Run retail PS3 games from hard disk, black-hat magic required

While we're not to the point of backing up (or downloading) your favorite retail PS3 games to disk, hackers have taken a significant step in that direction. PS3News is reporting success in running PS3 retail game back-ups from both internal and USB drives on a "PS3 Test" development machine. Unfortunately, those games must still be stripped of their encryption, patched, and remastered to execute properly. So check your illicit 25GB PS3 game download fantasies, there's still plenty of work to be done before this goes mainstream.

[Via PS3 Fanboy]

[Technex @ Feb 12th 2008 2:25AM]

It was only a matter of time.

[derX @ Feb 12th 2008 2:29AM]

Okay, let's just get out of the way now.

References to Doom, the PS3's ability to be blended, and its lack of availability of games need not be made.

Also, no need for references to the iPhone, Apple, or any of that crap (these things tend to creep up). Let's keep this all Sony...may *some* Wii

...though props to anyone who could mention all three of those and something about, idk, the number 19.6 and the country of Nigeria.

or/and XBOX 360.

[Macroy @ Feb 12th 2008 2:58AM]

I bet the PS3 could run Doom faster than 19.6 iPhones and Wiis being blended in Nigeria.

After all, it would be the only fun thing to play on the PS3.

[wlp @ Feb 12th 2008 4:10AM]

who put you in charge?

[JLTate @ Feb 12th 2008 2:31AM]

Yayyy, let's steal money from game developers.


Damnit this pisses me off.

[Brent @ Feb 12th 2008 2:59AM]

It pisses you off that it's not available yet, right?

Oh, you're a struggling game designer who has never done anything of real merit you say? And you're pissed that maybe someday you'll be lucky enough (because good enough just simply won't do) to get something out on the market and you won't get to squeeze every last red cent out of that lottery ticket? That sounds about right.

Let's compare PS3 game developers to classic painters. Let's take the average gross income of those developers and compare it to the painters, and we'll even adjust for inflation. Now let's compare contributions. Let's compare quality. The painters were better? The programmers made more? Hmmm. It is just SO unfair that games, movies and music get pirated isn't it?

You show me a poor game developer, musician, actor, director or producer that has ever had anything pirated en masse and I will write a check immediately. There are none? Shocking!

Save your smart remarks until you've made a real contribution. Stop judging yourself so superior because "I'm not a thief!" As if the real thieves weren't the ones taking billions out of the pockets of the populous rather than the billion people taking a dollar out of the pockets of the billionaires.

[JLTate @ Feb 12th 2008 3:22AM]

Yayyy, let's justify our immoral actions with straw man arguments.


Damnit idiots who think the world is black and white with "the man puttin' us common folk down" piss me off, too.

[Aaron @ Feb 12th 2008 3:35AM]

Dammit people who don't spell dammit right...

[Brent @ Feb 12th 2008 4:14AM]

Sorry you took it as justification. It wasn't meant to be. I don't feel justified in pirating, I just don't give a damn. Really, that's all it is. I hear millionaires complain about it and I just don't care. Not one bit. Their troubles are of no concern to me. I guess I'm just an ass.

I wish the internet had never discovered the grown ups fallacies. You should have to learn debate from somewhere other than google. Maybe then you'd actually understand things like 'straw men' instead of thinking that their use automatically means you win. We'll call this the fallacy of fallacies. God is it popular on the internet.

Let me ask, just how far off was I on my assumptions of you? Are you a game developer? Have you worked on anything of merit? Does piracy make you upset on a moral ground, or because you see it as possibly costing you money some day?

I'll make an ass out me again and assume you have no way to refute the rest of my post?

[Jkswiss @ Feb 12th 2008 5:07AM]

Call me a bigot but I don't feel so bad about most mainstream music and movies being pirated. I think its the lavish lifestyle I see a lot of the stars live out and I think to myself that it can't be that bad for them.
However, for some reason, I hold a special place for authors, game developers and photographers. Maybe its because I've never seen one flaunt their wealth, maybe most of them just aren't wealthy..I know its a double standard.

[wickedpheonix @ Feb 12th 2008 8:03AM]

Thing is, people who are pissed off about piracy who aren't game developers themselves are pissed off because piracy raises game prices.

Thing is, I'M pissed off at those people because they're idiots. If all the piracy in the world ended tomorrow do you seriously think that all these $60 games would start to be offered at $40, even $50 price points? No fucking way, man.... those big-ass corps are gonna say, "hell, people bought it while it was $60 so they're gonna keep buying them at $60!!!"

