It has been a while since i update my PS3 history on this site, so instead of rehashing the same old thread, i thought i would make a new post, to get those acquainted with the history that is the PS3:

2000-2001

These years may seem early for a story on the History Of The PS3, but these dates will be understood as you read further into the PS3 history.(Thanks to winocm, for making me go back this far :p).

During the year 2000, Sony Computer Entertainment, Toshiba, and IBM(STI),formed an alliance, an alliance that would see the creation of the Cell Processor, Cell is short for Cell Broadband Engine Architecture.

March 2001
The STI design center opens and begins production of the Cell processor, this would be a four year endeavor, which would lead you to 2005.

Part of the above is sourced from Wikipedia.

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

8th of May 2006
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:

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
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)
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
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

Above E3 images sourced from Joystiq

E3 PS3 Conference 2006

A comparison between the early promise and the final release:

2nd Of October 2006
Kikizo interviews Kazuo Hirai regarding the PS3:

Video property of:
http://archive.videogamesdaily.com/features/ps3_kazhirai_vidiv_oct06.asp

11th of November 2006
PS3 released in Japan.

17th of November 2006
This is the EU/US release date, but EU stocks get delayed.

26th November 2006
DCEMU reports that a someone called deadsoulasis promised a ISO loader for the PS3, here is what he said:

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®

Full thread here.

30th November 2006
and on the Maxconsole forum, deadsoulasis, promised a method of running backups, here is what he said in his thread:

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..

Post #53 of the thread said this:

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.

Post #68:

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 …

By now it should be apparent that he is a fake, possibly the first fake of the PS3 scene, here is post #72:

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

He continues to argue and talk rubbish on the thread, which you can read here.

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:

| 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 |

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

24th of January 2007
Sony and Namco Bandai set up a games company, called Cellius, the company will utilise the Cell Broadband Engine in the PS3 to create games for the console and Mobile Phones,Ken Kutaragi is the CEO, if you want to read more about this story, check here.

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

19th Of July 2007
Kazuo Hirai gives a new interview to Kikizo, you can find it here:
http://archive.videogamesdaily.com/features/kazhirai_iv_jul07_p1.asp
Audio of following video belongs to above link.

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

23rd Of April 2009
A developer/hacker by the name of Dashhacker from dashhacks.com, successfully reverse engineered Remote Play, to read more about that story, visit here.

4th Of May 2009
Dashhacker the creator of Open Remote Play(ORP), releases images of the GUI of the upcoming app:

15th of May 2009
Dashhacker releases Windows and MacOS versions of ORP

20th Of August 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.

9th Of December 2009
A group of developers open a project on Google Code, it is a piece of software, which utilizes the PS3 Eye, to let disabled painters/artists able to paint again, you can read about it here:
http://www.eyewriter.org/

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 he 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 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.

26th of March 2011
PS3MFW Builder v0.2, the Mod Firmware(MFW) tool is released.

26th of March 2011
graf_chokolo manages to get Linux(Gentoo) running on slim PS3′s internally.

26th of March 2011
PSXScene member “user” releases a homebrew application, that enables Hypervisor debugging from GameOS.

27th of March 2011
Emerson releases version 0.1 of ES35?s Customize,a tool which lets you edit certain aspects about the PS3′s XMB.

29th of March 2011
graf_chokolo releases Petitboot tools which will allow you to dual boot Linux and GameOS on your PS3.

30th of March 2011
Iris Manager, a port of Hermes manager is released.

31st of March 2011
cyberskunk and evilsperm release their second version of 3.41 Rebug CFW and their first version of 3.55 Rebug CFW.

4th of April 2011
Sony/SCEA call for Sony to dismiss the OtherOS lawsuit.

4th of April 2011
News emerges that the Anonymous Hactivist Group , a well known “activist” group responsible for various online attacks, has decided to wage war on Sony.

6th of April 2011
Anonymous release a list of demands:

1. Sony must allow for end-user modification of the PS3, as was available prior to the 3.21 firmware update.

2. Sony must end any attempts to bring legal action to alter a product they own.

3. Sony must not pursue legal action against any collected IP address.

9th of April 2011
An unknown developer releases a Python Script that enables the user to extract the unique license code embedded in retail and debug PKG’s.

9th of April 2011
zembor0 releases software that enables us to create Custom Dynamic Themes and a tutorial on how to create custom Boot logo’s.

10th of April 2011
graf_chokolo releases GameOS VFlash resizer for Linux + Small Tutorial for installing Linux.

10th of April 2011
jjolano releases a homebrew app, called PSVibe, that helps alleviate those stressful gaming moments.

11th of April 2011
SCEA’s Sr. Director of Corporate Communications & Social Media Patrick Seybold, releases a message on the US PS Blog, stating that SCEA and GeoHot have settled in court:

Joint Statement

Sony Computer Entertainment America (“SCEA”) and George Hotz (“Hotz”) today announced the settlement of the lawsuit filed by SCEA against Hotz in federal court in San Francisco, California. The parties reached an agreement in principle on March 31, 2011. As part of the settlement, Hotz consented to a permanent injunction.

Both parties expressed satisfaction that litigation had been quickly resolved. “Sony is glad to put this litigation behind us,” said Riley Russell, General Counsel for SCEA. “Our motivation for bringing this litigation was to protect our intellectual property and our consumers. We believe this settlement and the permanent injunction achieve this goal.”

“It was never my intention to cause any users trouble or to make piracy easier,” said Hotz, I’m happy to have the litigation behind me.” Hotz was not involved in the recent attacks on Sony’s internet services and websites.

In the action, SCEA accused Hotz of violating federal law by posting online information about the security system in the PlayStation 3 videogame console and software that SCEA claimed could be used to circumvent the security system in the console and allow the playing of pirated videogames. Hotz denies any wrongdoing on his part. Hotz’s motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction was still pending before the federal court in San Francisco but a preliminary injunction was issued requiring Hotz to take down the postings challenged by SCEA.

“We want our consumers to be able to enjoy our devices and products in a safe and fun environment and we want to protect the hard work of the talented engineers, artists, musicians and game designers who make PlayStation games and support the PlayStation Network,” added Russell. “We appreciate Mr. Hotz’s willingness to address the legal issues involved in this case and work with us to quickly bring this matter to an early resolution.”

13th of April 2011
graf_chokolo gets another visit from people representing Sony.

15th of April 2011
Maises releases LordSELF, an app to edit PS3 SELF/SPRX Files.

15th of April 2011
Robo Hobo releases his ported version of Stella, a Multi-Platform Atari 2600 VCS Emulator.

16th of April 2011
GeoHot donates the remainder of his Court Case donations to the EFF, they received $10,000.

18th of April 2011
graf_chokolo is forced to remove many Sony related articles from his blog.

19th of April 2011
News emerges that Sony are attempting to sue Zoomba again.

21st of April 2011
In the early hours, the Playstation Network goes offline, leading many people to believe that Anonymous have brought down the network, several hours later, SCEA/SCEE release statements via their blogs, this was their first post:

US Blog

We’re aware certain functions of PlayStation Network are down. We will report back here as soon as we can with more information.

Thank you for your patience.

EU Blog

As you are no doubt aware, the current emergency outage is continuing this afternoon and all Sony Online Network services remain unavailable. Our support teams are investigating the cause of the problem, including the possibility of targeted behaviour by an outside party. If the reported Network problems are indeed caused by such acts, we would like to once again thank our customers who have borne the brunt of the attack through interrupted service.

Our engineers are continuing to work to restore and maintain the services, and we appreciate our customers’ continued support. For further information, please refer to updates on PlayStation.com, here on PlayStation.Blog and via our @PlayStationEU twitter feed.

EU Blog a little later

While we are investigating the cause of the Network outage, we wanted to alert you that it may be a full day or two before we’re able to get the service completely back up and running. Thank you very much for your patience while we work to resolve this matter. Please stay tuned to this space for more details, and we’ll update you again as soon as we can.

For further information, please refer to updates on PlayStation.com our @PlayStationEU twitter feed.

US Blog much later

We’re aware certain functions of PlayStation Network are down. It may be a full day or two before we’re able to get the service completely back up and running. Please stay tuned to this space for more details, and we’ll update you again as soon as we can.

Thank you very much for your patience while we work to resolve this matter.

During this time you may:

Not be able to access the PlayStation®Store
Have difficulty signing in to the PlayStation®Network
Not be able to play online games
See a maintenance page when attempting to access the PlayStation®Network

Note: When you log into the PlayStation Network, a message may appear which states, “the PlayStation Network has been suspended”. This does not mean that your account has been suspended; it simply means the PlayStation Network has been taken offline. Please wait until the maintenance window has passed before attempting to connect to the PlayStation Network again. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

23rd of April 2011
Sony finally admit after two days of PSN outage, that they have been hacked, here are quotes:

PS Blog

An external intrusion on our system has affected our PlayStation Network and Qriocity services. In order to conduct a thorough investigation and to verify the smooth and secure operation of our network services going forward, we turned off PlayStation Network & Qriocity services on the evening of Wednesday, April 20th. Providing quality entertainment services to our customers and partners is our utmost priority. We are doing all we can to resolve this situation quickly, and we once again thank you for your patience. We will continue to update you promptly as we have additional information to share.

