I have read quite a few histories on game consoles, they all have been greatly written by great authors, but they all seemed incomplete, they didn’t portray the full history, the full essence of the machine, so as i am involved in the PS3 scene and know quite a bit about it, i thought i would write a complete history, containing the good, the bad and the ugly and believe me the PS3 has quite an exciting history and future, i wanted to write a history that will be enjoyed by everyone, one where people like myself wouldn’t finish the story, thinking there is something missing, i would also like to mention, that this work is my creation, i have written it in my own words, most of it from memory, sourced from various places over the internet, but mostly from ps3hax.net, so without any more interruption, here is the history of the PS3:

2005

16th of May 2005
The world was awoken, to the news of a brand new console, this wouldn’t be a console, but a super computer, it would have everything that you needed for your gaming/media/computing needs, for ten years at least, the original console which was showcased, was silver in colour and had what appeared to be a brand new control pad design, it resembled a boomerang, it had three 10/100/1000 Ethernet ports, two HDMI ports and six USB ports, though unfortunately that wouldn’t be the final design, here are the specs revealed at Sony’s E3 presentation 2005:

Product Name: PlayStation 3

Logo: PLAYSTATION(R)3

CPU: Cell Processor

PowerPC-base Core @3.2GHz
1 VMX vector unit per core
512KB L2 cache
7 x SPE @3.2GHz
7 x 128b 128 SIMD GPRs
7 x 256KB SRAM for SPE
* 1 of 8 SPEs reserved for redundancy
Total floating point performance: 218 GFLOPS

GPU: RSX @550MHz

1.8 TFLOPS floating point performance
Full HD (up to 1080p) x 2 channels
Multi-way programmable parallel floating point shader pipelines

Sound:

Dolby 5.1ch, DTS, LPCM, etc. (Cell-based processing)

Memory:

256MB XDR Main RAM @3.2GHz
256MB GDDR3 VRAM @700MHz

System Bandwidth:

Main RAM — 25.6GB/s
VRAM — 22.4GB/s
RSX — 20GB/s (write) + 15GB/s (read)
SB — 2.5GB/s (write) + 2.5GB/s (read)

System Floating Point Performance:

2 TFLOPS

Storage:

Detachable 2.5″ HDD slot x 1

I/O

USB Front x 4, Rear x 2 (USB2.0)
Memory Stick standard/Duo, PRO x 1
SD standard/mini x 1
CompactFlash (Type I, II) x 1

Communication:

Ethernet (10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX, 1000BASE-T) x 3 (input x 1 + output x 2)
Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11 b/g
Bluetooth 2.0 (EDR)

Controller:

Bluetooth (up to 7)
USB 2.0 (wired)
Wi-Fi (PSP)
Network (over IP)

AV Output

Screen size: 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p
HDMI: HDMI out x 2
Analog: AV MULTI OUT x 1
Digital audio: DIGITAL OUT (OPTICAL) x 1

Disc Media:

CD PlayStation CD-ROM, PlayStation 2 CD-ROM, CD-DA, CD-DA (ROM), CD-R, CD-RW, SACD, SACD Hybrid (CD layer), SACD HD, DualDisc, DualDisc (audio side), DualDisc (DVD side)
DVD: PlayStation 2 DVD-ROM, PlayStation 3 DVD-ROM, DVD-Video, DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW
Blu-ray Disc: PlayStation 3 BD-ROM, BD-Video, BD-ROM, BD-R, BD-RE

Below, is 2005′s E3 PS3 Presentation, it is split into 14 minute segments for easier viewing:

8th Of June 2005
Gotou Shigehiro of Japan’s PC Watch, interviews Sony Computer Entertainment CEO Ken Kutaragi regarding the PS3, i screen capped the below images from the Beyond3D forums, clicking on the images, will enlarge them, making them more readable:

Original Interview.
Beyond3D Forum – Translated Version Of Interview.

2006

<span style=”color: #ff0000;”>8th of May 2006</span>
Sony showcased their powerhouse, this time it was different, it was black, had one Ethernet port, one HDMI port and only four USB ports, it would come in two flavours, 60GB, which would be the premium console and sported a shiny coating, with a wireless Sixaxis control pad and WiFi and a 20GB which was black but had a dull coating and was minus the WiFi, one think was noticeably different, the control pad was minus the rumble function, this was due to legal problems, these would be the final specs:

<strong><strong>CPU: Cell Processor</strong></strong>
PowerPC-base Core @3.2GHz
1 VMX vector unit per core
512KB L2 cache
7 x SPE @3.2GHz
7 x 128b 128 SIMD GPRs
7 x 256KB SRAM for SPE
* 1 of 8 SPEs reserved for redundancy
Total floating point performance: 218 GFLOPS
<strong>
GPU: RSX @550MHz</strong>
1.8 TFLOPS floating point performance
Full HD (up to 1080p) x 2 channels
Multi-way programmable parallel floating point shader pipelines

<strong>Sound:</strong>
Dolby 5.1ch, DTS, LPCM, etc. (Cell-based processing)
<strong>
Memory:</strong>
256MB XDR Main RAM @3.2GHz
256MB GDDR3 VRAM @700MHz

<strong>System Bandwidth:</strong>
Main RAM — 25.6GB/s
VRAM — 22.4GB/s
RSX — 20GB/s (write) + 15GB/s (read)
SB — 2.5GB/s (write) + 2.5GB/s (read)

<strong>System Floating Point Performance:</strong>
2 TFLOPS

<strong>Storage:</strong>
Detachable 2.5″ HDD slot x 1

<strong>I/O</strong>
USB Front x 4
Memory Stick standard/Duo, PRO x 1
SD standard/mini x 1
CompactFlash (Type I, II) x 1
<strong>
Communication:</strong>
Ethernet (10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX, 1000BASE-T)
Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11 b/g
Bluetooth 2.0 (EDR)
<strong>
Controller:</strong>
Bluetooth (up to 7)
USB 2.0 (wired)
Wi-Fi (PSP)
Network (over IP)
<strong>
AV Output</strong>
Screen size: 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p
HDMI: HDMI out
Analog: AV MULTI OUT x 1
Digital audio: DIGITAL OUT (OPTICAL) x 1
<strong>
Disc Media:</strong>
CD:
PlayStation CD-ROM,
PlayStation 2 CD-ROM,
CD-DA,
CD-DA (ROM),
CD-R, CD-RW,
SACD,
SACD Hybrid (CD layer),
SACD HD,
DualDisc,
DualDisc (audio side),
DualDisc (DVD side)

DVD:
PlayStation 2 DVD-ROM,
PlayStation 3 DVD-ROM,
DVD-Video,
DVD-ROM,
DVD-R,
DVD-RW,
DVD+R,
DVD+RW

Blu-ray Disc:
PlayStation 3 BD-ROM,
BD-Video,
BD-ROM,
BD-R,
BD-RE

<a rel=”attachment wp-att-54″ href=”http://ps3history.com/?attachment_id=54″><img title=”DSC_2093″ src=”http://ps3history.playstationirc.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/DSC_2093-300×199.jpg” alt=”" width=”300″ height=”199″ /></a>

<a rel=”attachment wp-att-55″ href=”http://ps3history.com/?attachment_id=55″><img title=”DSC_2097″ src=”http://ps3history.playstationirc.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/DSC_2097-300×199.jpg” alt=”" width=”300″ height=”199″ /></a>

<a rel=”attachment wp-att-56″ href=”http://ps3history.com/?attachment_id=56″><img title=”DSC_2100″ src=”http://ps3history.playstationirc.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/DSC_2100-300×199.jpg” alt=”" width=”300″ height=”199″ /></a>

<a rel=”attachment wp-att-57″ href=”http://ps3history.com/?attachment_id=57″><img title=”DSC_2102″ src=”http://ps3history.playstationirc.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/DSC_2102-300×199.jpg” alt=”" width=”300″ height=”199″ /></a>

<a rel=”attachment wp-att-58″ href=”http://ps3history.com/?attachment_id=58″><img title=”DSC_2106″ src=”http://ps3history.playstationirc.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/DSC_2106-300×199.jpg” alt=”" width=”300″ height=”199″ /></a>

<a rel=”attachment wp-att-59″ href=”http://ps3history.com/?attachment_id=59″><img title=”DSC_2169″ src=”http://ps3history.playstationirc.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/DSC_2169-300×199.jpg” alt=”" width=”300″ height=”199″ /></a>
Above E3 images sourced from <a href=”http://www.joystiq.com/2006/05/08/engadget-and-joystiqs-live-coverage-of-sonys-playstation-3-e3-ev/”>Joystiq</a>

A comparison between the early promise and the final release:
<a href=”http://ps3history.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/56750-6.jpg”><img src=”http://ps3history.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/56750-6-300×193.jpg” alt=”" title=”56750-6″ width=”300″ height=”193″ /></a>

<span style=”color: #ff0000;”>11th of November 2006</span>
PS3 released in Japan.

