N4G Geohot outrage, for the most part, is just fanboys being fanboys.

I don’t think you have to even not been on any gaming sites in a month or so to know that several gamers treat the recent Geohot vs. Sony controversy as a hot button issue. Meaning that if it gets brought up, you have people with venomous opinions, which you will hear about with insults directed at you if you challenge their beliefs in any way. It’s obvious that George Hotz has turned some heads.

But what exactly is the problem here? Is it because he possibly enabled the means to pirate PS3 games? Or the means to cheat in an online match during a PSN session? What is the main cause of Geohot’s hack that has gotten so many fanboys and some gamers so frustrated that they have become venomous and have asked that Hotz be physically harmed (as if that should even be allowed in any debate)?

Actually, the problem could be hidden within the normal fanboy paradox that has become the norm this generation: that their favorite system and company has been taken down a peg, and they don’t like it when that happens.

Let’s be honest here. Even though you may think that the problem will be that the potential for piracy and cheating is there, the simple fact is that we haven’t seen any widespread issues of people pirating games and cheating on PSN. You might have the few cases of the media trying to pour gasoline on an already out of control fire by spinning stories about hacks and pirating to make it seem as though CFW was the culprit, but we haven’t seen anyone’s security being compromised, or anyone’s CC info stolen, or people racking up kills in a COD game that they shouldn’t be able to do in which was done through the use of CFW. I do challenge anyone to find anything that shows that there is such a widespread epidemic of piracy and cheating that is already going on that was in direct result of whatever CFW enables. You cannot because they don’t exist (and no, those stories that just came after the CFW issue became public don’t count).

So why the fear of something that hasn’t happened yet that, if it was going to occur from use, would’ve happened in a widespread manner by now?

To answer that, we must examine the comments that have been left on gaming sites. For weeks now, I’ve complained not that many on N4G seem to be on Sony’s side on the suit. That in of itself is okay. Thing is, most that are on Sony’s side, at least on this site, seem unwilling to negotiate, debate, or to even listen to anyone that has a different viewpoint. I’ve never seen anyone that is arguing on Geohot’s defense (myself included) saying that we should enable piracy or cheating. Not in any way, shape, or form. Neither has it been said through action because, like I said before, no real case of any of the above fears have happened just yet. Yet, I bet the people who have posted such comments on this site have failed to even get THIS far in this blog post.

And I’ve struggled to find the reason why they feel the need to post such things, and why they refuse to listen to any bit of reason. When have I NOT supported Sony on this site? Who got into a huge battle with Torrence Davis of The Bitbag back in 2008 over one of his stories and what appeared to be 360 fanboyism (which I found out later was just Microsoft being Microsoft)? Who has called out Kotaku, GameTrailers, and other sites on Game Gazette about their blatant biased against Sony? Right! So why, then, did I have a N4G user, who claimed to be on the site for longer than I have (I joined in 2008) tell me that I have never supported Sony, when all I did was refuse to take Sony’s side on Geohot’s case? Yes, I’ve defended Sony, but I’ve also called them out (their failure to fight back against MS’s cheap tactics to win this generation’s console war, the removal of backwards compatibility, the refusal to retire the PS2 to get people to finally upgrade). It’s not like I’ve broken off from the majority before. I’m bringing just my experiences up because I can only speak for me, but I’m sure others that have come out on N4G for Geohot for legitimate reasons (not just because of their 360 fanboyism) have gotten the same if not similar treatment.

Any talk of piracy and cheating not being the factors here is met with such venom. Any talk of Hotz and Sony talking it out and working it out is met with venom. Any talk about Hotz being correct, or piracy being the scapegoat, or Sony pulling an Apple, or the comparisons to the iPhone case is met with it. Hell, even bringing up homebrew on the PS3 (or homebrew itself) is met with the same venomous replies. And by same replies, I MEAN same replies. As in the same arguments that have been rebutted several times on this site already (this could be the, what, millionth time we’ve explained why the PS3 case is like the iPhone case), but keep getting repeated as if it’s the first time such arguments have been used.

So…what’s the issue? What’s the cause? Simple!

