It seems as if every other day, a story comes out about how the hackers are going to make life miserable for the ordinary gamer on the PlayStation 3 all because Sony is a technology bully. Now, a lot of these stories are potentially exaggerated, sensationalized, or even flat out untrue. Nevertheless, some of the concepts that are coming out may not turn out to be so far fetched after all. The ethos of the hacker usually resides in the premise that everything should be open and free. Who of us has not downloaded pirated music before, so I can’t sit here and point fingers at Geohot for what he did to the PS3, but at what point do the actions of a few start to infringe on the rights of the many? When it does, expect public sentiment to dissipate completely. Here is why we think the hackers are not doing us any favors right now.
1. The possibility of exposing innocent users’ credit card info.
Now, this is the most debated of all the issues. The rumors surrounding this topic range from the credit card info of people is being sent unencrypted and can be intercepted. Maybe. Also, it is said to only affect those running Custom Firmware. None of this has been proven to be true, but that does not mean it is a closed topic. People don’t read the fine print of news stories. Remember the Mass Effect sex fiasco? A half-second of an alien side boob and the world was convinced we were playing video game porn. Just wait until a major news outlet publishes a one-sided story that the PS3 allows your credit card to be hacked and you could have your identity stolen. Video game sex is one thing, fucking with people’s finances, and you have a megaton problem on your hands.
2. Hacker claim saying they can unban themselves and ban any other consoles.
Is this really true? I have no idea. The hackers are claiming they can do it. So far, they have made a lot of claims of what they can do and have followed through. If it is, how is cracking the PS3 firmware a public good when you can ban other people on a whim? Where is the benefit here?
3. 99% of people that want to hack their PS3 just want pirated games and cheating methods.
There are a handful of people who hack things because they want this open source world and information should be free. They are the exception. Most people want the PS3 cracked so they can play stolen games and cheat. How do we know this is true? Almost every time someone is caught with a modded console, they have illegal shit on it and are either cheating or playing copied games. Again, some hackers do it for the sport. The rest don’t.
4. If this hits mainstream media, sales could take a major hit, potentially costing people their jobs.
If half the stuff that is going around is true, this will go public. What if Sony loses a ton of sales because the casual gamer and the huge market demographic says, “Why should I buy a PS3 when I am at a huge security risk?” The hardcore gamer scoffs at this because they believe that the opinion of the casual gamer does not matter. While I agree to some extent, their dollars matter. A lot. Near 10 million Kinects sold based on the sole idea of the technology that really does not work all that well yet. What if all this costs someone their job? Is it really worth fucking with people’s livelihoods all because you want video game freedom?
5. This does not help the gaming industry.
If 0.01% of gamers have the ability to create hacks and all this custom firmware and maybe on a extreme high estimate, 5-10% use it, how does this help everyone else? I could give a fat toad’s ass if you want to jailbreak your PS3, play stolen games, cheat with your friends, turn it into a panini maker. I really don’t care. When you bring it online, fuck with everyone else’s experience, then you have crossed the line. You claim Sony is a bully and they hold all the power. Now, you take that power and hold it yourself. What has changed? Now you hold all the cards. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Leave well enough alone and let me play my fucking video games in peace without having to worry about all this bullshit.
Tweak
mike
stuart
Dragonslayerrr71
TFS CooL AiD
Yeah, I really don’t see this working out well for gamers. The pissing match is going to keep going on and neither side is going to budge. The typical gamer (both casual and hardcore) is who’s losing out.
Perfect.
Finally someone with sense, It piss me off when i see cheaters complaining about sony being an ass hole.
But you know what, sony´s doing the right thing, they need to take care of their partners interests and honest players too.
Everybody losses with piracy. I mean, everybody except sony, because you need the console, in order to play, But all others softhouses loses. What’s the point to invest thousands of Dollars producing a game if it will be spread to the internet ¬¬
Piracy slowly kills the video game industry
And you say that only 4% of the players want to play piracy game….
I Think that more then 80% just want to play pirated games XD
These hackers think they can suspend anyone’s account without SONY authorizing it. SONY will find out and fast, in fact I agree that SONY has every right to sue Geohot, why because of the hackers they’re hurting business for the gaming industry. I mean come on everyone has to make a living. These hackers should be sent to prison for this, why because it’s making life for others unfair. Why should I have to deal with some Asshole trying to make things even more complicated than before.
I didn’t realize hacking seriously hurts people with their jobs,investment,game developers and finally, legit psn users.
If game developers goes bankrupt…then no more games in the long run. Period. All other hackers out there should be fined $100,000 as penalty or even jailtime.
@Geohot’s rap: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iUvuaChDEg
This is how criminals act in society. They only benefit themselves and the people who sympathize this person is supporting crime. Shame on you.
99% want to pirate games my ass!
many want to pirate games, but the majority like myself want our hacked ps3 to play MKV, emulators, XBMC and other homebrews.