Anonymous deny all involvement and release this statement:

For Once We Didn’t Do It

Sony’s Playstation Network, its online service for Playstation 3 and its Playstation Portable consoles, suffered from a major outage today; which is on going as of this writting. According to Son’ys blog, the interruption in service may last into the long weekend – for at least another “full day or two”. Sony released a statement through its EU blog, saying that the network outage may be a result of “targeted behaviour by an outside party”, brining in the possibility of cyberattacks. Adding to the confusion is the fact that the message has since been removed.

While it could be the case that other Anons have acted by themselves AnonOps wa not related to this incident and takes no responsiblity for it. A more likely explination is that Sony is taking advantage of Anonymous’ previous ill-will towards the company to distract users from the fact the outage is accutally an internal problem with the companies servers.

TL:DR

Sony is incompetent.

Sony later release this statement:

We sincerely regret that PlayStation Network and Qriocity services have been suspended, and we are working around the clock to bring them both back online. Our efforts to resolve this matter involve re-building our system to further strengthen our network infrastructure. Though this task is time-consuming, we decided it was worth the time necessary to provide the system with additional security.

We thank you for your patience to date and ask for a little more while we move towards completion of this project. We will continue to give you updates as they become available.

24th of April 2011
Robo Hobo release a DosBox Emulator for the PS3 and ps3cfw releases a tutorial to run Windows95 on the DosBox emulator.

25th of April 2011
Sony post a statement regarding PSN:

We sincerely regret that PlayStation Network and Qriocity services have been suspended, and we are working around the clock to bring them both back online. Our efforts to resolve this matter involve re-building our system to further strengthen our network infrastructure. Though this task is time-consuming, we decided it was worth the time necessary to provide the system with additional security.

We thank you for your patience to date and ask for a little more while we move towards completion of this project. We will continue to give you updates as they become available.

26th of April 2011
Sony release a statement, telling us how severe the hack really is:

EU PS Blog

Thank you for your patience while we work to resolve the current outage of PlayStation Network & Qriocity services. We don’t have an exact date to share at this moment as to when we will have the services turned on, but are working day and night to ensure it is as quickly as possible. We are currently working to send the following message via email to all of our registered account holders regarding a compromise of personal information as a result of this malicious attack on our servers, so please look for this information via email as well. Please note that we are as upset as you are regarding this attack and are going to proceed aggressively to track down those that are responsible.

Valued PlayStation Network/Qriocity Customer,

We have discovered that between April 17 and April 19, 2011, certain PlayStation Network and Qriocity service user account information was compromised in connection with an illegal and unauthorized intrusion into our network. In response to this intrusion, we have:

1) Temporarily turned off PlayStation Network and Qriocity services;

2) Engaged an outside, recognized security firm to conduct a full and complete investigation into what happened; and

3) Quickly taken steps to enhance security and strengthen our network infrastructure by re-building our system to provide you with greater protection of your personal information.

We greatly appreciate your patience, understanding and goodwill as we do whatever it takes to resolve these issues as quickly and efficiently as practicable.

Although we are still investigating the details of this incident, we believe that an unauthorized person has obtained the following information that you provided: name, address (city, state/province, zip or postal code), country, email address, birthdate, PlayStation Network/Qriocity passwords and login, and handle/PSN online ID. It is also possible that your profile data, including purchase history and billing address (city, state, zip), and your PlayStation Network/Qriocity password security answers may have been obtained. If you have authorized a sub-account for your dependent, the same data with respect to your dependent may have been obtained. While there is no evidence that credit card data was taken at this time, we cannot rule out the possibility. If you have provided your credit card data through PlayStation Network or Qriocity, to be on the safe side we are advising you that your credit card number (excluding security code) and expiration date may also have been obtained.

For your security, we encourage you to be especially aware of email, telephone, and postal mail scams that ask for personal or sensitive information. Sony will not contact you in any way, including by email, asking for your credit card number, social security, tax identification or similar number or other personally identifiable information. If you are asked for this information, you can be confident Sony is not the entity asking. When the PlayStation Network and Qriocity services are fully restored, we strongly recommend that you log on and change your password. Additionally, if you use your PlayStation Network or Qriocity user name or password for other unrelated services or accounts, we strongly recommend that you change them, as well.

To protect against possible identity theft or other financial loss, we encourage you to remain vigilant to review your account statements and to monitor your credit or similar types of reports.

We thank you for your patience as we complete our investigation of this incident, and we regret any inconvenience. Our teams are working around the clock on this, and services will be restored as soon as possible. Sony takes information protection very seriously and will continue to work to ensure that additional measures are taken to protect personally identifiable information. Providing quality and secure entertainment services to our customers is our utmost priority. Please check www.eu.playstation.com/psnoutage should you have any additional questions.

Sincerely,

Sony Network Entertainment and Sony Computer Entertainment Teams
Sony Network Entertainment Europe Limited (formerly known as PlayStation Network Europe Limited) is a subsidiary of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Limited the data controller for PlayStation Network/Qriocity personal data.

Follow us on Twitter @PlayStationEU for live updates and read the FAQ at eu.playstation.com/psnoutage for further information.

Thank you for your patience.

US PS Blog:

Thank you for your patience while we work to resolve the current outage of PlayStation Network & Qriocity services. We are currently working to send a similar message to the one below via email to all of our registered account holders regarding a compromise of personal information as a result of an illegal intrusion on our systems. These malicious actions have also had an impact on your ability to enjoy the services provided by PlayStation Network and Qriocity including online gaming and online access to music, movies, sports and TV shows. We have a clear path to have PlayStation Network and Qriocity systems back online, and expect to restore some services within a week.

We’re working day and night to ensure it is done as quickly as possible. We appreciate your patience and feedback.

Valued PlayStation Network/Qriocity Customer:
We have discovered that between April 17 and April 19, 2011, certain PlayStation Network and Qriocity service user account information was compromised in connection with an illegal and unauthorized intrusion into our network. In response to this intrusion, we have:

1. Temporarily turned off PlayStation Network and Qriocity services;
2. Engaged an outside, recognized security firm to conduct a full and complete investigation into what happened; and
3. Quickly taken steps to enhance security and strengthen our network infrastructure by re-building our system to provide you with greater protection of your personal information.

We greatly appreciate your patience, understanding and goodwill as we do whatever it takes to resolve these issues as quickly and efficiently as practicable.

Although we are still investigating the details of this incident, we believe that an unauthorized person has obtained the following information that you provided: name, address (city, state, zip), country, email address, birthdate, PlayStation Network/Qriocity password and login, and handle/PSN online ID. It is also possible that your profile data, including purchase history and billing address (city, state, zip), and your PlayStation Network/Qriocity password security answers may have been obtained. If you have authorized a sub-account for your dependent, the same data with respect to your dependent may have been obtained. While there is no evidence at this time that credit card data was taken, we cannot rule out the possibility. If you have provided your credit card data through PlayStation Network or Qriocity, out of an abundance of caution we are advising you that your credit card number (excluding security code) and expiration date may have been obtained.

For your security, we encourage you to be especially aware of email, telephone, and postal mail scams that ask for personal or sensitive information. Sony will not contact you in any way, including by email, asking for your credit card number, social security number or other personally identifiable information. If you are asked for this information, you can be confident Sony is not the entity asking. When the PlayStation Network and Qriocity services are fully restored, we strongly recommend that you log on and change your password. Additionally, if you use your PlayStation Network or Qriocity user name or password for other unrelated services or accounts, we strongly recommend that you change them, as well.

To protect against possible identity theft or other financial loss, we encourage you to remain vigilant, to review your account statements and to monitor your credit reports. We are providing the following information for those who wish to consider it:

U.S. residents are entitled under U.S. law to one free credit report annually from each of the three major credit bureaus. To order your free credit report, visit www.annualcreditreport.com or call toll-free (877) 322-8228.

We have also provided names and contact information for the three major U.S. credit bureaus below. At no charge, U.S. residents can have these credit bureaus place a “fraud alert” on your file that alerts creditors to take additional steps to verify your identity prior to granting credit in your name. This service can make it more difficult for someone to get credit in your name. Note, however, that because it tells creditors to follow certain procedures to protect you, it also may delay your ability to obtain credit while the agency verifies your identity. As soon as one credit bureau confirms your fraud alert, the others are notified to place fraud alerts on your file. Should you wish to place a fraud alert, or should you have any questions regarding your credit report, please contact any one of the agencies listed below.

Experian: 888-397-3742; www.experian.com; P.O. Box 9532, Allen, TX 75013
Equifax: 800-525-6285; www.equifax.com; P.O. Box 740241, Atlanta, GA 30374-0241
TransUnion: 800-680-7289; www.transunion.com; Fraud Victim Assistance Division, P.O. Box 6790, Fullerton, CA 92834-6790

You may wish to visit the web site of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission at www.consumer.gov/idtheft or reach the FTC at 1-877-382-4357 or 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20580 for further information about how to protect yourself from identity theft. Your state Attorney General may also have advice on preventing identity theft, and you should report instances of known or suspected identity theft to law enforcement, your State Attorney General, and the FTC. For North Carolina residents, the Attorney General can be contacted at 9001 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-9001; telephone (877) 566-7226; or www.ncdoj.gov. For Maryland residents, the Attorney General can be contacted at 200 St. Paul Place, 16th Floor, Baltimore, MD 21202; telephone: (888) 743-0023; or www.oag.state.md.us.

We thank you for your patience as we complete our investigation of this incident, and we regret any inconvenience. Our teams are working around the clock on this, and services will be restored as soon as possible. Sony takes information protection very seriously and will continue to work to ensure that additional measures are taken to protect personally identifiable information. Providing quality and secure entertainment services to our customers is our utmost priority. Please contact us at 1-800-345-7669 should you have any additional questions.