The Playstation 3 was touted as, for about three years or so, completely unhackable. That was the main talking point many Sony fanboys had against their naysayers. The 360 was and continues to be hacked by just about everyone. Nintendo has the Homebrew Channel available for it from various internet sites (and Nintendo seems to not be able to care less that it exists). But the Playstation 3 has been thought of to be an impenetrable fortress. Nothing could even dent it. Thus, Sony fanboys used it as a weapon when the 360 fanboys came after them with something (like whenever a Sony third party exclusive was bought out because Microsoft seems unable to come up with any original ideas).

Thus, when Geohot and whoever else he had on his team took a mere six months to finally crack the code, Sony fans (and Sony themselves) were pissed. Not because of the dangers they said it would be, but because they were shown how wrong they were on their assessment. In short, someone knocked them down a level on that pegboard. And they do not like when that happens. One of their main weapons was just confiscated.

This is because we know the age-level of most fanboys on most forums (either that or their IQ level). It’s like a cult, and when someone does what Geohot did, it makes them angry. Just like when 360 fanboys gets taken down a peg by anyone. They don’t like it either, and you have seen in the past how they come together like the Borg. It’s just fanboys being fanboys. And God forbid you break off from the pack and become an individual about things.

I’m not saying that no one who sides with Sony on this suit has a legitimate argument to back it up. But those that do have one also act like adults. They have facts to back up their argument, they don’t call for someone to execute anyone, they realize that people have other opinions and respect them and actually LISTEN to them (and the other side is willing to listen to the person with the legit argument on Sony’s behalf), and can make a rational claim one way or another. These types of people (which, sadly, have been few and far between on THIS site) are NOT the types I speak of when talking about the fanboy paradox.

Simply put, I just think those that are wishing for a mature debate about this CFW thing are wasting their time trying to convince the people within their fanboy cults to even listen to any reason. They will continue on their silly rampages of wanting Geohot to die, and trying to shoot down any opposing point of view, regardless of how many facts it brings to the table. No debating allowed here. Leave your brain and individuality at the door, because it isn’t allowed here.

Sadly, it hasn’t begun with the Geohot case, and it probably won’t end there, either.

[GSpartan777]

You know, I used to be just like you. Fight for what I believe in on the internet. Tried to reason with people and convince them think about the things they say. That is till I discovered N4G years back and then I realized that this site by itself is/was/has always been doomed. Honestly, it's not worth it. The only way you survive on this site is to troll/flame people who talk shit or take shit. If people support Sony over GeoHotz, leave it at that. Trying to convince them about how human/consumer rights, will honestly not do anything.

[Active Reload]

Its definitely a severe case of brand loyalty. I think its kind of weird really, but I guess there is some good behind it. I've never seen people care so much for a company that really and ultimately only wants to make money. Ive sat through some updates that have to be downloaded and installed on the PS3 and it's not an ideal experience,imo, to enjoy gaming. And that's the only close range affect I see happening to everyone directly. Updates and more updates I suppose would be the happening if the hacking gets to out of hand. But maybe Sony won't go that route, as it seems, they seem to be creating a special group to fight it. Or was that a rumor? I didn't read the whole article on that.

[jadenkorri]

someone who can hack into a game like MW2 online and erase everything I have achieved in a whole year taken in less than 20 secs... Granted geohot may not be responsible for that particular incident but a hacker was, which in whole scheme of things, geohot is part of the problem. Hacking caused 1 of my friends to literally stop playing games, last i saw him online was 36 days ago plus and he only came on to watch a movie. Hackers are destroying gaming and communities, and hackers hiding behind homebrew is bullsh!t.

[theonlylolking]

Let me just leak out your password to your account and see how you like it.

That is sorta how the PS3 situation is. They leak the tools out to the public and now peeps can mess with it just like someone could do to your account if they knew the password.

[JD_Shadow]

Anything really could do the same thing. Simply going onto a web site that you shouldn't can add a keylogger onto your PC or even PS3, and they wouldn't even need anything extra.

Thing is, Sony should invest in what some MMOs like WoW have done: sell a further means of securing yourself such as the WoW authenticator that has a 6-digit code that is constantly changing (look this up if you need more info on how this works).

