First CFW released for PS3

[Harrison]

I think it is probably too early to know for sure yet. I wonder how Microsoft manage to detect and track hacked Xbox 360's online and lock them? I will have to do some research.

[Tiago]

You can now update your "backup" games without going online...

http://www.multiupload.com/QH6LSACPH0

well, wrong, i think he goes online, he searchs the games on external HD and updates them.

[Demon Cleaner]

There's some applications existing already for longer time, where you enter the title ID of the game (BLES00123 f.ex.), then it fetches you the update from internet, you download it, put it on your USB device, and run it through your XMB. That's what I did in JB mode.The one I use(d) is called NZHawk's Awesome Update Finder, quite useful program.

[Tiago]

A friend send me this:

Essentially Sony can now remotely execute code on the PS3 as soon as you connect. This can do whatever Sony wants it to do such as verifying system files or searching for homebrew. Sony can change the code and add new detection methods without any firmware updates and as the code executes remotely there is no reliable way to forge the replies.

Whilst it is possible to patch or remove this code from the firmware this will likely mean the end of playing CFW online (as PSN can just check before login that this is active) or at the very least mean it will be even easier for Sony to detect and ban users.

Judging from the fact that people can still connect using the proxy method it seems Sony hasn't activated any of this yet but the functions are there in the new firmware.

[Teho]

I don't think they can run that code legally in many countries. A passive scan that doesn't go in and search for things but reacts as someone attempts to use a hack is ok, but active security scans that go in and rummage through your files, searching for undesired material is a legal gray area in most countries and flat out illegal in some. They might want to be careful about using something like that. Could turn into a PR nightmare for them. They're allready under fire here in Norway for issuing updates that removes features (that Linux-killing Firmware update). Our equivalent of the Office of Fair Trading, Forbrukerrådet, is likening it to "buying a six-seat car, having it serviced and returned to you as a four-seater because that's what the manufacturer wants it to be from now on". It'll probably reach the courts, and spying on their consumers probably isn't going to help their case.

[Submeg]

I don't think they can run that code legally in many countries. A passive scan that doesn't go in and search for things but reacts as someone attempts to use a hack is ok, but active security scans that go in and rummage through your files, searching for undesired material is a legal gray area in most countries and flat out illegal in some. They might want to be careful about using something like that. Could turn into a PR nightmare for them. They're allready under fire here in Norway for issuing updates that removes features (that Linux-killing Firmware update). Our equivalent of the Office of Fair Trading, Forbrukerrådet, is likening it to "buying a six-seat car, having it serviced and returned to you as a four-seater because that's what the manufacturer wants it to be from now on". It'll probably reach the courts, and spying on their consumers probably isn't going to help their case.

Wow, sounds like Sony are going to be in a bit of hot water over this...

[Harrison]

Sony already got into similar trouble a while back over the copy protection they were using in PC games, with their game installers basically installing spyware onto the system, which connected your PC back to Sony's servers and reported your activities. They lost that case and had to remove that software, and provide a removal tool within an update for the games that contained it.

Therefore I can't see them getting away with doing the same on the PS3, although a PS3 can be argued to be a closed platform and not open like the PC, so it is a very different market. Nintendo for example normally win their court cases on the argument of it being a closed platform and alteration of their firmware and other system files being illegal. Sony are currently trying to bring the PS3 firmware hackers to justice using this very approach, saying they have altered the proprietary and closed PS3's firmware illegally to allow unsigned code to be run. I think they do have the law on their side for that, but actually getting anywhere is another matter as hackers are not known to make their identity or location known. Look at the PSP firmware scene to show they still haven't succeeded there.

Of course, the hackers are often just as smart as the system's own firmware developers, and I wouldn't be surprised if they work something out. I'm imagining a firewall on your PS3 designed to block anything going back to Sony would work.

[Tiago]

Looks like there is some emulators for the PS3... sega saturn and PS2...
anyone try them yet?

Demon did you see any difference from Gaia to Multiman? Looks exactly the same with a diferent interface.

[Harrison]

A decent PS2 emulator would be good news, although I'm sure they will add PS2 support into a CFW soon (if they haven't done already). Saturn emulation would be great if it works. No Saturn emulation has yet been that successful and although that system was a commercial failure and didn't see that many decent releases, it did have a few games worth playing. I've had a Saturn ISO collection for a long time with no way of playing them properly.

Now what would be cool would be Wii emulation, using the Move controller! Now that would be interesting.

[Demon Cleaner]

Demon did you see any difference from Gaia to Multiman? Looks exactly the same with a diferent interface.

Not really, I think they're coming from the same basis, even the interface looks very similar. There were some other managers too, like Flex Manager, Cover Manager, Open Manager... all based on the same thing.