Sincerely,
Sony Computer Entertainment and Sony Network Entertainment

26th of April 2011
SKFU releases information that tells us how insecure PSN is, you can read more on that here:
http://www.ps3hax.net/2011/04/psn-hack-information-by-skfu/

27th of April 2011
It didn’t take long for a lawsuit to arise from the PSN situation:

KRISTOPHER JOHNS, on Behalf of Himself and for the Benefit of All with the Common or General Interest, Any Persons Injured, and All Others Similarly Situated,
vs.
SONY COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT AMERICA LLC, a Delaware Limited Liability Company; SONY NETWORK ENTERTAINMENT INTERNATIONAL LLC, a Delaware Limited Liability Company,

Plaintiff KRISTOPHER JOHNS (“JOHNS” or “Plaintiff,”) brings this action against SONY COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT AMERICA LLC (“SCEA”) and SONY NETWORK ENTERTAINMENT INTERNATIONAL LLC (“SNEI”) (collectively, “SONY” or “Defendant”), on behalf of himself, all others similarly situated and the general public, and alleges upon information and belief, except as to his own actions, the investigation of his counsel, which included, inter alia, review and analysis of Defendant’s press releases, Defendant’s websites, web forums, and various news articles, as follows:
OVERVIEW
1. This action is brought on behalf of plaintiff individually, as representative of the common or general interest and as class representatives for all others similarly situated nationwide against SONY to redress defendant’s breach of warranty, negligent data security, violations of consumers’ rights of privacy, failure to protect those rights, and failure and on-going refusal to timely inform consumers of unauthorized third party access to their credit card account and other nonpublic and private financial information

29th of April 2011
Robo Hobo releases PrBoom, a port of Doom for the PS3.

29th of April 2011
Kazuo Hirai, Chairman of SCEA, receives a letter from a sub committee of the United States House Of Representatives, they want questions about the PSN problem, you can read the full letter here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?d63zkdfozqgcqh6

1st of May 2011
Sony hold a press conference regarding the PSN outage:

SOME PLAYSTATION®NETWORK AND QRIOCITY™ SERVICES TO BE AVAILABLE THIS WEEK
Phased Global Rollout of Services to Begin Regionally;
System Security Enhanced to Provide Greater Protection of Personal Information

Tokyo, May 1, 2011 – Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) and Sony Network Entertainment International (SNEI, the company) announced they will shortly begin a phased restoration by region of PlayStation®Network and Qriocity™ services, beginning with gaming, music and video services to be turned on. The company also announced both a series of immediate steps to enhance security across the network and a new customer appreciation program to thank its customers for their patience and loyalty.

Following a criminal cyber-attack on the company’s data-center located in San Diego, California, U.S.A., SNEI quickly turned off the PlayStation Network and Qriocity services, engaged multiple expert information security firms over the course of several days and conducted an extensive audit of the system. Since then, the company has implemented a variety of new security measures to provide greater protection of personal information. SNEI and its third-party experts have conducted extensive tests to verify the security strength of the PlayStation Network and Qriocity services. With these measures in place, SCE and SNEI plan to start a phased rollout by region of the services shortly. The initial phase of the rollout will include, but is not limited to, the following:

• Restoration of Online game-play across the PlayStation®3 (PS3) and PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) systems-This includes titles requiring online verification and downloaded games
• Access to Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity for PS3/PSP for existing subscribers
• Access to account management and password reset
• Access to download un-expired Movie Rentals on PS3, PSP and MediaGo
• PlayStation®Home
• Friends List
• Chat Functionality

Working closely with several outside security firms, the company has implemented significant security measures to further detect unauthorized activity and provide consumers with greater protection of their personal information. The company is also creating the position of Chief Information Security Officer, directly reporting to Shinji Hasejima, Chief Information Officer of Sony Corporation, to add a new position of expertise in and accountability for customer data protection and supplement existing information security personnel. The new security measures implemented include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Added automated software monitoring and configuration management to help defend against new attacks
• Enhanced levels of data protection and encryption
• Enhanced ability to detect software intrusions within the network, unauthorized access and unusual activity patterns
• Implementation of additional firewalls

The company also expedited an already planned move of the system to a new data center in a different location that has been under construction and development for several months. In addition, PS3 will have a forced system software update that will require all registered PlayStation Network users to change their account passwords before being able to sign into the service. As an added layer of security, that password can only be changed on the same PS3 in which that account was activated, or through validated email confirmation, a critical step to help further protect customer data.

The company is conducting a thorough and on-going investigation and working with law enforcement to track down and prosecute those responsible for the illegal intrusion.

“This criminal act against our network had a significant impact not only on our consumers, but our entire industry. These illegal attacks obviously highlight the widespread problem with cyber-security. We take the security of our consumers’ information very seriously and are committed to helping our consumers protect their personal data. In addition, the organization has worked around the clock to bring these services back online, and are doing so only after we had verified increased levels of security across our networks,” said Kazuo Hirai, Executive Deputy President, Sony Corporation. “Our global audience of PlayStation Network and Qriocity consumers was disrupted. We have learned lessons along the way about the valued relationship with our consumers, and to that end, we will be launching a customer appreciation program for registered consumers as a way of expressing our gratitude for their loyalty during this network downtime, as we work even harder to restore and regain their trust in us and our services.”

Complimentary Offering and “Welcome Back” Appreciation Program
While there is no evidence at this time that credit card data was taken, the company is committed to helping its customers protect their personal data and will provide a complimentary offering to assist users in enrolling in identity theft protection services and/or similar programs. The implementation will be at a local level and further details will be made available shortly in each region.

The company will also rollout the PlayStation Network and Qriocity “Welcome Back” program, to be offered worldwide, which will be tailored to specific markets to provide our consumers with a selection of service options and premium content as an expression of the company’s appreciation for their patience, support and continued loyalty.

Central components of the “Welcome Back” program will include:

• Each territory will be offering selected PlayStation entertainment content for free download. Specific details of this content will be announced in each region soon.
• All existing PlayStation Network customers will be provided with 30 days free membership in the PlayStation Plus premium service. Current members of PlayStation Plus will receive 30 days free service.
• Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity subscribers (in countries where the service is available) will receive 30 days free service.

Additional “Welcome Back” entertainment and service offerings will be rolled out over the coming weeks as the company returns the PlayStation Network and Qriocity services to the quality standard users have grown to enjoy and strive to exceed those exceptions.

SNEI will continue to reinforce and verify security for transactions before resuming the PlayStation®Store and other Qriocity operations, scheduled for this month.

2nd of May 2011
ThatOtherDev releases a homebrew game called Goodbye World.

2nd of May 2011
News emerges that SOE(Sony Online Entertainment) has been hacked, Sony beleive that it is related and happened around the same time as the PSN hack:

Dear Valued Sony Online Entertainment Customer:
Our ongoing investigation of illegal intrusions into Sony Online Entertainment systems has discovered that hackers may have obtained personal customer information from SOE systems. We are today advising you that the personal information you provided us in connection with your SOE account may have been stolen in a cyber-attack. Stolen information includes, to the extent you provided it to us, the following: name, address (city, state, zip, country), email address, gender, birthdate, phone number, login name and hashed password.

Customers outside the United States should be advised that we further discovered evidence that information from an outdated database from 2007 containing approximately 12,700 non-US customer credit or debit card numbers and expiration dates (but not credit card security codes) and about 10,700 direct debit records listing bank account numbers of certain customers in Germany, Austria, Netherlands and Spain may have also been obtained. We will be notifying each of those customers promptly.

There is no evidence that our main credit card database was compromised. It is in a completely separate and secured environment.

We had previously believed that SOE customer data had not been obtained in the cyber-attacks on the company, but on May 1st we concluded that SOE account information may have been stolen and we are notifying you as soon as possible.

We apologize for the inconvenience caused by the attack and as a result, we have:

1) Temporarily turned off all SOE game services;

2) Engaged an outside, recognized security firm to conduct a full and complete investigation into what happened; and

3) Quickly taken steps to enhance security and strengthen our network infrastructure to provide you with greater protection of your personal information.

We greatly appreciate your patience, understanding and goodwill as we do whatever it takes to resolve these issues as quickly and efficiently as practicable.

For your security, we encourage you to be especially aware of email, telephone, and postal mail scams that ask for personal or sensitive information. Sony will not contact you in any way, including by email, asking for your credit card number, social security number or other personally identifiable information. If you are asked for this information, you can be confident Sony is not the entity asking. When SOE’s services are fully restored, we strongly recommend that you log on and change your password. Additionally, if you use your Station or SOE game account name or password for other unrelated services or accounts, we strongly recommend that you change them, as well.

To protect against possible identity theft or other financial loss, we encourage you to remain vigilant, to review your account statements and to monitor your credit reports. We are providing the following information for those who wish to consider it:

U.S. residents are entitled under U.S. law to one free credit report annually from each of the three major credit bureaus. To order your free credit report, visit www.annualcreditreport.com or call toll-free (877) 322-8228.

We have also provided names and contact information for the three major U.S. credit bureaus below. At no charge, U.S. residents can have these credit bureaus place a “fraud alert” on your file that alerts creditors to take additional steps to verify your identity prior to granting credit in your name. This service can make it more difficult for someone to get credit in your name. Note, however, that because it tells creditors to follow certain procedures to protect you, it also may delay your ability to obtain credit while the agency verifies your identity. As soon as one credit bureau confirms your fraud alert, the others are notified to place fraud alerts on your file. Should you wish to place a fraud alert, or should you have any questions regarding your credit report, please contact any one of the agencies listed below.

