• acid (unregistered) in reply to xtremezone
    xtremezone:
    To all of the people claiming a need to "backup" their discs because of damaged discs, all I can say is take better care of your discs. I still have original PlayStation games that work flawlessly.

    PMSL. Seriously PMFSL.

    Dude, you clearly don't have kids...

    I've got two boys, both of them make Batman look like an uninquisitive sloth. And neither of them are abnormal for that.

    In response to this unique challenge to my video library (especially after one of the discs was damaged when my youngest tried to feed the cat with it) I don't use DVDs AT ALL. I store all my movies on a server and use media gates to serve them through the house wherever I (or the boys) want to watch it. After all, DVDs are so 20th century now anyway...

    The only thing I CAN'T currently do that with is their PS2 disks. But, my local gaming shop offers me a full no questions asked replacement on all damaged disks for an extra $3. I sure as hell take them up on that offer.

    And before anyone asks, YES, I do own all my movies, I actually keep them in crates in my garage. I don't on-sell them etc. I'd back up the boys' games as well but I'm not into modding on the console.

    It's all well and good to get righteous and say you should care for your disks better, but I've provided the best possible care for my discs over the years and I still get damage because kids these days are too familiar with this technology and that familiarity has bred a unique disrespect for the media. As has been posted before, I have kids. Anyone with kids needs no further explanation. However for the rest of you (some of you have only just left the label of kid behind recently too I'd imagine) kids are simply much harder on EVERYTHING and with something as delicate as DVD technology it doesn't take much to screw it over completely.

    As someone who has crates of 7" and 12" vinyl stored in his garage beside the DVDs, believe me when I say that all my life I've battled with the issue of delicate media and less than delicate siblings / offspring.

    Regards, Acid.

  • (cs) in reply to Worf

    Worf: Most of your points are valid, PS3 OtherOS does have restrictions, but not quite as bad as most people make out... Indeed the main one is losing access to the RSX...

    Worf:
    Unfortunately, that unauthorized code runs in a VM.
    A hypervisor is not a VM, it's very similar in operation to a kernel. The code running under the hypervisor runs on the hardware nativly and operates at full speed, but has its memory space limited. Hypervisor calls are no more expensive than a normal kernel syscall. .net as used by XNA however is a VM... :P
    Worf:
    Yes, Linux runs on the PS3, but it's running on top of a hypervisor that's virtualized all the hardware away.
    Six of the SPUs (where alot of the power of the PS3 comes from) are available with no restriction, the entire PPU with both hardware threads is available, 2D GPU commands and GPU memory are available, and all of the IO hardware is available. I wouldn't say the hardware has been virtualized "away", and you have direct access to most of it once you request it from lv1.
    Worf:
    Instead, you update you local memory, then trap the VM which causes it to copy your framebuffer into the RSX, all at very high CPU overhead (You have two PPUs - and running X, keeps the load at >1 all the time).
    We actually have direct access to the video ram if we request it, and the lv1 hypervisor call uses DMA to transfer from the XDR memory to the GDDR3 memory, so there's not much CPU overhead. The GDDR3 memory was never designed to be accessed by anything but a GPU so it has major performance issues unless you use DMA. (Also there aren't two PPUs, there are two hardware threads on one PPU, one thread can block the other)
    Worf:
    Other than audio, playing anything on 1080p is very... very... slow. Any video will have dropped frames due to the sluggishness of the framebuffer system implemented (framebuffer isn't inherently slow, but copying a fully 1080p framebuffer 60 times a seconds exacts a huge performance penalty).
    Again, see above, people have 1080p visuals working without much issue. MPEG4 decoding is currently slow because the PPU isn't as general purpose as people assume (it's in order, deeply piped, the compiler generates lots of microcoded instructions..). IBM say the 3.2GHz PPU is about as fast as an 800MHz P3 when running unoptimized code (as most of linux is).