[Wes @ Feb 12th 2008 7:09PM]

@WickedPhoenix
No no, its called profit-hungry mega-coporations.

I think pirating doesn't really effect programmers/developers wages that much. How many copies a game sells affects the amount of profit the company makes from the developer/programmer's work. It does not mean the developers were paid more in the past as a result of future sales expectations.

I mean look at Halo 3 that sold how many copies did that sell? Microsoft is getting rich! rich! RICHHHHH!!! off that game. I bet the developer's probably are not receiving much of the profit as they were likely given a base wage of like 80,000 a year during development.

There's a small chance they might get getting royalties and we may be screwing them out of $0.10 on each copy we don't buy, but, for the most part we are just screwing the publisher Microsoft.

Now on the other hand, people will tell you but if you bought more games, they'd have more money to hire more programmers and help create a better games, right? I tend to disagree though. Big profit-hungry corporations would take extra-sales and make them profit to make stockholders more happy in my opinion that invest that money into development.

[Silverfrog @ Feb 12th 2008 10:36AM]

First, Brent, you're a complete tool.

Thinking that piracy *only* harms large corporations and/or business executives is ignorant at best. Obviously you guys need to wake up when your economics professors are speaking. This stuff has trickle-down effects that are both long-lasting and substantial in terms of revenue lost, high-prices, as well as jobs lost. Yes, I said, jobs lost.

Do you think it matters that no person here can give real-world examples of people that are affected by piracy? No. Also, is piracy legitimized because we see people in the gaming industry [rich ones] getting richer? No. That's like saying all black people are rich because we see rich, black NBA stars, so that must mean they are ALL rich. Right? Wrong.

Piracy. Does. Hurt. The. Industry.

[Brent @ Feb 12th 2008 1:01PM]

@Silverfrog

I think you're misusing tool. Anyway...

Yes, piracy has devastating effects. I hear it's like 44% of the movie industry's losses. Oh that's right, that number was total BS and even the MPAA backed it down to 15, and while the rest of the world is guessing somewhere around 5%. That means 85% at least of their losses are their own damn fault.

I would wholeheartedly welcome any major industry to the piracy game. I have no more loyalty to TPB or isohunt than I do to the studios. They're welcome to put the torrent sites out of business by replacing them. It's a new world, and their business model is an antique. Of course they don't want to let go of it, antiques make profits out the ass.

You know who loses their jobs? The people that really aren't good enough. Do you think when a company looks at the bank statements and realizes that they WANT (really, what entertainment company NEEDs to cut jobs?) to cut jobs they get rid of their producers? The guys that make the games that make the money? No, they get rid of the people that ultimately never had any business having the job in the first place. I don't feel sorry for them either. Especially if they want to be called 'artists'.

Do I think it matters that no one here can name me a game developer hurt by piracy? No, I think it matters that no one anywhere can. Anyone who was, when you go back and ask their boss why that person was let go he's going to say piracy, and sub-par performance. That's capitalism. I don't mind hurting those people either. The rich and the not good enough. F em all.

Also, no one allowed to use the words trickle down when talking about economics that isn't Ronald Reagan.

Finally, no, it's like saying everyone in the NBA is rich. Shit, they are. You play in the pros you get rich. You play for the WNBA you don't. Still no pity for the developers playing in the WNBA. Cause they weren't good enough to play with the big boys. It's not my job to insure that every adolescent zit faced half ass programmer can get rich. Frankly the games he was working on never got pirated anyway.

[Laura @ Feb 12th 2008 1:47PM]

@ Aaron:

as damnit is the conjoined form of 'damn it', it is spelt as such. with a silent 'n'.

damn isn't spelt 'damm' is it? no.

[rv @ Feb 12th 2008 1:47PM]

Not stealing money. For many, they were never going to buy the game in the first place, so counting that as money lost all the time is not correct. I have a couple of friends who pirates every pc game under the sun, but they were never going to buy any of them. Such is the truth with piracy. You can't call every download "stealing money" for the reason I just said, and also because after the game has been developed and shipped they are not spending any money on development anymore. The cost has already been incurred. Someone downloading the game won't incur an extra cost for developers, so saying stealing money is incorrect.

[Brent @ Feb 12th 2008 1:57PM]

Laura, sorry to burst your smart little bubble. But you're wrong. Look it up. Spell check it. Google it. Dammit!

[giantenemycrab @ Feb 12th 2008 2:36PM]

Seems like if piracy became a problem on the PS3, game developers may skip the PS3 all together. I mean, if it's harder to make for the PS3, less user base(thus meaning less sales), and the then add in the chance of it getting pirated.. Sony needs to fix this hole soon or it could end up hurting them.

