Will Sony Kill the Cell Chip with Security?
by Ben Striegel 
{ Feb 5th 2005 at 3:28AM }
The link takes you to an article on ZDNet concerning the
fundamentals and incredible potential of the PS3's upcoming Cell chip. Apparently the Cell chip can not only be used in
computers and gaming consoles, but in such things as televisions, cell phones, web servers, refrigerators, milk
cartons, cybernetic assassins, William Shatner, and the like.
However, at one point the article briefly discusses the security measures that Sony has passed on into its young
prodigy. Most of these security measures are in place to prevent — surprise surprise — piracy. The article goes on to
say:
"A lot of (piracy) techniques rely on one application being able to access the same memory region as another application," Halfhill said. "With Cell, you can't do that because memory regions are locked down by the application."
The trick, Halfhill said, will be finding a way to implement such security measures without drastically undercutting chip performance. "What they're doing to fence off this memory requires a lot of memory access," he said. "It looks to me like a pretty cumbersome system. There's got to be some performance hit, and they're going to have to optimize the final design to get around that."
The keyword here is "drastically." Now, let's not be naive. Sony's been an all-around prick about security in the past, and just recently have they begun to open up their technology to more widely accepted formats (the ATRAC vs. MP3 argument readily comes to mind). Now certainly, with all the recent incredible estimations of the Cell's PS3 capabilities popping up, Sony wouldn't be willing to risk being called a liar again by restricting its fundamental hardware with security measures, would they? And even if they did, is the Cell so uber-powerful that it wouldn't even matter?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Laurens Holst @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM
Calling the limiting memory access to one application a DRM technique is a bit exaggerating - sounds to me like a basic security feature (as-in prevent malicious programs from meddling with other software).
I also dont see why such a mechanism, basically locking memory areas, would mean such a major speed impact as claimed above. Yes one of the reasons the Cell is so fast is that it doesnt for example use a difficult paging system, instead it uses a much more simple system. But I do not see why a locking mechanism couldnt be programmed on a similar level, not requiring (much) additional complexity.
~Grauw
Laurens Holst @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM
Lets just say that if this is the big DRM scheme they have been talking about, Im a lot less worried now :). Though I guess it would make creating modchips more difficult, perhaps, processes really dont have any business in the memory of another process and such access should rightly be forbidden.
~Grauw
Mr Incredible @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM
Sony does not care if you call them liars, cheats or money-grubbing dipwads.
Sony does not care.
Sony knows that, like sheep, the people will buy what they are sold without thinking twice about it.
When was the last time you saw someone put any critical thinking into a game system purchase? They just buy what they are hyped to buy, even if it spits out muddy textures and jaggy edges instead of Toy Story graphics.
OhTheHumanity
Laurens Holst @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM
OhTheHumanity, Im thinking you think that anti-aliasing and high-res textures are the only things that make a system worth having - well, its not. The game lineup is much more important. And for that, I care much more about the PS2, mainly because of the amount of RPGs and titles such as Contra, Gradius V, Metal Gear and GTA, while the XBox is pretty much worthless to me, basically the only game that appeals to me is DOA3, while I couldnt care less about HALO or whatever the latest XBox hype is. GC has some nice things, but again a lack of RPGs and too much kiddy titles which I dont care much for either..
Besides, when I bought my PS2, I stopped noticing the jaggy edges after playing with it for 10 minutes. Does it deprive me from a good gaming experience? No, and that is what it is all about in the end.
Anyways, how is that on-topic? -_-;;
RX8 @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM
People are willint to put up with so much BS to support a company they love. Listen to Laurens here. Not notice the jaggies? I bet he wouldn't mind the built-in problems of the PSP as long at it makes him "cool"
http://www.grauw.nl/images/lhphoto1.png
Who are you to say that Nintendo's games are too 'kiddie'?
Go draw me a liger, Napoleon.
Laurens Holst @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM
RX8, why do you have to personally attack me? Jesus.
Eitaro @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM
I agree with Laurens. What's the point in having all the processing power in the world if you don't have great games to play;)
RX8, don't let the fact that people disagree with you blind you. He was talking about the XBox not Nintendo.
Anyways, the big game-making companies side with Sony, don't they?
Sure you will prefer the power of Sony's new cell chip plus the great games, to the powerful (but less powerful than PS3) XBox 360.