Hello World! I've been reporting on Sony PlayStation hacking news since 2000 and started PSXHAX in 2014 to cover PlayStation (PSX), PlayStation 2 (PS2), PlayStation 3 (PS3), PlayStation 4 (PS4), PlayStation Portable (PSP), PlayStation Vita (PS Vita), PlayStation TV (PS TV) and next-gen PlayStation 5 (PS5) platforms along with anything else of interest.
Click on my UserName author link above and you'll be able to view a curated list of all the articles I've contributed thus far to PSXHAX.COM!
As promised, following their 33c3 2016 presentation Fail0verflow have updated their Blog with a console hacking 2016 postscript by PlayStation 4 hacker Marcan.
Check it out below, to quote: Console Hacking 2016: Postscript
Another year, another console hacking talk! This talk picks off where our lighting talk last year left off, and goes into detail of how we ported Linux to the PS4.
If you haven’t watched it, take a look before reading the rest of this post:
Last year we demoed Linux on the PS4. Since then, we’ve gotten 3D graphics working, polished a number of drivers, and wrote some new ones. Linux on the PS4 is now actually quite a usable OS, with some minor caveats. We can run Steam OS and many games stably (e.g. Portal 2, but most games that run well on Linux should work). The current kernel is based on Linux 4.9.
Continuing last year’s theme of focusing on the Linux port and loader instead of on exploits, this year’s talk focused on the hardware and what it takes to bring up Linux on a very much non-PC-compatible x86 platform. We also covered how we originally got kernel binary dumps via a hardware PCI Express man-in-the-middle attack two years ago, and Radeon reverse engineering tools.
So, what’s next? Well, last year we said we’d like to upstream some of the work into the Linux kernel, and we still plan to do so. Now that the drivers have been cleaned up a bit, that is starting to look more likely.
In addition, we are working on PS4 Pro support. Linux currently boots on it, but the GPU driver needs fixups. We are also interested in adding PS4 support to the newer AMDGPU kernel driver, so it might make sense to defer graphics work on the Pro until that is ready.
The platform is mostly limited by its CPU, as the PS4 has 8 rather weak cores while most PC games are optimized for 1 or 2 fast cores. Nonetheless, even the Dolphin emulator runs surprisingly well; it currently seems to be bottlenecked on CPU geometry processing, which...
Following the previous update, PlayStation 3 developer @deank has released MultiMAN v04.81.00 today which now includes PS3 4.81 Custom Firmware support with a Stealth (aka StealthMAN) version followed by multiMAN v04.81.01 and v04.81.02 with details below.
Previously we linked several guides for Dumping PS4 PKG Files, and with Select PC Drives outlined HERE people have been dumping (minus decrypting) PS4 games since late 2013... but if you have a 1.76 OFW console you can also dump disc-based games from the PlayStation 4 itself thanks to a brief guide from e✘treme-Modding.de alongside some DiscDump 50X Payloads that copy the disc content to a USB HDD!
To quote, roughly translated: Dump Disc Games on PS4 1.76
Since not every drive reads PS4 disc games, there is the possibility to read the content via the PS4.
1. Insert the PlayStation 4 game disc
2. Open the game and create an FTP connection
3. The contents of the disc are located under / mnt / disc
To copy the files, the game must remain open. The original size of the app.pkg is not displayed during the transfer.
Converting Disc-based PS4 Games Into Digital Games 4.05 WebKit Exploit How to Convert PS4 Game Disc to PKG Format DUMP YOUR PS4 GAMES FOR PS4 4.05 JAILBREAK | PLAY FREE PS4 BACKUPS GAMES WITHOUT DISCS !
Download: dumpPS4Games.rar (10.7 MB)
Finally, here is one more guide from Thibobo (Twitter) on How to Dump Your Own...
Earlier this week we reported on Fail0verflow's demonstration at 33c3 2016, and today Marcan shared another brief video demo of the Nintendo GameCube / Wii Dolphin Emulator running via PS4 Linux on their exploited 4.05 console.
Below is the PlayStation 4 Linux Dolphin Emulator demonstration video along with some related Tweets:
It's hard to believe a new year is almost upon us, and with it comes new PlayStation Plus free games for subscribers. I think 2017 will be the year of the banana!
Below is the list of what we'll see in January according to James Hallahan, to quote:
This month we have the excellent Day of the Tentacle Remastered and This War of Mine: The Little Ones.
First up, we have the zany Day of the Tentacle Remastered. This is a mind-bending, time traveling, puzzle adventure in which three unlikely friends work together to prevent an evil mutated purple tentacle from taking over the world. Originally released in 1993, this remastered game is a classic and not be missed.
Now, if you are looking for something a bit more serious, look no further than This War of Mine: The Little Ones. Play as a group of civilians trying to survive in a city under siege while struggling to collect food and medicine. Make life-and-death choices driven by your conscience, while dealing with the constant dangers of war.
Full lineup:
Day of The Tentacle Remastered, PS4 (Cross buy on PS Vita)