PS3 homebrew hack found, Hello World!
By Paul Miller 
posted Mar 31st 2008 11:06AM
posted Mar 31st 2008 11:06AM
[Thanks, Craig]
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So I risk bricking a £300 machine just for pong???
Is there any real benefit to homebrew on a PS3?
Yes, an MKV player
Hmm I read that wrong. No pong on the PS3 but my opinion still stands. And why is there two black marks on the screen?
The black marks cover the IP and MAC adress.
the two marks are to blind out the mac id and ip address.
it's to cover up his MAC and IP address so the world doesn't see it
if you watched the hole thing you would know it was to cover up his mac and ip address. i don't know why his ip because i am sure he is behing a nat of somesort shurly doesn't have has ps3 directly connected to the internet.. but none the less thats why those peices of tape are there
Homebrew lets you bring stuff to the PS3 that Sony isn't releasing.
The other "advantage" is (typically) you can use bootlegged games on the PS3.
-Pie
hes afraid people will hack into his ps3.
how... ironic.
bypass 2GB limit
@Kozzi
FYI, the 2 GB limit is already gone as of the last firmware update.
MKV that would be sweet. It would remove a 4 hr conversion process for me.
To turn the 4 hour conversion process into around 20 seconds depending on the speed of your hard drive/s use MKV2VOB, it's great. It just muxes the MKVs to VOB containers, so it reserves all capabilities perfectly (5.1 AC3 output FTW)
Pong comment from the Engadget is kind of odd. Dreamcast emulation (it works well on the PC) would be great, but Pong already works great in linux =p (with net support, heh small program I wrote to get used to the cell, or rather, ppc64).
Don't be stupid. You need to start at something first... -_-" Pong is just the next step before developing more advanced homebrew.
hello, Dragula96! From PS3 world!
guess I should pick one up then.
No. Just no.
I love MKVs too, but NO.
That's it?
I thought he'd managed to do something more interesting than getting a "hello world" b.s. message in there. Not that I have the talent to do it either. But, I'm not impressed yet. When they port XBMC onto the PS3 let me know.
It's the first thing they do when they hack something. Hello world is the basic program that tells you yes they managed to get some basic homebrew running. These people work very hard at this, so stop complaining. I don't see you making any PS3 homebrew.
Verbatim off my previous comment: "Not that I have the talent to do it either."
My only comment is that I was expecting more. That's all. I'm hopeful that they will get further. However, considering how central the PS3 has become, I don't see myself messing too much with it within the PS3 OS. Fortunately enough, the PS3 handles Linux too, so that may be the ideal route for any talented programmers to take.
You can expect more now, that's the point. Being able to say 'Hello World' and NOT in the desktop Linux environment, means that the PS3 can be manhandled in pretty much any way. If you don't tell anyone you've cracked it, then you're the only one who can start on the homebrew development.
Basically, in about a day or so there will be pong. Another few days, Doom. After that people will be playing backup games. Then all the awesome open source software will start getting ported over.
It's only a matter of time...
I won't be doing homebrew on my PS3 (although I do on the PSP).
You can't even play online after an upgrade comes out... until you upgrade.
same here
Wait, can't you install Linux on the PS3? Couldn't Hackers have just used that to Hack it? I'm suprised it's taken this long.
That's all run though a hypervisor which doesn't allow access to most of the system. A similar system was implemented on PS2 Linux kits.
My level of happiness cannot be explained with mere words.
interpretive dance!
numbers!
how about this:
0110100001101001011001110110100001100101011100110111010000100000011011000110010101110110011001010110110000100000011011110110011000100000011010000110000101110000011100000110100101101110011001010111001101110011
I know you can run linux on it (I have Yellowdog on mine), but this is still useful. For one thing, you're restricted from partitioning your drive in any way other than splitting off 10 gigs - which means either linux or the PS3's own OS will only have 10 gigs to work with. Since games like DMC4 have installs close to 5 gigs (!) you pretty have much have to keep the larger partition for your PS3 system, so you can't really store media on the linux side. This could lead to stuff like more codec support, so... bring it on
Okie? that was useless. The Ps3 gets a firmware updated every3-4 months and who the heck is going to risk 500$ system for Pong?