    References: http://forums.ps2dev.org/viewtopic.php?t=9429 http://wiki.ps2dev.org/ps3:hypervisor http://forums.ps2dev.org/viewtopic.php?t=8267

  • Steve (unregistered)

    Well, it's been fun and I think we conclusively proved that Wii modding is great and that VileJimmy sucks cock. Great work, team!

  • noyuo (unregistered) in reply to ObiWayneKenobi

    Your Konami code is also wrong, start is not part of the code, it just starts the game

  • Random832 (unregistered) in reply to Asiago Chow
    Asiago Chow:
    The encryption isn't for security in the "control access to this information for its useful life" sense. It is to show due dilligence. It is exactly like the cheap tumbler lock you have on your front door. It's so Nintendo (or you) can stand up in court and say, "yer honer, we were doing our part, we used locks...and these people broke them."

    What liability could Nintendo possibly have for a console owner's choice of what software to run on their console? I mean, I can run whatever software I want on my own computer, and I don't see Acer running to write firmware patches to stop me. How's this different?

    You say it's so they can say they're doing their part. But precisely what "part" do they have any business in doing?

  • (cs) in reply to Random832
    Random832:
    I don't see Acer running to write firmware patches to stop me. How's this different?
    You mean you diked out your Trusted Platform Chip?

    You criminal!!!!

  • bshock (unregistered)

    Why is this piece on The Daily WTF? There's nothing even remotely WTF about it... unless it's the author's poorly educated interpretation of what he calls "piracy."

  • FU (unregistered) in reply to JimmyVile
    JimmyVile:
    For the most part it seems that the homebrew scene caters to the geeks who want to see what they can do with the system. Sure, there are those that use these powers for evil, but the intentions of the majority of the community are pure.

    I don't know if I should laugh or cry. This is completely false. 99% of all users use the hacks to avoid paying for games as much as possible.

    It's very nice and creative when people hack consoles "to see what it can do", "express themselves" or do it "because [s]God[/s] Mario told them to". But it is always used as a means to get free games. Always. I really can't see how people can rationalize the impact they have on piracy with their tinkering.

    \Video Game journalist \Game Developer

    Cute. First of all, I just want to say fuck you. I buy the console, I own it, I can do whatever the fuck I want with it. Idiots like you will always come out of the woodwork to spout off a bunch of nonsensical crap that they can't understand but repeat because they heard some EA corporate douchebag moaning about it. Always.

    Here's another clue, dickface: just because someone comes up with an idea of how to create, manipulate, or enhance a device does not make them responsible for how others use said device. Morons like you have tried suing gun companies and holding them responsible because other morons like you use guns against people. Go take an economics class that is on par with your learning abilities (might want to try a local community college where all the strippers learn hygiene and etiquette) and learn that piracy != lost sales.

  • Asiago Chow (unregistered) in reply to Random832
    Random832:
    Asiago Chow:
    The encryption isn't for security in the "control access to this information for its useful life" sense. ... It's so Nintendo (or you) can stand up in court and say, "yer honer, we were doing our part, we used locks...and these people broke them."

    What liability could Nintendo possibly have for a console owner's choice of what software to run on their console? I mean, I can run whatever software I want on my own computer, and I don't see Acer running to write firmware patches to stop me. How's this different?

    You say it's so they can say they're doing their part. But precisely what "part" do they have any business in doing?

    Off the top of my head:

    1. The DMCA has anticircumvention provisions. If Nintendo wants commercial copying/unlicensed developing to be treated as anticircumvention violations they must show there was something to circumvent. That is their part in such civil and perhaps criminal cases.

    2. Game developers pay them (and traditionally a LOT of money... for the old NES games it was north of $100K per title IIRC, I bet it's similar now) to be able to put working titles in stores. That payment is for exclusivity -- you will only be competing with other companies who can pay the same charges. If you sell that to developers, and collect developer money... you'd better be able to show you are making a good faith effort to deliver.

