Rumor: PlayStation Home hacked

by Christopher Grant { Dec 15th 2008 at 1:05AM }

Less than a week after Home's official unveiling, a hacker by the name of StreetskaterFU claims to have totally hacked into Sony's Home servers and is providing instructions on how to do it yourself – downloading, uploading, and deleting files. Want to see Mr. FU's purported hack in action? (Hacktion?) A poster on the PS3hax forums claims to have used the aforementioned method to change the posters and trailers in the Home theater (at least what he's seeing locally). The fact that we're not seeing widespread mischief in the Land of Home is preventing us from believing this one hook, line, and sinker.

[Via Engadget]

Source – HOME vulnerabilities disclosure
Source – How to mod Home with your own posters and movies

Tags: home, playstation-home, ps-home

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Top Cat @ Dec 15th 2008 1:07AM

StreetskaterFU?!
We need to get some decent 'hacker' names these days.

DangerMouse @ Dec 15th 2008 1:11AM

I don't know, but it's better than putting "Dark" in front of a name to make it seem more internet badass.

Markez (Anti-Panda Death Murder Squadron) @ Dec 15th 2008 1:19AM

Well, maybe it's just me then, because DarkStreetSkaterFU would be incredibly badass awesome kickyouintheface kind of a handle.

WTF is up with these crap musical acts on the VGAs? Man this show is bizarre...

Viridium @ Dec 15th 2008 9:19AM

How about "Crash Override". Or maybe "Zero Cool"!

Poisoned Al @ Dec 15th 2008 10:01AM

I'M HACKIN UR GIBSON!

G$ @ Dec 15th 2008 11:04AM

DarkQuincy1337! Now that's a name for a hacker.

Jack Klugman would be proud. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Klugman

Dark Big Ed @ Dec 15th 2008 1:18AM

That hurts man.

BigD_145 @ Dec 15th 2008 10:20AM

Well, you got a space between the "Dark" and "Big", so you're exempt from the internet handle sucking rule. Now if you were DarkBigEd on the other hand...

Ken Seang @ Dec 15th 2008 1:19AM

And so it begins...

Albanian_Killa @ Dec 15th 2008 1:23AM

Why is it every video that has a hack has the crappiest quality? Hackers are really cheap :|

gb @ Dec 15th 2008 3:31PM

maybe these people are not the "computer gods" they make themselves out to be :)

Donald @ Dec 15th 2008 1:29AM

If he hacks Quincying out of Home, it's on.

*grabs pitchfork and torch*

Turd Ferguson (formerly antsmarching) @ Dec 15th 2008 7:26AM

Even better, what if you could quincify other people?

Erron Kelly @ Dec 15th 2008 1:46AM

If these people are claiming it's being done, but nobody is actually seeing anything, it might actually just be client-side and not server-side.

It's like replacing the music files in your WoW directory with your own stuff. It'll change the song that cues for whatever trigger you set off (moving to a new area, for example) for you, but nobody else will notice.

Chris Are @ Dec 15th 2008 2:05AM

good job?

wise_old_bird @ Dec 15th 2008 2:06AM

The 'how to mod' is how to use your own router / computer as a server for whatever content you want to put up, so client side.

The other link suggests you can upload data to Sony's own servers, but they aren't responding and it would be a simplistic fix even if it were open at one time.

Nacho @ Dec 15th 2008 2:14AM

I just used Adblock Plus to remove the ads from Joystiq.

OMF I'M SUCH A 1337 HAX0R!!!!111

Dan Bugglin @ Dec 15th 2008 9:49AM

Joystiq has ads? >_>

John @ Dec 15th 2008 2:22AM

Let me know when someone hacks some fun into home.

And also Fuck you very much joystiq for that Ozzy Ad.

FYI, I will not buy whatever product they are selling, unless by accident since I close that shit before a product is even displayed, so Fail on the advertising.

John @ Dec 15th 2008 8:07AM

To clarify, I'm talking about not buying whatever Ozzy is selling, I have no issue with ads in Home, if they only got something fun to do in home.

PN04 @ Dec 15th 2008 2:28AM

IT'S NOT REALLY A HACK. It's a local change, the only thing he changed were the links in his own version of home. It doesn't effect what anyone else sees but him. It's like changing the links in your own browser to point to pictures on your own hard drive or something.

