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Well this week we have some exciting news that we hinted about last week.

First, a small technical explanation. We were not able to modify any data on the PS3's flash chips due to the ECC. The ECC is a checksum basically, that ensures whatever data is in the block is not changed or corrupted, and if it is it errors.

So, the problem was since when we tried to alter data, the ECC would then in turn be invalid, causing errors, making the system not boot.

We did develop a way around this, however, it was time consuming and quite slow. We used the PS3 to write data to the flash, then dump it, with its proper ECC, then rewrite to where we needed it. This would take hours on end! We were not able to regenerate the ECC since we did not know the proper algorithm.

But now, we can!!

After multiple tests done by NDT to see what the ECC... More »  


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All of the following information has come from an insider I, Sev1512, am in contact with and everything isn't 'set in stone'. Things can change a lot, especially when it involves Sony.

If any of the information is wrong, its because plans have changed and not because it was made up.

PS3 Firmware 2.40 should include:

- Access your XMB chat features from any game.
- 2D trophies from the XMB where 70% of current titles will support them straight away.
- Video Coding and groundwork for the Movie Store (Out Sept)

My insider notes however that not all of the above will definitely make it before Metal Gear Solid comes out.

Oh, and Online Co-op for Super Stardust HD is in the works.


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XVISTAMAN2005 has discovered a method HERE which allows Retail PS3 console owners to install PS3 Debug Firmware on them... however, before considering attempting this PS3 "HDD Swap" be sure to read below.

Upon following the instructions your retail PS3 console will update to a partial Debug/Test console. Partial is stated because upon doing it the PS3 will possess what is pictured below, specifically non-functioning Debug options.

Debug PKG files won't install, port 1000 is open but you can't connect to it, and the PS3 no longer plays Blu-ray movies. Additionally, the Sony S... More »  


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With the great ongoing work in our PS3 Forums with the RCO files, we are also going to talk about component two of the PS3's XMB includes- its XML Files!

Inside the directory exists 30 XML files. They control quite a bit in regards to the PS3's appearance and functioning, from telling the XMB what types of information to display, all the way to letting you download PlayStation Home!

Do make sure to check out the attached image, as it is code snippets of the XML files we're speaking of below.

For example, in category_game.xml, it appears upon disc insertion, the insertion is added into a database, along with what type of media it's on (CD/DVD/BDVD), and if it detects, what format it is (PS1/PS2/PS3) and so on. Now there are your different media types of course: PS1 CD, PS2 CD, PS2 DVD, PS3 DVD, PS3 BD.

More »
 


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We mentioned in previous Site News posts that we're working on converting a Retail PS3 into a Debug PS3.. and we have some updated news on the process to share today.

For starters, we had quite a delay. Our PS3 Devs have been using an expensive external programmer to do the job, however, these dumps differed than the dumps from the Infectus chip. It was quite a puzzling issue indeed.. which was the proper dump?!

After many hours of examination spanning over a few weeks time, it turns out the external programmer was the culprit! The software that the manufacturer provided had a flaw in it that would drop certain bytes, resulting in a corrupt dump missing OOB 64 bytes of data. Luckily our PS3 Devs managed to find and correct the initial problem, so a big THANKS to them!

Once that was sorted, testing began by modifying both the IPL and METLDR..... More »  


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Hello.. today we release a PlayStation 3 Security Architecture PDF document to the public. We still are doing some work on PS3 KeyVault Project, so still not ready yet.

For the PDF.. this is not for newbies sorry. Target Audience: Deep knowledge of CBEA SOC, Sony PlayStation 3 hardware logic, security, encryption/decryption and secure boot dynamics is the minimum to understand the parts of this document.

Thanks to all the stuff of http://www.PS3News.com, without their support this documentation would not be possible, thanks also to Sony for all the nice patents. :)


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We have a few PS3 development updates for the new week, including some PS3 KeyVault Project and PS3 Flash news.

To start, resident PS3 Dev subdub has been a bit busy, so he has yet to put the finishing touches on our PS3 KeyVault Server Application. In his absence, both ggparallel and mainman have picked up the slack, and are finishing up the server application. While they are finishing up the app, they are also optimizing the code so it is more versatile as it can auto-update clients, and it will also be able to handle more requests.

Below is a picture of the client application's Web interface that runs on any PS3, including retail consoles via OtherOS. It basically lets you configure the PS3's IP address, check the status of the program, the kernel, and transmitted packets.

Another resident PS3 Dev, who recently received a PS3 TEST unit, is currently awaiting some new hot air rework t... More »  


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