<span style=”color: #ff0000;”>17th of November 2006</span>
This is the EU/US release date, but EU stocks get delayed.

<span style=”color: #ff0000;”>26th November 2006</span>
DCEMU reports that a someone called deadsoulasis promised a ISO loader for the PS3, here is what he said:
<blockquote>No your eyes dont trick you ….its very close……
As we unpack the PS3 games we notice its very close to the PSP.
Testing my ‘Load game off hard drive’ for the past week.Ive noticed the file differences and winhex’ed the files.No surprise that the eboot’s are similar in hex.

As for now my Beta PS3 Loader will be soon online no sooner then December 10th….for tester’s on there own machine’s.

And as of this morning ..Ive successfully loaded Ridge Racer 7 and Resistance both running off a Hard Drive ..(albit external) No BR disc in drive.

Id like to thank PSP’s Booster and Dark_Alex for devhook/custom firmware’s….without it I wouldn’t have be able to find a way …

Dont ask me for files,code,or how to do it.
There is 3 beta testers as of now and December 10th it will be online for download …and before you ask.Its free.It will require your bio’s to be Re-flashed and BR-drive though.

Thank you.
PS3 loader coming December 20th.2006.
PlayBeyond.
Prepare yourself
Prepare your Hard drives
Its coming………
©deadsoulasis®</blockquote>
<a href=”http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/threads/44063-Devhook-for-PS3-Soon-Rumour”><strong>Full  thread here.</strong>
</a>

<span style=”color: #ff0000;”>30th November 2006</span>
and on the Maxconsole forum,  deadsoulasis, promised a method of running backups, here is what he said in his thread:
<blockquote>First of all id like to say ive been busy with life/work/modding.

Secondly there is alot of disbelieve towards me and 2 more I cant mention on this.But besides that…lets get to why…

I have successfully loaded the game dumps on HDD.Now I will say this was not done cheaply at all…

First off this works off of embedded DR-I thats on the chips.(plus emulated firmware but its alot to explain out.)Congrats goes to Booster for the new devhook.He does amazing work for the PSP scene.

You will need a PS3 and my chip.Plus 4 sets of adators.

Now this comes at a cost …of course…
So you will need a PS3 (no kidding)
You will need a external hard drive.
750 gig is the way to go for now.
Yellow Dog Linux.Offical release

More details to come.This will be released very soon
I do not support piracy though…But Im sure there is 1000′s here that dont buy software.Its those ones that hurt the industry more then I did.

To get my chip you have to take apart the PS3.
You will need to solder 34 wires to the mainboard and chipset(s) RSX-SPE-s and the bois.

My chip only is for sale pre-installed.Before you start to ***** about it.I could see alot of hate cause of bricks cause you believe you can do it yourself’s.

I will sell it as a bundle
My DeadCell chip,wiring,complete instructions
Hard drive,everything hooked up in one box.

Now onto the Price.
Its only $599.99 Canadian funds.(without the PS3)
With the PS3 it’s only $1599.99.

Now to be clear ..this plays games off the Hard Drive.
Its easy to dump them.I will include everything ‘How to’s’

Now I ask you…is this worth it?Possible.

Or just ask yourself this question.
Haven’t I and yourself done enough Piracy and got games for free all this time.You know it to be true.
Sooner or later the time comes when you have to support dev’s in making games.Or else in the future …they will pack it in and call it quits..I would hate to see that happen though but the way its going …It seems to be with everything being a copy of a copy…like it or not.The time has come for change.Nothing in life is free.

Something to REALLY think about before the hoidays..
Ill give more details on the acual Release day of my package very soon..</blockquote>
Post #53 of the thread said this:
<blockquote>due to lack of funds and my supplier not coming through ..
My chip/PS3/ has been put ‘on hold’..NOT cancelled.

But as for the bashing …I was expecting much more…
I am working on a devhook style ‘emu firmware’ for PS3 as well…
Since everyone has had negative feedback towards me…

Your right ..I probably wont release anything out

Time to just face the fact you have to pay for your game/systems the legal way.On a side note.I have successfully run every game from the HDD so far and I payed for my games.You should as well.

Now zip your lips about it when you dont know me or my team.
More to come later.</blockquote>
Post #68:
<blockquote>I can see everyone still is being negative towards me..
Thats fine and dandy …Im used to it on a forum…reality is your expecting something for nothing …not gunna happen ..

And I was gunna release my full plan online and I said modchip but its acually a chipset based off of X-Ice X2 PS2 chip just revised ..

Seeing how I got such negative replays and hate messages …

Your right…I will release nothing on the net…
Do it yourself

And do yourselfs another favour…just buy legal games and quit being so whiny…while Ill enjoy my backup’s …have fun with your Blu-Ray drives when they fail …(I have had my samsung Stand only fail on me (took that apart though)and 1 ps3 already (again taken apart to find out various things so probably my own fault)…But I have 2 more coming in mid december so I can tinker around some more with them)

If you showed something positive towards this …Its a shame cause I was ready to release all the details and everything here …not now though ..

Have fun …</blockquote>
By now it should be apparent that he is a fake, possibly the first fake of the PS3 scene, here is post #72:
<blockquote>yah and it you ever read …
Its a chip (set) wiring and a 750 gig drive for $599.99
The drive alone is $389.45 my cost,adaptors total $56.45

Do the math..just under $450,my custom chip $150.00(approx)
and to make it clear its a chip you can buy right now for PS2 …figure it out
But modified to work on PS3 easily ..acually I did it in like 5 hours of linux programming from my laptop….

And it was pre-installed anyways …point people didnt get was its a opened PS3 …but its still brand new but now that I have alot of hate towards me …forget it …My plans have dropped for being nice</blockquote>
He continues to argue and talk rubbish on the thread, <a href=”http://forums.maxconsole.net/showthread.php?37314-Hot-PS3-DeadCell-Chip.”><strong>which you can read here</strong>.</a>

26th Of November 2006
The very first Ps3 game rip, was uploaded to the internet, this was done by a well known warez scene group called Paradox, here is a quote from their readme:

<blockquote>| P * A * R * A * D * O * X |
: :
|_________________________________________________ _________________________|
| ___ _ _ ___ |
| __ . R E L E A S E I N F O R M A T I O N . / ///__/ |
| |
| > Madden 2007 (c) EA Sports < |
| |
| cOMPANY : EA Sports | rELEASE DATE : 25 Nov 2006 |
| sYSTEM : PlayStation 3 ! | sIZE : 67 x 100mb |
| tYPE : Wierd Shape Ball | vIDEO MODE : NTSC/USA |
| Game |
| sUPPLIER : F0ny | cRACKER : G0d |
|_________________________________________________ _________________________|
| ___ _ _ ___ |
| __ . R E L E A S E N O T E S . / ///__/ |
| |
| Well everyone here it is – the world’s first accessable PS3 rip ! |
| (We heard someone released something but we couldnt find anything |
| concrete so thought we’ll release it anyways!) |
| |
| We may be quiet on the release front (Why do all the suppliers |
| go to ‘lesser’ groups ?) but we here at PARADOX dont sit around |
| doing nothing – OK maybe most of us do, but some of us actually |
| earn our money and have managed to rip this little baby for your |
| pleasure. Granted it may end up being a bad rip or even totally |
| unusable like the initial PS1/2/PSP/XBOX/XBOX360 releases but |
| without them I doubt we would be able to play them now. |
| |
| No doubt there will be many other groups releasing all the release |
| titles but coz were skint and cant afford to buy em all were only |
| gonna do the ones we managed to get from Blockbusters And as |
| many as our 56k modems can upload this year |
| |
| – - – - – - – - – - – - ALWAYS REMEMBER – - – - – - – - – - – - – |
| LEGENDS MAY SLEEP, BUT THEY NEVER DIE!! |
| – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – |
| HERE TO INNOVATE NOT IMITATE |</blockquote>

28th Of November 2006
Firmware 1.11 released, this added account management.

