Microsoft ‘hacker-proof’ Xbox
p2pnet / p2p News:- Bill and the Boyz are determined to beat all those annoying people who insist on modding the Xbox, upgrading the hard drive, converting it so it`ll play imported games, turning into a media centre. Infuriating stuff like that.
But Christmas is coming, as they say, and that`s when the Xbox 360 is due. So, Microsoft plans to make its next generation games console, the Xbox 360, as difficult as possible to hack, says the BBC.
And that means it`ll have, security built directly into the hardware, Chris Satchell from the Xbox Advanced Technology Group is quoted as saying.
Shortly after the first Xbox came out, computer scientists, smart amateur engineers and others started taking it apart and creating modification chips and software for the machine to make it do things Microsoft never intended it to, the story points out.
But to get around that, There are going to be levels of security in this box that the hacker community has never seen before, the Beeb has Satchell saying.
“We’ve taken security to the hardware level and built it in from the ground up.
Talk about waving a red flag at a bull.
In July of this year, a 22-year-old man became the first person in the UK to be convicted for modifying a video games console, the story states.
The basic Xbox 360 Core System will retail for $300 in the US, 300 euros in Europe and £210 in the UK.
The fully loaded 360 will go for $400, 400 euros and £280, adds the BBC, pointing out that Sony’s PlayStation 3 is due to be released early next year, with Nintendo’s Revolution following later.
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See:-
BBC – Microsoft aims for hack-proof 360, September 9, 2005
September 9th, 2005 at 1:31 pm
I have no use for it since Microsoft wants to tell me what I can do with it. If that is what the insist on doing, then I will tell them where they can put their X-box.
September 9th, 2005 at 1:51 pm
Once you buy something, the property becomes yours. It doesnt matter what the EULA says, its your money and if you want to void the warranty then so be it. The reason the first xbox is so easy to hack is because it was based on pc architecture, so obviously running emulators and burned games isnt so hard.
September 9th, 2005 at 2:17 pm
Sounds like a gauntlet being thrown down.
The ‘hacker’ ‘community’ (I feel I need to put those terms in quotes) has never let anyone down in these sort of challenges before.
September 9th, 2005 at 3:59 pm
I think I’ll take the $400 and buy 3 more 300GB hard drives when they go on sale at Staples again. Who wants to spend that kind of money on something whose use is that restricted? It’s pretty much like Sony telling you that you can only use blank Sony Media in their CD and DVD recorders, or you can only listen to Sony Artists or watch Sony movies on such a player.
September 9th, 2005 at 4:03 pm
The console companies are fighting for your business. Selling the consoles at a loss and then screwing you on the cost of the software for a couple of years before they decide to revamp the format and screw you again is big business.
The only way to send a message to Bill is don’ buy the damn thing that way it becomes an expensive mistake and they will have to have a re-think!
September 9th, 2005 at 4:36 pm
The 360 is a peice of junk anyway… just as most MS stuff is…
I dont need it… and I’m perfectly fine waiting for a while to get a superior product. All hail PS3! XD
September 9th, 2005 at 4:47 pm
“We’ve taken security to the hardware level…”
Perhaps a bit of a taste of what “vista” security will be like?
For a while now I’ve been laboring under the (false?) impression that MS has been developing all this “secure” computing crap to appease “the studios”. IF they can make it work (and get the majority of people to use it) it occurs to me that for the average joe the cyber world will have become a lock-down with MS holding all the keys. Once MS has all the marbles I’m thinking the studios will have to just get in line with the rest of us…
September 10th, 2005 at 12:44 am
Gas prices near $3.30 in the USA? Should people/parents gas up their guzzling SUVs & go to work or get their lazy kids another video game console (games ~ $60 a piece). How much you wanna bet the 1st option?
September 10th, 2005 at 12:46 am
I wouldn’t be surprised if somewhere down the line that IS built in. LOL.
September 10th, 2005 at 4:21 am
Microsoft can kiss my single white 20-something underpaid American worker ass. If they think that they’ll make something that is “hacker-proof” then they’re wrong. The first rule in the hacker and cracker worlds is that “nothing is foolproof.” That seems to be all that is needed to ruin MS’s fun for years. And if they tried to put me behind bars for putting a modification chip in my Xbox to run Linux on it, I’d see to it they were sued until they went blind. The code in the startup ROM and on the commercial media may be “licensed” but when I buy the Xbox the hardware is MY property and I can do WHATEVER I WANT to MY property, end of story. The law does not give them rights to tell me what I can and cannot physically do to something I own.
