Possible PS3 exploit found?

Posted by multippt

According to a French site, it appears that someone has found a possible exploit that runs on PS3 versions 1.80-1.81. The exploit was achieved through the modification of the contents in a .pkg file.

A member (Plakasoft) claims that the exploit works, and he/she has succeeded in creating a “hello world” application that simply displays 3 blinking lines and would return the user to the XMB.

There is also a discussion on this in English at the MaxConsole forums.

Below is the video (Youtube):

This exploit is yet to be tested fully, and is just a rumor.

Via MaxConsole, PS3Gen site (French)

Look what IBM’s doing with the PS3’s processor

Posted by signup

The Cell Broadband Engine, better known as the ‘heart’ of the Playstation 3, is finding new uses for gaming other than powering MotorStorm or Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.

IBM, in a joint venture with with Hoplon Infotainment, will soon be integrating the PS3’s Cell Broadband Engine into its one-of-a-kind mainframe to aid in the handling of next-gen “virtual world” applications and Massive Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs).

As virtual world gaming and collaboration becomes more popular on gaming consoles, the need for a network that can handle asymmetrical bandwidth while maintaining its CPU power is quickly rising.

IBM found the Cell Broadband Engine to be the most suitable for the task of creating a system that can seamlessly handle ultra-fast communications between many online users simultaneously sharing a single gaming world.

Within the new system, the Cell will handle virtual reality, wireless downloads, real-time video chat, interactive TV shows, and complex physics simulations such as gravity; while the mainframe will run admin tasks for software and user connectivity through gaming consoles, cell phones, and PCs.

“As online environments increasingly incorporate aspects of virtual reality - including 3D graphics and lifelike, real-time interaction among many simultaneous users - companies of all types will need a computing platform that can handle a broad spectrum of demanding performance and security requirements,” said Jim Stallings, general manager, IBM System z. “To serve this market, the Cell/B.E. processor is the perfect complement to the mainframe, the only server designed to handle millions of simultaneous users.”

The hybrid mainframe will be extremely fast and powerful, and will capitalize on the IBM mainframe’s specialized ability to handle such ’specialty processors’ as the Cell Broadband Engine.

Sony triggers 80GB PS3 rumors

Posted by signup

Rumors of a larger hard disk drive capacity PS3 gained strength when Sony Computer Entertainment spokesman Satoshi Fukuoka once again revealed that a 60GB PS3 will not be enough for hardcore gamers.

Fukuoka talked about a number of changes to the PS3 that Sony is currently discussing. This is not the first time that such comments have been made by Sony officials. Just last week, Fukuoka himself had talked about a higher capacity model while Sony filed an FCC application which hinted about an 80GB model.

“For users who vigorously store games and other entertainment content in the PS3, 20-giga is probably going to be too small, and even 60-giga may not be big enough eventually. We are not likely to change its core components and functions such as the Cell, RSX, Blu-ray drive and network capability. But outside that realm, addition and deletion is quite possible”, he said.

Sony currently sells PS3 with hard disk capacity ranging from 20GB to 60GB. However last month, Sony announced that it will be stopping the production of 20GB PS3s in North America. Flagging sales of Sony’s newest offering have led to a loss of nearly $1.7 billion for the year ending March 31.

Wii more friendlier than PS3?

Posted by signup

Both the Wii and PS3 have web browsers, but which one is more friendly when it comes to Web 2.0? And why doesn’t Microsoft release Internet Explorer for use on the 360 already?

We may never know the answer to the 360 question, but the website Games Digest took on the Nintendo Wii vs. PS3 question in the battle of 2.0 supremacy. They recently took a test run of fifteen of the top websites like MySpace, YouTube, Flickr, Facebook and Last.fm to see how they fared on each console.

Using a scoring system of “0 points means it didn’t work properly. 1 point means it worked partially, and 2 points means it worked well,” it appears Wii was the victor over PlayStation 3 with a margin of 26 - 20.

The conclusion by Games Digest:

Victory goes to Opera’s Wii browser, hurt by the fact that two sites (Bloglines and Google Maps) didn’t work at all on the PlayStation 3 browser. However, it’s worth stressing that PlayStation 3’s ability to upload photos and (possibly) video gives it an advantage if you’re big on this user-generated content lark. Also, these findings could easily change as various sites get a redesign, either for the better (they’re configured to autodetect a console and adapt accordingly) or for the worse (they use new plug-ins that aren’t supported by the consoles).

More GTA IV details revealed

Posted by multippt

After much speculation about GTA IV, some details of GTA IV have been released.

GTA IV marks a new milestone in the GTA family (particularly the changes from GTA III to GTA IV).

Here are the features:
-The main character is Niko Bellic
-Has some familiar features in the actual New York city (of course, some of these locations are renamed)
-A slightly different kind of storyline - one that gives players more freedom
-Though, there are no planes in GTA IV (Rockstar wanted the game to look realistic)
-Initial loading time at start of game. Throughout the game, there are no loading times (e.g. entering into a building).
-GTA IV encompasses some multi-player functions

This game would be available for the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3.

PS3 official firmware 1.32 released

Posted by multippt

Wow, just only recently we had firmware 1.31 for the PS3, now Sony had released 1.32! Not to mention the newest update for the PSP (another product of Sony), firmware 3.03. Of course, we did say this would be a daily thing, but not this fast! You can get this update through system update on the PS3 (as usual).

The feature is added once you update your PS3 (courtesy of Google):
-Network performance of the system was strengtened

Via PLAYSTATION 3 official site (Japan)

Sony still going for 2 million PS3s by late December

Posted by multippt

Sony stated that it will not waver its plans to ship 2 million PS3 game consoles worldwide by the end of December, and not only that, Sony plans to ship 6 million by March, next year, 2007. 

Recently, Sony delayed the PS3 Europe launch due to some defects in the blue laser diode in the blu-ray (game disk) drive, thus raising concerns whether if Sony might miss its original target. Nevertheless, Sony has assured that they will be able to meet their expectations.

Via CNET