Also, I'm not saying they shouldn't deal with the people who would do something like that. The thing is that we don't know for certain if that is really going on or not. I'm not convinced yet if it's as urgent of a risk as we're making it out to be, and I'm becoming more convinced that Hotz is telling the truth about his device. I think the issue is becoming more of what to do ABOUT it!

[HolyOrangeCows]

GeoNotz is not only a self-serving goon with a superiority complex, but a nut with a twisted sense of morality and servitude.

First, he tries to hack the PS3. He fails, and crawls away with his tail between his legs. Then, a group comes along and does the bulk of the work. Guess who sweeps in and sucks up all the credit? You guessed it; frodo.
1) He did not actually hack it himself, but swooped in and created the first conceptual CFW.

He has continually snaked around the issue, making Sony out to be some bad guy. This is coming from a guy who used stolen code to illegally create and distribute tampered stolen, copy-protected codes/software.
2) Twisted sense of morality, snakes around issues and legal charges

He compared Sony's battle to "the war on drugs". He compared Sony's right to protect its copy-protected software, in which its confidence lies hundreds or thousands of jobs, to governments' battles to keep people from selling/using drugs. Sony: rightfully protecting self; Governments: debatably unrighteously keeping people from personal liberties.
3) Legally and morally incompetent

The gain is the E-peen, not "justice". What's in the balance? Homebrew. Things that could easily be done on your run of the mill computer, especially since they know how to use its infrastructure a LOT more than with a PS3. Despite this, he denies that he's doing this for himself, and claims to be doing this for the "justice" of being able to things doable on other systems, and better. Despite the stupid raps, and blogs, and donation portals, and interviews where he smiles wide and twists the truth.
4) Won't admit to self-serving purposes

Geohotz thinks he owns the software of anything he buys. Let me ask you...do you OWN Windows 7 as a copy-protected software when you purchase it? Can you redistribute it? When you buy a DVD, do you have the right to distribute episodes of the show on the DVD? Sell T-shirts with the characters on it? Copies of the DVD? No? Then what's so complicated about this situation? Geohotz wants to create a CFW that violates the TOS that come with it when he agreed to purchase his PS3, and again when he agreed to the online TOS. He thinks he does, but he does not OWN the codes and software on his system, except to use it for himself.
5) Thinks corporations owe servitude to him and thus the copy-protected codes, free to distribute it to anyone, and make money....erm, I mean "receive donations"...for it.

Reasons to hate GeoHotz:
1) He did not actually hack it himself, but swooped in and created the first conceptual CFW. He shouldn't even be a hero in the eyes of morally-corrupt Moore-wannabes.
2) Twisted sense of morality, snakes around issues and legal charges
3) Legally and morally incompetent
4) Won't admit to self-serving purposes
5) Thinks corporations owe servitude to him and thus the copy-protected codes, free to distribute it to anyone, and make money....erm, I mean "receive donations"...for it.

OH LOOK! I haven't even BEGUN to discuss piracy!
Piracy and Homebrew or Neither. Devastating damage to game sales and pong emulators or Amazing games with great sales. I'll take the latter, every time. And any other gamers should feel the same.
But I don't think I need to add several more points to make point clear.

[360FTW2]

The exact point the writer of this article was trying to make. Thanks HolyOrangeCow... you're the rabid psyco fanboy he was describing.

And even with all the smack you talked above, your precious Sony/PS3 has been knocked down a peg and you are pissed. No need to try and spin it with you paragraphs of smoke and mirrors.

Who else would type 40 - 50 lines of non-sense to make a pointless point?

[The_Count]

Stopped at reading at geonotz. I knew what was coming.

[Dasteru]

1: There is no TOS when purchasing the hardware, only when you create an account on psn. legally that means that it can only apply to psn. Geohotz never made a psn account so the TOS doesn't apply to him.

2: CFW isn't necessarily illegal, If it is created from scratch and not modified from the pre existing system software, then it is legal. When you purchase a computer from the store with windows already installed, there is nothing illegal about REMOVING windows from the system and installing another OS like linux on it. That is exactly what geohot is trying to do. the only difference is with a pc, the hardware actually gives you the option to make said changed. The PS3's OS is hardcoded, meaning it cannot actually be removed without cracking the hardware encryptions first, again what Geohot is trying to do. Sony is basically saying we will sell you the system for $300+ of you're own money but we get to choose how you use it and if you do anything we don't like, then we will sue you. How would you like it if a car company sold you a car then sued you when you tried putting in a different engine, slightly different but close enough to get the point across. You and other people like you are basically throwing away consumer rights (YOU"RE OWN RIGHTS) and defending a company that doesn't give a crap about you. just wants you're money, and would probably take you're first born also if they got the chance. It is completely illogical.

