PS3 Hacked (again): All Future Games Decryptable, No Solution Possible

I want that exact solution to.

I just don't want people to break the law to do so.

I am not against Modding so you can play games you pay for(even from other countries, as long as the price doesn't do anything to the economy to screw over yours, but not enough people do that so it shouldn't be an issue). However, sadly, there's two issues here; The EULA disallows that(mainly because each Country needs to have stuff sold in their own, otherwise if everybody got it from another country, your current one would be in a financial crisis). The second, is mainly what I just said.

I am against modding to use cheats, especially online(well, specifically online), because it ruins the game for multiple players. I find the obvious fix is that cheat codes always fail online and you can't be online while having a cheat device in. Which solves that entire issue. I believe it clearly is very difficult to accomplish, as noted by the DS cheat devices impossible to stop.

We want the same thing; I just want it done in a way that actually helps do it right.

Also, while it's true some countries allow modding, that's only if the EULA allows it in the first place. The 360 does not having the rule that modding it is illegal by any means, because unlike Wii and PS 3, you own the data in that scenario. I won't lie that some countries ignore the EULA in their rulings, or that in certain cases Sony/Nintendo is too hard on people for stupid things like fan stuff(that does not generate money). But I don't really agree with people who cost them money.

We're in a very similar situation, I might add. I do feel your pain. But piracy really... does not help solve the problem, is the point I'm getting at.

If anything, I can agree with your sentiment. As for cheating, I support cheating outside of online from the beginning (strictly at home). But with all due might I do hope that no one is dumb enough to incur Sony's higher wrath by cheating in PSN online sessions.

As for piracy, I just don't think using a wide stick to smack everyone on the face is a good idea as well. Do note that pirate copies actually HELPED me realize the existence of the West and Japan, the existence and significance of game devs, and the existence of these issues. It was also piracy which led me to have a conscience of paying the fair sum whenever possible.

There's just not enough enlightened people like me. If there are, it would've been a non issue, since game sharing helps people get a look of quality before paying for what they're going to like keeping as their collection. If you say that we want the same thing about piracy and Sony, I'd like to believe you too, but the fact is piracy always existed as normalcy around where I live. You can't just expect it to be curbed just because Sony wants to throw hissier and hissier fits.

edited 27th Oct '12 12:11:50 AM by Cassie

The only pirating I've ever done is one game for the n64 emulator from another country. I plan to buy the real copy. It's just unplayable on my n64 due the Gameshark being extremely freezey.(if you will on the term)

However, I am not pirating since my plan is to still pay for the legitimate copy.

That's what changes the scenario. Yes, emulation is illegal, obviously. However, some people do buy the real games, but use the emulated versions for stuff like codes and such, which isn't really "bad" by any means.

Look, I know what you mean by the whole learning other cultures thing. But I don't think any way beyond emulation is a good idea to do that, if only because buying the legitimate copy while emulating the same actually does not cost them money, which is the goal that should be set.

Or, to be more clear; Modding your system to play a different country game while you can emulate the game and not directly hurt them(as long as you buy the different country game) would be the better solution. It hurts no one when done that specific way.

Anyway, that's all I was getting at, and emulation in general is frowned upon as a discussion topic. You get what I mean, though, right? If you do, excellent.

As for pirated copies helping you realize other ones... is that honestly an excuse to screw over people? There's tons of ways to do that, by simply watching videos of alternate versions, or emulation to try out the game. You could also buy the correct console and game from the country(often at a lower price). I support the "try emulation" part first, buy real copy if you like it, mostly because you are attempting to not hurt anyone that way.

I'm not sure there's anything to be enlightened about here. Understanding other cultures is a good thing, but why do illegal things to do so? I know people from across the world and I simply talk to them instead. I find that way more informative, and as I said, you can't hurt anyone by talking.(in this context, to be quite specific)

edited 27th Oct '12 12:34:40 AM by Hydronix

It's not like I've used the PS 3 to do anything but play Blu-Ray disks for a while now. Meh.

Speaking of emulation, systems these days only get harder and harder to emulate. With no people willing to emulate, the physical hardware needed to play the game will expire, leaving people with no means -at all- to play with their discs. That is also a detrimental situation.

I mean, Sega already ceased to be a console power. Because Saturn was too hard to crack (and being a CD-ROM game, it was sure as heck too expensive for each disk), and Dreamcast was also being such a tough nut. By now we'd think that Sony would've learnt that lesson as well and give customers the ideal leeway. Saturn, Dreamcast, PSP, XBOX 1 and PS 2 are still unable to be emulated to full. And they're already past gen, hardwares already not in production, let alone mint condition.

Swinging this back, Sony still hasn't yet to see the beauty in releasing virtual machines inside PS 3. Which is very thick-skulled, considering one of the reasons which got Sony to this messy state was the announced 'give up' on backwards compatibility.

edited 27th Oct '12 12:42:45 AM by Cassie

Well, yeah, Sony's practices are clearly a problem.(besides fair punishment, to note)

I'm in complete agreement and actually don't even see them surviving the next gaming Era due to these decisions. Not being able to play used games at all goes too far.

That's not even pirating either. The current way the PS 3 does it, by making it so what you downloaded is to that system only(and apparently one other, but I believe that's if "your harddrive crashed so a backup is a good thing" and not to promote pirating), is still the best solution as of right now.

I only used my PS 3 to play games. I plan to buy stuff online, but most I prefer the original hard copy of. I only need Disc 2 of Final Fantasy 7, after all.

You're right about the emulation problem, but you can't blame people for wanting to do that to test out games. Also, isn't that what renting games is for? They have much lower prices and you can beat many games that quickly.

edited 27th Oct '12 12:50:55 AM by Hydronix

No, I have no problem with emulation at all. The problem I have is that virtual consoles don't get released despite the production run for physical consoles have ended. Does the game industry not want to archive those works of art??

