The PlayStation 3’s security has been fatally breached, thus enabling those with a mind for such things to play illicit (i.e pirated) games on the console. Sony is currently considering a number of options to combat the pirates. We’ve already heard about the possibility of unique serial codes on game boxes – players will need to input a code in order to play the game in question. That might seem like a throwback to the very early days of home computer gaming, but it could work. Well, at least until the hackers find a way around such measures. In the meantime Sony has a simpler, altogether more draconian plan in place – a lifetime PlayStation Network ban for anyone caught using a hacked PS3. That would mean no downloadable games, no extra content for existing games and no online multiplayer fun. By all accounts emails are already being sent out to the transgressors. The wording is pretty unequivocal, not to mention a little ominous: Unauthorized circumvention devices for PlayStation(R)3 system have been recently released by hackers for the PlayStation 3 system. These devices permit the use of unauthorized or pirated software. Use of such devices or software violates the terms of your “System Software License Agreement for the PlayStation 3 System” and the “Terms of Services and User Agreement” for the PlayStation Network/Qriocity and its Community Code of Conduct provisions. In addition, copying or playing pirated software is a violation of International Copyright Laws. A circumvention device and/or unauthorized or pirated software currently resides on your PlayStation 3 system. Immediately cease use and remove all circumvention devices and delete all unauthorized or pirated software from your PlayStation 3 system. Failure to do so will result in termination of your access to PlayStation Network and access to Qriocity services through your PlayStation 3 system. Of course, Sony needs to be able to identify individual hackers for this warning to have any effect. That may be an easier process than it sounds too. In short, the PlayStation Network only allows connections from consoles running the latest firmware version 3.56. The hack is configured to work with the older version 3.55 firmware. As such, the pirates are already forced to do without the benefits of the PlayStation Network. Either that or they have to ‘spoof’ PSN into accepting a connection as if it was from a PS3 running the latest firmware. That’s not an easy trick to pull off and, we believe, would be relatively easy for Sony to detect. It remains to be seen whether Sony’s threat will be enough to keep piracy at bay in the longer term. The current thinking is that hackers have found a way past the PlayStation 3’s notoriously tight security, so a few strong words aren't going to deter them. Moreover, bypassing the latest firmware – or making the current hack seamlessly compatible with it – is seen as a challenge in some quarters. The precise scale of piracy, and the cost to Sony and its publishing partners, is unknown for the time being. We can’t imagine Sony ever wanting to share such information, either, lest it makes them look like a bunch of chumps who can’t secure their own console and the games it plays. Whatever the case, piracy can only account for a relatively small proportion of PlayStation 3 owners – around four million in the UK, nearly 48 million globally – the vast majority of whom are entirely happy to pay for the games they play. Quite right too...
