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Playstation 3: It Only Does Everything (Really)?

January 28, 2011 in Blog comments 25

If Sony PS3 can really do everything as Sony has advertised, shouldn't it be expected to play pirated games? Game Podunk blogger, RetroHelix writes on the matter....

If you are an avid Playstation fan, then you have more than likely heard their slogan. I have read countless stories regarding the PS3’s capabilities outside being a gaming machine. From simulating protein folding (e.g. “folding @ home”) to the U.S. Airforce using a few thousand PS3s for urban surveillance research, the PS3 sounds like it just may do everything. And now, the PS3 seems to also let you “jailbreak”. A few weeks ago a hacker, well known by his alias, “Geohotz” (Hotz is also known for jailbreaking the iPhone) released an application which would let you run custom firmware and run homebrew programs. Sony was definitely not pleased with Hotz, and subsequently filed a restraining order against Hotz’ program. The question that arises here is about your property rights. Should you be able to modify a product that you paid for? And in this case, should you be able to modify your Playstation 3?
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  • 3
    ShadowGuard Jan 28, 11
    yes, but those same people who are defending their 'property rights' are ruining the gaming experience honest gamers PAID for by breaking rules set in place. I have no sympathy for hackers of any kind. Get 'em Sony. that cocky spoiled brat Geohotz got owned in the first round, knock him out next round!
  • 1
    Bale Fire* Jan 28, 11
    Pretty much agree with what this guy says. If you're only doing homebrew and stuff, go ahead. I don't necessarily agree with that or pirating, but people do a lot of stuff I don't agree with. It's when the hackers start screwing with other people that I get annoyed, such is what is happening with Modern Warfare 2 and Black Ops.
  • 1
    longview01 Jan 29, 11
    Imagine if someone broke into your house, stole all your personal details and put them up on the internet with a message saying "be creative"

    Would you not be pissed about it?

    Sony are pissed and rightly so, we haven't seen any evidence of people actually using this for abit of yet all we have seen is people bragging about pirating games and people ruining online modes with their cheats.

    Also just because Microsoft does something doesn't mean Sony have to follow suit, not only are they are sueing that little moron but they are also doing console/game bans as we speak.

    Fair play to them and good luck I say!
    • 1
      Fallen Royalty Jan 29, 11
      What does modifying property you own have to do with breaking into somebody's house, stealing their information, and posting it on the internet? I'm pretty sure that by modifying property you already own you're not breaking & entering, committing identity theft, or invading somebody's privacy.
      • 1
        longview01 Jan 29, 11
        Hey nice work on misunderstanding my analogy
        • 1
          Fallen Royalty Jan 29, 11
          Hey nice work on making a shitty analogy that is inapplicable to the situation at hand.
        • 2
          Red 9 Jan 29, 11
          He's saying that the security of Sony's PS3 is akin to someone's private details. By hacking the PS3 and making everything hackable, they're stealing Sony's 'personal info' (master key) and telling people to essentially change all those "personal details" so that they're no longer your details.

          Hey, I got the analogy. Might not be the best analogy ever made, but it's still good.
        • 1
          Fallen Royalty Jan 29, 11
          No, it doesn't make sense. The workings of the PS3's security systems are not "personal info"; every single PS3 owner out there owns a copy of it. The files are in the PS3; I own my PS3, therefore I own a copy of the files. Opening up a piece of your own property, taking something out of it, and posting it online is hardly akin to breaking & entering into somebody's house, stealing their personal information, and posting it online.
        • 2
          Red 9 Jan 29, 11
          I don't think we "own" the Master Key. Pretty sure that's Sony's property.
        • 1
          Fallen Royalty Jan 29, 11
          Do you own your car, or is that Hyundai's property?

          Now, this doesn't apply to music, for example: when I buy something off iTunes the song doesn't become my property, I simply buy a license to use the song for my pleasure. But here, you're buying the system and everything that comes pre-installed on it. Even if Sony was only selling you the rights to use the key(s) for your enjoyment, how are you infringing upon their rights by copying and modifying it?
        • 0
          Red 9 Feb 4, 11
          The Master key is the key that Sony uses for games to recognize it as Sony software/hardware, and stops pirated games from being booted up. It's like their signature. I'm pretty sure Sony owns their own signature.

          Though tbh I really don't know why I came back to this...
  • 0
    longview01 Jan 29, 11
    Thats where your wrong Fallen Royalty, the hardware is yours on the PS3 but you are simply buying a license to use the software.
    • 1
      Fallen Royalty Jan 30, 11
      If I buy a PS3 I should be able to do whatever I want with it. If I want to play games, so be it. If I want to watch movies, so be it. If I want to stuff a firecracker into the vent holes and watch it blow up, so be it. If I want to open it up and modify what's in there, then that's my right. Once I walk out of the store with the machine in my hands I can modify it however the hell I want. Even if I were just buying a license to use Sony's security software, so what? What if I want to take that software out and put in my own user-made software? How is that infringing on any of Sony's rights?
  • 0
    longview01 Jan 30, 11
    It infringes Sonys rights the minute you log into THEIR online service, if you do those things expect a ban. You know that T&C you agreed to when you signed up for PSN? Well that states that modifying your console will get you banned from PSN.

