PS3 finally properly hacked?
By Tim Stevens 
posted January 23rd 2010 6:51AM
posted January 23rd 2010 6:51AM
In a post titled "Hello hypervisor, I'm geohot," hacker George Hotz (already known in the iPhone community) has made a strong claim: that he has cracked the PS3. The system has remained (mostly) uncompromised for over three years now, with a few exceptions here and there. But, this one pledges full read/write access to the entire system memory and complete control over the processor -- all without a mod chip. Has he really done it, if so how, and what comes next? That all remains to be seen. This exploit supposedly "isn't really patchable, but [Sony] can make implementations much harder," meaning he isn't tipping his hat until he's ready, because once he does the never-ending firmware update war begins, and as we've seen on the PSP, Sony can really knock out those updates. [Thanks, Deepak]
This looks hopeful.
@Yoy0YO I'm still a skeptic till i see a basic tenet of science, reproducibility. that is he or some random guy out there can hack their own ps3 using the methods used by the original hacker, why else do ya think the guys who claimed to have done cold fusion are treated like frauds nowadays?
@(Unverified)
I concur. Remember when the Wii was hacked? The time from mentioning/leaked peeks of the homebrew to the online-wide release took quite some time. Also I guess hackers have to be worried about bricking and evading future update.
My only hope is that this hack will work perfectly with my older 40GB PS3
@Yoy0YO as i recall, he describes himself as someone who does it quick and simple rather then long and complicated. his methods work, but he does not perfect them as compared to most other dev's.
@Yoy0YO Pretty much why i'm trying not to get my hopes up before things start crumbling down and all, I'm probably calling it a fake if more news doesn't show up in a month. and there's still the software side to take care of
@Yoy0YO
This.... Is.... AWESOME!
@Yoy0YO
Friggen buy the games, You can afford $700(Australian) unit you can afford a $80 game. Seriously Game industry is already going to crap
Finally the PS3 caught up with the 360
@Yoy0YO
I still wouldn't buy a PS3.
PC 4 Life!
@Federaly
I barely play games but if this is true and someone ports XMBC or Boxee I'd likely buy a PS3 for that reason alone.
@geoken
That's exactly what I was thinking of, XBMC on PS3 would be filled with so much win that i would buy another system in a snap.
@hugoliva: I totally understand putting XBMC on your current console, but buying a whole new one JUST for media playback with XMBC strikes me as counter intuitive.
Given how cheap ION based nettops are, you can opt for a Linux or Windows distro of XBMC, Boxee or even Windows Media Center (Boxee+WMC FTW), and use it with a universal remote.
I was using my current gen consoles for media playback, but once I dropped the $350 on an ION 330, never touched media on the console again, and the energy footprint is night and day and that's with an external TV tuner to watch/record TV (even through USB, HD OTA records flawlessly).
Just saying...
@Yoy0YO Damn it! I hoped this wouldn't happen. Now bastard pirates are gonna pirate all their PS3 games, and Sony is gonna lose money. I do like the being able to play MKV part, but MKV2VOB does that in under a minute for any file, and Tversity or PS3 Media Center for ALL streaming. I don't really see what the big deal here is, except being able to pirate.
@Cheesus Crust
I quite like the homebrew side of things that can be brought to the console made by hobby developers. Okay, I'm not going to spend all my time playing through old N64 games I've clocked but there are some very unique ideas out there that could be made. With it hacked, other bluetooth devices could be used (such as Wiimote/plus) and with sixaxis, there could be novel ideas that are brilliant.
A hacked PS3 opens doors to homebrewers. Look at valve and their products, some people makes some amazing things with their SDK.
@Yoy0YO
does this also allow access to gpu? because thats what slows down linux the most on ps3! it would be awesome if it did!
@Nuisance
What would be tight if he designed a way top rip games or software DIRECTLY to the menu... like Netflix...
@tmt345 I'd very much like to see how well the PS3 handles OpenGL (benchmarks/numbers wise), and would like even more to get a decent desktop distro running with Compiz and all the other various goodies that won't work due to gimped GPU support.
This could be pretty cool, thanks to the hacks on PSP Sony went crazy with the firmware features to try and get people updated. PS3 firmware updates have been really tame compared to the evolution of the PSP, something needs to kick the PS3 in the ass and get things rolling.
It may be just the thing to encourage Sony to give us a PS2 emulator.
@geoken Boxee ftw. I am willing to bet that a very large number of users would hack the ps3 for boxee. I know i would
Free Games!!!!! WIN
@surf26 for cheapskate gamers, lose for developers
@surf26
Free Uncharted 2, free FIFA 10, free everything. It took a loooong time though.
