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Xbox 360 Hacking Gets Started, Suggested Laser Beams Fail as Deterrent
news
happening
game: Xbox 360
posted by: Aaron Stanton
publisher: Microsoft
platform:
date posted: 01:20 PM Sun Dec 18th, 2005
last revision: 02:05 PM Sun Dec 18th, 2005


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Click to read.Microsoft\'s Crumbling Wall:

When Microsoft started gearing up to launch the Xbox 360, they also started spreading around a bit of information about its anti-hacking features. Xbox 360 engineer Chris Satchell went on record as saying that the system would include security measures, \"the hacker community has never seen before.\"

What did that mean?

People speculated that the Xbox 360 would have everything from liquid plastic coatings over the motherboard to a case that shorted the circuitry when opened. We here at GamesFirst shopped around the idea of using deadly hacker-repelling laser beams mounted on the inside of the case. No one knew what to expect.

But Microsoft was claiming the Xbox 360 was near unhackable.

Always one for a challenge, the modding community came to the call when the Xbox 360 hit street date. Work on opening a 360 and discovering its secrets started almost immediately.

Apparently, they\'re well on their way.

According to CNet.com members of Team PI Coder have found a way to intercept and copy the source files of an Xbox 360 game during the loading process.
        Obviously, the deadly laser beams Microsoft installed to burn the retinas of would-be hackers failed to activate when they should have.

While CNet quotes a security expert as saying, \"I would consider it a game hack, not really an Xbox 360 hack,\" we here at GamesFirst would also point out that software mods for the original Xbox are one of the most popular modding methods.

With the original Xbox, a gamer could mod it in two ways: a softmod, and a hardmod. A hardmod involved opening the case and installing a chip on the motherboard itself. A softmod simply installs software onto the Xbox that fools it into behaving like a hardmodded Xbox. At one point, before Microsoft implemented software updates via Xbox Live, the original Xbox could be hacked with a 1st generation copy of MechAssualt and a memory card in less than 6 minutes.

Obviously, the deadly laser beams Microsoft installed to burn the retinas of would-be hackers failed to activate when they should have.

Technically, that could also be considered a game hack, since it exploited an error in the programming of MechAasault. So we\'re on our way. At the moment, there are many obstacles that still have to be addressed before the modding community has anything they can do with it, but this is a beginning.
        Possibly the most effective anti-hacking measure was by Nintendo, which made the GameCube so unpopular that no one wanted to hack it.

Methods of the Past:

This brings to mind some other creative ways that console companies have attempted to prevent hacking in the past. Probably the most effective and innovative of these came from Nintendo, such as making the Nintendo GameCube so unpopular that no one would really want to hack it. This has been a tremendously effective deterrent, and as a consequence both the original Xbox and the PS2 enjoy a much larger hacking community.

The GameCube\'s use of a proprietary media (those tiny little discs) also helped to prevent duplication.

The release of the original Xbox pushed hacking to a new level, since the system was built with an internal hard drive and was fast enough to run alternative operating systems, such as Linux. Packing even more power than its previous iteration, the Xbox 360 is a prime target for hackers in search of a flexible and powerful piece of hardware to open up to third party development.

Of course, Microsoft will be pissed, because they seem to think that paying them for the system doesn\'t mean you actually own it. That $2000 dollars you just dropped on the Xbox 360 pre-order package is really just the rental fee so you can store it under your TV for a while. Unfortunately, the law seems to agree with them, and makes it illegal to attempt to circumvent a security system. Since the outside case is technically a part of the security system, smashing your Xbox 360 with a sludge hammer could be considered subverting that security and be illegal. Hell, technically I think I might be breaking the law by publishing a detailed account of how to do it.

Here\'s an image of what that might look like.

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