[ET @ Feb 12th 2008 3:59PM]

The truth is also that game console depend on privacy to get into homes of non first world countries and some asian countries. Look back and see which console which done well without piracy? None. N64 and gamecube screw up big time. Go to Brazil and ask if someone would buy a console that don't have pirated games. I am pretty sure you can avoid pirates (ie gamecube) but do you really want to 100% avoid it? The answer is no (Wii)

[Silverfrog @ Feb 13th 2008 11:39AM]

Re: Brent

Ha you could have just said you don't have to explain your illicit activities to us and that would've sufficed. But, you go so far as to defend your practices. That, is what I call justification. You can say that your crimes are victimless. You can also attempt to say that no [real] honest/hardworking/talented people lose their jobs. But, then you'd be ignorant as well. Tell me, what do you base your claims on? Do you work in the industry? No--you're just a common criminal who tries to cover up his activities by spewing "survivial of the fittest" philosophies and why only the good workers should survive. Give me a break. You think the people in the gaming industry [hurt by piracy] are only artists? This proves you know nothing about how making a game works. If I come to your house tonight and steal your car, are you then going to say it was YOUR fault because only weak people get their cars stolen?

Re: rv

I can go around and around on that point with you. Let's see how you sit with this thought--

What if I were to tell you that your "friend" (the one who says he never would have bought those games) couldn't have pirated them either....that's right, he probably would have ended up buying them. He stole them because he could steal them. If you put bananas in front of a monkey, he will eat the bananas. If you take away the bananas, he will have to work to find them.

I know this is hard for some people [like brent] to comprehend, but if you honestly believe that pirating games is ok because you never would have bought them anyway somehow makes you sleep better at night, then go ahead. I won't stop you.

[rv @ Feb 13th 2008 12:17PM]

Silverfrog
First, it really is a couple of my friends. My computer can't handle games.

Also, that is not true. I assume you don't eat the bananas, even though they are in front of you. Therefore, you show that people won't pirate simply because they can.

[Brent @ Feb 12th 2008 2:31AM]

In all seriousness I can't tell you how glad I am that engadget recognizes the actions of so many. I'm quite sick of all the sites out there that pretend 'illicit' activities don't exist and go so far as to ban users that even discuss them. Be sure to update us when those dreams come true? Kthx. (Not that I have a PS3, or even much want one, I do love a bit of dishonest honesty though!)

[I LOVE THE CAPS LOCK KEY @ Feb 12th 2008 2:41AM]

40GB-80GB maybe one of the reasons why Sony may be limiting HDD size despite the fact they cost roughly the same to purchase in bulk (-/+ $1), you won't be getting too many games on that stock 40GB model.


(Yes, I know HDD/SSD upgrades are possible)

[Ihar `Philips` Filipau @ Feb 12th 2008 2:49AM]

> check your illicit 25GB PS3 game download fantasies

LOL guyz you act as you never "shopped" at warez sites.

Crackers routinely patch and strip games off unnecessary stuff like ads, movies, cinematics, etc.

Believe me, many games modulo useless cruft would easily fit DVD5.

[why not the LS2LS7? @ Feb 12th 2008 3:23AM]

Insomniac pointed out their game (Ratchet & Clank) is 22GB. But a lot of that is because it has all the cutscenes, audio and text in 16 languages. They did point out though that even without the international versions it would still be more than 8.5GB.

[Ihar `Philips` Filipau @ Feb 12th 2008 5:09AM]

Hm... Again you underestimate crackers.

There are lots of possibilities how to make something more fit ^_^

In older times I have seen a game from warez site. It looked awful - yet was playable. Trick was, to improve performance, people did downscale most textures. I could tell difference because I owned the game - but the guys have seen only the poor graphics and were quite OK with it.

Also, usual trick to minimize size is to downsample music.

That was highly relevant in older days when warez was distributed over Internet and modems were dominant way to connect to net. Still I can easily imaging that people would start doing that again (if possible) to allow most of Asia (China?) to play PS3 games on cheap.

[Ian @ Feb 12th 2008 3:08AM]

@Macroy

nicceeeeeeeeeee

[Brent @ Feb 12th 2008 4:17AM]

Also nicceeeeeeeeeee the reply button!

[Ian @ Feb 12th 2008 1:29PM]

yea thanks i always forget u have to hit the word reply to reply to one person otherwise it goes all the way to the bottom...

[dagamer34 @ Feb 12th 2008 3:23AM]

Netflix anyone?

