Kinect dash leads anti-piracy charge
Illegal Fable III copies left unplayable.
The 1st November launch of the new Kinect-capable dash brought about an unwelcome surprise for Xbox 360 pirates: new copy protection tech is included that looks set to lock out "backup" games from Xbox Live and - for the first time - stop copied games from loading.
Hackers refer to the new checks as "AP 2.5" and while details are scarce about how it actually works, the current thinking is that specific challenges to the DVD drive's firmware are embedded into the security sectors on the game disc. If the correct responses don't come back from the firmware, the console is flagged for banning on Xbox Live and the game refuses to load with a "dirty disc" error. Original copies of the game continue to work fine, even once the console is flagged.
Xbox 360 firmware hacker "Commodore4Eva" claims to have already isolated the AP 2.5 checks embedded within Fable III, but in theory any number of challenges could be embedded onto new game discs, and connection to Xbox Live could see randomised changes to the codes used. Should this be the case, in a best-case scenario, his could mean an effective end to Xbox 360 piracy but in the worst case it may restrict "backups" to running offline only.
The release of the new dash puts pressure on 360 owners unwilling to buy original copies of their games. They can either update their consoles now in order to continue using Xbox Live, running the risk of bans kicking in should they run pirated copies of games using AP 2.5 software, or they can remain on the current dash and lock themselves out of both Live and future games supporting the copy protection mechanism. Kinect support is obviously off the table as well.
The AP 2.5 measures will almost certainly bring about another mass wave of Xbox Live bans from those who have run pirate copies of Fable III, and will once again continue the cat and mouse game played between the platform holder and the hackers.
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Comments (76) Latest comment 2 years ago
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There is already a firmware in the making that correctly handshakes with AP25 for Lite-On DVD drives. Toshiba Samsung and Hitachi drives do not support AP25 and thus will not need any new firmware, or at the least just SSV3 (security sector) implementation .
The only impact this will have on pirates is to redownload certain games again with AP25 and SSV3, unless they do indeed implement random code additions in waves and thus flag people's consoles before a new stealth firmware can be written.
Source: Xbox-Scene
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<strong> new copy protection tech is included that looks set to lock out "backup" games from Xbox Live and - for the first time - stop copied games from loading.</strong>
from the info i gathered, the AP 2.5 only works on new drive (the old Hitachi drive still can play AP 2.5 games) not only lock out backup from Xbox Live and boot. But also lock the Original DVD game.
So the locks basically need this thing:
- Kinech Dash
- DVD Rom drive newer than Hitachi (benq, lite on....)
- drive flashed with CFW
- Fable 3 (not matter original or backup, both wont boot)
sorry if im wrong, my xbox still dead due to RRoD error 0110. So i can't test it by myself. And my saving money to buy Xbox 360 S is still a long way because i think i will use some of the saving to buy Black Ops (for PC).
i wish activision have official distributor in Indonesia.. just like EA please...
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Fuck em'.
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also the pirates wont buy xbox live gold because it cant go online if not install new dash
also the pirates wont buy XBLA, Indie games, etc, etc because they cant go to live.
also pirates will stop buying new original games, because even the original can't be booted. So the pirates forced to become a real pirate by downloading games.
some piratates, not pirate game, but just backup their original games. (although not many it seems)
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Theoretically every single disk could contain different challenges during startup, midway through level 3, just as you save etc. so unless hackers go to the effort of circumventing every single test at every conceivable place in the code it could occur it just needs one bad disk and you're screwed. Tests could even be retroactively added via patches. Theoretically you can take it further and ensure that different batches use different tests so hackers would have to acquire multiple samples to catch them all.
It should be very effective deterrent, at least for people who are hooked up to XBL.
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It is also impossible to pirate XBLA/Indie/DLC content unless you have an extremely old model that hasn't had it's dashboard updated for over 2 years. I'd be as bold to say that less than 1% of Xbox 360 pirates have such a console, so in that respect at least more of the smaller developers are relatively well protected.
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I would find it so tedious and lacking in any real benefits besides saving some money. I'm happy to buy my games thanks.
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Or just do what I do, and stay a year behind in your entertainment buying. I rarely buy new games now, as within a year most are less than £15. I still get just as excited about eventually buying them, if not more so after the extra wait.
I might even go to a 24 hour ASDA at 12:01 on 10/11/2011 and enjoy my own 'midnight launch' of Kinect once it's half-price!
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i won't pay euro 55 for a game.... not my budget.
but i do buy all my games orginal second hand, and 1 or 2 must have each year new via import. save's loads of money and support the devs.
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i think i already stated on my post. "Buy" XBLA games. Buy indie games.
if the pirates can access xbox live:
- Pirates can BUY XBLA games,
- Pirates can BUY Indie games,
- Pirates can BUY Gold subscription.
if the pirates forced to not update so no access to xbox live:
- Pirates cant BUY XBLA games,
- Pirates cant BUY Indie games,
- Pirates cant BUY Gold subscription.
maybe you would thinks its weird that those who have flashed the dvd drive are buying original XBLA games or pay xbox gold. But they are actually exist
Just like Jailbroken iPhone. Still many choose to buy. There even a app store for that, called Cydia.