    3. Some countries have content restrictions. National courts have a history of overstepping and restricting trade outside their borders based on violations of those laws. Nintendo can reduce their exposure if they can say, "We had restrictions, we enforced them with recognized technologies -- in short, we fulfilled our obligations and criminals circumvented our efforts. Go after the criminals, not us."

    At the end of the day they have a duty to themselves and to their owners to secure their assets. My point was only that securing assets is not a "single-handed against all comers" proposition. As a society we've decided that it is beneficial to reduce the individual security burden. We've said "If you make a good faith effort to be secure -- if you bought a lock and used it -- that should be good enough." And, in cases where the risk is low and exposure high (such as this one where in order to actually take something significant the breakers must be public about it) that is good enough.

  • JimmyVile (unregistered) in reply to FU
    FU:
    JimmyVile:
    For the most part it seems that the homebrew scene caters to the geeks who want to see what they can do with the system. Sure, there are those that use these powers for evil, but the intentions of the majority of the community are pure.

    I don't know if I should laugh or cry. This is completely false. 99% of all users use the hacks to avoid paying for games as much as possible.

    It's very nice and creative when people hack consoles "to see what it can do", "express themselves" or do it "because [s]God[/s] Mario told them to". But it is always used as a means to get free games. Always. I really can't see how people can rationalize the impact they have on piracy with their tinkering.

    \Video Game journalist \Game Developer

    Cute. First of all, I just want to say fuck you. I buy the console, I own it, I can do whatever the fuck I want with it. Idiots like you will always come out of the woodwork to spout off a bunch of nonsensical crap that they can't understand but repeat because they heard some EA corporate douchebag moaning about it. Always.

    Here's another clue, dickface: just because someone comes up with an idea of how to create, manipulate, or enhance a device does not make them responsible for how others use said device. Morons like you have tried suing gun companies and holding them responsible because other morons like you use guns against people. Go take an economics class that is on par with your learning abilities (might want to try a local community college where all the strippers learn hygiene and etiquette) and learn that piracy != lost sales.

    Dude. calm down.

    I'm not blaming everything on the people who make the mods. I'm just saying that the mods are mostly used for piracy.

    And yes, piracy leads to a loss in sales, especially with SP games with low replay value. In hardware it's a bit more complicated. More hardware sales, less software sales. Which is a bad thing for almost all consoles.

    I think my learning abilities are pretty much okay actually. Wait...my parents always said I was special...hmmm drools a bit

  • Rand (unregistered)

    Maybe all this hacking/updating is the reason that the the latest Wii update fucked up my Wii?

  • creskin (unregistered) in reply to JimmyVile
    JimmyVile:
    99% of all users use the hacks to avoid paying for games as much as possible.

    I would like to see where the source of your stats. 90% of all statisticians know that 99% of all statistics are made up on the spot by 100% of people that are not statisticians.

  • (cs)

    My Nintendo homebrew anecdote:

    I picked up a DS while I was living in Japan and fell in love with it. It was cheaper to buy the DS and a dictionary cartridge than it would have cost to replace my broken electronic dictionary, PLUS I could just draw kanji to look them up. Perfect.

    Well, it wasn't long before I wanted to play with the internals. I picked up a flashcart for the GBA slot so I could run homebrew, but this required a boot cartridge to access. Well, that was just no good at all, because by this time I was relying on the dictionary cartridge. So, I flashed the NDS BIOS to allow me to keep the legit dictionary cartridge in all the time, AND boot to the flashcart when desired.

    This required taking the battery cover off, to poke into the NDS.

    Well, eventually that DS broke (cheap shoulder buttons), and I dropped it off at a local electronics store to have it replaced (love the Japanese replacement system, BTW. Fill out a single form and that's it. I didn't even have to pay for shipping). BUT! When I got home, I realized that I hadn't restored the original BIOS back on to the DS. Hacking invalidates the warranty, and I had just handed my hacked DS back to Nintendo.

    Nervously, I waited for Ninty's response. It wasn't long before a man came to my door. A delivery man. He had a brand new DS for me. ^_^

    Fantastic! Thankfully, it appeared that nobody noticed the hacked firmware, and I was back in business. Of course, I was going to have to flash the BIOS again to get back to my previous system.