Nice try, trying to make it seem as if all hackers are virus.
I have a modded PS3 and use it for homebrew and pirated games HOWEVER I dont even have it set up to go online and never will. I own the PS3 and will do what I like with it but i do not own the PSN online service and therefore would never abuse it. I appreciate the free service from Sony. As far as pirated games goes, they act as more of a “demo” for me. I grow tired of spending $80 on a game that has been falsely hyped and finding out after an hour that the actual game is not what it advertised. With that being said, this has actually led me to purchase more games for my unmodded PS3 as i found myself enjoying games I never thought I would. I will not use this as an excuse but the game devs are “ripping off” us as gamers by cutting parts of a game out prior to release and then charging us exuberant amounts of money to get the rest of a game we purchased. This is dirty business and it honestly removes any guilt I may have felt about “pirating”. Yet after all these facts, I have actually purchased 2 PS3′s and more games (and dlc) than I ever would have without it. If Sony knew what was good for them they would follow in Microsoft’s footsteps and encourage this like Microsoft has done with the Kinect and Windows 7 phones. It allows the hackers to pursue their hobby and creates new ideas for the company which they can turn around and purchase the idea and profit considerably from it. This is just my opinion so please don’t flame. I presented my thoughts intelligently so please return the favor.
And to all the misinformed and miseducated, piracy does NOT hurt game devs as most of the world’s population either lack the technical knowledge to do so, or just simply don’t do it for whatever personal beleif. Hacking and Piracy is done by a very small population of gamers who wouldn’t buy the games they’re pirating even if they couldn’t pirate. Piracy has been going on for decades and has only hurt the devs who try to pass off garbage for money. Ask the top musicians, ask the top developers, games that are actually good (mass effect,dragon age, Call of Black Ops with a Halo in a Killzone) have all set and continue to set record breaking sales numbers. Yeah, suufering. Do some research before you make an uneducated point.
1. The possibility of exposing innocent users’ credit card info.
I agree that this is a serious problem, but the way you present it is a way that says that it’s better that a hole be left alone where actual criminals can lurk and use man in the middle attacks. The publication of such holes forces sony to patch painfully bad holes in their security system, rather then just let it be. Such actions are in the public interest, unless we want to be of the opinion that whistle blowers are a bad thing.
2. Hacker claim saying they can unban themselves and ban any other consoles.
What’s your point though? If I take one of the kitchen knives and use it, it gives me the ability to cut both myself, and anyone or thing that I please, but it also allows me to make food that is quite tasty, simply because of process has the ability to harm someone isn’t in and of itself a reason to outlaw it, for the convenience of the many.
3. 99% of people that want to hack their PS3 just want pirated games and cheating methods.
Please, I would like to see where you got these numbers from. If you simply pulled them out of your nether regions then I would please ask that you stuff a ball-gag in your mouth until you’re able to pull up a scientific study that proves such a thing.
4. If this hits mainstream media, sales could take a major hit, potentially costing people their jobs.
This is a good thing, why should people who can’t properly make a system be rewarded? Would you continue to pay someone who is unable to do their job? Or return to a restaurant who make your meal wrong or even just poorly? Sony has done a poor job, and people deserve to loose their jobs for it.
5. This does not help the gaming industry.
This has the problem that you’re ignoring the idea of griefing, they’re already here, and a very real thing, unless you want to simply ban people that annoy you. This is a plain and simple freedom of speech issue. And no matter how much you may detest those who use their freedom, you really need to simply accept it since the law is very clear, and they are well within their rights.
In closing you’re simply wrong, in both a moral and legal way. To complain about these hackers is the same as Christian complaining about a Hindu not going to their church.
Do note that I’ve been assuming you’re in the States while writing this, if you’re not I can rewrite this with your country’s laws in mind instead.
hi
Well I am also a college student, I don’t believe in Piracy but i feel that SONY should teach this F*cker a lesson, no disrespect Geohot but the whole hacking things has left other legit PS3 owners like me wondering that since PSN is comprimised due to these bastards hacking consoles then they can unban themselves, and ban other legit gamers like me for doing nothing.
Come on Geohot get it in your head that there’s a reason why SONY will win, not only are they trying to protect their investments, but their employees have to make a living as well. they have rent, food, and expenses that the rest of us have to deal with, they too deserve to get paid. If you don’t like it then grow the Fuck up Asswipe. I feel for game dev’s who work hard on games like Gran Turismo 5 for 5 yrs. only to have asswipe hackers distribute illegal copies of torrents accross the internet for free. They put their God Damn blood sweat and tears into these big time AAA PS3 exclusive titles and people like you, don’t give them the respect they deserve, That’s why i buy games because I’m a game collector and I believe that all Game dev’s deserve to get paid. Like I said before everyone has to make a living in order to survive. You hackers make it harder for the rest of us. GEOHOT I’m against you, for these dev’s deserve their pay after all their hard work.