I don't know about elsewhere, but in the US, a lot of the sources for game rentals have gone away; brick and mortar video stores are increasingly out of business and the Netflix-like Gamefly is nowhere near as widely adopted and has occasionaly struggled.

...No? No they don't. Not every company cares about their earlier works. That's why they make compilations instead. Nintendo and Sega are one of the few that give a crap.

And I want backwards compatibility before official emulation. If they use the same side of discs, or can(like the Wii could use Game Cube discs), that's fine. The PS 3 and clearly the PS 4 can use the same disc size. There's no reason to avoid backwards compatibility. It's sad that even Nintendo is going this route too.

This is more due to them trying to take away used gaming than anything else. Also, their prices are pretty high, so perhaps people don't want to pay a lot for a quick run?

edited 27th Oct '12 2:39:06 AM by Hydronix

Not every country has places that rent games. Or have easy access to those places. It seems to me that Sony are being over restrictive here, and a far bit too much judgmental.

Sony's customer service isn't just bad. It is appalling. Their most recent console is overly hard to develop for, which impacts in a bad way for games running the engines that power Fallout New Vegas and Skyrim. Their constant removal of features that make the PS 3 worth buying in the first place is idiotic. And don't get me started on the whole "if your Blu-Ray drive is fucked, spend a fortune on a new console or pray you get lucky on Ebay when you buy a used one from a knackered console rather than being able to use any PC compatible BD drive on the market" thing.

Sony also seem to not remember that the one of the main reasons why the PS One and PS 2 were so successful in the first place was that they were piss easy to pirate games on. Especially games that Sony Europe never bothered getting from Sony America in the first place. Like Xenogears, Final Fantasy Tactics and Chrono Cross, which never got official PAL releases.

This is a tangent, but games are now considered archive fodder for the Library of Congress, I know of one museum, the Strong Museum of Play in Rochester, NY, which is building and maintaining an archive, and the Smithsonian is currently touring their exhibit of "The Art of Video Games". So preservation efforts for video games do exist beyond the fan or studio level.

So was the PSP. That does not translate into success - quite the opposite when the system is sold at a loss.

Two out of three is a bloody good strike rate when it comes to console success.

To be completely honest, this might make me consider buying a PS 3.

About cheaters, I've read a blog post advocating segregating them rather than banning them outright. Caught cheating? You can now only play against other cheaters. Have fun!

edited 27th Oct '12 12:00:44 PM by Medinoc

They'll just focus their attention on getting into the 'legit' servers. Since their desire is to outdo other players, they'll make every effort to get back to the other players after being segregated.

Game piracy is already illegal. So there is no need to add "controls" to consoles to "protect" creators. In effect, the copyright law in just about everywhere is strong enough.

If creators feel entitled to ruining a console by making it so the person who bought the console is not allowed to decide what to install on it. They are stepping out of their boundaries. As a creator, you are entitled to protect your copyright, but you are not entitled to stop me from installing free software on my own devices. If my power to install whatever software I want in my devices also allows me to pirate your stuff, well, tough world for you.

I just hope this hypothetical PS 4 is backwards compatible.

It won't be.

When Sony realized they could sell PS2 and PSX games via PSN, they completely stopped doing the whole backwards compatibility capabilities with the PS3. I see no reason to think they'd bring it back when they release the next console...

Well, there's the fact that it remains one of the most major complaints fans have about the PS 3.............

Please Sony? PLEEEASE?

They never would. I wrote an incredibly long e-mail to Sony around this time last year that was basically a long complaint (my third PS 3 broke and I needed to vent) about all my issues with the console, including the removal of backwards compatibility. Here was part of the reply:

"Firstly, I'd like to address your points regarding Backwards Compatibility on PS 3. You make reference in your e-mail to the fact that you believe we do not give you "enough choice" with the consoles. As with Play Station 2 and the original Play Station before it, Play Station 3 has enjoyed a number of iterations since its launch in March 2007 as we constantly strive to provide our consumers with the best package possible, and at the lowest price that we are able. This proposition means that we can consistently provide the highest possible specification system as changes in our manufacturing processes allow us to reduce the size and energy usage of a console without compromising the functionality of the system.

Following feedback from both our consumers and our retail partners, the decision was made to remove backwards compatibility from the original 60GB console so that developer and testing resources could be utilised for new game development rather than backwards compatibility. This decision was very difficult for us to make, as we always strive to offer as much value as we can to our customers. The fact remains that a lower price point was deemed the most important thing for us to achieve, and the second most important thing was for us to move forward offering more compelling next generation experiences. To this end, we took the decision that removing backwards compatibility would help to enable us to reduce costs and therefore offer PS 3 at a more competitive price. We also decided that it would be in the longer term interest of both PS 3 users and for growth of the PS 3 format if we devoted our resources to developing the next generation content and services that users expect from a brand like Play Station, rather than focusing on reproducing last generation experiences. Also, with an established catalogue of titles available for PS 3, (new titles are being released all the time by many different developers), backwards compatibility is less relevant now. Whilst I appreciate that you do still use PS 2 format software, we have no plans to reintroduce backwards compatibility for PS 3."

Of course not. Why let you play your games when they could just sell you them again?

Because PS 1 and PS 2 were already out of production! Frickin point here!

...As were the games for those systems.

edited 29th Oct '12 2:14:26 AM by burnpsy

That still doesn't say shit about people who've already owned / bought physical PS 1 / PS 2 copies of games. People don't want to pay again. Especially not something that runs on electricity to exist