emulated the PS2 had extra hardware
How is hacking the PS3 going to bring the PS2 hardware back?

Homebrew? Just write for the PC, and there's a wealth of information on the win32 libraries.

[H3RB]

I've never been comfortable with the idea that I could end up banned from Xbox live or that tinkering with the already delicate console might cause it to go pear shaped.

360s are easy to fix just stick em in the oven for 15mins re paste em and bolt em down and they should last a pretty long time, if they die again then just stick it back in the oven again for 15mins.
like i said tho i get mine for nothin so i aint gotta worry about breaking them especially as 90% of the ones i get given me are broken anyway lol

[RichardK]

Now then, how's he going to manage to bring PS2 emulation back for those PS3s that don't have the PS2 GPU hardware?

Presumably by allowing homebrew to run on it whilst accessing the other hardware, and then running an emulator. I don't think that the Linux for it can access the graphics hardware properly.

[JohnnyC]

Now then, how's he going to manage to bring PS2 emulation back for those PS3s that don't have the PS2 GPU hardware?

Presumably by allowing homebrew to run on it whilst accessing the other hardware, and then running an emulator. I don't think that the Linux for it can access the graphics hardware properly.

Surely if this were possible then Sony would've done it themselves?
1. Backward compatibility is a good selling point for a console (for some).
2. They get the chance to sell us PS2 games on PSN.

[RichardK]

It probably doesn't work well enough. If a homebrew runs at 80% and drops 50% of the available games, homebrew people go "meh, it's a proof of concept". Consumers get a little bit shirty.

Also, PS2 games are not exactly tiny. DVD vs. CD sized downloads...

Historically expansions don't sell well, otherwise I'd have thought Sony would do well to sell a plug-in card (double up the CF-card interface in a clever way?) for PS2 hardware - even then they dropped the CF/memory card reader, didn't they?

The biggest reason though, is surely the PS2 Slim. Not sure if they're still selling it, but it wasn't that long ago that it was a highly profitable best selling hardware despite being pretty old.

[matt_mr2t]

Now then, how's he going to manage to bring PS2 emulation back for those PS3s that don't have the PS2 GPU hardware?

Presumably by allowing homebrew to run on it whilst accessing the other hardware, and then running an emulator. I don't think that the Linux for it can access the graphics hardware properly.

Surely if this were possible then Sony would've done it themselves?
1. Backward compatibility is a good selling point for a console (for some).
2. They get the chance to sell us PS2 games on PSN.

I'm no boff but the way I see it is:

Sony still sell PS2's dont they? Games at least are still released for the PS2

The PS3 cost a lot more when it had backward compatability, which no doubt hindered the early sales figures for the console. £425 at release which was, lets face it, about twice as much as people would like to spend on a games console and about £100 more than what they would actually spend on a console. Only the die hards, the cant waits and a few over earners got the early backwards compatible PS3's

[H3RB]

Presumably by allowing homebrew to run on it whilst accessing the other hardware, and then running an emulator. I don't think that the Linux for it can access the graphics hardware properly.

Surely if this were possible then Sony would've done it themselves?
1. Backward compatibility is a good selling point for a console (for some).
2. They get the chance to sell us PS2 games on PSN.

I'm no boff but the way I see it is:

Sony still sell PS2's dont they? Games at least are still released for the PS2

The PS3 cost a lot more when it had backward compatability, which no doubt hindered the early sales figures for the console. £425 at release which was, lets face it, about twice as much as people would like to spend on a games console and about £100 more than what they would actually spend on a console. Only the die hards, the cant waits and a few over earners got the early backwards compatible PS3's

not really, i bought my ps3 a few days after launch, £450 with 5 games 2 pads and a blu ray film. bought my 360 on release day cost me £480 with 3 games 2 pads and that was it...
sony said that they are working on an update to add ps2 compatability back to ps3's with a firmware update but no date is confirmed. but to be fair the ps2 slim is only £40 now so is it really worth it...