Xbox 360 engineer Chris Satchell went on record just recently talking about the Xbox 360 security systems, and whether or not the system will be hackable. Every time there\'s a new system, console makers appear before it becomes available and talk about how hard it will be for the modders of the world to break it. Then almost without fail, modders proceed to break the system shortly after release.
BBC News has an article - with the rather obvious headline, \"Microsoft plans to make its next generation console as difficult as possible to hack,\" - quoting Chris Satchell as saying that the Xbox 360 will have security measures that, \"the hacker community has never seen before.\"
We can only speculate about what that means.
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 than 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 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 will be 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.
- Step 1: Get hammer, axe, or sledgehammer.
- Step 2: Smash Xbox.
Here\'s an illustration of what it might look like. (editor\'s note: This image is actually a modified version of a
Twoplayer comic.)