All the recent hackery news regarding the Playstation 3 has culminated in the inevitable: the first custom firmware for the Playstation 3. KaKaRoTo, its creator, did not release his custom firmware; in fact, he released the tools so you can modify your own Playstation 3’s firmware update package. The feature set is extremely limited – but that’s kind of the point. He left most of it untouched, and refuses to implement anything related to piracy.
In other words, he is incredibly careful, and that’s a good thing. With his tools, you can hack any firmware release for your Playstation 3. You do need to compile from source, which should work on any Linux machine or Macintosh. After compiling his code, run ./create_cfw.sh PS3UPDATE.PUP CFW.PUP, and put the resulting file on a USB drive in PS3/UPDATE/PS3UPDAT.PUP. You can then install the hacked firmware from within system update on the console.
The feature set of the hacked firmware is limited: all it does is add “Install Package Files” to the Game section of the Playstation 3 user interface. This will eventually allow you to install signed executables (using homebrew .pkg files). These executables will be signed using the recently uncovered keys.
What it will not allow you to do is run pirated games. While someone else will surely implement this ‘feature’, KaKaRoTo will not. “Since the kernel is left unmodified, this means that this custom firmware is really meant for future homebrew installation, and it will not allow piracy. I plan on keeping it that way,” he writes on his blog.
It’s about time the Playstation 3 was cracked wide open. Sony is of course free to ban hacked consoles from the Playstation Network, but PS3 owners are also free to install whatever they want on their consoles.
J/K – but I’m surprised nobody commented on this yet.
I sorta can’t wait until the PS3 becomes phased out now that CFW is a possibility (which I suspect Sony will expedite). Once they start showing up at yard sales and such, I’d love to pick one up for a few $ and hack around with it a bit
o.O phased out? What about the millions of gamers (like myself) who actually use the damn things?
But it’s inevitable… look at all the consoles that have been abandoned for the “next big thing”
Did your purchase come with a guarantee that Sony won’t phase it out before you got tired of it?
It’s more likely they’ll do what they did with the PSP… add more security to the newer revisions. The PSP1000 was hacked YEARS ago, the PSP2000 is kind of hacked, the PSP3000 can only just about be hacked, and that depends on the firmware installed and relies on real absolute brute force attacks methodologies.
And PSP2 is already on the horizon – Sure, it may start out with original PSP compatibility, but I’m betting that only lasts for a couple revisions before that is eliminated as well.
It seems Thom screwed up more than just a hyperlink this time and now the comment link for this doesn’t appear and the whole main page’s layout is all messed up.
Edit: the link does appear, layout still messed up.
Edited 2011-01-06 17:37 UTC
I’m getting the weird layout as well, but only in Firefox. Site looks fine in Chrome and Epiphany, so I’m not sure what’s wrong.
Just a note: playing games in an illegal way is a bad idea for the future of games (and gamers).
Well said.
The thing to remember for all of us US based enthusiasts is that any form of copyright circumvention falls under the DMCA.
As it is now I’m hoping that this falls under the recent decision from the Library of Congress on iPhones that jail-breaking for homebrew is legal.
Right, this is the same law that prevents you from playing DVDs on your Linux machine which doesn’t have licensed CSS playback software.
I suspect this law is only enforceable when they can prove that you’re distributing copyright circumvention methods to others (like the guy who got sued for telling people to hold down the shift-key when inserting CDs into their computer to prevent autorun from installing draconian DRM), or actually using them to create unlicensed copies of copyrighted works.
Eventually, that law (the way its currently written) is going to have to die – but it wont’ be soon enough…
Edited 2011-01-06 22:17 UTC