Experian: 888-397-3742; www.experian.com; P.O. Box 9532, Allen, TX 75013
Equifax: 800-525-6285; www.equifax.com; P.O. Box 740241, Atlanta, GA 30374-0241
TransUnion: 800-680-7289; www.transunion.com; Fraud Victim Assistance Division, P.O. Box 6790, Fullerton, CA 92834-6790

You may wish to visit the web site of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission at www.consumer.gov/idtheft or reach the FTC at 1-877-382-4357 or 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20580 for further information about how to protect yourself from identity theft. Your state Attorney General may also have advice on preventing identity theft, and you should report instances of known or suspected identity theft to law enforcement, your State Attorney General, and the FTC. For North Carolina residents, the Attorney General can be contacted at 9001 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-9001; telephone (877) 566-7226; or www.ncdoj.gov. For Maryland residents, the Attorney General can be contacted at 200 St. Paul Place, 16th Floor, Baltimore, MD 21202; telephone: (888) 743-0023; or www.oag.state.md.us.

We are committed to helping our customers protect their personal data and we will provide a complimentary offering to assist users in enrolling in identity theft protection services and/or similar programs. The implementation will be at a local level and further details will be made available shortly in regions in which such programs are commonly utilized.

We thank you for your patience as we complete our investigation of this incident, and we regret any inconvenience. Our teams are working around the clock on this, and services will be restored as soon as possible. Sony takes information protection very seriously and will continue to work to ensure that additional measures are taken to protect personally identifiable information. Providing quality and secure entertainment services to our customers is our utmost priority. Please contact us at 1 (866) 436-6698 should you have any additional questions.
Sincerely,

Sony Online Entertainment LLC

2rd of May 2011
News emerges that a Canadian PSN user, is suing Sony on behalf of her self and Canada, she is looking for damages in excess of $1 billion, and two years of fraud insurance coverage:

Toronto – May 2, 2011
For Immediate Release
Canadian Sony PlayStation Network Class Action
Sony has announced that personal information for 77 million PlayStation and Qriocity users
worldwide, 1 million of which are in Canada, has been hacked. It has been alleged that Sony
was aware that such information had been stolen but failed to advise users of PlayStation and
Quriocity in a timely fashion. Sony has acknowledged that stolen information may include
users’ names, addresses (city, province, postal code), country, email address, birthdate,
PlayStation Network/Qriocity password and login, and handle/PSN online ID and user profile
data, including purchase and usage history and billing address (city, province, postal code), and
the subscriber’s PlayStation Network/Qriocity password security answers. The same data with
respect to a dependent may also have been obtained.
Sony is not able to say whether user credit card or debit card information was also taken.
Sony has acknowledged and apologized for breach. To date, the only compensation Sony has
offered is 30 or 60 day free memberships on its PlayStation network.
While Sony has advised American users about the availability of free credit reports, it has yet to
advice Canadian users about credit reports.

The Toronto law firm McPhadden Samac Tuovi LLP has commenced a proposed class action
against Sony Japan, Sony USA, Sony Canada and other Sony entities (“Sony”) for the breach of
privacy. The lawsuit claims damages in excess of $1 billion, which includes having Sony pay
the costs of credit monitoring services and fraud insurance coverage for two years.
The plaintiff in the action is 21 year old Mississauga resident who has been an avid PlayStation
user for years. Natasha Maksimovic said: “If you can’t trust a huge multi-national corporation
like Sony to protect your private information, who can you trust. It appears to me that Sony
focuses more on protecting its games than its PlayStation users.”

4th of May 2011
Kazuo Hirai replies to the questions asked by the The U.S. House Of Representatives sub committee, Anonymous are implicated:

Today, the Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce held a hearing in Washington, DC on “The Threat of Data Theft to American Consumers.”

Kazuo Hirai, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Sony Computer Entertainment America, submitted written answers to questions posed by the subcommittee about the large-scale, criminal cyber-attack we have experienced. We wanted to share those answers with you.

In summary, we told the subcommittee that in dealing with this cyber attack we followed four key principles:

Act with care and caution.
Provide relevant information to the public when it has been verified.
Take responsibility for our obligations to our customers.
Work with law enforcement authorities.

We also informed the subcommittee of the following:

Sony has been the victim of a very carefully planned, very professional, highly sophisticated criminal cyber attack.
We discovered that the intruders had planted a file on one of our Sony Online Entertainment servers named “Anonymous” with the words “We are Legion.”
By April 25, forensic teams were able to confirm the scope of the personal data they believed had been taken, and could not rule out whether credit card information had been accessed. On April 26, we notified customers of those facts.
As of today, the major credit card companies have not reported any fraudulent transactions that they believe are the direct result of this cyber attack.
Protecting individuals’ personal data is the highestpriority and ensuring that the Internet can be made secure for commerce is also essential. Worldwide, countries and businesses will have to come together to ensure the safety of commerce over the Internet and find ways to combat cybercrime and cyber terrorism.
We are taking a number of steps to prevent future breaches, including enhanced levels of data protection and encryption; enhanced ability to detect software intrusions, unauthorized access and unusual activity patterns; additional firewalls; establishment of a new data center in an undisclosed location with increased security; and the naming of a new Chief Information Security Officer.

We told the subcommittee about our intent to offer complimentary identity theft protection to U.S. account holders and detailed the “Welcome Back” program that includes free downloads, 30 days of free membership in the
PlayStation Plus premium subscription service; 30 days of free service for Music Unlimited subscribers; and extending PlayStation Plus and Music Unlimited subscriptions for the number of days services were unavailable.

We are working around the clock to have some PlayStation Network services restored and we’ll be providing specific details shortly. We hope this update is helpful to you, and we will continue to keep you posted as we work to restore our network and provide you with both the entertainment and the security you deserve.

The letter can be read here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?8y3x0gkqaoyj7df

4th of May 2011
Anonymous respond to accusations that they are involved in the PSN breach:

5th of May 2011
The The U.S. House Of Representatives sub committee are in court to discuss the PSN breach, Sony were invited, they failed to show, here is a quote from the chairwoman:

In recent years, sophisticated and carefully orchestrated cyber attacks – designed to obtain
personal information about consumers, especially when it comes to their credit cards – have
become one of the fastest growing criminal enterprises here in the United States and across the
world. The boldness of these attacks and the threat they present to unsuspecting Americans was
underscored recently by massive data breaches at Epsilon and Sony.

With 77 million accounts stolen – including some 10 million credit card numbers – the data
breach involving Sony’s PlayStation Network has the potential to become the “Great Brink’s
Robbery” of cyber attacks. And the “take” keeps going up.
While the FBI and Secret Service, along with other law enforcement agencies, work around the
clock to try and crack this sensational case, we now learn that a second Sony online service was
also compromised during the same time period. Computer hackers obtained access to personal
information relating to an additional 25 million customer accounts. That’s more than 100
million accounts now in jeopardy.

Like their customers, both Sony and Epsilon are victims, too. But they also must shoulder some
of the blame for these stunning thefts, which shake the confidence of everyone who types in a
credit card number and hits “enter.” E-commerce is a vital and growing part of our economy.
We should take steps to embrace and protect it – and that starts with robust cyber security.

As Chairman of this Subcommittee, I am deeply troubled by these latest data breaches, and the
decision by both Epsilon and Sony not to testify today. This is unacceptable.

5th of May 2011
Sir Howard Stringer, CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America, wrote a letter to all PSN users that was published on the PS Blog:

Dear Friends,

I know this has been a frustrating time for all of you.

Let me assure you that the resources of this company have been focused on investigating the entire nature and impact of the cyber-attack we’ve all experienced and on fixing it. We are absolutely dedicated to restoring full and safe service as soon as possible and rewarding you for your patience. We will settle for nothing less.

To date, there is no confirmed evidence any credit card or personal information has been misused, and we continue to monitor the situation closely. We are also moving ahead with plans to help protect our customers from identity theft around the world. A program for U.S. PlayStation Network and Qriocity customers that includes a $1 million identity theft insurance policy per user was launched earlier today and announcements for other regions will be coming soon.

As we have announced, we will be offering a “Welcome Back” package to our customers once our PlayStation Network and Qriocity services are up and running. This will include, among other benefits, a month of free PlayStation Plus membership for all PSN customers, as well as an extension of subscriptions for PlayStation Plus and Music Unlimited customers to make up for time lost.

As a company we — and I — apologize for the inconvenience and concern caused by this attack. Under the leadership of Kazuo Hirai, we have teams working around the clock and around the world to restore your access to those services as quickly, and as safely, as possible.

I know some believe we should have notified our customers earlier than we did. It’s a fair question. As soon as we discovered the potential scope of the intrusion, we shut down the PlayStation Network and Qriocity services and hired some of the best technical experts in the field to determine what happened. I wish we could have gotten the answers we needed sooner, but forensic analysis is a complex, time-consuming process. Hackers, after all, do their best to cover their tracks, and it took some time for our experts to find those tracks and begin to identify what personal information had — or had not — been taken.

As a result of what we discovered we notified you of the breach. Our investigation is ongoing, and we are upgrading our security so that if attacks like this happen again, our defenses will be even stronger.

In the last few months, Sony has faced a terrible earthquake and tsunami in Japan. But now we are facing a very man-made event – a criminal attack on us — and on you — and we are working with the FBI and other law enforcement agencies around the world to apprehend those responsible.

