PS3 has its LV0 decryption keys published, hacking wide open again

[a completely inoffensive name]

Software security is on my top ten list of "things I am most ignorant on", so I will just direct you all towards the link and hope that more knowledgeable people will get the conversation going.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-ps3-the-final-hack

[drone]

My understanding is that, unless Sony want to brick old PS3s (and I wouldn't put it past them), there is nothing they can do about this. They kept it locked down for over 6 years, which is pretty impressive if you think about it. This will probably up the impetus to get the PS4 to the public.

[TinCow]

This will probably up the impetus to get the PS4 to the public.

I doubt it will impact the PS4's progress. Hacking/modding consoles is so much of a pain in the ass that even when it's possible it doesn't have much of an impact on the market. This stuff is orders of magnitude more difficult than simply torrenting a PC game, and console gamers are even more focused on ease-of-use factors than PC gamers. I don't see anyone but techie types being influenced by this, and there's not enough of those people to warrant rushing out the next gen console before it's ready.

[drone]

If this hack enables fake-signed games available online for the general public, it is a big deal. Publishers will complain loudly if they lose sales and have to pay the PS3 license fee for the privilege. Given the high price of console games (because of this fee), they can become a prime target for piracy, especially overseas.

[TinCow]

If this hack enables fake-signed games available online for the general public, it is a big deal. Publishers will complain loudly if they lose sales and have to pay the PS3 license fee for the privilege. Given the high price of console games (because of this fee), they can become a prime target for piracy, especially overseas.

Unless I'm missing something, that wouldn't work unless the individual console itself was using a hacked firmware. That's enough of a pain in the butt that I can't see it impacting more than a tiny share of the market.

[spankythehippo]

Unless I'm missing something, that wouldn't work unless the individual console itself was using a hacked firmware. That's enough of a pain in the butt that I can't see it impacting more than a tiny share of the market.

This is true. I used to hack PSP's with custom firmware quite a while ago. I did it to mine to increase performance, and the fact that carrying UMD's everywhere took away from the "Portable" aspect. The hacking process is quite complicated, most of which requires resoldering physical components. This, in itself, is a pain in the arse to do.

However, a PS3 is a lot different to a PSP. I would never hack a console, such as a PS3 or an XBOX, since the console becomes a lot more unstable. I don't mind paying for games, in fact, I condone it. If I were a console owner, hacking the console would not appeal to me in the slightest. In my PSP's case, it was just too annoying in it's vanilla form.

[Fragony]

Unless I'm missing something, that wouldn't work unless the individual console itself was using a hacked firmware. That's enough of a pain in the butt that I can't see it impacting more than a tiny share of the market.

Don't see a storm comming either, you don't buy a console to be messing around, you buy it because it's easy to use.

[LeftEyeNine]

Just to drop a little reminder to keep the conversation pro-piracy-free.

Thanks for the considerate discussion so far.