The online servers for MotorStorm are back online, albeit unofficially. This is thanks to the work of PSONE, a group of video game preservationists who tirelessly worked to bring a number of PlayStation titles back online.
Developed by the now-defunct Evolution Studios, MotorStorm is fondly remembered as one of the best PlayStation launch titles, spawning two direct sequels as well as spin-offs. The official PS3 online servers for the game went offline in January 2012.
Now, after almost a decade in a digital cemetery, PSONE has brought the servers back online. You will need a copy of MotorStorm, a PS3 console and an active PlayStation Network account. Setup is quick and easy using PSONE’s text and video guides.
The group recently hit the headlines after resurrecting the PS3 servers for popular online shooter, Killzone 2. While playable, it’s worth noting that some key features are missing, such as online trophy support. The list of other supported titles includes favourites such as Twisted Metal Black, Warhawk, WipEout, SOCOM Confrontation, and PlayStation Home.
One more thing… the group has announced that Resistance: Fall of Man will soon be playable with a number of other PS3 games in the pipeline.
PSONE stresses that this release is meant solely for preservation and educational purposes. The organisation doesn’t take donations, stating the following in their legal section:
All rights are reserved by Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe Limited, as well as the respective third-party companies responsible for implementing content into the preserved games. PSONE is working on PS Games that has been shutdown, the usage of this software falling under abandonware due to the lack of copyright enforcement involving the tools. The online section of PS Games is protected by the laws implied by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act 17 U.S. Code § 1201 for the purpose of preservation, education and public viewing as a museum effort.
Following MotorStorm, Evolution Studios went on to developer Driveclub, the ill-fated PS4 exclusive that is no longer available to purchase. Sony closed the studio in 2016 though it was revived by Codemasters and went on to create the criminally overlooked Onrush.
cc_star
I’ve had a dabble with Warhawk, need to get back into it
Think it was spoofing the PS3 into thinking the internet was a LAN
I’ll have another blast this weekend
I wish Sony end of life’s their games like this officially, patched out the Sony matchmaking component & presence server, while still enabled browsing or joining of P2P hosted matches
MOVE
Not a tech shark but how us this possible? Is it actual Playstation People or have the highjacked the servers – that should be non existent by now?
Stefan L
It’s a fan effort that’s not associated with Sony. They’re making use of custom DNS functionality – think of the DNS like picking up a different phone book for the internet – to redirect the console’s network calls to their servers instead of Sony’s.
There’s similar efforts on the Xbox side of things with XLink Kai preserving the ability for original Xbox consoles to play Halo.
MrYd
They’re doing 2 things.
First, reverse engineer how the game is communicating with the servers and create their own server.
Second, use a DNS server to intercept the traffic from the PS3 and redirect them to their servers. They suggest using a public DNS server as the secondary so everything else carries on working as normal.
So the game thinks it’s sending all it’s data to the servers for the game (that no longer exist), the PS3 queries the DNS records for that server and gets given the spoofed IP address for their new server. Their DNS server is presumably ignoring everything else apart from the handful of games, and the PS3 falls back on the secondary DNS, and gets the real IP address for everything else.
It’s quite clever, really. Possibly won’t work for all games if the IP address of the servers is hard coded into the game, instead of having the server name and domain for the DNS thing to work.
And you also might want to decide for yourself if you trust them or not. Is the DNS server they run only intercepting the DNS lookups for those games and passing everything else on? Or could it be doing anything else? Such as pretending playstation.com points to them, stealing your password when your PS3 connects to what you think is the PSN, and then passing it on to the real servers so you don’t notice?
It’s unlikely the PS3 is sending stuff like that unencrypted, but there’s probably something, somewhere that is being sent in plain text that you might not want going anywhere near someone you might not trust completely.
TrannosaurusBex
“Criminally overlooked Onrush”.. are you kidding? Onrush was pathetic. I’d take Driveclub over it any day.
MOVE
That didn’t make me a tech but chefers for the explanations. Wasn’t going back to play these games online anyway but was just wondering… still am. :o)
MOVE
*cheers*