If you’re a console gamer and you still don’t own a PS3 by now, then it’s either because you already own an Xbox 360, or you’re simply waiting for Sony to come up with a price cut. If you thought that the PS3 was simply too rich for your blood, or you simply couldn’t justify forking over $299 for a PS3 before, then here’s something that’s going to interest you: after announcing the cheap, WiFi-less PSP-E1000 during their Gamescom keynote, Sony also announced that they’re dropping the PS3’s price down to $249.
See, this is probably why Apple didn’t bother to go after the jailbreak community (and by “jailbreak community,” we mean each and every person who hacked their own phones). Here’s an amusing update on the Sony vs PS3 hackers saga: After being banned by Sony from the PlayStation Network for using hacked PS3 consoles, the hackers cooked up a way to un-ban themselves.
So here’s the aftermath of the whole Sony vs Jailbreakers issue: Sony won the case against Geohot, who put out jailbreaking tools for hacking into the PS3. Then Sony released a statement that basically says that they’ll be terminating your access to the PlayStation Network and Qriocity services if you’re running unauthorized or pirated software. Clearly, it wasn’t just a threat: Sony has already started the process. According to a number of reports from users (of hacked consoles), they’ve received an email from Sony, telling them to remove the hacks or have their access to PSN and Qriocity terminated. Email from Sony after the break.
Remember when George Hotz (aka “Geohot”, aka “the hacker who made Sony mad”) was sued by Sony for posting code that’ll let you jailbreak your PS3? In case you didn’t follow the news, Sony won that battle, with the courts granting them a restraining order against PS3 hacks. You might already have the code, and maybe you don’t (and maybe you never even tried to hack your console) but if you do have the code (or a similar code we don’t know about that you just made up), it won’t be a good idea to spread it on the internet.
Here’s the backstory: hacker George “Geohot” Hotz, along with members of the fail0verflow team found an exploit that’ll let you bypass Sony’s security bypass feature on the PlayStation 3. Basically, the software kit that’ll let you do that will let enthusiasts create their own apps, load custom firmware and (unfortunately) run pirated ISO image files on the PS3 console without any problems. Yesterday, Sony Corporation filed lawsuits against Geohot and the team for making the jailbreak tools public (basically, Sony’s teed off about the fact that anyone who can follow a step-by-step can run pirated software on it now). Geohot recently appeared live on Attack of the Show, where he talks about the lawsuit and explains that they made the jailbreak for running unsigned homebrew apps and not for piracy purposes (or at least not specifically). Check out the video (after the break) for the whole story, including his take on why Sony sued him. (short answer: “for making Sony mad.”)