And videos like these make me sick! they're Always shaking and making it unclear to the viewers; making the whole thing seem like another Hoax!.
Tip: get a tripod or put your camera on a flat stable surface, stop filming your findings with your UNIT!
If any hacker groups need someone skilled in the art of making videos, check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtQQcHz7h5M
I'm desperate for work :P
Wow, this was just plain pointless. There is no reason to hack a PS3. Yes you can install Linux. Hell there is at least 1 distro that was specifically for PS3's (the original OS before Sony decided to switch back to the PSP OS).
So far 6 distros have been proven to work flawless on a PS3, so this serves no purpose. In fact there is an option in the menu of the default OS called, "Install second OS." that sets up the partition and dual boot system for you.
P.S. Linux OS as second boot plays....well everything, but Blu-ray. And if you legally own a PS 1 game that doesn't work on your PS3, an Enulator will get the job done.
The PS3 and PSP operating systems, despite looking similar, are entirely different underneath. Image resources are about the only thing the two have in common.
Underneath, ha ha. Trust me when I say this, other than the needed changed because it would be running on a different hardware platform, there are identical. The PS3 OS literally is a super charged, modified version of the PSP OS.
I expect that substantial portions of the XMB source code is common to both, including APIs, entry points (for hooking menu items), theming etc. but there is no reason that this means the rest of the Game OS has to be.
No, believe me: I've looked in to both systems extensively. The two operating systems are entirely different. They're like Apples and Oranges - they're both round, and they're both fruit. But that's about as far as the similarities go.
You obviously have very limited knowledge of software development if you think that "the needed changed because it would be running on a different hardware platform" is a small thing. Sony wrote a whole new OS for the PS3, and made it look like the PSP system. They have different rendering pipelines, threading capabilities, network and audio stacks, I/O subsystems... the list goes on.
Uhm yes, there IS a big difference. If you bothered actually installing Linux, you'd know that it's severely restricted as to what hardware it can access. Specifically, it only has access through hypervisor and for example cannot access the video card directly. What this means is that even basic 2D acceleration is provided through software, meaning simple stuff like moving windows around or more importantly playback of any video is so slow that it's practically useless. Yes, even simple video playback in low resolution (let alone HD) will saturate the hypervisor. Sony was thinking that someone will write a parallelized code for PPU+SPU that would speed graphics enough for basic desktop usage but of course that hasn't happened (or if it did, there hasn't been much fanfare).
"Sony wrote a whole new OS for the PS3, and made it look like the PSP system."
Actually XMB first came from the PSX. I'm glad that something good came from PSX because aside from the sublime XMB, the PSX was a disappointing failure.
I know a lot about software. You are putting words in my mouth. I never said the changes were a "small thing". I know it was a huge undetaking, and that the the core of the OS was complete written from scratch. Plus most of what you named is kernel level changes anyway which obviously had to be written from scratch.
In the end YellowDog Linux was suppose to be the PS3's OS, and will access all the hardware just fine. Sony changed their mind about using it very late in development because the wanted something "more familiar to their users"
And this homebrew is still pointless, no one seems to disput that. lol
judging by your low rank i think many do dispute that.
Yeah because my low rank, being based on others clicking (-) because they don't agree or like what I said, has everything to do with my knowledge.
Homebrew on the PS3 isn't really that useful. The biggest anti-piracy measure Sony put in to it was Blu-Ray.
Yes, you can dump a Blu-Ray disk(disc?) using Linux or through a homebrew application, but they can be anywhere up to 50Gb, making downloading and burning games impractical. Dumping them to the PS3 HDD or an external drive is somewhat useful, but not much.
Yes, I know Homebrew != piracy, but that's usually what its used for, like it or not (see PSP, PS2, Xbox, GC, Wii....etc)
People download whole blu-ray movie rips. They will do the same for the games.
What I think will happen is someone will use bit torrent to download games directly to the PS3's hdd.
You can use 3.5" drives on the PS3, supposedly, at least. I can't wait to see a heavy downloader getting busted with with a 1TB PS3 full of games, lol.
Yeah it sucks, homebrew projects like this usually do lead to piracy from other sources, however there are a lot of people who want this for legit reasons (like XBMC on the original Xbox). It would be one nice HD entertainment machine if a PSMC (playstation media center) were ever to be developed.
