his is the story of a young boy. Well, he used to be a young boy who, at a tender age of 17, became a household name for all those who love pirates. George Hotz, better known as the teen whizz who unlocked the first iPhone, has apparently done it again. This time with his pranks directed at Sony.
I mean, everyone wants to own a PlayStation 3. Even back in the days when the first PS was out, I longed to have one, notwithstanding its over-the-top price… I just waited a couple of years and was one of the regular kids, playing games on my PS.
Anyway, back to young Mr Hotz. The so-called unhackable reputation that the PS3 has garnered is mostly due to its Blu-ray 2.0-compliant player (one of the first) that is perhaps best described as a “steel jail” for all who wish to crack it.
According to Hotz and his rather outstanding treasure trove of “cracka goodies“, he spent slightly over a month to hack the system with what he has described as 95 percent software and 5 percent hardware. He also admitted that it was not really a thorough system hack, but rather a matter of pulling the wool over the eyes of the PS3. More like duping the system into thinking that his crack was part of its very own, thus gaining its trust. Mmm.
Not that I advocate piracy, but is it really necessary just for what Hotz claims as a point of curiosity? What is so bad about earning your own keep and getting originals? As an Xbox 360 gamer (original as the day it was born), I could be emphatic about why Microsoft had to drastically shut out online gamers who had hacked their consoles, or why the PSPgo had to be made with the complication of an in-built memory and with a dramatic price tag. I mean, it’s just a matter of protectionism. But does this win any favorable votes? N.O.
If you walked around Melbourne today, you would see that the most prolific areas of sales reside in its game market. There’s EB games which has perhaps the most attractive game offers (my personal opinion) and JB Hi-Fi that sells cheaper-than-beans CDs… and, of course, not forgetting the mobile shops strewn around town. The point here would be whether a hack like this would make us Melburnians rush out to the streets in jubilation. All original. Heck. Even the new iPad (which really has a bad choice of name… what happened to iSlate?), with its joint e-book ventures and audio support from the iTunes Store, would push down ghastly prices, and perhaps, reduce the number of pirates around.
Of course, this awaits Sony’s very own verdict, but hey, perhaps it is time for the PS3 to really take off, what with the exclusive games it has under its belt? But whether or not this new hack would drive more traffic toward the purchase of the PS3, the point of the matter remains: Are you a pirate at heart, or a pirate to be? Apparently, pirates can be converted overnight. Just be careful. The temptation is great. May the Force be with you.
Sony PlayStation 3 owners who held off on updating their systems in order to keep from losing the option to install alternate operating systems have a new glimmer of hope. Hacker George Hotz (a.k.a. Geohot) has released a video of a new hack that promises to keep the alternate OS install feature, even with the 3.21 firmware update that was released last week.
Watch the Video!
