Pandora’s Xbox: The changing community of the modern console

Over Skype one evening, Hector Martin tells a story of the Playstation 2.

A group of hackers discovered a serious exploit that allowed unofficial — or, homebrew — software, to be run on the console. Unlike previous hacks, a memory unit and some software trickery was all that was required to make it happen. It wasn’t long before the pirates could do the same as well.

Sony, of course, was not amused. Due to the system’s design, the problem remained for months, unresolved until a new hardware revision could be pushed out the door.

But that was then.

This generation, there is no Playstation 2. Gone are the days when a device was hacked, and stayed that way for good. Instead, we live in a world where online updates are routine — where hackers hack, and exploits are found, but holes are plugged with ease.

Martin — now known by his online handle, Marcan — has since moved on. Administrator of Wiibrew.org, a repository of homebrew software and a development wiki for the Nintendo Wii, the computer science student has become a prominent hacker in the console’s community.

But compared to the Playstation, it’s clear that times have changed; in the war on piracy, a bug used by hackers is just as easily used by pirates.

Piracy’s wanton disregard for gaming copyright is an attitude absent in the homebrew community. It is instead replaced by the fierce creativity of its developers, and the curious minds of its hardware engineers – a sure sign that, while their methods may be similar, their intentions are most certainly not.

After all, homebrew by itself does little to hurt the console market — but with profits on the line, no hole remains unplugged. The constant battle with pirates to keep game consoles secure has left hackers and developers caught in the crossfire. And in the corporate world, it has become increasingly hard to tell the two groups apart.

But, as some point out, it is not impossible.

As consoles have changed, so too have the communities that surround them. According to one hacker I spoke with, there aren’t more gamers, and there aren’t more gaming consoles — but there are more hackers. It’s a changing dynamic, and one that has altered the way we think of our systems.

And if gaming companies listened, they might just learn something.

———

For members of the Wii Homebrew community, Bushing is something of a pioneer, a member of the team responsible for first exploiting the Wii. But he is also a software engineer with a big player in the computing industry, and it is here that a woman’s voice can be heard.

She is pleasant, yet there is a hint of frustration in her tone.

“This is our second time trying to reach you, so the ball is in your court,” says Jodi Daugherty, Director of Anti-Piracy at Nintendo of America, in a message on Bushing’s phone.

“We’re certainly not going to do any sort of email exchange. So do give us a call back.”

Bushing is part of Team Twiizers, their group aptly titled for the nature of their first Wii hack — carried out with a pair of tweezers, no less. The group is, in many ways, a dark horse of console hacking, and the most visible force in the Wii’s homebrew community. Most of its members are software engineers, students, and programmers, all of which are more interested in documenting than downloading.

But in spite of this, Twiizers is not a team Nintendo has looked kindly upon.

“We love the Wii as a platform, and work hard to avoid contributing to the piracy problem,” Bushing explained in one email to Nintendo. “It seems that the ethical thing to do is to inform you when we have found something that would only be harmful to our favourite console.”

What Team Twiizers found was an exploit, and the very same used to install homebrew software on the Wii. Yet, under the right circumstances, the bug could have proved potentially dangerous for certain Wii owners who chose to update their console after modification.

This email was the first of many, an attempt at “good faith” to show that Twiizers, unlike other hacking groups, meant no harm to the console’s gaming community. It would be over four months until they received a reply — and only then, after Nintendo’s lack of response was called out publicly by Bushing on his blog.

But in trying to reach out to the company, he found Nintendo’s eventual reply less than civil.

“She actually wanted to try and talk on the phone about this stuff, and I told her I wasn’t comfortable,” says Bushing of Daugherty’s eventual response. But it wasn’t until much later that he discovered the voicemail left on his phone.

“They went through the trouble of figuring out my real name, figuring out where I worked, and then leaving me voicemails at work. So it was actually a pretty negative experience. They were trying to intimidate us.”

Daugherty refused to comment on the exchange. Yet, she did explain that Nintendo tries to approach both homebrew developers and “the other community that is trying to download and play illegal software,” very differently.

She says the company’s WiiWare service is an excellent way for independent developers to produce content for the system, without resorting to hacks or exploits. Yet the barrier to entry can be high, and the service lacks any semblance of openness many in the homebrew community prefer.

Ultimately, services like WiiWare are only part of the solution, and do little to address the negative attitude that continues to surround the console hacking population.

“Maybe it’s better to look at it as a loss of control issue,” continues Bushing. “They see both piracy and homebrew as being a loss of control over the platform, so they treat the two as the same.”

Martin, also a member of Team Twiizers, is inclined to agree. When all is said and done, it’s encounters like those with Daugherty that make the most impact in the homebrew community.

“Personally,” he says, “I would’ve felt that I was being treated like a pirate.”

———

Undoubtedly the biggest gaming event of the year, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was released on November 10th — for most gamers, anyway. Leaked to the masses via Bitorrent almost two weeks prior, many users had already finished the game by the time it hit stores. The incident left Microsoft livid, Infinity Ward fuming, and some 360 hackers particularly upset.