    Go and ask god knows how many people that done it and got banned in the last 3 days. You wanna do it then do it, but nobody wants to hear your whinning when they lock you out of the PSN.
    • 1
      Fallen Royalty Jan 30, 11
      The article is about property rights. Of course Sony can enforce whatever the hell they want on their own network; the author of the article is concerned with the legality of the matter. And obviously it is completely legal to open up something that is your property, delete a few files and replace them with user-created data.
      • 1
        Fatal Error Jan 31, 11
        Sure it is; until you go online and tell everyone else exactly how to do the same thing. The issue isn't what you do in your own house so long as it doesn't have an effect on anyone else, it's that you can't go around telling everyone how to do that and what it can do if it's not what the console was intended to do in the first place.
        • 0
          Fallen Royalty Jan 31, 11
          So what law is there against telling other people how to modify their console?
        • 1
          Fatal Error Feb 1, 11
          Okay I don't know why I have to point out the obvious but here it goes anyways:

          1. You don't OWN the PS3 software. You own the hardware and the software comes with it essentially on a lease to you. There is a distinct reason the PS3 has a ToS every time you upgrade the firmware.

          2. This is not a criminal case. Sony is fully within their rights to start a civil suit with him because he violated their ToS. It's not about breaking laws, it's about violations of their Terms of Service.

          3. Sony and the law don't care what you think you should be able to do. What matters to them is whether or not an agreement formed between lessee and the leaser are being violated. Sony may not care what you do own your own time as long as it remains in your home because they really have no way of knowing. What they do care about is people posting information about their master keys and security/coding on the internet for everyone to see because it is their intellectual property, not yours.
        • 0
          Fallen Royalty Feb 3, 11
          I don't know why I have to point out the obvious but here it goes anyways:

          It doesn't matter whether I own the PS3 software or not. I own the physical PS3 itself and it is within my right to delete files and replace them with my own user-made files. I do not own the Intellectual Property rights to their firmware, but I do own the physical PS3 itself and last I checked it is not illegal to DELETE their firmware and install my own custom user-made firmware. There is nothing illegal about posting this custom user-made firmware on the internet and instructing people on how to install it.
        • 1
          Fatal Error Feb 3, 11
          You would be right if that is all this was about, but it isn't. Sony doesn't care what you do in your own time as long as you keep it to yourself. The whole reason for the suit is because he posted it online and they wanted him to take it down because IT VIOLATES THEIR TOS. You CANNOT post their security keys online or other sensitive info about their software if they say you can't which is EXACTLY why they won the suit in the first place. Seriously, I have no why you feel the need to keep making up arguments just for the sake of disagreeing. Really, it's pretty much case closed.
        • 0
          Fallen Royalty Feb 3, 11
          Except Sony can't just say "by the way, it's illegal to modify this product of ours." Sony doesn't make the law; Congress makes the law. The worst Sony should be able to do if you break their Terms of Service is, well, deny you their service (i.e. PSN). Geohotz or whoever is merely providing people with custom firmware to install on their Playstations in place of the software that Sony has installed there. Last I checked, Chevrolet isn't suing Firestone for enabling people to install tires on their cars other than the ones Chevrolet installed in the Chevrolet factory. Even if Chevrolet had some kind of terms of service regarding first-party tire installation, the worst they should be able to do is say "your warranty is void if you install non-Chevrolet tires", not "we're gonna freakin' sue you for enabling people to modify their own property". Seriously, I have no why you feel the need to keep making up arguments just for the sake of disagreeing. Really, it's pretty much case closed.
        • 2
          Fatal Error Feb 4, 11
          Actually Sony can and they did do exactly that, which (again) is exactly why they won the lawsuit in the first place. I'm not sure why this is so difficult for you to understand. It is their product, they own the rights to it, and they can absolutely enforce that. Geohotz is providing people with information directly related to Sony's actual coding and security, which is EXACTLY why they can file a restraining order against the site and why they don't bother with people doing the stuff with the Pandora battery and the PSP.

          You are for all intents and purposes just disagreeing for the sake of disagreeing because obviously Sony and the law have proven you wrong every step of the way. No need to continue dude, you're just wasting your time as I'm sure as hell not going to bother explaining it any further to you because you're too dense to understand the basic logic of it. Tires on a vehicle are not at all the same as the fundamental security coding of a software. That analogy shows just how much you miss the point and why I'm obviously wasting my time dealing with you any further.
        • 0
          Fallen Royalty Feb 4, 11
          No, you just don't get it. Of course Sony owns the rights to the PS3 design and the software on it, but the case here is somebody DELETING Sony's software from the system and REPLACING it with his own. Your entire post is composed of ad hominem arguments and doesn't have any actual arguments in it. The only things I can see in your post are "you are dense" and "Sony won the lawsuit". Neither of which are arguments that debunk my arguments. This guy isn't selling counterfeit PS3s, he's not stealing Sony's software and selling it for himself, he's simply replacing the software pre-installed on the system with OTHER software that HE has created and handing out that software to other people.
        • 0
          Red 9 Feb 4, 11
          Don't worry, Fatal Error, I tried debating with him too, but it didn't go anywhere either. Even providing legal outlines like you have isn't getting the message across.
  • 1
    phowell23 Jan 31, 11
    If I'm allowed to modify my house, car, furniture or anything else in my house why cant I modify a video game console? When I purchased my ps3 for $500 I dont remember being told by the retail store that I wasnt allowed to make any changes to it. I'll even give you playing online is another story but how is it's sonys right to tell me how to run my product that I purchased in my own house?

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