In the coming days, we will restore service to the networks and welcome you back to the fun. I wanted to personally reach out and let you know that we are committed to serving you to the very best of our ability, protecting your information better than ever, and getting you back to what you signed up for – all the games and great entertainment experiences that you expect from Sony.

With best regards,
Howard Stringer

11th of May 2011
News emerges that a former U.S. Navy F-18 Fighter Pilot, is suing Sony, Bethesda and Zenimax, claiming that the game Elder Scrolls Oblivion, caused him to have a seizure, which resulted in him losing his job:

SAN DIEGO (CN) – A former Navy pilot claims the video game “Oblivion: The Elder Scrolls IV” gave him a grand mal seizure that caused him to lose his flight status. John Ryan McLaughlin says he was playing the game when its strobe lights gave him “a grand mal seizure for the first time in his life,” causing excruciating pain and breaking a bone.
McLaughlin, a former F-18 pilot, says the seizures caused him to permanently lose his flying status.
The game is made by lead defendant Bethesda Softworks, of Rockville Md. McLaughlin also sued its corporate parent, Zenimax Media, and Sony Computer Entertainment, which makes the Playstation 3 system on which he was playing the game when he was affected, on March 28, 2010.
McLaughlin says the seizures were caused by the defective product: “The product was so designed that it exceeded the upper acceptable limit of more than 3 flashes over a 1 second period, as well as acceptable spatial pattern and luminance flash limits. These risks were not made known to the plaintiff and/or an ordinary consumer prior to the time of purchase.”
He says, “The defective and dangerous condition of the product, and that it was unsafe for the use and purpose for which it was intended when used by certain consumers as recommended, was expected and reasonably anticipated by the defendants, and each of them, or in the exercise of ordinary and reasonable care should have been known and discovered by defendants, and each of them.”
He seeks punitive and damages for negligence, breach of warranty, and product liability. He is represented by Dennis Minna of Santa Ana.
Similar problems were reported in Japan in 1997, when fast, repetitive strobelike effects in the “Pokemon” cartoon series were blamed for sending hundreds of children to hospitals with seizures and seizure symptoms.

11th of May 2011
A Dual Boot CFW is released, that lets us boot between GameOS and OtherOS, this would also reveal a site dedicated to OtherOS, the site is called http://gitbrew.org read more here:
http://www.ps3hax.net/2011/05/ps3-dual-boot-gameoslinux-cfw/

14th of May 2011
Bloomberg reports that a hired Amazon Cloud Server was responsible for PSN being hacked.

14th of May 2011
Sony release firmware 3.61 in preparation of bringing PSN back.

15th of May 2011
Sony starts phasing PSN back in, read more about it here:
http://www.ps3hax.net/2011/05/psn-phased-restoration-begins-today/

16th of May 2011
SCEA reveal their “Welcome Back” package, this is to say sorry for their terrible mistake.

PS3 users, 2 of the following games which can be kept forever:

• Dead Nation

• inFAMOUS

• LittleBigPlanet

• Super Stardust HD

• Wipeout HD + Fury

PSP folks you get 2 of the following:

• LittleBigPlanet (PSP)

• ModNation Racers

• Pursuit Force

• Killzone Liberation

Everyone who was a PSN user before the service went down, will also receive 30 days free PSN Plus(PSN+), those already on PSN+ will receive 60 days.

17th of May 2011
Mary Bono Mack, chairwoman for a US House Of Representatives Sub Committee, who had sent Kazuo Hirai a letter asking him to explain the problems with PSN, decided she was not happy with the response, so decided to send him yet another letter, you can if you are interested, download the letter in PDF format here:
5-17-11_Letter_to_Sony

18th of May 2011
The Rebug CFW guys(CyberSkunk and evilsperm) release two very useful tools, to be used in conjunction with gitbrew.orgs’s OtherOS, they are “Boot OtherOS” and “OtherOS Prep Tool”, here is a little quote from the read me on the prep tool:

OtherOS Prep Tool is used to prepare your system vflash and install petitboot ready to install Linux. IT DOES NOT INSTALL LINUX. For tutorials and videos on how to install Linux head over to gitbrew.org. OtherOS Prep Tool is based off of graf_chokolo’s and glevand’s source and is a one or two step solution to getting petitboot up and running and on your way to installing Linux on to USB or PS3 Hard Disk. At the moment it only supports 3.55 but we will add support for lower firmware soon.

18th of May 2011
Sony’s President and CEO, Sir Howard Stringer, hits back at critics, of their handling of the PSN fiasco, he believes they were fast informing PSN users about the problems, stating:

Most of these breaches go unreported by companies. Forty-three percent (of companies) notify victims within a month. We reported in a week. You’re telling me my week wasn’t fast enough?

Read more about it here.

18th of May 2011
Hot on the heels of Sir Howard Stringer’s speech on the PSN fiasco, comes a new exploit affecting the login/password process on the Playstation websites, you can read about it here.

22nd of May 2011
PS3 Dev Robo Hobo releases a PS3 port of the ZX Spectrum emulator, Fuse.

22nd of May 2011
Developer KaKaRoTo releases The Humble Homebrew Collection, which is a port of Simon Tatham’s Portagle Puzzle Collection, here is a quote from the KaKaRoTo:

The Humble Homebrew Collection is an initiative that aims to convince Sony to provide us with a legitimate and official way to create homebrew applications for the consoles that we own.

We are providing you with a free homebrew game that aims to be polished and look professionally made which includes 33 very good and addictive puzzle games. We’ve tried to make this homebrew games collection as good as possible so that even the anti-homebrew purists will be jealous of it.

Homebrew does not equal piracy, and this is proof of it. These games are all free and are released under the MIT license.

You are free to download these games for the platform of your choice, whether it’s on a jailbroken PS3, Linux, Windows, Mac or Android.

This Homebrew game collection is a port of Simon Tatham’s Portagle Puzzle Collection to the Playstation 3 system and it includes 33 puzzle games. More games are being written and this collection will only increase with time.

This is one of the first homebrew games that are released on the PS3 which are above the “proof of concept” status and is not yet another backup manager, FTP server or a port of an existing emulator.

This homebrew game is still in active development and will continue to receive regular updates. The TODO list has many items on it and it will continue to improve for your enjoyment.

The main purpose of this website it to serve as a petition against Sony’s unjust behavior towards their customers. You are encouraged to sign the petition, donate to the developers or you can simply download the games. The choice is yours.

If you wish to do so, you may also donate to the developers of this homebrew application, as well as to the EFF, which helps defend our rights in this digital age.

It is time to vote with your money, boycott Sony, request your legal homebrew and request your freedom and let them know that they have much to gain by giving us access to the homebrew that we deserve.

Let Sony know that, as a customer, you want homebrew games, you want to see the real purpose of the Copyright Law used properly: To encourage creativity and innovation. Let them know that, as a customer, you are willing to pay for quality homebrew and that if they wanted to, they can get a share of that money. After all, all they care about is money!

Thank you

To download the collection and sign the petition, visit the official site here.

24th of May 2011
The guys at Gitbrew manage to get Dualboot working on 256MB Nand PS3′s.

25th of May 2011
A PS3HaX.net member baileyscream posted a tutorial he had written, on how to install two extra USB ports, to the rear of the PS3, to view that tutorial, check here.

27th of May 2011
PS3HaX.net Admin Pirate, finishes his second portable PS3, this version is water cooled, here are some specs.

• Water cooled with easy accessible reservoir

• HD: 720p/1080i screen (via HDMI)

• 4x USB

• 500 gb HDD

• External PSU

• Built in keyboard

• Built in speakers with volume controls with 2.5mm headphone jack.

• The stock PS3 was a 40gb SKU (there was no PS3 slim when I started the project).

• Dimensions are 16.75”x13”x2.5” (16.75”x13”x3.5”with lid closed)

• Weighs ~15lbs

28th of May 2011
Kazuo Hirai, responds to Mary Bono Macks second letter(Check 17th May 2011), to read it, download:
KazMac

31st of May 2011
Sony post a press release, stating that PSN will return, later in the week, here is a quote from the press release:

This press release just hit the wire – PlayStation Store and related services (like voucher redemption) back this week:

SONY AND SONY COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT ANNOUNCE FULL RESTORATION OF PLAYSTATION®NETWORK SERVICES

Tokyo, May 31, 2011 – Sony Corporation and Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) announced today that Sony Network Entertainment International (SNEI, the company) will fully restore all PlayStation®Network services in the Americas, Europe/PAL territories and Asia, excluding Japan, Hong Kong, and South Korea by the end of this week. The company will also resume Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity™ for PlayStation®3 (PS3®), PSP® (PlayStation®Portable), VAIO and other PCs. Details for Japan, Hong Kong, and South Korea as well as the remaining services on Qriocity will be announced as they become available.

The company implemented considerable security enhancements to the network infrastructure, as well as conducted testing of the payment process and commerce functions. The first phase of PlayStation Network and Qriocity restoration began on May 15 in the Americas and Europe/PAL territories, followed by Japan and Asian countries and regions on May 28, when the company brought partial services back online. With this partial restoration users were able to access to some of the services such as online game play, account management, friend lists and chat functionality were restored. The full restoration of PlayStation Network as well as part of services to become available on Qriocity will include:

• Full functionality on PlayStation®Store
• In-game commerce
• Ability to redeem vouchers and codes
• Full functionality on Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity for PS3, PSP, VAIO and
other PCs
• Full functionality on Media Go

Customers will be able to purchase and download games and video content from the PlayStation®Store on PS3 or PSP. In addition, consumers will have full access to Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity through PS3, PSP, VAIO and other PC’s. Service restoration of Video on Demand powered by Qriocity™ and Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity for a variety of network-enabled Sony devices will be announced later.