6th of December 2006
Firmware 1.30 released, this adds better compatibility for PS2 related USB devices.

13th of December 2006
Firmware 1.31 released, added better compatibility for PS1/PS2 games, also added the ability to save some PS2 games to the HDD.

21st of December 2006
Firmware 1.32 released, which updated the online gaming functionality.

2007
24th of January 2007
Firmware 1.50 is released, it fixes some graphical glitches, present in PS1/PS2 games

2nd of February 2007
Firmware 1.51 released, expands support for PS2 games.

4th February 2007

A group known a ferrox, release a video showing proof that they had an ISO loader for then PS3, they were in direct competition with Paradox, who had yet to release theirs, here are a couple of videos:

the guys behind the exploit, ended up informing Sony and it was patched.

27th February 2007
Someone called PSPHaCkErAOD says he will release a PS3 ISO loader, he calls it ps3load3 v0.5 beta.

28th of February 2007
Firmware 1.54 released, added USB web cam support and added individual icons from the photo menu.

1st of March 2007
Seen the very first method of running PS2 backups on the PS3, this was quite a dirty method and involved the console being half taken apart, overkill for a brand new console, more about that can be read here:
Post #3

4th of March 2007
PS3HaX is created.

Between the time the PS3 was released in Japan and EU, two groups had a working ISO loader for the PS3, or rather they claimed to.
Paradox the famous warez/demo group had been hard on working on the very first PS3 hack, if you consider an ISO loader a hack or not is your opinion, but Paradox had the PS3 doing what it shouldn’t be doing, their ISO loader had been confirmed by the well known Team Xecuter, they guys responsible for mod chips on the Xbox 1 and many more.
Team Xecuter uncovered what they called “Hyperdrive”, this would be released with the ISO Loader and enable you to connect and 3.5″ Sata/IDE HDD to the PS3, in order for you to store the ISO’s, the ISO loader disappeared and was never heard of again, there was quite a lot of speculation about this, Paradox were supported by a site called ps3news.com, the owner of this site had been reknown for its epic fail during the PSP years, for stealing, when he stole PSP CFW, edited and caused many PSP to be bricked(more on them later).

22nd of March 2007
Firmware 1.60 released, this is quite a big update and adds many updates, such as support for, Install Other OS, support for bluetooth keyboards and mice, support for recordable Blu Ray disc’s, it
added the folding@home client(f@h), background downloading and an on screen qwerty keyboard.

23rd March 2007
The PS3 is released in Europe, it is backwards compatible, but is missing the Emotion Engine

23rd March 2007
Well known and respected PSP/PS3 scene dev Mathieulh give his opinion on the Paradox ISO Loader, here is a quote from his post on Max Console:

Answer from Mathieulh to paradox

I have yet to see their exploit in action, so far all they came up with were nice sentences in nfo but no proofs. If the exploit got patched in 1.54, then why don’t they release anything ? It smells more and more like bullshit to me.

The way I see it is that if pdx do not release anything within a week, then I will (and probably so will the rest of the ps3 scene) think that this is just a scam in order to promote their group. Everyone knew for more than a week now that EU ps3 came with 1.50, so it could have been long since pdx could have released it, yet I thought “maybe they plan a release for the EU release date” but yet we still see nothing and all we have are useless clues. Either they have something, either they don’t, and if they don’t plan on releasing anything, then they should just not talk about it.

P.S. for your intel, both Alex and I now own a ps3, as well as a lot of more hackers, we are all waiting pdx to do the first move and we wont do anything until they show us some proofs.
PDX mention Dark_Alex on their nfo, but yet they did not contact him, thus we do not know if pdx’s exploit is real or not, we have waited weeks for it and saw nothing, we have plenty of projects ourselves, and unless a group finds an initial exploit on ps3 it is unlikely that we start working on it.
If pdx wants to contact us and show us proof of their exploit working, we would be very glad to see it in action, otherwise I think they should even forget about mentioning Alex in their nfo. We do not have yet anything to do with pdx and we do not want to be associated with a group’s action which does not even think of contacting us.

You can view it here, along with the responses to the post.
If the post gets lost, you can view it as an image here:
http://ps3historyimages.ps3history.com/albums/userpics/10001/Answer_from_Mathieulh_to_paradox_-_Snippet_from_maxconsole_co2C.PNG

11th of April 2007
Sony announced the discontinuation of the 20GB SKU, followed by an announcement on the on the 9th of July 2007 that an 80GB SKU would be released, this was identical to the EU 60GB SKU but was only available in US, it was released on the 6th of August 2007, which saw the 60GB SKU drop in price.

22nd of April 2007
Seen the release of a refined version of the PS2 backup method, this way was more practical, you can read about it here

Between July 2007 and October 2007
Seen the end of production of the 60GB PS3, once stocks died, this would leave the 80GB SKU as the main SKU in US, with EU PS3 fans being told that the 80GB SKU wouldn’t be released in the EU, where would that leave them.

September 2007
hermes release a method of playing Emulators, without the need of Linux on the PS3, this was accomplished by using PSXLoader and SwapMagic, here is a video of it in action:

5th of October 2007
SCEE announced a 40GB SKU for Pal territories, it was released on October the 10th 2007, with a Ceramic White version released only in Japan later that year, this console had no software emulation for PS2 games, thus was the emergence of a non backwards compatible PS3, this would eventually replace the 60GB SKU, when stocks ran dry, meaning, EU/Pal territories, would no longer have a BC PS3.

Between October 23rd and 26th
The successor to the PS2′s Eye Toy was released, it would be called Playstation Eye(PS Eye), here are some specs:

Video and Audio
640×480 pixels @ 60 Hz
320×240 pixels @ 120 Hz
16-bit audio @ 48 kHz

Field of View
56 degrees FOV
76 degrees FOV
Depth Senser

Features
Full body detection (as shown by King fu Live)
Low light sensor
Compatible with a real life controller (MOVE)

Applications
Facial Recognition and CV Head Tracking (Vision Library)
Voice Control in 20 languages via PSVR (PlayStation Voice Recognition)
Video/Audio recording and editing software, with a variety of functions

Meanwhile in the homebrew/circumventing scene around October 2007 people from a well known site called ps2dev.org had discovered a way to get full access to the RSX, which would have meant full 3D via Linux, whilst this was an awesome endeavour by the people involved, it was short lived, on December 18th 2007, Sony released firmware update 2.10, which killed this exploit.
On the PS3 front 2007, ended rather dull, with nothing happening apart from a few bundles being released.

2008
So now it is 2008, 13 months after the PS3 was released and the public still don’t have a way to run backups, or play homebrew natively on the XMB, the year started of just in the same fashion as the last one that ended, January the 10th 2008, seen the discontinuation of both 20 and 60GB SKU’s in Japan, this meant that after stocks ran out, the only backwards compatible console that was available to buy was the US 80GB.

2008 brought us a group called Team ICE(International Couch Entertainment), which was run by StreetskaterFU(SKFU), iQD, UltraBull, Alec and a few other, they released some interesting tools and videos during January and February 2008, tiff exploits, customized XMB, customized games and customised Home Beta, here are some videos of their stuff in action:

Here are their exploits:
Overflow TiFF (FMW 2.10>)
ELF – 2 – SELF Tool
Ice Package 1.2

They are pretty much useless now, but back then they were fun to play with, download and check them out, if you missed them first time round
It was around this time, that the “Site Wars” happened, PS3HaX Vs. PS3News, PS3News was put out that their great hope “Paradox ISO Loader” vanished, that they decide to attack the upcoming site PS3HaX, they did this verbally, by stating all Team Ices’s work was fake, but they also did this by hacking the PS3HaX server and stealing info, such as member/admin/moderator info and banning many people from their site, there was a well written article about this, by Brakken i would call him a PS3 Scene spokesman, his blog unfortunately no longer exists, but a site called DCEMU, quoted the statement by Brakken, i shall post it here for future reference:

UPDATE: It seems the DDOS is over and the rumors of the site being totally compromised are true as it now redirects to Google. I don’t really condone hacking, but God knows Daniel Serafin had it coming. I wonder how “bad” the hack is.