September 10th, 2005 at 4:55 am
1. MS is making this claim. I’m sure we’re all well aware of the very poor “Claims vs Reality” ratio that MS seems to suffer from. I expect it’ll take a week, perhaps 2, before it’s cracked wide open.
2. On my pc, i can do the following things:
i. Surf the net with any browser i choose, using multiple tabs or windows to look at several websites simultaneously.
ii. Listen to music in one or more of many formats drm’d or not as i choose, using one or more of a number of music playing programs that are available.
iii. Play games of many different styles, and get patches, updates and mods for those games from the net.
iv. Use productivity software for any purpose i choose including perhaps run a business.
v. Type up and post this message on this website.
I know the last comment seems a bit silly, but how many consoles come with a keyboard? How many of them let you surf to any website you choose? I honestly can’t think of any off hand.
September 11th, 2005 at 12:54 pm
I agree.
Ps3 looks better and better.
I was on the fence between the two but this hardware security stuff has me looking at Sony’s machine.
Billy-boy has too much cash as it is.
I think the PS3 will be much more popular anyway.
September 17th, 2005 at 12:19 am
Windows (their benchmark title) isn’t even hacker proof. What are they talkin about? dead serious!!
The wonderful people over at smartxx over there moddin the xbox 2 dev kit AND POSTING PICTURES OF IT but they didnt say what the learned ^_^ *smart!!*. The only thing they’ll have to do is wait till launch and aquire a dvd and see what security checks are on the DVD, once they figure out how that works, it’ll just be determining how the xbox 2 dev kit differs from the home console.
*Microsoft anything isnt serious, so how is MS gaming system??*
1. im willing to bet my modded xbox that all of the readers of these articles have a usb to psx adapter casue every microsoft controller ever made is trash AND YOU CANT PLAY GAMES ON THEM.
2. most of the games I have, you cant even backup the 1 game save to an entire xbox memory card (and they want 30 for 1!!!?!?). so if something happens to your hard drive or you want to sell your xbox cause its a piece of junk you have nothing to show for all you “hardcore” work you put in your gaming. That right there is reason enough to not take the game serious.
3. xbox live is trash and should be free. You pay for a online gaming and it cant guarantee you service, isn’t TRULY worldwide, can’t type to people, controllled environment, and you have to have a credit card to sign up in which they charge automatically when your service is expired. YOU HAVE TO HAVE A CREDIT CARD EVEN IF YOU BUY A INSTORE KIT!!! THEY DONT KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING! Most 24 year old people I know still don’t have credit cards let alone the younger audience which they should be marketing to.
In terms of the xbox, those who are smart know all that xbox is is a more powerful sega dreamcast *WITH USB CONTROLLER PORTS ROLFx10000*. Sega sold them sega net, but I swear they sold them alot more than xbox live. There is notihing special about the xbox, and the first year it came out it didnt even have any games for it. 90% of the games (except SOME japanese games) have major slow down issues. Plus the xbox didnt start to sell till the chips came out.
The funniest thing ive heard microsoft say is “we plan on selling 1 billion consoles” once i heard this I came to conclusion that somebody at microsoft was hittin the pipe a little to hard before they went into work and wrote that presentation speech. Nintendo has been runnin the game for 20 years and still havent sold a billion of one console. Dear. microsoft, KEEP DREAMING.
xbox 2 is will see more boot legging casue its not using next generation technology. Nobody is gonna pay for $60 for a dvd. Bin laden wouldn’t pay $60 for a dvd with nuclear secrets on it, so how you gonna get people to pay for something when they can replicate it on their computers?
all i have to say is……… Sega Saturn > xbox 2
-OutRun Pro
September 17th, 2005 at 1:26 am
well only the sega saturn, sega dreamcast, playstation 2 (jap) and believe it or not GAME.COM!! can allow you to surf the internet, but the sega genesis had internet capabilities in japan with the mega modem. They only used this for match making, its almost the same thing as the xband in america. The Nintendo 64DD is had net play, but no internet.
-OutRun Pro
sega’s internet = webtv port