EDIT:
what i mean by "pirates" is a gamer who play copy-ed games.
what i not mean is "pirates" that on the sea and "pirates" that download games then sell it at a cost.
that pirate that do pirating for profit is a completely different case.
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Pity PC cant see the same sort of tech! Badly needed there.
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And the new dash seems a little quirky with a pad, but as I found out yesterday it works damn well with Kinect.
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If you can buy the console, you can buy the games. Just like if you can afford cigarettes and alcohol, you can afford to buy condoms and stop littering the place with your unwanted kids popped out by your idiotic 15 year old "girlfriends".
Sorry!! Made a massive sweeping generalisation there about criminals! My bad!
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not downloading 360 games (too big, too much hassle), but buy it from the shopping mall. Its very hard to buy original xbox/ps3 game here....
Maybe when there many official distributor, and they release the game with price adjusted for my country's economy, the original game market can bloom.
But we kinda lucky, we got official EA distributor, so i can buy BFBC2 original. Got the PC version, took about a year of my savings, took about 2 weeks of order. Glad it not have any ugly copy protection.
Install the BFBC2 game to pc, authenticate with EA server. No DVD is needed while playing
i wish the Xbox 360 install feature will become like BFBC2. Once activated online, no need to put the dvd inside
GoD alredy did that, but too expensive.
btw the Fable 3 when installed to HDD, the AP2.5 can be bypassed by doing "stealth eject" of the disc. (xbox-scene)
but should be very detect-able by microsoft.
and, before anyone accuse gamer that buy pirated games are a scum etc etc,
do some research first, please.
its EASY to blame someone/thing,
but its HARD to think the reasons behind some "things" and HARD to give solution.
example,
in my country, almost none buy original DVD video. But, movie theatre are a success. Why? because they adjust the price of the ticket good for our bad economy. Because the ticket price is also worth the experience we get.
also almost no-one buy original CD audio.
Then the bussiness model changed in this last few years. The Musics is released direcly as downloadable on cellphone. Also the price is reduced significantly.
Result?
still none buying original CD audio, but music sold very a-lot using the cellphone distribution method.
also there a availability problem.
i want to buy an anime DVD. But no-one sell it in my country.
If i import, i need credit card. But in our country, credit card is a unusual thing for someone to have. And the process to get one is very strict.
even if finally i can import, the customs can put 100% tax. (yes, our customs is weird)
like i said, its is easy to blame something/someone. But hard to make the solution / understanding the reasons.
Before you jump to the blame blame blame gun, get some understanding and perspective first.
now where is my nanosuit... need to put it in Maximum Armor mode...
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There was a programme re piracy and how affected industry, example was used of professional music scene in Spain being non existent as almost everyone download musics.
So piracy unchallenged is a dangerous route, but I m for all the steps to encourage positive uptakes, rent before you buy, cheaper price ranges and hey even the second hand market.
But for me the best piracy proof is the creativity in hiding the piracy checks like batman's glidings doesn't work in Batman Arkam Asylum and why not go further by quadrupling the frame tearings or ugly stuffs we hate?!
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also i think a good AP (anti piracy) is :
- Put a nice and informative book as the bundle. The game need that book to progress. (remember the DOS game era?
- make price reasonable (dont care if it means putting ads on the game)
- make great game.
BFBC2 and CoD series is pirated to hell, but the original still sold a-lot
because it is a good game.
atleast that what happend in my country, Original BFBC2 is selling good here. (the store seller got out of stock constant. For 2 months since release if i remember correctly)
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@orangpelupa
Heard of a PDF? That method of copy protection was just as useless back then before the internet, with something known as a photocopier.
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Yes Agreed - however we have the choice to simply avoid buying thse games so we dont get robbed. I dont know anyone who uses shady games on consoles to actually buy an original game. When I say that i mean know personally, as in the 3 people i know who buy copied games, not one of them every buys an original. So, we have the choice not to be raped as it were, but some pirates do it 100% of the time after buying the console
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Why u gotta call me a thief? I'm a pirate. Unfortunately I've also bought a number of games this year I am disappointed in =/ I usually don't play what I pirate past the first lvl or even the openning video but if I do I am likely to end up buying it. I might jsut run a benchmark and drop it. I really wish I Had a way to test bfbc2 mp and sc2 mp before i went and bought them tho. Full fking price too.
I keep telling myself I won't buy anything till I pirate it. So go on and hate. But pirates are customers just the same (just a bit more critical) and possibly spending the same as others who dont pirate.
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Even pirates themselves might be tempted to buy something (or even be converted into paying gamers). I'm a firm believer of carrot not stick.
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It takes a special kind of twat to boast about it.