Poisoned Al @ Dec 15th 2008 6:38AM

Actually, the definition of a hack is to make something do something it shouldn't. So technically, this IS a hack. What it ISN'T is a CRACK, which would be breaking into the Sony servers.

Poisoned Al @ Dec 15th 2008 6:39AM

(the confusion comes about becuase you often have to hack a machine to crack it... that and the media are retarded)

sam @ Dec 15th 2008 6:43AM

Did you read the disclosure?

There are two parts - first the filesystem - which yes is not a serious hack, it will only affect your own PS3. Basically it provides information you could use to help you when hacking the system, but isn't really a major hack in itself. And second, the server vulnerabilities.

I didn't understand it entirely - it sounds like the server is only vulnerable from an existing [verified?] PS3 connection, so you have to edit data packets to change the file it's writing/reading? That's a bit odd. However, if this is genuine, then yes it's a serious hack.

I have no idea if it actually is genuine, just speaking up in favour of reading the article...

BananaBoat @ Dec 15th 2008 2:55AM

Someone had to liven up, what with the FOUR BOWLING LANES FOR THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE.

That's my piece for the day.

Still very butthurt about having to wait in line to play FAKE BOWLING when I could have played motion controlled bowling on my stupid dusty Wii.

Markez (Anti-Panda Death Murder Squadron) @ Dec 15th 2008 3:22AM

A little odd in that (as a non-PS3 owner) I would think they'd just queue up additional 'virtual' lanes, or something, allowing whoever wanted to play the chance to play. From what I hear, these are REAL lines? Can anyone speak from experience as to actually waiting in line for awhile?

BananaBoat @ Dec 15th 2008 3:28AM

Yes, real, honest to goodness, lines. You may be imagining a queue, you know, where everyone gets a number, but hell no. Basically you hover around a person until they are done, and then try to hop on their lane. Unfortunately, you and 20 other people are all fighting over the same lane. The same applies for the arcade machines. It's mind boggling, but it is true. (if there is some mechanism for getting in an actual, "your turn in 20 minutes" line, I haven't found it, and I looked...hard).

To paraphrase from yesterdays Penny Arcade, "Free is no excuse for something to suck ass"

(oh, and I meant to say "liven things up" but my brain had a malfunction)

Markez (Anti-Panda Death Murder Squadron) @ Dec 15th 2008 3:36AM

Oh, and by the way, 'butthurt' has definitely become my favorite term as of late. Also, Wii bowling is still a blast to me, as is randomly throwing in Wii Mario Kart for online. Lots of fun, a white knuckler for me.

John @ Dec 15th 2008 3:45AM

My Favorite part was that the twilight traier and ads were blocky, artifact laden pieces of shit.

Seriously, where are the likes of killjeebus to tell us how it's really awesome, and the problem is our perception, not the "service"

and what happened to the ability to watch our own media in our private spaces? I noticed a distinct lack of anything to watch ANYTHING on in my private space, and nothing in the stores to purchase to facilitate this feature as well.

I could however spend $5 on another "home" full of ugly furniture and .$49 on additional ugly generic furniture.

This is the future, you future sucks.

BananaBoat @ Dec 15th 2008 3:53AM

It's impossible to describe in words just how bad Home is. Firstly you have to download every map you want to go to, which means you have to stand at the entrance waiting for it to download for what seems like an eternity (when you could be playing, I don't know, Persona 4 with your 600 dollar console instead). Once you get outside your "home" you are met with advertisements everywhere, mostly for Twilight. Combine that with having to wait to play the pathetic arcade games, and the bowling, and you've got the worst idea Sony has ever had. This might be the worst idea a videogame company has had since the Virtual Boy. Once noone is using Home anymore, the sponsors will dry up, and the thing will collapse. The thought that someone would willingly subject themselves to an advertisement filled hell in order to STAND IN LINE to play Bowling is completely insane.

Microsoft's avatars are dumb, but when all is said and done, their avatars probably cost one millionth the price of Home to implement. Atleast Mii's can be used to play actual games like Wii Sports. I don't think I'd want to play a game with my creepy, dead-eyed, home doppelganger.

mietha CAG @ Dec 15th 2008 4:12AM

Avatars can be used to play games as well: Kingdom for Kelflings, Scene It 2, etc.