@TareG Suddenly it makes some sort of sense why sony released games in 25GB sized discs, 8 GB is long enough, 25? I might as well download 3 xbox360 games
@TareG Gonna have to wait a lot longer. 25-50 gigs is gonna take a few days.
Doubt the hacking is going to do much for you.
@surf26 More like, "Software freedom! Win!"
I guess I wont be updating my PS3 for awhile
awsom if we can soft mod a PS3 I wonder if XBMC becomes a possability?
@morikaweb
I though Linux On PS3 was already very much possible...
XBMC Live is just a Linux Live CD, with high hardware needs.
I think XBMC is possible but 1080p playback not so sure.
@Flix C
Exactly what I was hoping for.
@Flix C yes linux works on the older ps3's. but linux does not have full controll over the system and does not have access to all the memory or procesor cores. With a moded PS3 xbmc could be coded to use the full system resources including the blueray drive.
@morikaweb
It should as it would give direct access to the video card, but they would have to have proper drivers for the video even after that.
@morikaweb Yeah, people had trouble getting SNES to work. Even then it was still kinda slow.
-------------------------------
PSP- Thoroughly hacked with good Homebrew community. Firmware Update battle with Sony
Wii- Completely hacked, and although Nintendo tries to stop it...They can't
Xbox360- It is extremely hard to hack, but you can run Homebrew and load ISOs off of USB HDDs by JTAGing it (Flashing the NAND)
iPhone- Hacked Completely Also...At the moment.
DS- Developers of WiiBrew.org claim to have an exploit...but its gone nowhere. You can still get an R4 cartridge and play homebrew and DS games though.
PS3- [READ ABOVE]
@morikaweb
A lot of work would need to be done to XBMC to get it to work, the gfx chip in the PS3 is completely closed source so that's why it hasn't gone anywhere. This could lead to some progress if the devs jump in before Sony closes the hole
geohot is amazing. For those unfamiliar with him, he was on CNN for being the first person to unlock the iPhone. He's taken a break from what I understand and this is his newest project. I'm not much of a programmer, but he's really interesting to follow.
@jeromym
Damn right, the kid is a genius. Trust me, I know :p
If he is working on it then he wont stop till it is cracked
@jeromym
I like that he's even a classy hacker. I mean, so many would be all like "ha, your pitiful security is nothing before my skillz!1" but he gives Sony respect for building "a pretty secure system."
He's basically like "well played, sir, well played."
@streetstealth
Geohot - The gentleman hacker
@WalnutSoap ---> The GentleHacker
Finally I can install Linux on this thi... wait a minute...
Well, at last I can use this thing as a multimedia devi...
Damn it! Gimme free games already!
@Cence
didnt think you could install linux on it now? or am wrong?
@nabberuk If ye bought a slim one NO!, if ye bought a fat one, you could.....
@Cence The PS3 does everything.. what I want that's missing is Emulators and proper MKV support. You better believe I'm gonna hack that shit! Oh and I'd like to play PS1 games plz.
- K Thx. Bai
@Eternity you could legally play ps1 games by entering a "second hand" game shop, or downloading a limited selection up from the psn store. but some of us would rather play a copy copied from a friend of a friend these days i assume
@(Unverified) It's those rare games that I would like to play. =/
@Eternity It can play PS1 without being hacked. It's only the PS2 that was expensive to emulate.
@(Unverified) you can play ps1 games yes, but region coding still applies.
@Cence
Indeed, if someone wanted an open PS3 they could toy with, run word processors and firefox on, and compile code on, they could go to most retailers and get a fat PS3 and do just that. Just about the only they can't do is play pirated PS3 games.
Oh, and PS2 games. If someone manages to emulate PS2 games on here if will be embarrassing for Sony, but I seriously kinda doubt that's possible for most PS3s (those currently lacking that capability).
Pirating games these days is shitty. Most good PS3 games have demos, so pay for your games so the industry is profitable. If you are just screwing with your console for fun, that's totally cool and understandable, though many people are just trying to pirate because they are losers.
@Eternity
If you wanna play MKVs on PS3 google PS3 Media Server.
@(Unverified)
PS2 emulation in the 1st gen (20GB & 60GB) was a hardware chip.
PS2 emulation in the 2nd gen (60GB & 80GB) was software emulation- and it works pretty well (used CECHE01 for me).
In the later PS3s, Sony decided to not provide PS2 emulation
So yes- PS2 emulation is definitely possible on the PS3- but Sony decided that it would be better for the end-user to purchase a $99 PS2 if they wanted to play older games. (Funny how they didn't kill the PS1 compatibility).
:D this has made my day, looks legit considering all the work geohot has done in the i community with blackweather etc