360 Hacked To Play Backups

xorkid writes "Microsoft Corps ' unhackable' Xbox 360 console has been hacked. It is now possible to play copied games from recordable DVD DL discs without any soldering or hardware modification. The ingenious hack involves replacing the original 360 DVD firmware with a modified version that authenticates recorded DVD DL discs as original game discs. The hack does not require any modification devices but it requires a 1:1 copy of an original signed disc from the same region as the console. So it does not allow booting of unsigned code, yet. No Linux on the 360 for now, but its a start. There are rumours that there is an as-of-yet unreleased version that allows booting of unsigned code."

Complex Guide

[CogDissident]

These instructions are relatively complex, hopefully there will be a simplified and streamlined step-by-step guide posted sometime soon so most technically-literate people can mod their boxes like this.

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[account_deleted]

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Once again...

[The_Isle_of_Mark]

Never, never, ever say something is unhackable. Someone out there with a much bigger brain than the developers will see it as a personal challenge.

Re:will this hurt game development?

[hubs99]

I doubt this would sincerely come across most developers minds. If past game systems are any indictation it doesn't seem to have any effect. One of the least hackable systems in last generation of systems, the gamecube, had the fewest developers. Also most companies will try to hit both markets if at all possible.

The article also concludes that MS will most likely find a way to detect this firmware via LIVE and force a Firmware upgrade or boot you from LIVE.

Re:No hardware modifications? What?

[Kufat]

I think they meant "no hardware modifications" in the sense that "you won't have to buy and/or solder anything." This is a pretty common idea in the modding community; for example, a modification that requires you to open the xbox and attach the HD to a PC is considered a softmod.

Re:From the freaking-inevitable dept.

[flooey]

I always love it when anything, anywhere is called "unhackable" because in the real world, absolutely nothing is. Microsoft (of all companies) should have seen this coming, having been founded by a bunch of hackers, having tons of highly-paid hackers on staff, and having many of the arguably most-pirated apps out there.

I always love it when people attribute phrases to people who didn't say them, personally :) From the article linked to:

But Mr Satchell admitted no system was fool-proof and that, with enough time and dedication, the security on the Xbox 360 would be broken.

"There're some really bright people in the world with some really expensive hardware," he said.

"I'm sure sooner or later someone will work out how to circumvent security. But the way we have done the design doesn't mean that it will work on somebody else's machine."

Re:Dual layer DVD burners are still hard to come b

[Kenshin]

Most DVD burners I see on the market nowadays have DL support. I even got mine two years ago for $150.

NOW, DL media on the other hand... that stuff is still ridiculously expensive. ($5/disc? No thanks.)

Re:Once again...

[pete-classic]

That's not the risk. The problem is thousands of people, some of whom are more perverse thinkers than the engineers, will take it as a personal challenge.

-Peter

The difference

[Rowan_u]

The difference this time around is the significant percentage of 360 owners who also use the Live service in some form or another. To put it very simply, an Xbox 360 without Live is a crippled machine, drastically reducing the incentive to use this hack. A piece of hardware can always be hacked; however, a well maintained online service is a moving target that cannot be consistently hacked. The PSP is a good example of this in practice, with hacks being stamped out by firmware upgrades as fast as homebrewers can write them. Perhaps we have finally entered into the era of the unhackable console after all.

Re:Per-Xbox

[Kjella]

Of course, those chips also need to be distributed and installed - one chip per xbox. Unless I missed something here, this is a no chip solution. You can take your xbox360 to anyone intelligent enough to read instructions and flash firmware, and walk out with a modded xbox360. Hell, everyone on slashdot can do it now as long as they got the right kind. No, this one might be fixed in a new revision but how many vunerable consoles are there? A million or more? Not to mention the method should work on the other drive as well - since there's no firmware confirmation code, all it takes is another firmware job. So I'd estimate all the xbox360s to date will become moddable.