So, the PS3's finally been hacked. Poor Sony...now everyone's going to just pirate the games when they figure out how to load them on.
Screw pong. How about playing PS3 games from hard drive? I can't believe nobody worked on that since the release of PS3 in Nov 06.
You're an idiot, do you honestly think they haven't been? The point is that they've made progress, they're hardly expecting anyone to hack their PS3 for the sole purpose of Pong. Get some perspective - it's a step in the right direction.
Damn there are many idiots on this topic. It is difficult to hack a complicated device like a ps3, ONCE AGAIN this is a proof of concept! its called progress, it takes time to develop code. Google, banking systems, ect. are not designed in one day. More to come have so damn patience. Damn teenagers.
I call bullshit, seems like he's just switch sources on his TV with his left hand while pretending to hit the PS button with his right thumb.
There's a point where the screen shows a window saying "Unusable Signal", like when a source to a TVs input is no longer present.
The loss of signal happens naturally when the PS3 switches resolutions, and that's generally what happens in a hack like this.
well my lcd does the same thing wen switching resolutions like from 720 to 1080. Seems legit to me..
Well....my TV just flickers when switching resolution. But a I still call BS, I've seen enough videos of other hacks that leave you CLEARLY believing in the hack. This all just looks too fishy. Shaky camera, zoomed in view, etc.
Here's a more believable video:
1) Put camera on a tripod, tall box or whatever will hold the camera steady and at a wide angle view to see the entire TV screen.
2) Start with the PS3 from the XMB (main menu)
3) Show the firmware version
4) THEN go and start the hack
5) exit hack, and video is done.
"Homebrewers" (i.e. pirates) will have a devil of a time with the PS3. Even if they can get the firmware hacked, there is still the small issue of distributing, downloading, storing and playing 10Gb+ games, plus losing out on all the online functionality.
Genuine homebrewers have Linux to play with. Or if they wanted, the development boxes are quite affordable these days.
10GB might be quite big, but it's not unthinkable. Even the PS2 had 4.7GB games, so it'd only be like downloading two of those: but it might be painful if you're on 8mbit or less.
HDL support is obviously going to be key to a backup PS3 scene. It worked great in the PS2. Not all games are 25GB. Assuming you had nothing but 25GB games on a custom installed 320gb drive you'll still be able to fit 12 games on it.
I said 10Gb since it probably represents an average, but if it came to it, there would be nothing stopping Sony from changing their TRC, mandating that games fill up any remaining space on a 25/50Gb disk with junk data. Short of painfully trying to figure out what files hold data and which don't, there would be no option but to download the lot. Maybe some games already do it - I know if I was producing a PS3 game I'd pile a load of crap data onto the disk just piss off anybody trying to pirate it.
I think Sony have been quite smart about their design of the PS3. Supporting Linux means pirates can't claim to be "homebrewers", and the sheer size of games (and potential to make them bigger) makes it prohibitive to download or store them. Add to that the risk of bricking a system, and I think piracy will be negligble for the PS3 for quite some time to come. Even if a crack appeared tomorrow I think all the factors would put off a lot of potential pirates.
Um, you're describing junk data. I believe the Dreamcast was the first system to really use it, they used it to "pad" the disc, or fill up the inner layers of the discs so that the actual game data was on the outer layers so that the drive could read it faster and try to cut down on loading times. This technique is still used today, most Wii games use it. The great thing about junk data is it can be compressed very, very well, so that it makes it even easier to downlo...err...archive. ;)
360 games are all 8-9gigs, and that hasn't stopped it's games being readily available to those searching. Most of the PS3 releases are this size as well, some even smaller.
And since when has bricking a system deterred pirates? Isn't that what Wal-mart's return policy is for?
10+ GB stuff is no problem. Modern pirates do atleast 4 DVDRs a day ;)
I'm not all that positive but the reason you would want homebrew, instead of just using Linux is that Sony locked access to the GPU under linux. So even if you did use an emulator you can't render any 3D games. Homebrew might allow that.
Hooterman, you can't make some blanket statement that junk data is easy to compress because it isn't true. Junk data can be anything. A file of nothing but zeroes can be compressed with RLE down to a few bytes. But a file of completely random data cannot be compressed at all. Compressibility is a factor of entropy - the randomness of the content. I guarantee that you could easily produce data which RAR / Zip etc. wouldn't manage to shave more than 5% from its size.