Well, it seems PS3News is up to no good once again. I’m sure you can all remember them as they leaked Dark_Alex’s Custom Firmware source code fter hacking into the very insecure database over on Max-console, retrieved user passwords and gained access to the source. The backlash from the PSP community was enough for Daniel Serafin, the owner of PS3News (aka PS2NFO aka PS2OWNZ) to change his entire site layout and promised he would change his ways.

Well, it didn’t take long for him to get back into his dubious activities. Of course, we all know his past activities have included editing the credits of releases and replacing them with his sites URL, stealing applications, exclusive pictures, not linking to sources, etc … As Team Xecuter called them “scene trash” one would think people would avoid his site at all costs, but even after the “change” he still gets visitors – sorta.

After the PSP fiasco he lost his PSP user-base (sadly to Max-console, who is now losing them too) and only had his PS3 users left. Well, a lot of them didn’t like the PSP situation and moved to a site named ps3hax.net. Since then he’s been outraged and of course blames it on everyone but himself.

Now, lets step back a year or so. I’m sure a lot of you remember PS3News reporting that Paradox had made a PS3 ISO Loader which to my knowledge never existed and was used to luer visitors to his site and help sell Team Xecuter’s products. Sadly, Paradox which is one of the oldest “hacking” groups around support Mr. Serafin. I’m not sure why, but they do. Anyway, the ISO Loader was never released and probably never existed in the first place.

Well, a few days ago a REAL PS3 exploit was unveiled by a team named Team ICE (not to be confused with the ICE Team who was known for releasing fake XBOX material in the past.) ps3hax had an exclusive video on their site and this must of frustrated Mr. Serafin greatly as he hacked into ps3hax’s database, stole some information and then started a fake campaign to discredit Team ICE.

The first action taken after the hack was a mass banning of IP addresses contained in ps3hax’s database. Basically, Daniel wanted banned the administrators, moderators, coders and some members of ps3hax using information contained in the illegally obtained ps3hax database.

Contained in this database was an earlier exploit named RFOM (Resistance Fall of Man Exploit) which helped hack into the PS3 GameOS system. PS3News then modified this exploit so it didn’t work and then released it in a slanderous news article. This was their first attempt at tarnishing Team ICE’s name.

“This caused basically a huge flame war to erupt on our forums and if you can go through the topics on our forum you can feel the hate of many members towards PS3News, these guys basically try to shoot down a few talented hackers for their discovery” – ps3hax admin

Next, PS3News released the exploit supposedly used in the video (which was fake of course). This caused further outrage in ps3hax’s forum. Daniel must be really out on a limb to release two fake programs. Then came the third program. It was another application created called the “PS3 SDK v2.10.rar” which was a simple BAT file that resets your computer.

Luckily, it wasn’t near as damaging as when Daniel Serafin released a modified version of Dark_Alex’s Custom Firmware CFW M33 which bricked many Sony PSP’s. Anyway, Daniel had his flunkies spam ps3hax’s forum with the that “fake” PS3 SDK file resulting in further frustration from the PS3 Development Community.

At any rate, PS3News is now under a massive DDOS attack. I don’t condone such activities, but they surely deserve some downtime due to their ****ing ignorance. You’d think after the PS2, GC and PSP scene shit they pulled they would stop, but I guess Daniel Serafin is just a piece of shit.

If you would like to contact him over the matter he can be reached via the information below. Please note if you do call please obey the laws, be polite, don’t threaten him, etc… This information is in the public domain. So is mine if you look for it.

Daniel Serafin
117 Yorktown Dr
Webster, NY 14580
United States of America
(585) 671-6422

“I just want proper credit where it is due, I love the PS3 hacking scene thus why I run the site. I’m not in it for the fame, power or money…I’m in it because I love homebrew. Plus I wanted a place where people can come in and get information easily without any hassle” – ps3hax admin

Well, welcome to the “scene”.

You can also view it at the here at DCEMU

Ok back to the story at hand, not long after the final tools were release, Team ICE the “hacker” side of it, split up and from what i remember not pleasantly either, with a member of the team trying to hack this site, so the team was split up and their exploits didn’t give us any homebrew or backups, so we were back to square one.

With everyone disappointed with the demise of Team ICE, new hack news is what we needed, and we didn’t have long to wait.

10th of March 2008
A group called Team Slump/Group Slump promised backups, with an exploit/hack they dubbed “i.load”, here is what they promised:

- i.load does not work on PAL PS3 (40GB) and NTSC (20GB) yet, but we work hard to get it
- 20GB NTSC, 60GB NTSC/PAL, 80GB NTSC running well (haven’t fix all the bugs from the list below)
- source code will be avaiable 1 month after release for other developer
- first trial versions arrived trusted people (rs.com – filesize of the beta: 917 MB all in one)
- no worldwide release before every version works (including 20GB/40GB NTSC/PAL)
- release date is still set on March 23.th 2008 (if all versions work!)
- PlayStation 2 images working fluently; Saving possible!
- no success with images over 17.5GB
- Online play possible (no ban yet!)
- new trailer on the way
- you need Firmware 2.10 (not higher or below)

Of course the whole thing turned out to be a pile of rubbish and we were left hoping, waiting again for a sign of homebrew.

Yet again we didn’t have long to wait, after we found that i.load was fake, Spiker who used to be a moderator on this forum(PS3HaX), claimed to have accessed the PS3′s system files, here is an explanation from him on how he done it:

I load the file up in Other OS, and it runs a check system run, and it shows I can get to the files, and they are free for the taking, I just need to write something to have them dump on my memory stick or some other place.

However due to flaming and shouts of fake, Spiker refused to release the exploit and left, after a month or so, he returned, claiming to have given all his files to ps2dev.org, so yet again, nothing for us.

April the 10th 2008
Saw the first real PS3 hard modification, a PS3 laptop created by Ben Heck.

July the 18th 2008
Seen the release of the first Blu Ray Java homebrew, this utilised Blu Ray Java from BD Discs, to enable us to use Java homebrew on the XMB.

22nd Of July 2008,
Would see FreePlay release a minimalistic Blu Ray Java Dev Kit, anyone interested in checking it out, download it here

8th of August 2008
Our very own Pirate released his version of PS3 laptop:

August 2008 had two significant moments.
On the Sony side, the release of an 80GB SKU, EU/US and Japan, this SKU ended PS2 support, backwards compatibility from this console and all future PS3′s released was removed.

On the hacking side of the spectrum SKFU had managed to get Blu Ray back ups running from HDD, though this was an other short lived exploit, as Sony patched it with firmware 2.50.

Early August 2008 zerojayzero, brought us The Zero Game Project, which was an automated script.Emulator package for Linux, this was true homebrew on the PS3, all you needed was Linux installed and you were good to go.

August the 20th 2008
At Leipzig Games Convention saw Sony announce a 160GB SKU, which would be bundles with Uncharted:Drakes Fortune and a DualShock 3 controller, along with a voucher to download the PSN game Pain.

22nd Of September 2008
SKFU managed to partially dump the Ram on a retail machine.

November 2008
Seen the details of PS3 Service Mode released to the public.

Over the months there has been a lot of inaccurate information circulating in regards to how exactly the PlayStation 3′s Service Mode works, and as promised in our previous Dev updates here are some of the facts to help separate the rumors and speculation.

It is a fairly simple process as follows.. For starters, the PS3 is powered off, and a special USB dongle, known as the Jig, is connected. The PS3 is then turned on, and then off, once it has detected the Jig.