Edit: just wanted to add, Although it is true you can already install homebrew on a pc, that is not really the point. If people choose for whatever reason that they want to use it on there ps3 also (which was actually originally marketed as a computer system by sony) then they should have that option, they payed for the hardware just as they have/could for a pc. why should they not have that same option. personally i dont care about homebrew on my ps3 either but the option should be available for people who choose to do so.

[Otheros00]

He did NOT create cfw from scratch. He used the official 3.55 fw to make a cfw. You can read it on any ps3 hacking related site. He also used the official sdk to make that cfw.

[blackburn5]

Really? As far as I can see the people who support it have no legitimate arguement for it either. Since this has began have we seen anything good come from doing this? No. Just cheating, piracy and crappy homebrew. The hackers are to busy talking crap and trying to dodge Sony's updates to actually do anything. This has become nothing more then an egotistical, immature, attention whoring 'defy Sony' power trip. You think they care? They are only doing this because Sony said 'NO!' and now they are trying to show that they can do it. Geohot is a thief, a liar, a trouble maker and an extortionist and idiots encourage him and give him money. All haters want to happen is to see Sony fail just like always.Why is it Sony should give in? They could have gone to Sony peacefully and discussed the concept of homebrew and apps and show them the flaw they found. But they threatened and mocked them instead, so they retaliated.@ Active Reload don't get me started on severe console loyalty when 360 owners took 3 years of RROD

[dinkeldinkse]

For the simple fact that Geohot stole their root key and distribute it on the internet which is illegal and wrong.

What I have notice is that the people that support Geohot like to ignore that little bit of information.

[ZombieNinjaPanda]

At least you have a somewhat valid reason. Everyone who supports Sony want all hackers to either a) burn in hell b) Get raped in Jail c) Get driven into the ground financially wise or d) all of the above.

There is no denying this at all, I have seen all of the above comments in some way or form.

[dinkeldinkse]

Those people that you mention are idiots though. I really don't have a problem with hacking as long as the people hacking are not stealing or doing other things that harm individuals,corporations, and etc.

If it was just about hacking I would not care at all about Sony vs Geohot.

[Cajun Chicken]

It is (concerning console hacking being illegal and unacceptable) if said console still has market. Take the Dreamcast, great hacking community now, because it's no longer commercial. Hacking in the middle of a marketable lifespan is a ridiculous thing to do. Even if it is your own. Passing the instructions so further people so can do what you do is also pretty damn illegal. If you do something with your console, shut up and don't give the secret recipe.

Games have a far bigger budget on consoles and a lot more to make up than that of a handheld. The effects of one hack and that change of sales can shut down multiple developers or cause them to struggle to put the money into expanding or developing new IP.

Case in point 1: Youtube; Someone uploads video of playing Super Mario Allstars rom on a emulator on a hacked PS3. Nintendo complain to Sony to act on this affecting sales of the Wii Mario Anniversary package and want to protect their IP on their systems. Thereby attempting to sue Sony.

Case in point 2: Copied game published by industry giant Activision or EA. Activison or EA inquire strongly about the state of sales over players on PS3. Sony is in positioned to be sued or lose support entirely. This has already actually ruined the monopoly of online games due to hacking and Sony has had to act on it fast.

Case in point 3: People buy PS3, nobody buys Playstation exclusives from developers which are under the umbrella of Sony Computer Entertainment. Uncharted 3 comes out, doesn't get as many sales as sequel due to piracy and a great world wide leading developer such as Naughty Dog is forced to close.

Just think about the people being paid at the end of the day instead of having stuff you know very well you can do on what you're surfing N4G on right now.

Face it hacking supporters, your not going to be doing word processing or databases on the PS3 if it was allowed to be hacked. What on Earth would you be doing with it outside of that and further gaming?