“We have been conducting additional testing and further security verification of our commerce functions in order to bring the PlayStation Network completely back online so that our fans can again enjoy the first class entertainment experience they have come to love,” said Kazuo Hirai, Executive Deputy President, Sony Corporation. “We appreciate the patience and support shown during this time.”

The company will be offering customers a “Welcome Back” package of services and premium content to all registered PlayStation Network* and Qriocity account services. The details of this program will continue to be detailed regionally.

* Only available for those countries with access to PlayStation®Store.

We will update the PlayStation Blog when the PlayStation Store is once again open for business.

1st of June 2011
PS3 Hardware Modder KillerBug introduces PS3 Hardware Mod Firmware, to read more about it, visit his site here.

2nd of June 2011
The PS Store returns, here is a quote from Sony:

The PlayStation Store is back online and thank you everyone for your patience. You will notice a huge lineup of new downloadable games, demos, add-on content, themes, avatars and videos. Also, PlayStation Plus has been updated with new full game trials, free games and DLC, free avatars and even more discounts.

You may have noticed that the content promised as part of the Welcome Back offer is not yet live. It is currently in the final stages of testing and will be available to download soon; we’ll be sure to let you know when.

The next PlayStation Store and PlayStation Plus update will be this Friday, June 3, and then we will roll right into some special publishes starting next week for E3 (so be sure to check back daily!).

In the meantime, check out all the new downloadable content on PlayStation Store(Check Source).

2nd of June 2011
PS3 Dev CrashSerious, releases a pre configured PSL1GHT Linux virtual machine, making it easier for people to get involved in creating homebrew for the PS3.

2nd of June 2011
PS3HaX member, mc_ releases a PS3 Homebrew game, the game FreeDroid Classic, is a port of the C64 game Paradroid.

3rd of June 2011
The PSN welcome back package is now live, though it starts of with problems.

3rd of June 2011
PS3HaX member and developer samson, releases WinDos3.1 beta, which is Windows 3.1, running on the PS3.

5th of June 2011
Killerbug releases a second version of his PS3 Hardware Mod Firmware.

6th of June 2011
D0zs releases an aplication which is aimed at letting the user create PKG’s for their PS3′s with ease, you can read about it here.

6th of June 2011
KaKaRoTo releases a port Free Heroes 2 for the PS3, he adds it as part of his PS3 Humble Homebrew Collection.

6th of June 2011
The guys at Gitbrew update OtherOS++ to work o n all PS3 models.

7th of June 2011
Sony release a Firmware update for the PS3, this is version 3.65 and is not mandatory.

7th of June 2011
zembor0 releases images and a video, of some awesome PS3 hardware mods he had been working on, check the thread here and the video:

10th of June 2011
Spanish police arrest several suspected hackers, who they believe are involved in the PSN hack, here is a quote from The New York Times.

The Spanish police said Friday that they had arrested three suspected computer hackers in connection with recent cyberattacks on Sony’s PlayStation network as well as corporate and government Web sites around the world.

In a statement, the police said that with the arrests, they had dismantled the local leadership of the shadowy international network of computer hackers, called Anonymous, that has claimed responsibility for a wide variety of attacks.

According to the statement, Anonymous is made up of people from various countries organized into cells that share common goals. The activists operate anonymously, but in a coordinated fashion.

One of the “hacktivist” detainees, the police said, had harbored a computer server in an apartment in the northern port city of Gijon, from which the group attacked the Web sites of the Sony PlayStation online gaming store.

It also was used in coordinated cyberattacks against two Spanish banks, BBVA and Bankia, the Italian energy company Enel, as well as government sites in Spain, Egypt, Algeria, Libya, Iran, Chile, Colombia and New Zealand, the police said.

The police provided little information about the suspects.

It was not immediately clear if the group had been the sole, or even the main, perpetrator of the recent attacks on Sony. About a dozen Sony Web sites and services around the world have been hacked, with the biggest breaches forcing the Tokyo-based company to shut down its popular PlayStation Network for a month beginning in April.

The company has acknowledged that hackers compromised personal data for tens of millions of user accounts. Earlier this month, a separate hacker collective called Lulz Security said it had breached a Sony Pictures site and released vital source codes.

10th of June 2011
Gitbrew update all their tutorials, regarding installation of Linux on PS3, with support for Fedora, Debian And Ubuntu.

10th of June 2011
Slynk’s releases a PS3 IDA Tutorial and information on NPDRM, read about it here.

12th of June 2011
samson releases a second version of WinDos 3.1, as well as some improvements, it also adds support for those Ps3 owners on firmware 3.41.

13th of June 2011
A developer by the name of bgK releases a test version of a ScummVM port he is working on, for the PS3.

15th of June 2011
Debug versions of Sonys 3.50/3.60 PS3 firmware are leaked.

15th of June 2011
Multi console developer Scognito releases his homebrew game Scogger on PS3, you can read about it here and grab it here.

17th of June 2011
The guys at Gitbrew release a Cluster Computing app for the PS3 called OpenCLit, read about it here.

17th of June 2011
graf_chokolo reports on his blog, that he may face prison time as he is unable to pay court fee’s in his fight against Sony, here is a quote of what he said:

Hi guys, no money left anymore. Going to jail soon probably because i cannot pay court costs.
But i’m ready to stand up for everything i said and go to jail for that too. It’s not important to win, more important is to show them that we are ready to fight, that they cannot scare me off easily. Yeah, i’m ready to go to jail for my believes and my principles.
Most of people probably think that all computer and kernel hackers are weak kids, hiding in a cellar, eating pizza whole day, writing software and looking for attention Maybe, but that’s NOT me. And i will get out eventually and continue my work. My work means very much to me.

18th of June 2011
Robo Hobo releases a preview version of Mame for the PS3, one of the Emulators many people were looking forward to.

19th of June 2011
News emerges that the Cobra Jailbreak dongle, will also support PS2 ISO’s.

20th of June 2011
Sony reports that it is working on a new PS3 SKU.

20th of June 2011
Spanish developer jaicrab posts information on his blog, regarding a new CFW he is working on, he also posts what appear to be the keys of the Cobra Jailbreak dongle.

21st of June 2011
Emulator developer SquarePusher2, releases the QA Flag button combo:
L2 + L1 + R1 + R2 + L3 + D-pad Down

22nd of June 2011
Slynk releases a tutorial on how to QA flag your PS3, read that tutorial on his blog here.

22nd of June 2011
Sony release a new PS3 firmware, version 3.66.

23rd of June 2011
News emerges of a new Class Action Law Suit against Sony/SCEA, this is due to the PSN hack.

24th of June 2011
jaicrab release dumps of the Cobra Jailbreak dongle.

24th of June 2011
The guys at Gitbrew release QA Flagging Tools, read about it here.

26th of June 2011
The guys at Gitbrew, post information on how to downgrade your PS3, read the tutorial here.

28th of June 2011
Spanish developer dospiedras1973, releases a method he had been working of for two months, on how to downgrade from 3.6 PS3 firmware and how to fix those consoles bricked by Waninkoko’s CFW, read about it here.

2nd of July 2011
The Gitbrew guys via Twitter, state that they have managed to dump the PS3 Bootloader.

2nd of July 2011
PS3HaX member Varaques releases her own version of 3.55 CFW, thanks to the awesome MFW tools.

2nd of July 2011
The Rebug guys release a new version of their popular hybrid CFW, you can read about it and download it here.
Here is a quote from the changelog:

UPDATED – Rebug Selector 1.5

UPDATED – 3.66 Version Spoofer files

UPDATED – Package Manager file path tweaks

ADDED – LV1: Peek and Poke support (gitbrew.org)

ADDED – LV2: Peek and Poke support for LV1 (3.55.2 ONLY) (gitbrew.org)

ADDED – LV2: LV1 CALL System call (3.55.2 ONLY) (gitbrew.org)

FIXED – Black Screen issue on certain PS3 titles
(Uncharted 2 and some other games would not load from Disc or HDD)

FIXED – MINIS Black Screen issue

FIXED – QA Token compatibility

FEATURE – NO Button Combo QA Menu when in DEBUG XMB
(?Debug Settings – Menu 1. Requires QA Token for some features)

FEATURE – Fake Save Data Owner
(Use Game Saves from ANY Owner)

FEATURE – Lock/Unlock Trophies

FEATURE – Cinavia protection disabled

FEATURE – Debug for HDD Exchange Utility
(Clone your HDD straight to USB HDD, NO QA Token needed)

4th of July 2011
KillerBug release a video of his new PS3 LED mod:

Check his site out here for more information.

7th of July 2011
Debug PS3 Firmware 3.66 is leaked.

8th of July 2011
jaicrab releases a video preview of his upcoming CFW:

11th of July 2011
Developer Matercrack, releases a tool, that lets you mess around with the dev_flash files, you can read about it here.

13th of July 2011
PS3Crunch reports of a new new Hardware Flasher for the PS3, is being worked on, this device, which is being called PROGSKEET, enables you to Flash or Dump your PS3, it also lets you downgrade from PS3 firmware 3.56.