After this occurs, the PS3 is then turned back on, into “Service” Mode. From here, the PS3 is re-flashed using a Firmware Update on a USB stick, specifically designed to only install from the Service Mode. Once the PS3 is re-flashed with the software, it is then used in conjunction with a PC running customized software, specifically the DEX.exe and CEX.exe’s.

Read more about that here

During December 2008
Sony patented what many believed to be the return of PS2 Emulation on the PS3, diagrams showed that the Emotion Engine could be fully emulated on the Cell, though nothing became of it.

2009
August 20th 2009
saw what appeared to be the first mod chip for the PS3, created by a group called belzar, here is what it offered:
* Works on all PS3 models
* Works on all PS3 regions (USA, JAP, PAL)
* Direct Boot of PS3 original, import, and backup (copied) games
* Direct Boot of PS2 original, import, and backup (copied) games
* Supports multi-region Blu-ray Movie Playback
* Supports multi-region DVD Movie Playback
* No config disc needed – it just works!
* Transparent stealth operation
* Integrates proven belzar Intelligent Code Modifying System
* No awkward USB interface – just insert DVD and play!
* Supports all up to date titles
* Ultra-low power consumption; does not interfere with normal PS3 operation
* Only 12 wires to solder
* No external PC/laptop needed
* Completely upgradeable firmware, via Belzars USB 2.0 interface
This was another fake.

Around the 23/24th of August 2009,
famous iPhone hacker GeoHot, joined the scene and promised to hack the machine, people had mixed emotions, so had great belief in him, others were sceptical, after all the PS3 was so much bigger than the iPhone, could GeoHot manage it, well it appeared he couldn’t, as he went silent on the PS3 front, many though that he had given up, though the machine was too much for him.

The first week in September 2009
seen the release of a brand new PS3 SKU, this console would be dubbed “PS3 Slim”, the console would be 30% smaller than the fat SKU’s, this may have seemed like an awesome console, smaller, more efficient and very quiet, but this console had a kick in the teeth for Linux enthusiasts, it had no OtherOS, this worried fat owners that used OtherOS, but we were reassured by Sony that they would continue to support us, supporting fat customers was a good idea, but removing OtherOS from Slims was what possibly started a ticking time bomb.

December 10th 2009
seen the release of the 3.15 firmware.

GeoHot, whom many had thought had given up on the PS3, re-emerged around the 26th of December 2009, he had been hard at work, here is a tweet and a few post of his blog at that time:

“I just pulled everything from the USB bus… http://pastie.org/757313 the Cell processor SPI bus, PS3 is going down ”

These are the latest posts on his new PS3 hacks blog:

Cell SPI

The Cell processor has an SPI port which is used to configure the chip on startup. Well documented https://www-01.ibm.com/chips/techlib/techlib.nsf/techdocs/BD3F1F4C3DB32C7487257142006131BC/$file/CellBE_HIG_90nm_v1.5_30Nov2007_pub.pdf. It also allows hypervisor level MMIO registers to be accessed. In the PS3, the south bridge sets up the cell, and the traces connecting them are on the bottom layer of the board. Cut them and stick an FPGA between.

Quick theoretical attack. Set an SPU’s user memory region to overlap with the current HTAB. Change the HTAB to allow read/write to the hypervisor! If that works it’s full compromise of the PPU.

A Real Challenge

The PS3 has been on the market for over three years now, and it is yet to be hacked. It’s time for that to change.

I spent three weeks in Boston working software only, but now I’m home and have hardware. My end goal is to enable unsigned code execution, making every unit into a test and opening up a third party development community, either through software or hardware (with a mod chip). The PS3 is a prime example of how security should be done, very open docs wise, and the thing even runs Linux. But it isn’t unbreakable

2010
3rd of January 2010
We(PS3HaX) reported here about what appeared to be a spectacular ISO Loader for the PS3, it was reported that it came all the way from Korea, after all the disappointments and fakes, it wasn’t surprising that most of us called fake, here is a video of it in action:

Guess what…..it was another fake, which wasn’t really a surprise, but still it was a disappointment to some.

23rd of January 2010
GeoHot announces that he has finally hacked the PS3, here is what he said at that time:

“I have read/write access to the entire system memory, and HV level access to the processor. In other words, I have hacked the PS3. The rest is just software. And reversing. I have a lot of reversing ahead of me, as I now have dumps of LV0 and LV1. I’ve also dumped the NAND without removing it or a modchip.”

But he also said this

“As far as the exploit goes, I’m not revealing it yet. The theory isn’t really patchable, but they can make implementations much harder.”

April 1st 2010
Seen the release of the infamous 3.21 firmware, this was the OtherOS killer for all fat PS3, after Sony promising, to keep on supporting us fat PS3 owners who had OtherOS, they lied and basically kicked us in the face, at the start, this firmware was dubbed “optional” by Sony, thus being you could keep your OtherOS but loose PSN and the ability to play on-line or you could give up OtherOS and keep PSN, this of course was dirty underhanded tactics by Sony, but why should we be surprised, after all the PS3 is the only console in history that i know off to downgrade with each SKU, Sony claimed the OtherOS removal was for security, they may have thought they succeeded, but in reality this is what set of the time bomb, this is what gave the hacker’s/circumventors the extra determination.

7th of April 2010
GeoHot hit back at Sony and showed a video, where he had restored OtherOS to firmware 3.21

The method to fix the OtherOS function, was a type of Custom Firmware, which GeoHot dubbed 3.21OO, which he promised to release soon.

Via his blog he stated:

“Note to the people who removed OtherOS, you are potentially turning 100000+ legit users into ‘hackers’,”
“There was a huge (20x) traffic spike to this blog after the announcement of 3.21. If I had ads on this site I guess I’d be thanking you.”

The first two weeks of May 2010 saw a very bored madshaun1984, who was missing PSN, due to sticking with the 3.15 firmware, successfully compile and run XBMC on PS3 Linux, this was a quite stable install, it wasn’t painfully slow either and it could have been a great thing if more people raised their hands and offered Shaun some help, but nobody was interested and unfortunately it had to be put on hold, here is a video of it in action:

July 14th 2010
GeoHot leaves the scene, he most likely did this because he was fed up with the impatient, ungratefully people who tended to troll, his blog and harass him on Twitter, before he closed his blog and Twitter account, here are a few of his final tweets at the time:

* it was a cool ride, and i’ve learned a lot about a lot. perhaps one of these days i’ll do a more formal goodbye.
* I didn’t fully realize most of the current scene don’t care unless they are getting something. Now I do.
* The real reason behind no release isn’t technical. It’s just that it will never stop, after blackra1n, people demand unlock, after blacksn0w, people demand untethered. I miss the days when jailbreaking and unlocking were difficult, it attracted a much higher caliber crowd.

11th August 2010
The PS3 is officially released in Brazil, the 120GB slim model cost an extortionate $1,130

19th of August 2010
PSX-Scene announced that the had been in contact with “PS Jailbreak”, they claimed that they were able to prove this as they had a working dongle, of course we had the same scepticism as usual and who could blame us, after all the fakes and let downs, but things seemed different this time, we had a reputable website, that had been in the PS2 scene for a very long time telling us they had sample dongles, we also had a reputable mod chip seller show us this video:

Here is what PS Jailbreak was promising:

PS Jailbreak is a USB plug and play solution that installs in seconds, keeping your valid warranty seal in tact.

Easy to use installer and GUI takes you step by step.

Compatible with all production models FAT and SLIM. Supports all regions: USA, JAP, PAL and KOREA

PS Jailbreak disables forced software updates and will never brick your console.

Supports all games (it does not allow backups of bluray movies , dvd movies , or past consoles games)

Backup games to your internal hard drive or external hard drive through USB, and boot directly off GUI. Eliminating the need for expensive blueray burners and costly blank media.

Play backups off your hard drives 2x as fast as off the blueray drive. This eliminates lags and glitches to provide you with smoother game play.

Open up your console to a new generation of homebrew applications. Load homebrew apps/games off any USB hard drive/flash drive.

Fully updatable with new features/updates by connecting PS Jailbreak to any computers USB port.