-Case closed-

[Rush]

You + Bridge + Jump + Truck = world a better place.

I actually read up your comment rather then down, figured it hopefully it would get less retarded at the bottom it didn't.

Why don't you just end your own life before you try close any cases leave that for the people capable of self thought. Not the halfwit fucks that follow the Sony jerk circle on this website.

I only read the 3rd point couldn't stand anymore but let me give you some information.

Piracy as long as media has existed and even before then with art has been a part of the fabric of society.

Piracy ain't going anywhere, The game industry is a massive industry, and one of the least hit industries by the recession on earth.

People do lose there jobs over Piracy, but to pretend they didn't have any say in it is fucking loony.

Good games sell bad ones don't that's the general rule, am not saying them lines are always followed but developers are very much rewarded for the time of effort.

People will get whatever they can get for however little they can afford. Some people can afford to buy all there games others cannot. Some will resort to Piracy but it's not always a bad thing.

If someone pirates a game they never intended to buy or couldn't afford to anyway I fail to see how the developers lost anything.

If anything they only gained a fan if they enjoyed the game they pirated. And when that same person is in a stronger position financially I don't see any reason why they wouldn't go out and buy a sequel to said game.

Piracy can hurt companies, it can also help them. there's no black and white with piracy.

Anime Companies in Japan now believe Piracy is boosting the there profits. Why because people will pirate there Anime watch it online become fans of the franchise and buy the products.

Believe it or not the same does apply to gaming. Piracy can hurt developers, no one would argue that but as game industry is booming personally am more worried about my own pockets like any none retard would be.

[Cajun Chicken]

No gamer should justify a games machine for being used differently that it should be, it doesn't need to be. End of.

I'm not going to argue with fools, so I stand by my statements and arguments. Hackers do what they do and they shouldn't. It's illegal, always has been will never change. If you want an open system to mess around with, get a personal computer.

And yes. I giggled with joy when MS went through a mass banning about a year ago with pirates and locked them out from the network. Anyone who can AFFORD a console to be hacked can certainly afford games, even if second hand.

With all your 'sense', it seems like the majority disagrees and you're just trying to justify something because you actually don't give a toss about people being paid at the end of the day or having the rights to protect their own IP.

Piracy is a cancer, action like this can frighten people off for a while. Piracy NEVER helps developers.

People are only going to play emulators because nothing better has ever and I mean EVER come out of homebrew.

[Tommykrem]

I really like your blog, well-written. But even though I can certainly admit having PS3 as my favourite next-gen console, I'm more annoyed about people hacking games in general than Geohotz, and waddaya know now he's made it possible on PS3 as well. So bring on your DRM's, online cheaters and waves of console bans, cause I'll be playing FFXIII offline for a while. Which I btw payed for!

[darksied]

For me, I wouldn't say it's brand loyalty. I'm not a Sony fan, but I'm a playstation fan. I have a ps3 that I've paid for and I like it cause it has good games. I also have a 360 and I liked it too (though it's drying up right now).

Now, the thing I have against this Geohot guy; I've said this time and time again, but I'll say it again: he just a guy who wants attention, thinking that by taking on "the man" (as if Sony is that; they're just 1 company out of thousands) that he's fighting for rights or something. What he actually is is an attention whore who can't see 5 minutes in front of his face. This is actually a problem with many people nowadays; they don' realize what will happen as a byproduct, and never consider consequences.

My entire beef with this guy is his need for attention. I wouldn't care if he was a youtube nerd who put up all his hacks on youtube, showing people that he was able to do what no one else did (actually, other people hacked the ps3 too; he just used what they started, if I understand that correctly). I would be completely fine with it if he had done that AND NOT RELEASED HIS INFORMATION TO THE PUBLIC. So, he would have been famous for just saying and showing what he did, but by showing others HOW to do what he did, what does that say about him? Attention whore, superiority complex, you name it.

My problem with him is he can't see what he's enabling and he can't see the possible consequences of his actions. There's only 3 companies right now, really, that are releasing gaming hardware: Sony, MS, and Nintendo (3 main gaming companies). Sony is arguably the "least powerful" of the 3 (don't know how else to say it; nintendo leads Japan, xbox leads US, so they're stuck a bit behind, even though they have killer games). The worst case scenario is that the ps3 turns into a DS or psp, where piracy is insanely widespread. So developers leave the console and guess what? No games anymore. This is worst case, of course, because at least Sony is trying to protect their investment, unlike Nintendo and MS who are just sitting back and not trying.

