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Xbox 360 closer to homebrew? PS3 exploited?

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Dela @ Jan 01, 2007 10:53 | 19 comments

The title of this article touched on two questions that have caused a stir in the last few days. To begin, we'll take a look at a video that can be seen on YouTube that apparently shows an Xbox 360 exploited into running code (specifically a Linux coming soon message) while running Peter Jackson's King Kong. The video has got a mixed reception from the community; some believe it is real, some believe it is just another bluff.

Those who doubt it point out that it could simply be a custom modified shader created to give the illusion that there was a discovered exploit to run homebrew code. This is possible since hackers found that the vector shaders in the King Kong demo on the Kiosk Disc could be modified (also on the final game).

However, this was shown at the Chaos Communication Congress, an annual meeting of the international hacker scene, organized by the well known Chaos Computer Club. It was shown during one of the "Lightning Talks", a daily event that consists of one hour of several short (limited to 5mins) talks.

Here is the video...

As proof that this was actually shown at 23C3, you can check out this link. Under "Day 4 - December 30th" is "Console Hacking Suprise (XBox360)", with the description "The XBox360 was live hacked in front of the audience - running Linux and Mac OS coming soon. Stay tuned - a Linux kernel is already booting.."

You can also download the 560MB WMV video of the complete Lightning Talks Day4 presentation from this link.

PS3 Exploited?

This is older news and no doubt the PS3 enthusiasts here have already read about it and discussed it. We reported that PS3 games can be dumped and that titles are already available on BitTorrent sites and on Usenet. In the NFO file for the release MotorStorm_JAP_PS3-PARADOX, there were some interesting notes made by PDX.

| cOMPANY : SCEI | rELEASE DATE : 27 Dec 2006 |
| sYSTEM : PlayStation 3 | sIZE : 120 x 100mb |
| tYPE : Racing | vIDEO MODE : NTSC/JAP |
| sUPPLIER : Huey Lewis | cRACKER : Wireless B/G? |
| mEDIA : Blu-Ray | pLAYABLE : Yes they are ;-)|

The important part to see here is the "pLAYABLE : Yes they are ;-)" claim but even more interesting is a further hint that was given...

| sPECIAL nOTE: |
| |
| Happy new year to all members who helped in the past and present! |
| And a question to all, is there a bug in the system software from |
| the playStation 3(R) Yes there is ;-) Nothing to add more.. |

It will be interesting to see what comes of this.

Another item that we forgot to mention over the holidays is the unlocking of the PSX emulator on the PlayStation Portable by using the 3.02 OEB custom firmware from Dark_Alex. The custom firmware allows for games that are not available at the PlayStation store to be played and the "Popstation" utility easily converts PSX game ISOs to a proper Eboot for the PSP system. I felt like, even though this is old news and there are quite a lot of threads in our forums about it, it had to be mentioned. For the record, I have been thoroughly enjoying it.

If I missed any further updates or bigger developments, my apologies. Happy New Year.

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Comments

Comment by: Dela (Jan 01, 2007 10:59)

Just a friendly warning, don't start a console war thread and comment with regard for everyone else on the site who will read and comment.

Comment by: killaklan (Jan 01, 2007 11:35)

hopefully someone will find a way to play online w/ the 360...doesn't really matter to me cus my cusin is being homo and not letting me mod it

8O the ps3 game is 120x100mb wtf!!!

Comment by: DeadRain (Jan 01, 2007 12:42)

Originally posted by killaklan:
hopefully someone will find a way to play online w/ the 360...doesn't really matter to me cus my cusin is being homo and not letting me mod it

8O the ps3 game is 120x100mb wtf!!!

People play the 360 online all the time.

Comment by: geestar20 (Jan 01, 2007 12:53)

-killaklan- probably meant for free?

Comment by: Ankoku (Jan 01, 2007 12:56)

@ Deadrain, I think killaklan is talking about using a modded 360 to play online via xbox live...won't take long for them to mod the PS3 fully, its the cost of those blu ray discs that will delay your every day person from backing up their discs...and as far as 360 goes, Im sure that will come out pretty soon, given that its been out for a while and now hackers are making some leway into the hardware.

Comment by: georgeluv (Jan 01, 2007 13:25)

blu ray disks arent going to come into play, half TB hard drives will be super inexpensive soon. all you have to do is download the games to your hard drive then boot them that way.

Comment by: canuckerz (Jan 02, 2007 00:10)

Well as much as I like free games... I kinda wish the ps3 would go uncracked, I mean Sony is loosing money on each ps3 console sold, combined with the fact that most of their other products outside of gaming arent selling too well, means that if alot of people just download the ps3 games, and if the exploit is unfixable, Sony could be on their last legs. So personaly I'd like to see a ps4 or a psp2 so I'm going to buy the ps3 games and support Sony.

Comment by: pspjunior (Jan 02, 2007 01:23)

sony's ps3 was the reason why i turned my back and faced microsoft. and now im an xbox fan. it was sony all the way. but now its just....not good no more.. i heard the ps3 currently haslots of bugs. thats why i bought an xbox 360 2 weeks ago.