Sounds like Belzar and Zpack doesn’t it, well it wasn’t long until, some of the PS3′s scene main guys were on to it, RixhDevX and Mathieulh both confirmed it was the real deal, this was Sony’s Armageddon, though there was one slight problem, the device cost $130+, but a device that allowed you to play backups and homebrew overwrote the extortionate price for some, for others, that couldn’t afford, nor was willing to pay such a device, it was a waiting game.

26th August 2010
The PS Jailbreak device is Reverse Engineered by Gamefreax

31st of August 2010
PSGroove is released, for Teensy++ USB Development Board or AT90USBKEY, it was released by Mathieulh and his team, it is an open source, free version of PS Jailbreak.

Whilst PSGroove was for DEV boards and later dongles, people with mobile devices were left out, on the
3rd of September 2010
KaKaRoTo released his own code, dubbed PSFreedom, it had its début on the Nokia N900.

It didn’t take Sony long to respond to this 6th of September 2010, Sony released a compulsory firmware update, that disable PS Jailbreak and all the variants, there was nothing that could be done, those that were unfortunate enough to update, were bang out of luck.

7th September
The very first Homebrew app is released, it was an FTP server released by CJCP, read more here

15th of September
Sony releases its answer to the Wii, a device known as PS Move, here are some specs:
PlayStation Move motion controller
Three-axis gyroscope
Three-axis accelerometer
Terrestrial megnetic field sensor
Colour-changing sphere for Playstation Eye tracking
Bluetooth technology
Vibration feedback

PlayStation Move sub-controller
Built-in lithium-ion rechargeable battery
Bluetooth technology
2 DUALSHOCK or SIXAXIS Wireless Controller replacement capability.

17th September 2010
Comgenie releases Comgenies Awesome Filemanager, now you can browse your PS3′s system files/HDD, without the need of FTP, plus this is the fastest option for transferring games, etc, you can find that great Filemanager here

21st of September 2010
Sony release firmware 3.50, this firmware disables many unlicensed USB controllers.

27th of September 2010
NZHawk releases his Awesome MountPoint Manager.

10th of October 2010
NZHawk release Awesome Peek Poker.

21st of October 2010
NZHawk releases Awesome Update Finder, to download or find updates on his app’s, visit his site here

12th of November 2010
The people behind PS Jailbreak, release information on PS Downgrade, this would enable anyone who upgraded to 3.42/3.50 to download to 3.41 or lower.

24th of November 2010
Seen the release of the most anticipated PS3 game, after fours years of making and postponed releases GT5(Gran Turismo 5) was finally released.

29th of November 2010
Seen the official release of PS Downgrade, you still needed the $100+ PS Jailbreak Dongle to use it.

3rd of December 2010
E3, released their version of Downgrade.

6th of December 2010
Sony respond to the Downgrade method, by releasing firmware 3.55, which blocked it.

7th of December 2010
PS3Yes and PS3Key release their version of Downgrade
Also on the 7th of December 2010, zAxis releases PSGrade, this was an open source version of PS Downgrade and would work on any Jailbreak device.

8th of December 2010
Has reports that Downgrading blocks Blu Ray movie playback.

8th December 2010
klutsh releases psfServiceMod, it is the downgrade equivalent for several android devices

8th December 2010
gliitch releases a brick fix tutorial, to help those that were unfortunate to brick their consoles during downgrading, anyone still in the need of it, visit here

9th December 2010
graf_chokolo Release his lv2 Decrypter.

11th of December 2010
b0xloader release SELF Loader 1.0, now you can decrypt .self and .sprx.

12th of December 2010
JaiCraB and ps3mrenigma, release Mount_Alejandro, an app that enables write access dev_flash.

13th of December 2010
With Mount_Alejandro released, people start playing with dev_flash, gliitch posts a tutorial on how to change the boot sound of the PS3:

14th of December 2010
TeaM-ACiD1C, release their custom XMB, with added debug functions.

17th of December 2010
Waninkoko releases FreeFlash, another app for writing to flash, this one was easier to use.

23rd of December 2010
gliitch releases a stable version of his custom XMB:

27th of December 2010
graf_chokolo exploits HV through lv2 gameOS.

28th December
A PS3 dongle ID key generator is released.

29th of December 2010
marcan and fail0verflow discus the vulnerabilities of the PS3′s security, in case you missed it:

27C3 – Console Hacking 2010

27C3 – Console Hacking 2010 from Yifan Lu on Vimeo.

31st of December 2010
Sees the return of GeoHot and he releases an app called dePKG .

31st of December 2010
Waninkoko releases a similar tool to GeoHots, it is called FwTool.

2011
1st of January 2011
hermes release PS3LoadX.

1st of January 2011
Mathieulh, RichDevX, graf_chokolo, N_D_T, and TitanMKD release the Lv2ldr keys for the PS3.

1st of January 2011
Project #PS3bluray release tool that are aimed at fixing the Blu Ray problem caused by downgrading.

2nd of January 2011
CyberSkunk and EvilSperm release a beta version of Codename:Rebug:

2nd of January 2011
fail0verflow release a beta of their tools.

2nd of January 2011
Geohot releases METLDR Key (aka ROOT Key).

2nd of January 2011
Mathieulh finds the PSP’s master keys in the PS3.

2nd of January 2011
Firmware 3.50 appldr keys released, now games previously unplayable on 3.41 such as GT5, are being worked on.

3rd of January 2011
Eboot.bin released for GT5, to make it playable on 3.41.

3rd of January 2011
AerialX releases SCEkrit v1.0, a key generator for Sony’s private keys.

3rd of January 2011
GeoHot release first signed homebrew for firmware 3.55

4th of January 2011
KaKaRoTo releases the first CFW(Custom Firmware).

5th of January 2011
BBC News reports on the keys released by GeoHot.

6th of January 2011
Sony responds to the previous days hacks, by stating that it plans to fix recent PS3 security breaches through a series of network updates.

6th of January 2011
The Rebug Team Releases 3.41E Beta 1.0.1, you can grab it here

7th of January 2011
“Anonymus” releases the source code for his PSX(PS1) Emulator for PS3.

7th of January 2011
GeoHot release a video, showcasing his ability to run homebrew on a firmware 3.55, without the need of Jailbreak:

7th of January 2011
fail0verflow shows us their exploit:

7th of January 2011
KaKaRoToKs tweets that he and Xtse have found a successful method for downgrading from 3.55 to 3.41.

8th of January 2011
ThatOtherPerson/ThatOtherDev release an addition to his homebrew games list, a game called That Other Space Shooter:

8th of January 2011
GeoHot releases his 3.55 Jailbreak, now people can enjoy Homebrew on 3.55 using his method, read about it here, this method prevents the ability to play backups.

9th of January 2011
jonlimle releases beta 2 of his homebrew app Lua Player for PS3, to check out the video’s, check this thread

9th of January 2011
KaKaRoTo compiles and releases a linux version of RCOMage.

9th of January 2011
GeoHot releases his Homebrew signing tool, Homebrew can now be signed to run with his homebrew.

9th of January 2011
BazGee sign and release the first homebrew for 3.55, which was an early version of the Snes Emulator.

9th of January 201
Comgenies Awesome Filemanager gets signed for 3.55:

9th of January 2011
FamousMassacre releases an app to sign packages.

9th of January 2011
Riku.kh3 post a guide on how to run backups on GeoHots Jailbreak, read more about that here

11th of January 2011
GeoHot and the fail0verflow team get served court papers, for their actions in hacking the PS3, all info about that can be found here

12th of January 2011 fail0verflow release their tools, you can grab them here

13th of January 2011
solidpsycho releases his method for downgrading, anyone want to do so, check here

13th of January 2011
GeoHot appears on G4TV’s attack of the show, he spoke about the lawsuit and his Jailbreak, you can check the video here:

15th of January 2011
GeoHot releases a press statement on his court case, which you can read here

17th of January 2011
Wanikoko releases the first CFW to allow backups, but unfortunately, this release wasn’t flawless and many PS3′s got bricked, whilst this was a decent first attempt, many people who tried this CFW, no longer have working PS3′s, you can read all about it here

17th of January 2011
Graf Chokolo releases NPDRM Payload, SYSCON, HV Exploit and others, which you can read about here

17th of January 2011
Wutangrza CFW, this one turns out to be safe an includes, peek & Poke, read about it here

18th of January 2011
kmeaw releases a patch, to enable the running of backup managers of Wutangrza’s CFW

18th of January 2011
Pirate write an awesome tutorial on how to play and install Backups with Kmeaw CFW+PSN without risk of brick, you can read it here

20th of January 2011
ThatOtherDev release a demo of a new game he is working on, this could potentially be one of the greatest homebrew games ever created, grab that demo here

21st of January 2011
Waninkoko state that he will release version 2 of his CFW.