Fanboy? No, I think most of the people who hate this guy can at least see what he's allowed. It's not so much of being a Sony fanboy, it's about being a fan of gaming. This is why I want Sony to win, because I can see a possible outcome if they lose; hacking is legal, etc. will lead to a bad place for gamers (except the thieves, of course).

[JD_Shadow]

Let me correct you on one thing, and I think this is where people are probably very confused. There's a discreet difference between what "jailbreaking" is and what "hacking" is.

"Hacking", what YOU'RE thinking about, is people getting into password-protected areas to get personal information that they shouldn't be getting from private servers.

EDIT@theblind: Umm...I'm talking about how people are reacting to the suit! Some people just don't read before trolling, do they?

"Jailbreaking" is a form of modding something, in which you make a piece of hardware able to run applications that are not licensed to run on the hardware you're doing it to. You don't necessarily have to be a hacker to jailbreak things like the iPhone.

Thing is, before he got to the keys, everything Geohot did to jailbreak the PS3 worked until Sony blocked it. They pushed, he pushed harder.

And here's the other major issue I have with the rabid people on this site right now: how is it that we blame the hackers for revealing that some piece of info is unprotected on Sony's system instead of Sony for not protecting it to begin with? I don't understand that. When the hackers revealed that they were able to find that .txt file of the CC info, they were TRYING to make us aware that anyone that did the same thing they did could have much more sinister intentions than them, never revealed that they have such access, and do much more things with it (though I still don't see how since it is just their own info they put in anyway). They want US to be outraged at SONY because it was SONY that chose to do things that way.

But instead, we blame the hackers for revealing it, give Sony the free pass, and then tell anyone that does actually blame Sony that they should give said pass. How backwards is that? We're going to tell Sony to get whoever drinks our milkshake while we refuse to tell Sony to make their network more secure by encrypting that kind of stuff a bit more? I don't understand that.

[darksied]

A couple points. I can see where you're coming from, but here's my problem with what you mentioned. Your last paragraph, you're talking about how Sony should be more secure. So these guys had to HACK their way into the system to find out the information. Then we want Sony to be more secure? How many people try to hack the ps3? I'll bet it's tons, since it's release. And because 1 or 2 people happened to find the secret info that is being transferred through to the psn, etc. we want Sony to be more secure? This is information no normal person who uses the PS3 will EVER find. EVER. Sony DID protect that information, because you can only get to it by hacking and breaking into the system. That's like robbing a bank and saying to them that their security sucks and they should do a better job. It just doesn't make sense to me.

I don't want to get into the semantics of hacking, jailbreaking, etc. Here's what I know and see. Even if every single "hacker" out there who enables these hacks (hacking and modding the DS, PSP, 360, Wii, etc.), even if the guys who started it are all honest that they don't want piracy (which I don't believe for a second), they're not the only ones who have access to their information. Like I said, if they SHOW they did it, instead of explain HOW they did it, I would be fine with it. But because these guys have so much of an ego they have to explain and release the information to the public, that's the problem; because there's people out there who just don't give a shit and will hack a system to all hell and make piracy a reality. It's like if you break into a house to steal (or just to look around, whatever) and the owner has a heart-attack and dies when he sees you, you're the one who killed him in the eyes of the law. What these hackers enabled should be their responsibility.

What I actually believe is that whatever most hackers say, no matter what, their goal is piracy. People will say this and that about "homebrew," whatever the hell that is, but in reality it's all about piracy. Seriously, when was the last time you saw a decent piece of homebrew software that wasn't stolen? Every now and then you might see something interesting, but what does hacking bring mostly? Piracy of the system's games, emulators which play pirated older games, etc. That's why I don't take hackers seriously. I get this feeling of, "look what I did! I hacked the system to allow all this stuff. Yeah, you can pirate games now, but I don't support that." Huh? And before people say that this guy didn't enable piracy, he DID help it along and got the frame work up and running.