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Same as here, the few people I know who pirate Xbox games never buy originals ... ever. Nor DS, Wii, PSP, or even iPhone games.
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yet every pirate I know buys games. lol...
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Hah. Good luck with that one. I don't condone GAME piracy because I think it's one of the few mediums of entertainment that's worth the money (most of the time) but seriously, there will always be more geeks who are probably smarter than the people who are working for big companies who just do this for the fun of it.
The big corps will never win, not an anti-corp sentiment btw, even though the phrase makes it sound that way
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Giggle.
Suggested new thread title: Kinct dash leads anti-taste charge.
Seriously, what a fooking boondoggle of a UI. Slow, eye-ball searing, tasteless.
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Me too. And we're all fully aware that the vast majority of "backups" are stolen games.
Let's get real: for all the talk of "homebrew", the primary purpose of modding is to steal.
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its just an example...
btw if the book is in color, the pirate game seller usually wont sell the game bundled with the book.
also not all gamer understand how to use PC correctly.
even the NDS / PSP / PS3 gamer usualy not understand how to download / install pirated games. Thats why in my country there a service called "game install". With an amount of money, the game store will install the pirated game for your PSP / NDS / PS3.
also there another example, like Nintendo game "something sun" that use real-life daylight as the game mechanic. i witness myself, that game is not pirated at all on my country.
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Yeah, all those IP addresses on P2P warez sites really belong to Zambians and Nigerians dude.
What's the bet that 99% of those people pirating games belong to first-world nations?
Come on, get real.
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i'm not even sure nigerians and zambians could buy an xbox by saving money their whole lives.
i'm talking about countries like russia, bulgaria, romania, brazil, china, india or pakistan. And i do think that most of the illegal downloading in the world comes from these countries - countries where people have gotten a taste of what they could have in terms of entertainment, only to discover that obtaining it legally is prohibitively expensive, while obtaining it illegally is cheap, quick and hassle-free
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The three pirates I referred to above (own 360 but never bought a game) are all well educated and in high paid jobs, actually I can think of a couple more too, they're just free-tards who see they can get things for nothing so do and they also like to brag about playing games before they're released.
I tried to take the piss out of one them once, whilst sat in a Canary Wharf Starbucks drinking his large expensive coffee with a muffin he wouldn't pay 79p for an iPhone game I said he was 'free-tard' his riposte was "It's a slippery slope if you start paying".
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And there's a diferece between having an education and being educated.
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Because it's thieving, that's why.
Want the games on release but cheaply? Join a game rental service.
Want the games to own in the long term? Wait a few months for them to drop in price.
I support homebrew coding for consoles but I always think it's a massive shame it always gets lumped together with copying games.
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You might think that piracy is ok somehow, but don't you think it's entirely logical that the industry wants to protect their product?
It's the same as putting a clerk in a shop to protect their products from shoplifters, even though there might be a small minority of them that returns whatever they stole to the shop.
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I cannot afford 39.99 for a game but I jumped at Assassins creed 2 & I was proud not to be a pirate for £8.95.
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I don't get every new game and I can live with that. Rather that than be a thief. I suppose it comes down to the individuals beliefs - but at least have the decency to stop making excuses for your illegal actions, and for fucks sake - don't brag about it! You really aren't pulling off something difficult. I know I'd keep it to myself if I was a piece of shit.
PS: Born, raised and live in South Africa.
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yes it is logical. I don't complain about it but when they put it all on piracy and continue making POS products I couldnt imagine downloading much less paying for I got a problem. Piracy is a scape goat 950% of the time. I always thought MS realized they didn't need to cut piracy completely considering their success but w/e.
@retroid
Calling piracy theft is ignorant is my point. Its scaremongering and highhorsery (thats not a word). Piracy as the word that describes the act is in itself just used to make it look as bad as possible.
I dont hate pirates unless they are like the ones stoomaster mentioned. If i had money I would likely buy more games though I have developed a critical nature that would limit that. I bought a ton of games during the ps2 era but I don't see that quality any more.Or maybe i just grew out of crap games. I only would argue against piracy in the case that I knew the person was wealthy
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No, it's plain English.
Software piracy = theft. It's that simple. There's no need to dress it up as anything other than STEALING something that does not belong to you, because you can.
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I'm done discussing this. You clearly don't give a shit about the games industry.
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I'm delusional yet you just made that illogical statement. It is EXACTLY the same as looking at a painting without having permission to do so. That is exactly what you do when you consume entertainment without paying for it. You arent costing someone anything or taking anything from them. You are simply withholding something of yours which you may or may not have given anyway. Who doesnt care about the industry? Maybe you just care too much and are blinded. I will continue to buy my games, but I will not turn into a witchhunter on this
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Piracy is illegal why? Because it is stealing.
Now excuse me im off to play with some paintings.
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Cheers.
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If you buy anything copied as soon as it's available, then that's all it is.
If you're pirating the game, playing it through and otherwise using it as you could a purchased game and then not buying it.... then you're a thief.