22nd of January 2011
hermes release his CFW for PS3 owners who were still on firmware 3.41.

23rd of January 2011
rms releases “PS3 Model Detection”, a handy little homebrew app that gave you information on your console.

24th of January 2011
Geohot Lawyers Move for Dismissal and Sony’s response to that, you can read more about that here.

26th of January 2011
Sony releases firmware 3.56, this was a security measure, which blocked downgrading, those who attempted to downgrade, ended up with a bricked console.

26th of January 2011
eustolio releases a tutorial, to make custom boot logo’s and custom dynamic themes, read about it here.

27th of January 2011
NGP, the successor to PSP is announced.

27th of January 2011
GeoHot gets served a TRO(Temporary Restraining Order), read about it here.

28th of January 2011
News emerges, that players who used 3.55 CFW and Comgenies Awesome Filemanager, to install patches in order to cheat at Black Op’s were being banned from the Black Op’s servers.

28th of January 2011
Code repository site, GitHub receive DMCA notices, to remove all files relating to the hacking of the PS3, read about that here.

29th of January 2011
Waninkoko releases version 2 of his CFW, this time around his release was more of a success.

31st of January 2011
JaicraB Releases Patched LV2Diag, to skip blu-ray drive during updates, the signicance of this patched LV2Diag.elf is that it no longer looks for the Blu Ray drive on your PS3, so when downgrading/upgrading the PS3 firmware we no longer loose the BluRay playback functionality. It also allows those of you with a broken/missing BluRay drive to upgrade/downgrade your console firmware as well.

1st of February 2011
Sony release a patch to their firmware. 3.56v2 fixed problems regarding upgrading of the HDD.

2nd of February 2011
graf_chokolo states that will will return OtherOS, read about it here.

5th of February 2011
Several court documents are released by PSX Scene, which show that Sony are looking for more hackers, they include Waninkoko, kmeaw, KaKaRoTo and graf_chokolo, you can read about that here.

8th of February 2011
A tutorial is released, to help people fix consoles bricked by Waninkoko’s CFW version 1.

8th of February 2011
kmeaw releases v1.2 of his version of AsbestOS.

8th of February 2011
Sony demands Youtube/Twitter to give up GeoHot/Fail0verflow information and viewers.

9th of February 2011
Sony’s Kevin Butler accidentally retweets the Jailbreak rootkey.

10th of February 2011
News emerges, that GeoHot is forced to hand over his harddrives.

11th of February 2011
kmeaw releases v1.4 of AsbestOS.

12 of February 2011
GeoHot releases a rap video via his Youtube channel.

13th of February 2011
It emerges, that Killzone 3 has been leaked, two weeks before its release date, this type of thing is what discredits PS3 hackers, the reason why all the lamers give them a bad name.

13th of February 2011
The PS3MFW guys(KaKaRoTo and a few that want to remain anonymous) release PS3MFW Builder v0.1, a peice of computer software which lets non devs create MFW.

14th of February 2011
Dev_Blind 1.0 is released, it lets people on CFW 3.55 write to dev_flash.

14th of February 2011
Sees the release of graf_chokolo’s Linux Kernel v2.6, it gives Full RAM Access, New HV calls, and more.

15th of February 2011
KillerBug releases a tutorial on how to create a DIY fan controller for the PS3, you can find that tutorial here.

15th of February 2011
PSGroove member drizzt releases a tool/method for bypassing the block Sony put on PSN, for users who didnt update to 3.56, he calls it f**kPSN.

16th of February 2011
SCEA finally releases a statement regarding hacking of the PS3, here is what it says:

Notice: Unauthorized circumvention devices for the PlayStation 3 system have been recently released by hackers. These devices permit the use of unauthorized or pirated software. Use of such devices or software violates the terms of the “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. Violation of the System Software Licence Agreement for the PlayStation 3 System invalidates the consumer guarantee for that system. In addition, copying or playing pirated software is a violation of International Copyright Laws. Consumers using circumvention devices or running unauthorized or pirated software will have access to the PlayStation Network and access to Qriocity services through PlayStation 3 system terminated permanently.

To avoid this, consumers must immediately cease use and remove all circumvention devices and delete all unauthorized or pirated software from their PlayStation 3 systems.

What this means to you

Circumvention devices and game piracy damage our industry and can potentially injure the online experience for you, our loyal PlayStation customers, via hacks and cheats.

Many PlayStation.Blog readers have asked how we intend to deal with these incidents that they have been reading about in the gaming press, and this is our initial response.

By identifying PlayStation 3 systems that breach our guidelines and terminating their ability to connect to PlayStation Network, we are protecting our business and preserving the honest gameplay experiences that you expect and deserve.

Rest assured, this message does not apply to the overwhelming majority of our users who enjoy the world of entertainment PlayStation 3 has to offer without breaching the guidelines detailed above, and we urge you to continue doing so without fear.

16th of February 2011
Sony starts sending out warning emails, telling people that they will be banned if they are found to be using a jailbreak/hacking device.

17th of February 2011
Sony release a new TOS(terms Of Service).

19th of February 2011
zembor0 release a tool to aid in the creation of boot logo’s for the PS3.

19th of February 2011
Team Rebug, release a tool called xReg Plus, which helps you restore you DLC after you format the HDD.

19th of February 2011
GeoHot sets up a legal defence fund, to help him with his legal costs fighting sony.

20th of February 2011
kmeaw release’s version 2.0 of AsbestOS

20th of February 2011
PS3HaX member FirebirdTA01 posts an article, which he calls “Summary of Sony’s Legal Action since PS3 Hacks and Your Rights.”, go read it here, it is worth it.

20th of February 2011
PS3HaX moderator releases his improved version of Linux for 3.55 CFW, you can read about it here.

21st of February 2011
Team Rebug release Coldboot Installer and 3.56 Version Spoofer.

23rd of February 2011
graf_chokolo has his home raided by police, he releases all his work on the internet, which becomes known as the “Hypervisor Bible”, you can read about it here.

23rd of February 2011
sSees the release of the Playstation File System Libraries, which allows the ability to implement NTFS support into homebrew.

24th of February 2011
Sony has DMCA remove all ps3 hack related code from Gitorious.

25th of February 2011
It is revealed that Sony are suing graf_chokolo for one million Euros, but he remains defiant and continues his work, here is a statement he releases:

graf_chokolo says:
February 25, 2011 at 7:22 am

Back I don’t have a PC at home now guys, so i will post here only when i’m able. I will try to answer all your questions about HV and installing Linux. But expect some delays because as i said i don’t have access to the Internet all the time.

You know guys, you will say i’m totally crazy now, but i never slept better
than in the last 2 days I don’t know how to explain this feeling but
i don’t care about those threats with jail and high money penalties, btw, SONY wants about 750.000 euros from me if i don’t cooperate They don’t know me at all I don’t care about it and they might double it The higher is the sum the higher gets my motivation They don’t understand what makes me tick. Money and even my life doesn’t mean to me very much without knowledge. I have a scientific mind and the knowledge is food to my brain. Without HV, Linux and FreeBSD kernel hacking my life is meaningless.

I miss my HV terribly In the last 2 days i got so “hungry”
for more knowledge that i cannot control it anymore. I need knowledge and research, it has a huge meaning in my life. Jail or even death cannot hold it back anymore.

