With the release of Medal of Honor in the United States comes the revelation that PS3 games will be locked to the 3.42 firmware update from now on.
For those who haven’t been keeping up, the PlayStation 3 was famously ‘cracked’ by a group of Australian tinkerers. Their crack solution allowed unsigned code to be executed on the PS3, and allowed ‘backups’ to be created from games installed on the PS3 HDD. This was enabled by using a software hack delivered by an unobtrusive USB dongle.
Sony was fairly quick to respond, releasing firmware version 3.42 for the PS3 – a mandatory update without which the PSN was inaccessible. Sony also let everyone know that they could easily detect anyone using any sort of PS3 jailbreak whilst they are connected to PSN, an offense which results in a perma-ban. The following firmware 3.50 implemented a list of approved USB storage devices and controllers, further blocking out any hacking dongles.
It now appears that new releases on PS3 will require a minimum firmware version of 3.42 in order to be played. This combination of factors means that Sony has effectively circumvented the jailbreak problem, at least for their upcoming releases.
Hardware exploits can still be used to trick the PS3’s security and force ‘backed up’ games to work, but this is tricky and potentially costly business for the average gamer.
Discuss PS3 Jailbreaking on the MyGaming forums.
Source: Eurogamer
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