Here is a quote from uf6667 the devloper who creates the software for this product:

alright let me give you some more details about it:

- 1MB/s sustained speed (vs. 50kB/s on infectus) – example : read 256 MB NAND in 1/20th time of infectus requires
- can read/write NOR flash up to a VERY big capacity (that doesn’t even exist) – infectus can only write up to 256kB – teensy++ has no writing capability atm (iirc) – might be supported by the software, not sure if it can match its speed though
- EVERY KIND OF NOR/NAND FLASH SUPPORTED – infectus doesn’t, teensy++ needs special firmwares for every single one
you won’t even need ME to update the software, semi-skilled people just read datasheets and adapt the configuration file
(regular nand/nor flashes included in PS3, 360, Wii, etc. are already in there, but say you’re using this for car tuning, you’re gonna need to adapt the config)

I know the hardware well but HAVE NOT DEVELOPED IT – I only made the software for it so if you have a problem with that, you just get at me (don’t flood please, thanks )

so: cancel infectus order, be patient for at least 3 more days, you won’t regret it

13th of July 2011
PS3HaX moderator BobbyBlunt, releases his version of 3.55 CFW, it is created with PS3HaX members in mind and has PS3HaX moderator Annelies, dynamic PS3HaX theme built in, to read more about it, visit here.

14th of July 2011
The official PROGSKEET website is opened, it details PROGSKEET specifications:

SOME KIND OF DEVICES SUPPORTED:
XBOX360 ALL NAND SUPPORT (ALL MODELS)
PS3 ALL NAND AND NOR FLASHES SUPPORT (ALL MODELS)
WII NAND CONSOLE (ALL MODELS)
PSP NAND CONSOLE (ALL MODELS)
ANY NAND OR NOR (CAR MARKET, HANDY PHONES etc, just send us a sample of the NAND and we can add in 1 hour the support to read and write it FOR FREE!)
TRANSFER SPEED: 1MB/sec (ex. about 16 sec. to read or write a whole PS3 Slim NOR flash)

To read more, visit the site here.

16th of July 2011
Developer No_one releases information on the developments of his PS3 NOR Manager, here is a quote from the developer:

I believe knowledge and information wants to be free.
This is why I consider that this project is open-hardware and will be open-source !

Learn what you can and help contribute to making the PS3 scene a better place.
Released by No_One.

PS: This the dynamic switch between the 2 NOR that will probably lead to 3.6x+ keys decryption/CFW but also to a TRUE dual firmware management
PPS: No other hardware (Infectus, Progskeet…) can manage what PNM do.
It is quite different than these products. Functions in PNM will be much more advanced.
Again, everything will be FREE in some weeks !!!

Read about it here.

17th of July 2011
Samson releases his final version of WinDos 3.1, you can grab it here.

19th of July 2011
jaicrab releases more information releasing his CFW, it has the Cobra jailbreak dongle payload implimented, we also find out, that this will not be a CFW for 3.55 users, only those on 3.41, here is a quote from their progress:

PERCENT OF VARIOUS SECTIONS

- Core central 100%
- Payload Cobra 60%
- Linux 95%
- Preloader 90%
- Categorias xmb 95%
- Manager TheGrid 25%
- TheGrid 100%
- Services Packs 0%
- OpenPStore 50%

-Return of the online (running)
-Update of keys (working)
-Spoof Version
-Disable devices
-Mounted units, several readers virtual
-Plugins level conbinacion buttons on the six
-Modification speedfun speed
-Multiloader (operating)
Dumper full-ram (running)
PSN-games license generator (operating)
-Hacked signature verification token QA (running)
-Reboot
-PSN access sysversion check “no spoof nor certs” (running)
Check-patching the original disks (operating)
-Activation of the 8th SPU
-Etc

Compatibility with games and applications using a DH-JFW 341v2 core, this does not mean not being able to play all over now without patching.
The DH-JFW is compatible with games that include between 3.56 down, including the current patched to 3.55
DH-JFW runs natively games until 3.56 (original disks) without having to upgrade.
Psn-games that require npdrm 356, are also supported without upgrading (the current cfw not give this support)
-No need for a valid signature on the executable (including loaders and other files)
-Not going to make a port to 3.55 of this JFW DH, since it includes much more than 3.55
-Support for peripherals is not licensed by sony in that medium 355 is eliminated leaving them unused
-The only custom firmware can take the keys with a dual nand 3.6x (programmer) such as PNM and that allows the custom appldr redirect to another area of ??the ram and so does not remove the old
-Theme DHorg exclusive community that will change randomly each time the console or ignite the user cambiéis
-More surprises:)

20th of July 2011
PS3 developer CrashSerious releases information on his very first PS33 Emulator, which he calls PS3Roar, here is a quote from the developer

PS3roar is a port of xroar for X windows, as well as; the Nintendo DS, GPX32, PSP and AMIGA OS4. PS3roar is a Dragon 32 and 64 Computer emulator that runs on a wide variety of platforms, now including the PS3. Due to hardware similarities, PS3roar also emulates the Tandy Colour Computer (CoCo) models 1 & 2.

The PS3 port and modifications completed by CrashSerious (me). The PS3 port uses PSL1GHTv2, a free and Open Source SDK for the PS3.

PS3roar is a Dragon/Tandy Coco emulator, is a port of xRoar by Ciaran Anscomb.

xRoar is Copyright (C) 2003-2010 Ciaran Anscomb

You can read more about it, on his official thread at Homebrew Café.

21st of July 2011
Scristopher and lunuxx release a test version of the open source 2D scrolling game Paintown.

21st of July 2011
News emerges about a PS3 Emulator for PC being worked on, it is at its very early stages and RPCS3 is far from being fully useable.

22nd of July 2011
A developer known as “Snake Plissken”, speaks about a homebrew engine and game that he and his team are working on, if it comes to frutition, it will without a doubt, be the best looking Ps3 Homebrew game available, here is a quote from the dev:

My Name is Snake Plissken. I am Chief Commander of a group known as PMW NATION. Im currently directing our groups development branch into bringing to the PS3 one great First person gaming experience by means of homebrew on Playstation Custom Firmware.

we hope to release onto the world a whole new concept in homebrew development on the PS3 by developing an “homebrew engine” that future developers can use to make homebrew with to be used on the PS3.

With the engine one could make your own First person shooter homebrew. It has been proven that other forms of homebrew can be made for and used with the engine as well. Not only that but This would offer a interface for developing homebrew outside of PSL1GHT for all types of CFWs (as we will port the engine to work with multiple types of CFW’s )

Developers would need a way to install a .pkg onto there PS3s. They would then make homebrew in form of “recourse data” with the Gaming engine’s tool chain. that is then coupled and distributed with the engine.

You can read more information on it here.

24th of July 2011
The creators of the Cobra Jailbreak dongle, announce their device will work on firmware 3.55, here is a quote from their site:

The Cobra Team is proud to present the Cobra 3.0 firmware pack, available from downloads section. In this release we enabled the Cobra USB device on 3.55 via use of our own cfw. Enjoy the release and look forward to many new features to come in future releases. Please be sure to read the updated user manual for detailed instructions on upgrading and usage!

Also a reminder of what this device is capable of:

** Blu Ray Movie region free functionality
** Allows you to play Blu Ray movie ISO’s from HDD
** Allows you to play DVD movie ISO’s from HDD
** Integrated support to play PS1 game ISO’s from HDD
** Enjoy PS3 games with files >4GB on external USB HDD
* Integrated support to play PS2 ISO’s on CECHC,CECHE, CECHA and CECHB backwards compatible consoles.
* Partial support on other PS3 consoles to play PS2 ISO’s via software emulation
* Supports FAT and SLIM PS3 consoles any region
* Supports versions up to 3.55
* Unique custom Cobra firmware acts as OFW when dongle not inserted
* Play PS3 games from internal HDD
* PS3, PSX, DVD and BluRay ISO’s can now be played without a real disc inserted in the PS3
* MCU firmware and flash firmware updatable using easy to use free PC updater
* First class customer support and free regular firmware upgrades
* No need to open your console, just plug and play
* High quality components and materials used throughout
* Unique and built from scratch Cobra USB manager featuring slick U.I. and customized options with easy navigation
*Actel based encryption engine onboard to prevent device cloning
* Fast onboard 2 Mbyte SPI flash for firmware storage
* High quality onboard MCU
* Easy mode selection via switch (PC update, PS3 downgrader, regular PS3 device mode)
* Downgrader functionality included free of charge, allowing users to upgrade firmware to and from 3.41 at will.
* Multi lingual user interface (English, Spanish and French as standard with more languages to be supported later)

** = World’s first implementation

24th of July 2011
PNM Project creator No_One, manages to dump the Nor of a 360 Firmware PS3, here is a quote from the developer:

Hi mates,

I’m going to be on vacations for 3 weeks.
I just wanted to tell you that PNM project will be stopped during this period.

But, i’ve some great news for you.
I successfully dumped a 3.60 NOR flash using one of the socket !
The second socket has been validated too.
We are not far from our main goal : “jailbreak again the PS3? !

Here are some snapshots :
- host console with a new feature (NOR FLASH details…),
- PNM with a NOR Flash on Socket #1,
- an extract of the 3.60 NOR dump as a proof

Cheers

No_One

25th of July 2011
Developer samson releases an IRC client for the PS3.

26th of July 2011
varicela a member of elotrolado.net, post information on a project he has been working on, the modder successfully managed to install a dual Nand on his 40GB PS3, you can read more about it here.

27th of July 2011
uf6667 releases some information about ProgSkeet, you can view that information here.