John @ Dec 15th 2008 4:12AM

What he said x10,

But seriously, where is the sony douche force? tell us how home is going to bury live...
Please?

I'm dying to hear it...

BananaBoat @ Dec 15th 2008 4:19AM

@mietha

Does anyone have those games? I'd be interested in playing Uno or something with my avatar, but not Scene it or whatever Kingdom for Keflings is.

Someone needs to make a cross platform game where Mii's can do mortal kombat against 360 Avatars and Home Avatars. My money is on the Mii's that people have made to look like Mike Tyson.

Taco_Hell @ Dec 15th 2008 4:21AM

Remember kids, 09 will be the year of the PS3! Wait...where have I heard that before?

Steven M @ Dec 15th 2008 5:04AM

@ banana boat
A Kingdom for Keflings is like a city building type game, and is actually a pretty good game, and makes for a nice for relaxing game in between chainsawing people in half in gow2 and another bloody shooter

BananaBoat @ Dec 15th 2008 5:13AM

I'll see if there is a demo tomorrow. I've got an end of semester hangover that won't quit.

Mr.Ironic @ Dec 15th 2008 8:11PM

"Unfortunately, you and 20 other people are all fighting over the same lane."

Sounds wicked, just add baseball bats and it'll be a hit.

Ethan Rom @ Dec 15th 2008 9:09AM

You are in luck bananaBoat. Uno is one of the game you can play with your avatar.

Kizzle @ Dec 15th 2008 9:17AM

Mr. Ironic is right. Let's get some weapons in there so people have to fight over bowling lanes. Would be a lot better than how it is now.

Trev @ Dec 15th 2008 10:37AM

While this "home is a boring game" stance is really cute, it just seems that you've really missed the point if you're throwing a fit over bowling lanes. Yes, waiting in line to pretend bowl is stupid. Thinking that pretending to bowl is the point of Home is worse.

You know, there was some Spyhunter type game hidden in Excel in one release, where if you entered in the right value in the right cell, the game would start. Bitching about bowling lanes is like bitching about that Spyhunter clone. Excel isn't, and isn't intended to be, a vehicle for Spyhunter.

It's supposed to be for social stuff and it's still in beta. The game launching for Warhawk works great, and I'd like to use that functionality for other games, but that isn't available right now. I'm reserving judgment for when they actually call it done. If the final doesn't include game launching for damn near every game, I probably won't use Home, instead going to the party stuff they're going/supposed to add to the XMB directly.

BananaBoat @ Dec 15th 2008 12:36PM

@Ethan - I'll have to give that a try.

@Trev - It's a very advanced stage Beta, and it's awful. In every respect it completely fails to be anything but cumbersome and annoying. Home is not excel, the Bowling is not hidden, nor are the arcade machines. The Bowling was meant to be a fun game that you and your friends would play, while watching the advertisements go by to keep Home going. What is the point of loading home, waiting for your friends to load home, then immediately exiting home for a better game (a real game I should say) once you are all there? There is NOTHING to do but stand around and have a stupid dance party in the warm glow of the movie theater-screen-sized advertisements. Home begs the question "What was Sony thinking?!" at every turn, but that question is quickly put to rest when one takes a moment to really soak in the landscape, and realize that it's brought to you by the movie Twilight. Home will either be a smash success despite its obvious shortcomings, or it will be a complete bust, in which case Sony will shut it down to avoid losing money. Fast forward half a year to a year in the future, and you'll probably hear the cries of "But....but...I bought 50 real dollars worth of fake furniture...how can you close home...How...HOW COULD YOUUUU!?!?!?!"