The SONY’s laywer asked me why i’m doing what i’m doing, because of my hatred for SONY ? He cannot understand why i’m doing it, because he is paid for what he does. I’m not. I don’t hold a grudge against SONY even now Hatred clouds your mind, keeps you from more important things. I have a better use for my mind and knowledge

So, SONY you failed again, you took my equipment but my mind is still free and you canot control it. You failed again. They are just tools, i can get new ones and will continue my HV reversing and bringing back PS3 Linux which you took from us. If you want me to stop then you should just kill me because i cannot live without programming, HV and Linux kernel hacking You know who am i and where i live, so come and get me !!!

And to prove it, i will reopen right now my HV reverse engineering page And i will post my latest findings about Update Manager and BD drive here. Most of you know already that i was able to update CORE OS from Linux. And on the last weekend i tries to hel some PS3 devs with BD drive authentication and discovered some interesting stuff about it which i will post here.

And please guys, could someone post here a link to the latest version of my cloned Linux kernel. I need it. The last week i implemnted a updater for Linux and it was finished but the police got first before i could upload it. But do not fear, i have everything in my head I can write it down again and show you how it works.

25th of February 2011
GeoHot has another interview, this time on The Alyona Show, for Russia Today.

25th of February 2011
kmeaw changes the name of his version of AsbestOS, to BootOS, due to complaints by fail0verflow.

26th of February 2011
GeoHot releases a statement regarding graf_chokolo getting raided:

27th of February 2011
PS3HaX member/dev release a tutorial on how to get on PSN with a banned console, you will find that tutorial here.

28th of February 2011
EU customs are forced to seize PS3 consoles in the Netherlands, due to a patent dispute between Sony and LG.

3rd of March 2011
New games appear that need firmware 3.56, unfortunately these games were leaked early and the pirates were able to patch and play them.

4th of March 2011
PS3HaX celebrates its fourth birthday.

4th of March 2011
Sony granted permission to view the IP’s of those that visited GeoHots site, read about it here.

5th of March 2011
EmersonS35 releases version 2 of his PS3 Toolkit, you can check it out here.

7th of March 2011
Team Hades release CVOS v3.1 BETA, a tool to help unbrick the PS3, read about it here.

9th of March 2011
PS3ita 3.55 CFW is released, which gives full PSN access, without messing around with any tools, tutorial here.

9th of March 2011
It is reported that customs have seized even more PS3 consoles and have even went as far as confiscating them from the owners homes, UK newspaper The Guardian, said this:

Dutch police have seized several thousand PlayStation 3s at Sony’s biggest European warehouse in the latest stage of its acrimonious patent battle with LG.

LG has won a court order enabling it to seize all new PS3 across the Netherlands – including those already in Dutch homes – in a dispute that centres on Sony’s allegedly infringing use of Blu-ray technology belonging to LG.

The injunction means that LG is tightening the net on PS3s in Europe, having already ordered customs officers to seize thousands of the consoles last week.

Sony will fight to have the blockade lifted at an emergency hearing in the Hague’s civil court of justice tomorrow.

LG argues that Sony PS3s infringe a number of its patents relating to playback of Blu-ray discs. The Korean company has been granted an investigation into the PS3?s Blu-ray use by the US international trade commission, after seeking a “permanent exclusion order … excluding entry into the United States” of the games console.

Tomorrow’s court battle will be one of the first times the Asian giants have come head to head in patent disputes stretching almost seven years.

LG is likely to apply for the consoles to be destroyed, while Sony will apply for the blockade to be lifted. A court judgment on what happens next could be returned tomorrow or in the coming days.

Customs officials at Rotterdam and Schiphol, the main import points for PS3s for both the UK and wider Europe, are understood to have extended a blockade on two Sony shipments made last week.

Sony, which imports about 100,000 PS3s into Europe each week, is attempting to get all the restrictions lifted.

If Sony is found to have infringed LG patents, it could be forced to compensate the South Korean manufacturer for each PS3 it has sold around the world, which could cost hundreds of millions of pounds.

A spokesman for Sony said: “Sony was notified at the end of February by customs authorities in the Netherlands that an inspection would be made into imports of [PlayStation 3s]. We believe this is due to a petition made by LG Electronics, alleging that Sony may be infringing LG patents related to Blu-ray technologies.

“However, this is only a preliminary injunction, that has resulted in shipments being temporarily withheld. It does not indicate any acceptance of LG’s allegations. We consider these allegations unwarranted, and will take appropriate measures including filing a claim of opposition to courts in the Netherlands. We will not comment on any further details.”

10th of March 2011
Sony release firmware 3.60, this adds cloud based game saves saving.

10th of March 2011
Team Rebug release 3.60 Version Spoofer.

10th of March 2011
graf_chokolo requests donations, here is what he said via his blog:

Guys, i never wanted to take money from anybody for my work. And i always shared my work and code with PS3 developers and community. Recently i was working on bringing Linux to PS3 back, as you all know, unfortunately SONY managed to stop me. Many of you offered donations to help me continue my work and i always declined as you know. But now i really need your help and support in this fight with SONY. Please help me to pay my legal bills which are immensely because i cannot pay them on my own.

Here is my PayPal account: egorenar@gmail.com

And here is my bank account for direct transactions:

Alexander Egorenkov
Bank account:3726068
BLZ:60050101
BIC-/SWIFT-Code: SOLADEST
IBAN: DE62600501010003726068

Please donate as much as you can and want.
Thank you in advance.

And to answer your question “What happens with the remaining money ?”, i intend to give it to CCC club so the club could help other guys like me which get sued by SONY or give it all to some charity organization. I give you my word on that and you know that i keep my word.

10th of March 2011
Is the court case between LG and Sony, Sony wins lifting the restrictions on its consoles, read more about it here.

11th of March 2011
git-hacks.com is create, it is part of the DashHacks network, the server being located in Canada give PS3 Scene Devs more freedom with their work without having to worry about Sony shutting them down.

12th of March 2011
Team Rebug release “Package Manager”, here is a small quote from them regarding the app:

Package Manager is a replacement for the standard ? Install Package Files option under ‘Game’ in the XMB and allows for the install and deletion of .pkg files from ‘dev_hdd0/packages’, ‘dev_usb/packages’ and the standard ? Install Package Files locations. In addition to this, your downloaded PSN content will appear under this menu instead of cluttering your ‘Game’ menu with uninstalled content.

Read more about it here.

14th of March 2011
Mega hiper ultra fantastico Team release details on how to use files to ‘re-marry’ a BD drive, check it out here.

15th of March 2011
Rumours start circulating that 3.60 firmware has been cracked, the proof you can see here:

16th of March 2011
The very first homebrew media center/player created by a dev named andoma is released for PS3, it is dubbed “Showtime”, this is the very first time a PS3 without Linux installed is able to play .MKV files, it plays many other files, like SWF, FLV and all the usual avi files, it also does streaming of live TV, check information on it here.

17th of March 2011
Sony changes the 3.60 authentication, of the Playstation Network, blocking all PSN bypass tools like f**kPSN and the CFW that enabled it.

17th of March 2011
Court papers are released showing that GeoHot petitions the courts for a protective order, you can read about that here.

20th Of March 2011
A hacker/developer gets Microsoft’s Kinnect working on the PS3.

http://tech.shantanugoel.com/2011/03/20/making-kinect-work-with-ps3.html

20th Of March 2011
graf_chokolo manages to fully decrypt the Ps3′s internal HDD.

20th Of March 2011
KaKaRoTo releases PS3IDA.

23rd of March 2011
Rumours start circulating the internet, that GeoHot lied about having PSN and that he has run away to South America, GeoHot responds later on that day via his blog:

Apparently, I have fled the country. ROFL
Factually, it’s true I’m in South America, on a vacation I’ve had planned and paid for since November. I mean, it is Spring break; hacking isn’t my life. Rest assured that not a dime of legal defense money would ever go toward something like this. And of course Townsend loves the idea of painting me as an international fugitive. I have been in contact with my lawyers almost every day; I would not let the case suffer. That said, I also won’t let this ridiculous lawsuit run my life either. Then the fearmongerers win.

I will be back, I hear it’s hard to come by the Xperia Play down here.

24th of March 2011
libps3gui for PS3 is released, for those wondering what it is, check here.

25th of March 2011
E3diy, the creators of the E3 card reader/jailbreak device, release an update for E3 called “Goldfinger”, it allows for cheating in games.