For several years since it’s launch, Sony’s Playstation 3 console managed to successfully keep pirates at bay – there were no working modchips or softmods available for the PS3 and illegitimate, pirated or duplicated copies were unplayable on these consoles. However, proving yet again that nothing is uncrackable, a working hack for the PS3 has finally surfaced (although it took a good 4 years since the launch of the console). PSJailBreak (aka PSGroove) is a simple USB Plug and Play solution that installs in seconds without any need to open up the PS3. Once installed, it is able to circumvent the PlayStation 3 ‘s copy protection mechanism to allow playing retail games installed on the console’s hard drive. That’s not all, the emergence of a working jailbreak has breathed life into the PS3 releases scene, which to be honest was as good as dead a couple of weeks ago.
Earlier on, you couldn’t see a lot of PS3 game releases on private torrent trackers – they were not usually found on the largest of general trackers or even on specialized games trackers. Now with the Jailbreak up and about, this seems to be changing. PS3 releases count on BitTorrent sites have suddenly started rising – lots of homebrew games ripped using the USB dongle have started appearing on file sharing networks. TorrentLeech, one of the largest and most popular General/0Day torrent trackers in existence, spent no time in bringing back their PS3 section back from the grave. TL’s PS3 section already indexes 30+ releases almost all of which added since 04/09/2010. Situation is the same on Blackcats Games (BCG), a dedicated games tracker. PS3 category on BCG now contains 60+ releases, more than half of which added after the hack surfaced.
Image: Part of the PS3 torrents sections on TL (left) and BCG (right)
In light of these new developments, it would be interesting to see how the warez scene will adapt to the changes. TL has even called for P2P uploaders to come forth with their homebrew games and populate their PS3 section – a move that’s sure to boost the P2P scene. The warez scene on the other hand has has not been that enthusiastic – there has hardly been any scene releases of PS3 games lately. The PS3 section on SCC, a scene only torrent tracker, does not look promising - at least not yet:
Anyways the surface of a jailbreak is no doubt good news for most console owners. IMHO it is also a good kick up the ass for game developers who switched to console games developments, abandoning the PC citing too high piracy rates. This just goes on to show that no platform is forever immune to piracy – if it’s makeable, it’s crackable.
In other news, Blackcats Games (BCG) seems to have opened signups once again after being closed for a couple of weeks. You can read all about it here.