“The reason why I hate piracy is that people take it for granted that any hack will give them free games,” says one anonymous hacker who has worked on the 360. “They don’t care for the technical background. They don’t care for the process of hacking. They don’t care for the joy of dumping a bootrom. They just want their games for free.”

What makes these systems so attractive is the potential power locked within. While the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 have very powerful processors, some believe in the possibilities that exist beyond gaming.

Otherwise, “it’s similar to setting up the newest high-end computer, and then installing nothing else than a text-processor”.

It situations like this that makes it difficult to blame Microsoft, or anyone else, for responding to hackers – good or bad – with such hostility. According to Martin, once a system’s security has been broken, there’s no longer a way to verify what is being run; code is code, whether it be a pirated game or media player. And while legitimate uses are possible, piracy is just as likely, making it very difficult to separate the two. But not impossible.

“Sony almost pulled it off,” explains Martin. “I mean, you can get homebrew on a PS3 because they endorse it, and [as a result] you can’t do piracy.”

What the Playstation 3 has is Linux — at least, in pre-slim models. By allowing access to most of the system’s hardware, Sony may have been doing themselves a favour. Hackers have found little need to exploit the platform, as the system is nearly open by default. Instead, attentions have turned to other, more worthwhile conquests, making piracy on the Playstation a non-issue.

“They’ve actually taken a lot of the wind out of the sails of pirates,” Bushing notes.

“And granted, it’s not a full environment, but it’s enough to keep them from really banding together and trying to tear everything down. So Sony obviously made this decision pretty high up and earlier on.”

It’s just the sort of decision that Michael Steil, founder of the Xbox Linux and Free60 projects, hopes will become increasingly commonplace amongst console manufacturers. And ironically, it may be the competing Playstation 3 that sets the bar for future Xbox models.

“Sony has learned from their past consoles. With the Playstation 3 … I saw a very steady progression,” Steil explains.

And as consoles become increasingly complex, and their functions more varied, Steil believes hacking may actually play a lesser role in their use. By encouraging a shift to open access, it’s not so much that hacking will become harder, but perhaps, it may no longer be required.

“With Microsoft, for the first Xbox, they didn’t talk to anyone. For the second Xbox, they started talking to people, and understood the Sony approach — that opening it up a little might actually help.”

———

It’s now the beginning of October, and Nintendo has pushed what is to be a routine update for the Wii. System menu 4.2, they say, “provides behind-the-scenes fixes that will not affect features but will improve the overall system performance.”

For most, the update goes smoothly. Yet, a number of console owners find that their overall system performance has not been improved as promised. Quite the contrary, in fact — some of these owners find their updated Wii’s inoperable. Bricked.

Nintendo blames the hackers, and the hackers blame Nintendo.

“What scares me, is that means there is a much higher number of modified systems out there, or had illegal software,” Daugherty explains to me in an interview. “That would be the only time, other than if there was an isolated instance with consumers, where the system would act differently.”

Bushing, however, thinks differently. He believes the issue lies with the Wii’s bootloader, and a buggy piece of update code that, under certain circumstances, can result in a bricked system.

“It’s a lie, and I’m disappointed in Nintendo for trying to make this claim,” says Bushing. “It’s not supported by evidence.”

Considering unmodified consoles have been affected too, Daugherty’s explanation appears to holds little water. The hackers may be right, yet Nintendo refuses to listen.

When Steil founded the Xbox Linux project in 2002, he was unaware of just how much the team’s actions would eventually impact modern console development. Many of the exploits and bugs found on the original Xbox remained unresolved by the software giant’s engineers – a time where “Microsoft had [no] awareness of what security on the internet, or any security at all” meant, says Steil.

Today, however, is a different story.

“For the Xbox 360 hack, we contacted Microsoft before releasing the hack, because we didn’t know how their reaction would be. After all, we did break their core security,” says a hacker who would later work with Steil on the Free60 project.

“In the end, they have been very cooperative. They allowed us to talk to an engineer, which allowed them to fix the problem before we released the hack. That was the downside, but they basically gave us an informal ‘ok’ to release the hack – which, on the other hand, was exactly what we wanted.”

And coincidentally, it was the same thing Bushing wanted too – something Nintendo failed to provide.

Microsoft refused to comment, but in this case, actions speak louder than words. It’s clear that the dynamic between hackers and the gaming industry is beginning to shift; the homebrew community, once a dangerous enemy, may now be a worthwhile friend.

“Sure, some hackers enjoy enabling piracy,” explains one hacker in the community.

“But most of us just like working with our game consoles, and because we probably don’t enjoy games as much as other people do, we need to develop our own way of having fun with the system.”

And much as white hat hackers found legitimacy in the online world, perhaps the hackers of console gaming will enjoy a similar status.

The gaming industry just needs to listen.

“From what we can see today, Nintendo is one generation behind — not just with their hardware, but also with their mindset,” says Steil.

“Microsoft understood that they have to talk to the hackers. And Nintendo’s behind. So maybe next time, Nintendo will start talking.”

http://horriblefanfare.com/2010/01/2...odern-console/