Or if you think random is too obvious, duplicate the game content, or encrypt game content so its not obvious what is random and what is encrypted. The game could even touch the random data doing some bogus reads to give the impression it needs the file.
The point being you are wrong to think it wouldn't work. Making downloads 25-50gb large would be a MASSIVE disincentive to pirates since even in the best circumstance it could take a week to grab the data and eat up their bandwidth. And even once they'd grabbed the file it would consume so much HDD space it would barely justify the effort. Even if affordable blu ray burners appeared tomorrow, the cost of media wouldn't justify the piracy either.
As I said, I think the PS3 is safe for a few years yet and spoilers like the above would be simple and effective ways to put off many pirates even if a crack did appear tomorrow.
mondoUNC, the GPU has been locked but progress has been made to unlock it. Some Linux dist like Yellowdog might even licence it and produce a drive. And aside from that, the PS3 has 6 SPUs sitting there doing nothing. Mesa could be reworked to offload work onto the SPUs. Performance wouldn't be stellar but it would probably be comparable to IGP graphics processors.
The point being there are options that have not been explored yet, none of which require anybody to crack or replace their firmware.
Besides, Sony might be open to reason - maybe they would unlock it, or parts of it if they could be convinced that it wouldn't threaten commercial titles.
DrXym you obviously don't know what you are talking about. You think everyone is sitting on a 56k modem with a 40GB HDD like you...
100mbit/s and 1 TB HDDs are common. Seven days to download 25GB? Try seven hours.
This isn't useless...this is how it begins :) BRING ON THE FREE PONG!
Has everyone forgotten that tomorrow is April Fools Day? I can list many reasons why this looks fake. Next time, he should show how the app boots instead of how it exits.
Dude, go to hell for thinking that this is fake. I used to work with the, what I would call most well known, OS X hacking group. I know for a fact how hard people work on these hacks, how many late nights are spent on IRC collaborating to work out one small bug that's preventing the system from booting. If there was one thing we never did, it was to say how the hack was done until AFTER we proved that it was a stable hack. This was done by seeding the hack to a small group of trusted testers with varied hardware setups and getting their results. I'd assume that the PS3 homebrew scene is run in a similar fashion, so the next logical step is seeding it to the other devs so that they can test it.
Yes but in showing where he/she launches the exploit from and using what media or type to deploy it on the system would still give sony a clue or bread crumb trail to follow up on and start sniffing for potential exploit loopholes in the code.
I.E. Video shows that he put a bunch of modified files as save data and then trigger some sort of buffer overflow in a game like the way the kept finding such examples with the PSP and the similar manner to the King Kong Xbox360 exploit.
In showing what is being used to trigger the possible potential legit exploit I.E. (Tiff's, Elf's, modified update files, modified Save Data files, PS3 Game with unpatched hole; etc.), any such showing this early could lead sony down the trail to start patching the origin of the exploit hole. It's best that he doesn't show where it's coming from but it could of been a better video provide there was no shaking, focusing in and out, and such.
On the ps3, the homebrew = piracy meme isn't going to work so well because piracy on the ps3 is going to be difficult until, at the very least, blu-ray burners are ubiquitous.
Possible benefits for homebrew:
- Region coding circumvention for blu-ray or dvd
- MKV support
- BD+ circumvention
- BDMark circumvention
- Better menuing on BD-R/RE
BD+ of course is a major hurdle, as is the fact that PSN access is cut off as long you've not updated the firmware. So this would push me to buy a 2nd, cheaper (hello 40gb model, wish I could find 1 with spiderman still) ps3 and use one of my ps3s as a hacked box & the other would be to go online, play bd+ blurays, etc.
It goes to show just how well the engineers at Sony have worked on security on the PS3. Look at how long it's been out and how little has been done on the homebrew side. Great work Sony.
That said, if we can get some decent emulators and FLAC http://flac.sourceforge.net and Ogg Vorbis http://www.vorbis.com player running on the thing, wake me. Then I might buy one :)
PS3 can play Super-Audio CDs.