[SuperDre @ Feb 12th 2008 4:25AM]

Remember, ps3news has been known for bogus news just to atract traffic (and therefore income).. There is no real public proof of what is claimed..

[DrXym @ Feb 12th 2008 7:13AM]

The sheer size of games means there is no way many people will be ripping content to play from their disks. Even cross-platform (and therefore smaller) games could pad their content in non-obvious ways if piracy became an issue which I don't think will happen any time soon.

[jimmy @ Feb 12th 2008 8:38AM]

I used to say the same thing about movies....

hell, i remember downloading win 3.1 from a bbs at 9600bps thinking "holy crap, 8x1.44? this is insanity!"

[tekdroid @ Feb 12th 2008 7:19AM]

now if only Sony would crack the "it looks like a 1980s vcr, chrome-trim-and-all" aesthetic. :)

[Kurian @ Feb 12th 2008 8:03AM]

I might buy a PS3 if this works out.
IDK about their speculative losses, but Sony just gained 600$.

[Jonyah @ Feb 12th 2008 9:25AM]

hmm, i guess i need to invest in another terabyte hdd to get ready for this. on one hand, i'm suprised it took so long, on the other i'm suprised it's finally happening. get me a new slimmed down ps3 and i'll actually add a second one in the house. Our ps3 has really become our main media outlet with all the shows and movies we stream from our server.

[Steve @ Feb 12th 2008 10:59AM]

Great if Sony's stupidity couldn't kill the PS3, I'm sure wholesale piracy will do the job quick enough.

[x20mar @ Feb 12th 2008 1:28PM]

Tempting, very tempting

[b33eazy @ Feb 12th 2008 1:44PM]

Don't see anything wrong with free games if it wasn't 4 u guys I would of never knew
u guys saved me hundreds of dollars.I wanted 2 buy mgs4,but know there's no reason to.THX GUYS :D

[mick @ Feb 12th 2008 4:00PM]

dont forget that ps3news is known for releasing bogas info. i dont trust a word they say unless they put up a vid.

[Wes @ Feb 12th 2008 7:11PM]

Does anyone feel a sense of 'irony' in this decision that this could theoretically improve load times and performance?

Like how you need to do a hardware install for Devil May Cry 4 because the blu-ray rom read speeds are too slow? In theory, 'every' game will have a hardware-installation with this system so speed may be improved on every game for load times versus the blu-ray rom.

Especially if you start using 10000rpm or 7200rpm drives versus the 5400rpm included in the ps3 by default.

[Silverfrog @ Feb 13th 2008 11:55AM]

PS3 uses 2.5 inch SATA drives. They do not have 7,200 or 10k rpm drives yet.

[James Ollier @ Feb 13th 2008 6:45AM]

Sweet

[Dhalmo @ Mar 20th 2008 4:21PM]

Hmm, I love my PS3. Trying to figure out how to play my DVD backups (VOB file sets on it) to make it a true media streamer. Right now I am using my TVIX 5100 HD to do the job. What the PS3 needs to be a true media hub is the following:
Passive entertainment:
- Video: Netflix movie streaming in at least 720p over broadband
- Video: Multiple file VOB stream over CAT5 or N wireless from media server PC
- Video: Serve as a streamer from PC to PSP immediately, no intermediate download
- Video: Attach PVR with terrestial broadcast like the PlayTV in Europe, and probably even add a Cable_Card ready option so I can kick Comcast PVR to the curb.
- Video: Support AVC-HD, MKV, and virtually any other codec or container out there, why not?
- Audio: Support TrueHD and DTS-HD home theatre sound for 7.1 channel surround sound over HDMI or even DVI/TOSLINK (bandwith problems?).
-Audio: Support playlists made on media PC on the PS3, or allow for your own playlist creator on PS3.
- Audio: Support DVD-Audio and music in surround sound.
- Support internet audio streaming from Shoutcast and website streaming
- Communications: XMB in game
- Communications: Chat while in game to multiple players.
- Communications: Use Playstation Eye to video conference while in game if desired
- Communication: Skype internet support
- Interactivity: use the Eye to support motion support, like the wifi infrared sensors.
- Add PS3 Home this decade
- Add more Folding@Home applications to run
- create screen savers for PS3
That's it. I want it all by the end of the year. Thanks.

[Cooper @ Apr 22nd 2008 6:03PM]

Have u not herd of the solderd on swich for the cd drive Basacly lods a normal game lets u eject after it rejisters and u put in a back up found this on www.ps3hax.net includ www.