I can't see how ANY of this is Sony's fault, and why ANYONE would side with a hacker over them. Remember, it's not about being a Sony fanboy, it's about what's best for games, and hacking a system is NOT best for the system or any gamers out there.

[MrBeatdown]

"but we haven’t seen... people racking up kills in a COD game that they shouldn’t be able to do in which was done through the use of CFW."

Uh, what? The hacking in CoD4 and MW2 was a result of the hacks and it completely ruined the online play to the point where Infinity Ward had to issue a statement on it.

On top of that we have hackers claiming they can spoof PSN into thinking they are using a different system, which can only lead to other legitimate users getting banned.

And you can't understand why people are upset about this whole thing?

[ZombieNinjaPanda]

I don't care if this commented gets moderated but i'm going to ask, are you completely retarded?

Call of Duty 4 and MW2 were hacked long before the PS3 was hacked. In fact, you don't even need the ps3 modified at all to mess with those games, you just need a usb device with a save file on it, and you were good to go.

Also, I love the fact that you're naive and gullible enough to believe what Infinity Ward said. They just wanted a scape goat, and got it through that. You realize those two games are hacked to Hell on the 360 too right? What's your excuse there?

[MrBeatdown]

Oh, gee, you're one of those people who would prefer to call this a massive coincidence. Okay then.

So, care to explain why Infinity Ward only addressed the PS3 if the 360 version is hacked to hell too? Care to explain how the community on PS3, and not 360 suddenly became so vocal about it at once?

[mattiebo123]

Geohotz hacks the PS3, PS3 owners have to suffer more pointless firmware updates.

He has also opened the gate for pirates, stealing from hard-working game developers and giving the content away for free. (I know he doesn't support piracy, but it's his fault that it's happening.)

That's why I hate the arrogant prick.

[Christopher]

Once piracy is widespread, there is no way to stop it. Sony not doing what they are now had a major potential to lead to piracy and worse things happening on PSN.

The OPs argument that we shouldn't blow it out of proportion is a bit naive considering we know that the system is completely vulnerable now as hackers/pirates/identity thieves have everything they need to do whatever they want with the PS3 now. There is no question to this.

The only reason we haven't seen it grow beyond what happened in the first week of the info's first release is because of the steps Sony has taken to prevent it. Not because it can't or won't happen. The reality of it is that precedence of hacking other console systems only goes to prove that it is highly probably (more than 95% chance) that it will happen if given the chance. Even then, it likely is happening right now, but people are not advertising it for fear of getting any backlash from Sony.

[ZombieNinjaPanda]

The reason why it won't grow beyond anything major is because the general user doesn't know/care about pirating.

People dont' care about backlash from Sony, it's not that difficult to stay anonymous with this.

[Christopher]

***The reason why it won't grow beyond anything major is because the general user doesn't know/care about pirating. ***

General users do know about piracy. Casual users don't know about piracy.

But, we're not talking just about piracy here, we're talking about the ability to do much worse by sending fake program attachments that contain trojans via PSN IMs and similar things that can affect users anywhere.

***People dont' care about backlash from Sony, it's not that difficult to stay anonymous with this.***

Tell that to the people they've already gone after...

[ZombieNinjaPanda]

By the time anyone develops a virus for the Ps3, it won't matter, the PS4 will be out, imo.

Also, sony is just butthurt/trying to scare people. They're only going after the prominent people. Half the others who took part in this, I doubt they can find. In fact, what about that team or whatever? Fail Over Flow? Did they forget about them?

[Tuxedo_Mask]

I don't see anyone as outraged at the hackers who aren't making raps or asking for donations. I may not like what hackers do sometimes, and I don't know Mr. Hotz personally, so I can't say as to whether or not I hate him, but I don't support what he has done, and considering the actions he has taken since the case against him has begun it isn't any wonder that many others don't either. There are some who support him though, as proven by the amount of donations he's received.

There are other people who have done or are doing the same thing Mr. Hotz has with the PS3 or other systems and no one is ranting about them because they aren't seeking attention in the way he has. Things done in the dark are far less likely to get you noticed than things done in broad daylight. Even if he loses the case against Sony Mr. Hotz has already gotten what he really wanted.