    That's when I discovered that they had glued the battery cover shut.

  • mattattaxx (unregistered) in reply to Capt. Obvious

    Nintendo doesn't lose any money on the wii.

  • (cs) in reply to Asiago Chow
    Asiago Chow:
    tona:
    Asiago Chow:
    Not seeing a WTF.
    The WTF is in their security code. There's a difference between setting up a cheap lock correctly and setting up a great lock improperly. Nintendo did the latter when they coded their RSA signature checking function.
    Still not with you on this one.

    Most of the value of locks, perhaps 99% in this case, is in being able to tell authorities (police, judges, etc), "We had a lock, we were using a lock, and they bypassed the lock." Why? Because it goes towards showing intent. Someone who wanders through an open or unlocked door can argue they didn't realize there was anything wrong with doing so. Someone who picks or forces the lock has a much harder time making that argument.

    That's true for your front door and the Wii's encryption.

    The difference, getting back to your point, is that the brand or type of lock is much easier to explain to a judge than the details of how it was installed. Using RSA or Schlage or any other name brand means you can say, "I had an industry standard lock from the manufacturer that supplies 82% of all locks used in this type of application. It was installed by professionals. I exercised due care and the harm existed only because the defendant took deliberate steps to circumvent my efforts." That's short, sweet, and the judges will get it. If OTOH you say, "I had my codemonkeys patch up something that seemed secure/I paid some guy behind the local wal-mart to make and install a lock for my door," the defendant might say, "I don't know what all that means but I didn't identify their 'security' as a lock and didn't realize I was bypassing 'security' when I went in."

    (...snip...)

    I think where your overall argument is truly flawed is that you're comparing to "hacking" a given platform, be it a Wii, a PSP, or an iPhone, etc, to breaking into someone else's house or building. This just wrong. First of all, you bought the console or device. So breaking into it is akin to breaking into a hidden locked room in a house you just purchased to which you lack a key for.

    In that scenario, one would consider if utterly ridiculous if it turned out there was some fine print saying that you could be sued for breaking into said room in your new house. It's my house and I'll go into any room I damn well please. Same goes for game consoles, hand held devices, etc, that you've also purchased (not leased, not rented.)

    Yes, many companies love to hide behind the DMCA, but that doesn't change the fact that 1) the device you're hacking is yours to hack, and 2) the DMCA doesn't apply to personal use, and 3) from what I've seen over the years, more often than not, DMCA take-down-notices are served in situation where no such violation was actually commited, but used rather as a tool as intimidation.

  • Andrew (unregistered)

    TRWTF is that not only has EarthBound not been re-released in any format, but we're also still waiting for any Western release of Mother and Mother 3.

    The other WTF is that you don't realize that the Pikmin games are awesome.

  • BushIdo (unregistered) in reply to JimmyVile
    JimmyVile:
    I don't know if I should laugh or cry. This is completely false. 99% of all users use the hacks to avoid paying for games as much as possible.

    I don't know where your data is from. I know three users who us the Homebrew Channel. None of them ownes a pirated game. Mainly they use WiiMC to play Vidoes from SD or to use Youtube. Opera is a joke in this respect (as in many others). One even bought a Wii only after hombrew was available, because he didn't want to have to buy and hook up another box just to play video an audio files. XBox and PS3 can do this (Yep, I know the Photo Channel can do this to some extend, but quality and compression is incredible lousy)

  • rwtagh (unregistered) in reply to cod3_complete

    The only way I can make that particular sentence make sense is to reorder the clauses: "looked via a dissembler at the core function that performed the RSA and SHA-1 verification"

    Else the dissembler is performing the verification, and I kinda doubt it's doing that.

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  • Devinsor (unregistered)

    https://www.himalaya.com/episode/how-professional-essay-writing-services-can-help-content-marketers-with-keyword-strategy-187236342

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