Sam Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 Yup, you heard it right: hackers have discovered a way to run retail PS3 games off the PS3's internal HDD and off external USB HDDs. While this is quite a neat trick, it might not be all that useful considering how much data is stored on a single layered Blu-ray disc -- about 25 gigabytes. That precious HDD space will probably end up being devoured in no time.More tech-savvy gamers out there who want to know more about this development can go check out the tech mumbo-jumbo here. We're pretty sure this high-level jargon will scare away most. What countermeasures can Sony take to ensure this doesn't become an even larger problem? Rampant piracy has always cast its dark shadow over the PSP ... will the PS3 be next? Let's hope not. PS3Fanboy.com Turns out it can only play development copies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
williamhook Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 Hah, took long enough for them to decide it's worthy of being hacked. I think the fact that Sony chose BluRay has worked out very well for them - because the games are so damn big, piracy is MUCH lower. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alfista Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 Hah, took long enough for them to decide it's worthy of being hacked. I think the fact that Sony chose BluRay has worked out very well for them - because the games are so damn big, piracy is MUCH lower. i agree... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coldgunner Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 Only, thing I'd like to see in hacked firmware is some kind of region free dvd and bd, having access to running ISO's is not as crucial as the PSP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phemo Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 The games aren't that big though - most ISOs are around 6GB, not really a big deal. Just because a BD can hold 25GB per layer it doesn't mean every single game is going to max that out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coldgunner Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 After a quick search on torrent sites, the x360 ports tend to be <9gb, but the ps3 exclusives are much closer to 25gb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Minimoose Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 I dont see who would upload or download 25gb files just to play a game, its a bit excessive really. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coldgunner Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 I dont see who would upload or download 25gb files just to play a game, its a bit excessive really. indeed, its quicker buy the game AND wait for second class post by the time your done downloading. besides, it'll go the way of psp firmware in which Sony puts in basic protections against it but the hackers find an exploit. Although it'd be easier for sony to stop authenticating PS3's with CFW from using bought store content. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
williamhook Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 Only, thing I'd like to see in hacked firmware is some kind of region free dvd and bdI would LOVE that. Region free BDs would mean cheap imports from the USA. (Y)indeed, its quicker buy the game AND wait for second class post by the time your done downloading.Want a bet? I reckon I could download 25GBs quicker. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghostdraconi Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 indeed, its quicker buy the game AND wait for second class post by the time your done downloading. besides, it'll go the way of psp firmware in which Sony puts in basic protections against it but the hackers find an exploit. Although it'd be easier for sony to stop authenticating PS3's with CFW from using bought store content. You'd be surprised what people will do to avoid spending money. Anyway just because it can hold 25GB doesn't mean the game is that big, add to that the ever increasing speed of broadband and this become viable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Audioboxer Subscriber² Posted February 12, 2008 Subscriber² Share Posted February 12, 2008 From what I've read this is only possible on a DEVELOPMENT PS3. You know the test/debug ones. Even then there is a ton of bickering that PS3News are faking things again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Groovedude Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 step in the right direction :D WHOOOP !!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coldgunner Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 I would LOVE that. Region free BDs would mean cheap imports from the USA. (Y)Want a bet? I reckon I could download 25GBs quicker. :D then you gotta enjoy the pain of transferring the file and any formatting required for the files no thanks, I'd rather stay legit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elessar Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 Sony has a few things going for them with the PS3 and Blu-ray; 1.) the discs cost quite a bit right now so burning a PS3 game is really out of the questions unless you can fit it onto a DVD without breaking it. 2.) assuming the hackers can manage to allow games to be played off of the HDD, people are still going to need a larger HDD to hold most of these games. I mean, say the average size is 15 GB, you're looking at 1 game for the 20GB model, 2 for the 40GB model, 4 for the 60GB model, and 5 games on the 80GB model. So people will have to drop some money on another HDD, easily $100+ just for the HDD. So yeah, this time around, it's not quite as easy if you ask me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WooSH Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 while this may not be possible now, this may pick up in a few years as bandwidth limitations are lifted and faster data connection speeds are brought to your door. It was only in 01' when we had 2MB inbox limit for emails. Hopefully if we can get near 100MBPS connections downloading will be much easier. Also you dont necessarily have to DOWNLOAD the games. There was a way on the PS2 where you can image the game from a legitmate disc on to the hard drive and play it off of that. And as far as i can remember this was an official harddrive from Sony which you can buy for around $250. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Posted February 12, 2008 Author Share Posted February 12, 2008 I'd love for this to be true, I'd much rather "rip" my purchased games (PS1,PS2,PS3) to the HDD and beable to play them through the game menu, rather than having to mess around with discs. Even just PS1 and PS2 support would be good... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Audioboxer Subscriber² Posted February 12, 2008 Subscriber² Share Posted February 12, 2008 This hack would also have to be somehow removing the FAT32 limit on external drives. In other words supporting NTFS drives, unless the so called "debug PS3" they somehow have a hold of, supports NTFS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magik Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 Hah, took long enough for them to decide it's worthy of being hacked. I think the fact that Sony chose BluRay has worked out very well for them - because the games are so damn big, piracy is MUCH lower. Yea... but people said that about DVD sizes. With increased compression efficiency, a little better bandwidth handling and a little more time, a 30 or 40GB game download really won't be that big of a deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Groovedude Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 Yea... but people said that about DVD sizes. With increased compression efficiency, a little better bandwidth handling and a little more time, a 30 or 40GB game download really won't be that big of a deal. sooo true.. :p back to the day of floppys imagine downloading a cd WOWS !! :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Audioboxer Subscriber² Posted February 12, 2008 Subscriber² Share Posted February 12, 2008 Yea... but people said that about DVD sizes. With increased compression efficiency, a little better bandwidth handling and a little more time, a 30 or 40GB game download really won't be that big of a deal. Wouldn't Sony be able to "force" developers to pad games to 20-25GB and then the CRC of the discs would be for 20-25GB. So if someone ripped the game, minus the padding to a 6-7GB ISO, then it would be blatantly obvious they were running a pirated game and easy to detect? Just going on my knowledge of how the 360 works. We have no idea if all these rips out there would work, and if any ever did what sort of protection Sony would have inplace. The very fact games are supposedly running off a hard drive and not a Blu Ray disc to me would mean easy to detect. Then you have the issue of would Sony do what MS do and just block consoles, or would they block your PSN ID from online play as well? Blocking PSN ids would be the way to go to stop piracy - MS clearly don't just to keep a revenue incoming (Live costs) and also to encourage pirates to go buy another 360. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spenser.d Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 Blocking PSN ids would be the way to go to stop piracy - MS clearly don't just to keep a revenue incoming (Live costs) and also to encourage pirates to go buy another 360. How would blocking a PSN ID stop piracy - the ID's are free, just make another one. Unless they block the hardware ID the PS3 uses to get online (if they can), I don't think what you said is much of a solution. -Spenser Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Audioboxer Subscriber² Posted February 12, 2008 Subscriber² Share Posted February 12, 2008 How would blocking a PSN ID stop piracy - the ID's are free, just make another one. Unless they block the hardware ID the PS3 uses to get online (if they can), I don't think what you said is much of a solution.-Spenser Yeah but your PSN ID is going to tie into home, your friends list, your achievements/trophies, PSN store purchases, ect. Names are unique, how many times are people going to want to change their online handle to keep on pirating? I'd only ever use Audioboxer, what would I start doing? Audioboxer1, Audioboxer888, AudioboxerUK? Gets messy. Ban the console (like MS do) and the PSN ID. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coldgunner Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 Though perhaps the console ID could be changed with custom firmware? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Groovedude Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 I dont really understand why people seem so worked up, that info like this is coming to light. It's not like it was NEVER gunna happen... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Audioboxer Subscriber² Posted February 12, 2008 Subscriber² Share Posted February 12, 2008 I dont really understand why people seem so worked up, that info like this is coming to light.It's not like it was NEVER gunna happen... I'm not worked up, just chipping in my thoughts on a) why this may be a hoax/not true and b) how impractical it could be right now - Especially with this only supposedly working on debug PS3s - How many of us own one of them? If you dig into the comments on certain websites, you'll see there has been quite a nasty history of mud flinging between certain "ps3 hacking" websites, and a lot of hoaxes pulled. The hardware of the PS3 will prolong modding for soo long, then it will be compromised by reducing Blu Ray PC burner prices and reducing disc prices. The area Sony and MS have the upper hand is with online play/online detection. MS seem to do "ok", but their process of banning people can seem completely random at times, with people who play backups online 24/7 for years not getting banned and somebody who has played 1 game online getting banned. I really don't know what algorithms MS go on, but they definitely don't seem to have a sureshot system in place. Going on my knowledge of how the 360 custom firmware works, something like that on a PS3 could work.... although we are talking Blu Ray discs here, which are new technology and no one right now knows if a 1:1 backup of a PS3 game burnt to a Blu Ray disc would work and be undetected. Early days, but we'll see what appears over time. One thing you can bet on though CFW on the PS3, will probably be shut down much quicker than the PSP IMO - There is far more money to lose on the PS3 than there is on the PSP with piracy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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