30th of July 2011
tical releases a method to block the copy right protection, Cinavia on the PS3, here is a quote from him:

I have traced the Cinavia DRM checks to 4 separate sprx files and after a long time trying to patch these files I have found that 3 of those files are present in the DEBUG (DEX) firmware don’t have the Cinavia DRM checks enabled. Files are videoplayer_util sprx, videoplayer_plugin sprx and videoeditor_plugin sprx.

I have successfully copied these 3 sprx files from DEBUG (DEX) FW 341 over to my retail PS3 unit running OFW 341 using dev_blind and Cinavia seems to be now disabled. I’ve confirmed this by playing back a number of Cinavia affected video files.

This means that Cinavia is now disabled for all DLNA playback and copying, but Cinavia checks on AVCHD and BD playback are still present with Message Code 3 that mutes the audio as the sprx file with the Cinavia check bdp_plugin sprx is not present in DEX firmware because BD playback is disabled in DEBUG. If someone is able to patch Cinavia out of bdp_plugin sprx this will be solved too.

I have created a new task for PS3MFW so this can be easily made part of any new MFW’s as needed. Any FW version that has had the DEX firmware leaked should be able to be used to create a CFW of the same version. eg DEX 3.41 -> MFW 341 or DEX 355 -> MFW 355 etc etc. Don’t use sprx files from different FW versions! See git hacks for change_cinavia_files task source.

Big thanks to the KaKaRoTo and REBUG team for their community contributions as this would have never been possible without the knowledge they’ve shared with us.

PLEASE NOTE I DO NOT OFFER ANY GUARANTEE WHEN MESSING WITH YOU PS3 SO DOING ANYTHING TO YOUR PS3 IS AT YOUR OWN RISK. I WILL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE IF YOU DAMAGE YOUR PS3

31st of July 2011
jaicrabs CFW(JFW-DH) goes into beta stages.

31st July 2011
Dancing Pixel Studios releases an app for Android devices that enables the Sixaxis and DualShock 3 controllers to be used.
You can read about it here at their official site.

3rd of August 2011
The guys involved with ProgSkeet, release a video of a their solder less version ProgSkeet

4th of August 2011
CrashSerious releases his emulator PS3Roar, you can download it here.

4th of August 2011
PS3HaX member DanyL, releases PSheb, what this project does, is implement the Hebrew language on the PS3, something Sony were incapable of doing, read more about it here.

4th of August 2011
ThatOtherPerson, who released many PS3 Homebrew games, releases a new one, called The Unmapped Forest.

6th of August 2011
ThatOtherPerson releases Avoidance v0.1

6th of August 2011
DanyL an XMB Translation guide
You can read about it here.

8th of August 2011
Gitbrew release RSX documentation, dubbed oedipusRSX

9th of August 2011
Sony update their TOS(Terms Of Service), you can read about it here.

10th of August 2011
ThatOtherPerson releases They Do Not Die 2 V0.1

10th of August 2011
Sony release Firmware 3.70, changes below.

• Settings changes

[Automatic Download] has been renamed [Automatic Update].
PSP Remaster Compatibility options have been added. (Japan only)

• Media changes

3D digital photos in MPO format can be viewed in 3D on the XMB and in the [Photo Gallery].

• Disk changes

3D support available when accessing Java-based content on Blu-ray video discs.
DTS-HD MA, DTS-HD HR decoding/bit stream output (or lossless audio) supported while playing Blu-ray 3D movies.

• Network changes

New “Recommendations” function has been added to the [PlayStation Store] that enables users to share links to items.
Users are now able to choose to automatically upload saved games using the features added in version 3.60.
Trophies will sync automatically at the time set in [Automatic Update].
The Friends List now sorts alphabetically by default.

• System changes

The [TV] category has been renamed [TV/Video Services].
Added support for the official PS3 Wireless Stereo Headset.
Patched out one of the AVP patch bypass exploits.
Added Netflix shortcut for users in Mexico under [TV/Video Services].

10th of August 2011
Sony and LG settle their dispute, all problems with the shipping of PS3 consoles ends.

11th of August 2011
S3 GCC Cell OS Lv2 Toolchain Sources Leaked

14th of August 2011
Gitbrew release information on how to sign PKG’s for 3.60

15th of August 2011
DiGiTaLAnGeL and dospiedra it is possible to downgrade 3.70

16th of August 2011
Gamescom 2011 – Sony/SCEE Press Conference

18th of August 2011
adrianc releases LSPWN v0.1 – SPE Local Storage Dumper

21st of August 2011
Team E3DIY announce a downgrade flasher, an alternative to Progskeet

2nd of September 2011
Duplex leak the 3.40 SDK

4th of September 2011
blipi releases OSK, which is an On Screen Keyboard for use with PS3 Homebrew

5th of September 2011
Team E3DIY release a video showing their device working on PS3

6th of September 2011
Gitbrew release an RSX Linux Kernal Module

6th of September 2011
“JoHNAaRoN” leaks a FULL 3.60 PS3 SDK

7th of September 2011
PS3 CEX to DEX Kit (Retail to Debug) gets leaked

9th of September 2011
the_marioga releases LuaFPS3 0.1

10th of September 2011
Progskeet QT Flasher is released

10th of September 2011
Rogero releases a MFW which fixes a trophy error after downgrading.

14th of September 2011
Condorstrike releases a new version of his “Solar” application

14th of September 2011
KaKaRoTo releases a Homebrew game called Eskiss

15th September 2011
Sony release a new TOS, which is you agree to it, basically means that in the future you cannot sue them, read about it here:
SEN & SNEI – Controversial New T.O.S

16th September 2011
facanferff releases a beta version of his Youtube plugin for Showtime

17th September 2011
Rogero releases a new version of his CFW

20th September 2011
Condorstrike releases version 2.2 of Solar

20th September 2011
Team Rebug update all their app’s

21st September 2011
PCE Emu: PC Engine / TurboGrafx-16 Emulator is release

25th September 2011
Paintown is updated

29th September 2011
Version 2.3 of Solar released

29th September 2011
Rogero updates his MFW

1st of October 2011
d0zs releases DOStoPS3, which lets you easily port your own DOS games.

1st of October 2011
KaKaRoTo releases an update to Eskiss, which adds PS Move support

2nd of October 2011
facanferff releases his Youtube plugin for Showtime

2nd of October 2011
PS3Load is released for firmware 3.55

3rd of October 2011
WinSkeet 4000 updated

8th of October 2011
deanK releases discBOOT, which enables running PS3 backups off DVD/BD

8th of October 2011
Progskeet flasher for MacOS and Linux released

12th of October 2011
mallory releases tools to re-enable your deactivated PSN games

17th of October 2011
lunuxx updates Paintown to 3.5 Final

18th of October 2011
Sony releases Firmware 3.73

19th of October 2011
Condorstrike once again updates Solar

19th of October 2011
Through a forum post on both PS3HaX and PS3Crunch, rumours start that a new Dongle dubbed Jailbreak 2(JB2) exists, this dongle allows those on 3.55 CFW the ability to play games that require firmwares above 3.56 to play, of course everyone said it was fake.

20th of October 2011
GaryOPA from PS3Crunch confirms that JB2 is indeed real

22nd of October 2011
Gitbrew release their Brick Fix method for 3.55 and below.

26th of October 2011
Information is released on wow to dump per_console_key_1 and per_console_key_n
Read more here.

27th of October 2011
A developer by the name of andbey0nd releases a homebrew application called gameDATA Tool which lets you install PKG’s To External Device

29th of October 2011
moogie releases an eBoot that allows Uncharted 3 to be played on 3.55 CFW

30th of October 2011
Hotz8611 releases reActPSN v2.00

30th of October 2011
News emerges that Duplex have released an eBoot patch that enables Battlefield 3 to played on 3.55 CFW

30th of October 2011/1st of November 2011
More news emerges regarding the JB2 device, which is being called “True Blue, read about it here:
Jailbreak 2 (JB2) Dongle playing 3.6x+ games on FW 3.55

2nd of November 2011
lachrymose releases Super Mario War

8th of November 2011
CrashSerious releases “One” a homebrew application that allows PS1 backups to be played.

8th of November 2011
PS3 Metldr Exploit been leaked

11th of November 2011
True Blue Payload Released (Partially Reverse Engineered)

11th of November 2011
The PS3 celebrates its fifth birthday

13th of November 2011
Mathieulh decrypts LV0 at FW 3.73, but refuses to release

15th of November 2011
Onishin a member of the Logic Sunrise forum, has released a modified version of jjolano’s OpenPS3FTP, it splits files larger than 4GB, for easy transfer

16th of November 2011
Paradox start releasing eBoots in conjunction with True Blue

17th of November 2011
Team Rebug release a modified version of their CFW to be used True Blue

21st of November 2011
KaKaRoTo, announce via Twitter that he is working on a method to run Homebrew on 3.73 OFW

29th of November 2011
Sony release Firmware 4.0

2nd of December 2011
The EFF releases a PDF supporting console modification, including the PS3.

5th of December 2011
News emerges that the courts dismiss the OtherOS case, Sony wins and the consumer loses.

6th of December 2011
KaKaRoTo announces that his method still works on OFW 4.0

10th of December 2011
naehrwert updates his scetool, adding 32 bit ELF “unselfing.

11th of December 2011
Team Rebug releases Toggle QA

Oh and for those wishing to steal without sourcing, it is copyrighted:

I will always update the PS3 History on PS3HaX
But i also have an Official Site for it, which is here:
PS3History.COM