It’s been a little while since a PSJailbreak story bubbled up from the underbelly of the Internet, but prepare yourself for more to come over the next few days. Today it’s being reported that the PSJailbreak USB dongle (and potentially its compatible rivals) now works with all PS3s, even those on the latest firmware. It appears to work by enabling the downgrade of the 3.50 or 3.42 firmware which up until now haven’t been exploited, to 3.41 which is fully open to such devices.
When PSJailbreak and its clones were first released it enabled the PS3 to run homebrew apps, one of these apps made it possible to backup (copy) games to a hardrive, Sony were quick to act, firing off lawsuits at all resellers and importers of such devices to reduce the impact of its release. They then updated the PS3 firmware to prevent the USB devices from even being recognised by the PS3. It is this update which has now been worked around, and the impression is given that future firmware updates are also likely to be unsuccessful in preventing such devices from working.
Whilst some readers may rally to the cause of the noble homebrew developer, it is an unfortunate fact of life that the chief use of homebrew is often to enable the piracy of games through creating backup managers, along with programs which enable the running of those backed-up and copied games. In the past Sony have let everyone know that they can tell when a console is running a pirated game and will take action against anyone found to be doing so by banning their asses.
We abhor piracy here at TheSixthAxis and highlight such potential bannings as a warning to those who may be contemplating using the device. Don’t. If not for your own enjoyment of games, then for the wider gaming industry which undoubtedly suffers from piracy.
Thanks eytimo
Foxhound_Solid
Bill Gates and his Crew been at it again eh?
GT5 better not be foiled, we cnt take any further let downs as fans…
3shirts
GT5 won’t be affected. It requires 3.5 and this only lets you downgrade to 3.41 and thus, it wouldn’t play
bunimomike
We abhor piracy here at TheSixthAxis
I hope TSA has an equally strong stance on emulators running older games too. Still piracy. *rattles sabre* ;-)
cc_star
A lot of emulators contain no copyrighted code, so there’s nothing unlawful about them. Copies of games are usually unlawful though, although some parts of the world allow for the backing-up of something you own, but if you don’t fit within that situation, then that is to be abhorred too, yes.
bunimomike
Emulators are frequently public domain but playing games through the emulator is piracy (even if the games are now old and out of the media spotlight).
3shirts
I agree in part but I don’t think ‘equally’ is fair. The losses for the games industry of thousands of pirate copies of GT5 or Blops is way more significant than people playing Mario 3 on a NES emulator. It’s not like it’s a lost sale. Sure it’s still illegal but it’s barely comparable in terms of damage to the industry.
bunimomike
But sales figures on the Wii and the 360 are still incredible and they suffer greatly with piracy. A sale that was never going to happen was never going to happen. Appreciate there’s a transition period but it’s still illegal.
GTRsannin
I really don’t understand this i mean games aren’t that expensive and the developers need the money they get from sales that way they know if they should make a sequel for it i mean think about it if just one person bought a game and everybody just copied that developers would think that it’s not popular since only one person bought it and they wouldn’t make sequels even if it really was a good game
bunimomike
As a piece of entertainment, games are probably one of the more expensive items (compared to a film title or a CD LP, etc). Forty pounds is a lot of money to many people and piracy is an easy way out. The idea is that people respect the industry and realise that time, effort, money, etc, should all be rewarded. Sony played an awesome hand in having such difficult hardware to hack but every device that reads and writes will always have its work cut out.
For my money, Sony have gathered enough non-pirated momentum with the PS3 where it’ll make little difference this generation – and good on them.
cc_star
a pint: 10mins = £3.xx
footie match: 2hrs at the ground = £30
blu-ray movie: 5 hours if you watch it twice = £15
average game: 20 hours if you play it twice + much more if a good multiplayer mode is present = £35
Gaming is cheap compared to other forms of entertainment
bunimomike
I was referring to the entertainment industry so as to avoid comparison with something like football, or jet-skiing, etc.
Like many of us, my music collection will be enjoyed for decades to come. With games, they are an escape from the real world. Many of these titles will be played once or twice and can be relatively short.
However, utterly trumping all of this is the fact that the game might be £40. That’s a unit cost that is sometimes too expensive for people to fork out for (whereas, a tenner for an album isn’t).
MrBlack
who here can honestly say that they have never borrowed or loaned a game to/from a friend, I dont condone piracy but there are grey areas too. PC games are pirated the shit out of and games still get released for pc and turn a profit, basically its only gonna be the minority of ps3 users that would pirate games so to punish us by removing other os etc is far too heavy handed and deeply unfair
baggyg
I take this news with a bit of salt. It took years to find an exploit. It would be very surprising if they had found another in a matter of months. I call BS
cc_star
It’s true, seen vids – and sources who are respected in such circles know it to be true….. sadly
MegaBonez
My cheap ass friends will be over the moon. However, as a games design student, piracy annoys the hell out of me. Enjoy single player mode you Jailbreak bastards!
MegaBonez
wow, the bad language was automatically edited out, nice touch!
GranTurismo-Disciple
I used to buy copied games on ps1 but i was a kid, and tbh i thought that died off years ago but there is always some1 out there to spoil stuff, the way i look now is pay for the game your helping the developers get better by giving them money to do so, i for 1 am against piracy its sucks donkey balls an any1 who does it are just pathetic
Aquastyle
*sigh*
Both the people that develop and the people that use these jailbreak devices disgust me…
moshi
Anyone else sing Thin Lizzy when they read Jailbreak. Could Kaz have the power to recall all GT5 games being so very close now
3shirts
Every… damn… time
GranTurismo-Disciple
He better not recall GT5 cos I’ll be on a plane to japan and I’d literally kill him, and tell the rest of polyphony digital to put the sierra RS500 in the game aswell as more iconic cars that aint in
bunimomike
Oooo, get you!
moshi
bit touchy isn’t he
3shirts
@bunimomike Your mama too
minerwilly
I well remember the Sierra Cosworth and that insurance companies refused to insure you in places like Manchester , Nottingham , London and even in some less affluent areas of Liverpool .