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Endgame: A dashboard exploit for the original Xbox

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Re: Endgame: A dashboard exploit for the original Xbox

#51
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

PS3, PS4, Xbox, PSP, DS, vita, switch and maybe PS5 all have hacks. Phones came out and killed homebrew. Now the developers developed cool super compatible stuff without needing you to hack the hardware plus games became stagnant on consoles. The PSP when I bought it was known as a boring rehash console with nothing but re-releases but the hardware made it worth it.

Considering how often ModernVintageGamer uploads videos about new (and old) homebrew hacks, i do not think homebrew is that dead :-P.

Back in the 2000s homebrew served a practical purpose, today it's just a novelty. I can run Sega games on a WiiU, sure, or virtually anything else.

Re: Endgame: A dashboard exploit for the original Xbox

#52
post #31
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"console security is getting really good." - It's not nor will it ever be. There is no point in investing extra millions for let's say anti electron microscope measures for example. Developers aim for secure enough and don't care much about a single nerd who cracked his individual system using exotic specialists tools more valuable than the console and the entire game collection combined. It's more lucrative to just…

I would class making it uneconomical to hack a console for any practical purpose as "really good security". Could someone with nation-state resources hack the Xbox? Maybe? But who cares, they're not going to.

Funny, I was just wondering if such an entity would not actually quite like the xbox and Playstation as targets. I mean, they are powerful machines, well connected to the internet and the ownership class by and large dont blink when they power them on and are told they need to download a system update or game patch. Feels like a fertile place to build a bot net?

I wonder if you really even need to hack the console. It might be easier to, say, subvert Rockstar's supply chain to put some code in the next GTA that spent a few cycles doing whatever botnets need to be doing.

Re: Endgame: A dashboard exploit for the original Xbox

#53
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nintendo (or rather Nvidia) was behind the curve on fault injection counter-measures, Sony and Microsoft did their homework and it's never been achieved on their last two generations of systems as far as I know. Microsoft openly talked about it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7VwtOrwceo Seriously, console security is getting really good. The Switch had some major hardware blunders between the bootloader bug an…

I felt called out in that YouTube video when the guy said 'This is what people do to not spend $60 on games'.

While I'm not saying most people by far aren't doing it to save money, I have bought switch games and then emulated them just to try the graphics at 4k 60fps that isn't possible on the console.

That's the part I'm sad about - that we won't get emulated games that look and feel better due to faster hardware in the future. Money isn't an issue for me.

Re: Endgame: A dashboard exploit for the original Xbox

#54
post #8

Why would I want to do this? It doesn't seem to mention that in the README

The original Xbox was locked down so only code signed by Microsoft was allowed to run on it. The executables also had a flag specifying which media it was allowed to run from. This meant that you couldn't run a game from a copied disc (different media-type) or the internal hard drive (again, different media-type). There were plenty of hacks that allowed you to circumvent this. Once you get some form of code execution…

Oh man! That hot swap method! I remember my computer, running Linux (which freaked 14 year old me out) from a live cd, case open, and plugging in the hdd while the Xbox and pc was on.

I felt like a warlock when I could rip my games after that.

Great memories.

And my mate at school saying there is no such thing as a soft mod! Haha

Re: Endgame: A dashboard exploit for the original Xbox

#55
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nintendo (or rather Nvidia) was behind the curve on fault injection counter-measures, Sony and Microsoft did their homework and it's never been achieved on their last two generations of systems as far as I know. Microsoft openly talked about it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7VwtOrwceo Seriously, console security is getting really good. The Switch had some major hardware blunders between the bootloader bug an…

I felt called out in that YouTube video when the guy said 'This is what people do to not spend $60 on games'.

On the other hand the Switch is the best platform to make money on as an indie game developer.

Re: Endgame: A dashboard exploit for the original Xbox

#56
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would class making it uneconomical to hack a console for any practical purpose as "really good security". Could someone with nation-state resources hack the Xbox? Maybe? But who cares, they're not going to.

Funny, I was just wondering if such an entity would not actually quite like the xbox and Playstation as targets. I mean, they are powerful machines, well connected to the internet and the ownership class by and large dont blink when they power them on and are told they need to download a system update or game patch. Feels like a fertile place to build a bot net? I wonder if you really even need to hack the console. I…

Surely cheaper to mandate that microsoft ship the patch, if they wanted to do that.

Re: Endgame: A dashboard exploit for the original Xbox

#57
post #31
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"console security is getting really good." - It's not nor will it ever be. There is no point in investing extra millions for let's say anti electron microscope measures for example. Developers aim for secure enough and don't care much about a single nerd who cracked his individual system using exotic specialists tools more valuable than the console and the entire game collection combined. It's more lucrative to just…

I would class making it uneconomical to hack a console for any practical purpose as "really good security". Could someone with nation-state resources hack the Xbox? Maybe? But who cares, they're not going to.

not going to and publish it.

Re: Endgame: A dashboard exploit for the original Xbox

#58
post #35

Aside: og xbox is not so expensive 2nd hand and a great way to set up a kids lan party. 1 old router, 3 xboxes, 3 tvs, 12 controllers, Halo gets you 10 year-olds' mayhem. Noisy fun. Arguably easier if xboxes are modded. MotoGP, crash team racing, powerdrome, crimson skies all work great https://www.teamxlink.co.uk/wiki/Supported_Games then sort by both total players and players per console descending Is this single l…

I have the same use case but with Xbox 360s since they are cheaper and easier to get here in Germany.

Haven't found a better "easy LAN party" setup than this.

A PC gaming LAN setup for 20 year old games is also dirt cheap but mostly requires 1 PC per player. The splitt screen support on PC is unfortunately very bad.

Re: Endgame: A dashboard exploit for the original Xbox

#59
post #42
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hacking the original Xbox + x360 is what I credit as getting me "really into computers" For OG xbox, I was a definition script kiddie but I learned how to use FTP, how to connect via crossover cable, how to solder, the basics of what exploits are and how they work, and a ton of other skills that I use daily. X360 required me to take the damn thing apart (which was terrifying as a 14 year old who wouldn't get a replac…

Microsoft actually just tricked an entire generation of us into learning C# and .NET. They were playing the long-con game.

For me it was creating “gift card code generator” for games like Habbo Hotel and RuneScape in C# and distribute it among my friends to get into their accounts. 14 year old me was proud of my “hacking” skills.

Re: Endgame: A dashboard exploit for the original Xbox

#60
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nintendo (or rather Nvidia) was behind the curve on fault injection counter-measures, Sony and Microsoft did their homework and it's never been achieved on their last two generations of systems as far as I know. Microsoft openly talked about it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7VwtOrwceo Seriously, console security is getting really good. The Switch had some major hardware blunders between the bootloader bug an…

I felt called out in that YouTube video when the guy said 'This is what people do to not spend $60 on games'.

$60 for a game is very expensive though. Especially so with digital distribution which means it can't be resold.
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