Comment by: CiDaemon (Jan 02, 2007 02:21)

@canuckerz

Don't forget that next-gen (at least ps3 and xbox 2pi) games are now even MORE expensive. Any money that Sony loses on hardware will easily be made up in the purchase of 4-5 games per person! It is this outrageous price gouge that makes me anxious for mod solutions for these two consoles: I don't intend to buy a single next-gen game at full price while the makers are getting 60%+ profit on each sale. I am waiting to buy these two consoles until decent, working mod and backup solutions are available, and plan on not buying a single game (retail, at least) for either one. Sony, etc. whining about console pricing and loss of profits on hardware doesn't make up for their "money-hungry" traits, specifically the increase in game pricing.

Of course, the Wii is totally excluded, as Nintendo took one look at this price-increase proposition and said "screw you, we'll do the ethical/correct/fair thing". Another point for Wii.

Comment by: thor999 (Jan 02, 2007 04:07)

As far as I am concerned, after the infamous root kit, Sony shouldn't even be in business anymore. Had you or I written that thing and distributed it to the unknowing masses, we would be facing jail time...

Comment by: pierrrre (Jan 02, 2007 08:11)

"and as far as 360 goes, Im sure that will come out pretty soon, given that its been out for a while and now hackers are making some leway into the hardware."

Just for your info Ankoku,

Modchip and firmware flash (two ways to play backup) for the xbox360 are widely available as we speak. And I know the modchip way works......

Comment by: handsom (Jan 02, 2007 16:15)

....Trouble is, they aren't running unsigned code yet. That makes this a lot harder to do. The trick is that they'll probably have to find some buffer workaround like they did on the original. It's a very good way to get around the whole 'signed code' problem in many cases. But it's still probably a long ways off; I'm sure M$ isn't about to make this one easy. But then again, they're a big corporation whose goal is solely profit, can you really blame them?

Comment by: CiDaemon (Jan 02, 2007 18:00)

^yes.

-----
This may be incorrect, buy I was under the impression that the original Xbox didn't use signed code anyway.

Brilliant!

Comment by: handsom (Jan 02, 2007 23:22)

Originally? No. It didn't. But there was a great exploit(Hence the buffer overrun reference) that allowed them to do it, which is where all of these wonderful softmods have come from.

Trouble with that is; M$ realized this problem quickly, and only three first/second gen titles had it. After that, the loophole was not to be found anywhere else, since M$ tightened security on future titles, and put harsher enforcement into future titles during licensing, which would impude huge penalties on any company who released a title with such vulnerabilities.

The 360 has a much larger buffer to work with, first off. And the system is much more protected, naturally, than the original. It has more security both software, and native from the faster hardware. It's more difficult to 'pull one over' on this machine than the original.

While firmware mods have become very popular, it's really a major extreme to go to; and honestly, no one's really "figured out" the security just yet, we've only found a workaround too complicated for many users. I would speculate the percentage of 360 owners who have modded is MUCH smaller than the xbox was. To make this comparison more fair, I would speculate that if you were to compare the xbox six months after softmodding really became possible to where the 360 mod scene is now.... It's nowhere near as fast advancing. Once the scene had buffer overruns under their belt, running unsigned code was a breeze for homebrew makers. And the scene has really shown that over the years.

They still haven't achieved that on the 360; but I am confident that A.)It's not for lack of trying. And B.)They'll achieve it very soon.

Getting back to my two cents on the original topic; I would bet money that the 360 video is, one way or another, bull. Because no self-respecting group would figure out Linux on a 360(To any degree) and then just re-texture "King Kong" to say Linux coming soon. It's rubbish, they didn't get anywhere. They just noticed that the title's data isn't really encrypted very well at all. If they had really figured out the system THAT well, they would have made a small engine of their own, or just plain SHOWN the Linux program. Even if it wasn't stable, it'd make them a whole lot easier to believe, now wouldn't it?

History has shown, that when there is ANY room for doubt(in the case of these "hacker videos") that the video's producer is full of it. The video submitted months ago, showing PGR3 being run left NO room for doubt whatsoever. That's how we know it was real. Every time there has been any doubt or omission, or oddity, it's been fake. And I have no reason to believe this is any different. Do I think a linux build is in the works? Yes. Am I excited? Yes. Does that make me believe the video any more? Absolutely not.

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Comment by: ZippyDSM (Jan 03, 2007 12:40)

the 360 is a it more secure than the Xbox but theres a trick to it and ocne the trik is found softmods will be ozzeing from the ent.

I been looking at things and I have come to the thout that the S3 is going to be easier to hack 0-o

I mean coem on a program on lunx to run "un approved" stuff could easily run back ups could it not?

Comment by: jzncarter (Jan 12, 2007 15:49)

ermmm... you can play hacked games on xbox live .. this is old news.. the problem is ppl don't like to incase microsoft finds a way of detecting this and bans them from live... but its happening and has been for some time

Comment by: humzaiq (Feb 05, 2007 16:51)

i got hit by lightning for spamming this fine site!!! edited by ddp

Comment by: g_5tar (Apr 21, 2007 14:07)

SPAM removed

Comment by: g_5tar (Apr 21, 2007 14:18)

SPAM removed