Many people have been wondering exactly what the differences are between Development and Retail PlayStation 3 Systems, and we figured now would be a great time to clarify these along with reporting some new findings.
Aside from the different hardware revisions of the PS3's motherboard, the systems are virtually the same as mentioned in previous posts. We have examined multiple PS3 TEST's, Retail PS3's, Demo Unit PS3's, and even Factory Mode PS3's, and found that there are no hardware differences between them at all.
Mind you, there are differences, but they are due to the hardware revision, not due to the systems themselves. To make that more clear, the units are identical to their counterparts of the same hardware revision.
So, the question is- what's the difference? Software!
We all know the difference is in the software, and after examining countless dumps from these systems, on top of flash dumps given to us by you, our loyal re... More »
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.
There are a multitude of special PS3 firmwares, basically three major ones. The first is a Core System, followed by the Service Sys... More »
Microsoft is suing shipping company DHL for allegedly losing 21,600 Xbox 360 consoles in a Texas train derailment, according to court documents.
In a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington in Seattle, Microsoft said it is seeking more than US$2 million in damages from DHL for two containers of Xbox 360 consoles that sustained "impact damage, wetting, pilfering and shortage" after a derailment near Duke, Texas.
The Xboxes were en route from a Microsoft office in McAllen, Texas, to Long Beach, California, for eventual delivery to Hong Kong at the time of the loss, which occurred on Oct. 13, 2007, according to court papers. Flextronics Industrial in Hong Kong was the intended recipient.
Microsoft claims that DHL has refused to compensate it for the loss, even though the delivery service "negligently breached its duties as a common carrier, handler, bailee, warehouseman, agent, or in other capabilities," acc... More »
From ReadMe: PS3 NAND FLOW REBUILDER v3.50 (including ECC Algo by RPS).
This tool allows to unscramble the blocks of a PS3 dumps ordering them in a way that the dumps become readable and extractable!
It also allow you to re-scramble back to the original order once you modified the data you wants, then from now on it include the ECC recalculation algorithm that was private until today.
It's for study and tests purposes, for experienced people only (devs) that this way can manage the files inside the flashes and patch sensible areas.
Its been confirmed that the public beta will be open in October this year on PlayStation Network. The six classes available in the beta are:
* Rifleman: The default troop type. Starts wsith a variety of primary and secondary wepaons that include grenades. Bigger guns are unlockable as you progress up the ranks.
* Engineer: Allowed to set up automated turrets as primary ability. Can repair ammunition dumps, mounted guns and turrets damaged from weapons fire.
* Medic: Can revive teammates who have been shot down if they are reached in time. Can throw health packs which can be collected by other players.
* Assault Trooper: The Heavy Weapons class. Has thick armor thus they can take twice as much damage. Has a speedboost as their secondary ability.
* Tactician: The Captain of the group. Allowed to drop colored smoke grenades which serve as spawn points for his team. Can prove essential on the bigger Beta ... More »
This tool, although in beta stage, allows you to unscramble the blocks of a PS3 dumps ordering them in a way that the dumps become readable and extractable!
From now on it also allow you to re-scramble back to the original order once you modified the data you want!
It's for study and tests purposes, for experienced people only (devs) that this way can manage the files inside the flashes.
In this updated version you'll find some good news:
1) It's more compatible, it support a larger number of dumps, please try it with your one and if something goes wrong please let me know (through irc, on Efnet, my nick is NDT).
This tool, although in beta stage, allows you to unscramble the blocks of a PS3 dumps moving them in a way that the dumps become readable and extractable!
It's for study and tests purposes, for experienced people only (devs) that this way can manage the files inside the flashes.
As example I included my PS3 dump map, it should help you understanding the dump layout.
I decided to share the tool early because it need a lot of testing, so, since I'll be in vacation in a few days I thought it would be nice to allow people to begin looking at it meanwhile I return home.
I tested it on like 10 dumps and I noticed that it perfectly worked only on 4 dumps (one was a Debug dump so yes, it works on debug dumps too :), this happen because of the fact I noticed I have to implement another variable in the unscrambling al... More »
To quote from Bushing's page linked above: ChipD is a lean, mean, solderin’ machine — I have some of these TSOP sockets, and they are really really hard to solder down to a PCB that you actually care about. Also, they tend to melt if you breathe on them — but maybe that’s just me. I really like the way he made that slick cutout panel for the socket.
Beyond soldering a socket in place of the NAND flash chip, he programmed two spare flash chips with dumps from a PAL Wii and an NTSC/J Wii. He converted those two dumps to run on his Wii using an early version of some of my UnbrickMii project code (”betwiin”).
No news yet on release plans; it still needs a lot of work, but it’s interesting to note that there are absolutely no hardware differences between Wiis from different regions.
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