I'm guessing you're an Audiophile since the only thing holding you back from buying a PS3 is FLAC/OGGV. And of course as an Audiophile you would scoff at file-based music for the most part anyways. Now with Super-Audio as an option... forget about it. I'm sure you're on the way to the store right now.
love file-based music. Current 40GB ps3 selling here does not play Super Audio CDs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_3#Retail_configurations
...plus I don't own any SACDs.
More concerned with getting it to play regular CDs converted to flacs off my own discs/drives, but not exactly exploding at the prospect since there are other devices that do it for less.
Emulators and general file support that Sony wouldn't dream of putting in -audio and video-wise - would be nice in addition to the games the ps3 offers.
I hope that's not a sharpie on his screen.
Well, this has to be the worst video I've seen in a long time. It shakes, it sounds like there are lug nuts falling on the camera, and the expoit is pointless given the PS3 runs linux. Waste of bandwidth. Next
I can't believe all of the complainers here. The point of the video is as a proof of concept to demonstrate that they have hacked the OS(i.e. it is now possible to run code that isn't blessed by Sony).
As for the idea that Linux already does everything you need on the PS3, I'd say that while Linux on PS3 is OK (I run UBuntu on mine), it is still very rough around the edges and it is deliberately locked out of accessing a lot of PS3 features. But personally, I want direct PS3 hacks because I find switching between Linux and the PS3 OS to be cumbersome and time consuming. I haven't tried yellowdog, but with Ubuntu i have to reboot, then at the command prompt, enter 'boot-game-OS', which then does reboot / startup of PS3.
Imagine:
You decide to take time out from online COD4 and play some classic arcade games - so you just exit COD and select MAME and away you go. Switching to Linux to do that is a pain in the butt, and the performance probably won't be as good (which matter on newer gamnes supported on MAME. I don't know about others here, but UBuntu can be quite sluggish at time on the PS3 (especially accessing the hard drive for some reason).
- MAME
- Emulators for older Consoles
- better media applications
...nuf said
Bring on the Wii Emulators! lol
I'm usually inclined to believe this kind of thing. I've dabbled in it myself, however, it may have been wise to wait a few days until the April Fool's Day dust clears.
For now, I'll sit back and enjoy the flaming. If they show another proof of concept with wires in view, I'll give them a hearty handshake.
Probably just another April Fools joke, If it is real then i'm looking forward to full hardware access in linux :P
They were on the right path with the 'other os' option, but without hardware OpenGL or any way to extend the xmb there will still be room for hacks like this. Even if it only leads to ftp access to the ps3 while in the xmb I'll be happy.
its been released folks, UIII mod indeed.
http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=101317&page=2
What was that about, I don't get it, but for real though whats the deal with magenta?
omg alot of idiots out there talkin when they dont know wut there talkin aboutthe Hello World is basicly a mini homebrew to show that they can know start making full apps and other things for the ps3and wtf does every one keep saying its pointless the ps3 already runs linux....thats not wut homebrew is forif u go 2 psp.qj.net u can read up on homebrews every psp exploit starts with a Hello World...that just means its been hacked and the tape was to cover there ip and mac adresswhen the screen had that signal error it was the ps3 quiting the game...the XMB is 1080p on an HDTV wutever game or personal program he used for the Hello World didnt run at 1080p so the signal was lost from the resolution changefor the latest on ps3 news go to ps3.qj.netoh and the reason they doesnt show how he started the Hello World is common fuking sence....if he did that then sony would stop the whole thing b4 it even got 2 a full homebrewit would probably be stopped only hours after this video if sony knew how they did it
wtf it ran my sentances together
Actually, if you follow-up on the forum this was posted, you'd see it really was a fake. Apparently all he did was make a UT3 mod that displayed the words 'Hello World'. April Fools' joke.
sorry DrXym but he is right junk data can be compressed much more just look nzbsrus.com under 360 ninja gaiden 2 its 3.84gib rared up and all xbox unrared 360 games are 7.29gb
Its bull. If you watch the whole thing very carefully, you can see that there are a couple spots where his hands are out of sync with whats going on. If I saw him show me that nothing else was plugged into the tv and that there was no dvd in the drive, then I MIGHT, just MIGHT believe it. Other than that, I'm not gonna believe it.