And no, I don't want Sony to fail. My issue with Home is that it was taking developer time away from actually making a decent party system that I could quickly launch from the XMB. Killzone 2 is quickly approaching, and the previews make it sound like the greatest thing since sliced bread. All of that will be for nothing if I can't even quickly form a party without loading home, waiting for my friends to load home, etc. There is a reason I don't play Second Life, and there is no reason I should be forced to load a clone so that I can do something as simple as forming a party (something that SHOULD be as simple, rather)

Trev @ Dec 15th 2008 1:56PM

The point of loading Home and gathering only to launch an actual game is the gathering. Right now, there's a club set up for a gaming website I frequent. While of limited use with only one game to launch from in Home, ideally people from this website could go there and play games with each other, without needing anyone on their friends list. A clan could meet up for various games, break in between to plan or whatever super cereal clan gamers do, and hold tryouts by having visitors show up at the club. You could go visit a club set up for casual Warhawk players if you wanted to play without having some d-bag land their jet in front of your jeep and try to shove you off a cliff.

No, bowling isn't hidden, but bowling is also not the purpose of Home, just like Spyhunter isn't the purpose of Excel. It's fluff. It's something to screw around with and nothing else. I agree that waiting in lines for it is stupid, but I think people are making a much bigger deal out of these BS minigames than they're supposed to be. It's like visiting game themed areas. Uncharted, cool, I would be able to view teasers or some shit; I don't know, I haven't looked.

I would much rather use a menu to join parties with just my friends, and will, but that's another pro for Home: it's optional. I don't need to use it for anything unless I want to. Not to blow it unnecessarily, but the way I see it is this: Online gaming, especially matchmaking style games, is like bumping into people in the dark; you don't have any idea what they're like until you're there. Home is light and you can meet people and organize according to your interests. I think it's a really neat idea to provide for a gaming community right on the game machine. The social aspects of belonging to multiple clubs for clans or games, being able to check club rosters to see who's online whether they're on my friends list or not, and view bullitens for the clubs sounds great, especially because it's all centralized. And, for the record, you can do all of this right now.

I'm not a huge fan of having to walk around a virtual world to do all this, but I really can't think of a better way to organize clubs and stuff without just making them places. Text only would have been messy and confusing. As it is, it's at least friendly. A rapidly scrolling chatroom really isn't the best way to meet people because of the clutter either.

Home needs more game launching options, more media content so they can stop showing the one trailer over and over and generally just a larger variety of scenery, but the clubs are there, and the social aspects are what I'm really interested in so I'm optimistic about it.

(also shit, this is going to be a huge post when it gets squeezed down.)

Prince_Serlith @ Dec 16th 2008 3:09AM

all a bunch of dumb******. You don't understand the effect it will have until it comes. that's why good things don't really come out.

I DeX I @ Dec 15th 2008 3:41AM

HOME: One big hook, line and advertising sinker for ya. In this economy, really?

mietha CAG @ Dec 15th 2008 4:10AM

I was accepted in the first wave of closed beta invites for the US. I played it exactly once. There is basically nothing to do, and anything you would want to do, takes forever. Second Life Home is not. Not that, you know, Second Life is any less lame, but I'd bet, at least, it doesn't take as long to do nothing. Just a waste...

Poisoned Al @ Dec 15th 2008 7:13AM

It sounds like Home is like Second Life without the building and the freaks and weirdos.

The only thing close to interesting about Second Life is the building and the freaks and weirdos.

MasterGekk @ Dec 15th 2008 5:17AM

It doesn't matter if the crappy Home is hacked because nobody cares about the rubbish lousy Home :(

kjclock @ Dec 15th 2008 5:30AM

@banana boat:
I believe Uno has been updated to allow use of Avatars. Good luck with that hang over, best cure is go back to bed!

JoeTheBlow @ Dec 15th 2008 5:42AM

Oh look! Its a Home article!!

Everyone begins moaning and crying like little bitches, as if Sony have made it not only auto-boot to Home on startup, but also that it removes $30 from your bank account when it does.

You whining fucking little pissants. Why not ask for your money back if you don't like it.

John @ Dec 15th 2008 6:05AM

I'd prefer to have my time spent wading through asswad "home is going to rule all" and "Home will destroy live" posts sony dildo fanboys have been posting over the last 2 years back.

Also if you could refund some of the time wasted when joystiq would post 4 articles about it a day, I'll take that too.

Don't for a second confuse my mockery for whining, I never thought home was going to be anything but shit, even if I was a little hopeful to be pleasantly surprised, I know with sony at the helm, sex and ice cream can be made into something awful.

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