Dark_AleX mentioned in UK's EDGE
An article in the February issue of UK gaming magazine EDGE, entitled "PSP enjoys a grey Christmas," makes mention of Dark_AleX's Christmas morning release of 3.02 OE-B and its hacked PlayStation emulator. The half page blurb also discusses the relationship between Sony and the "PSP's underground community." The photo of the article that's been making its way around the PSP blogs is a bit difficult to read so I've duplicated the article below and I've also provided a link to a PSPUpdates post displaying the image. If EDGE is available to you then you may want to pick up a copy of the issue for yourself. It's not clear from the photo who wrote the article, otherwise I would cite the author. The article does mention the piracy of PlayStation games but make note that it does also say that images were
"illegally distributed," and neither I nor Auri condone piracy in any way. Now, with that said, here's what EDGE had to say...
"If Sony wants people to believe that hacking is no laughing matter, it should really do something about the farcical relationship it continues to share with PSP's underground community. As if the instantaneous exploitation of its 3.02 firmware wasn't enough (its security circumvented by pre-existing firmware emulation software), the yuletide antics of Hollywood-grade hacker dark_alex must have had its manufacturer wondering whether to hire him (or indeed her) or have him shot.
Having dismantled the DRM protection of PSP's recently enabled PlayStation emulator mere days earlier, dark_alex chose Christmas morning for the release of a revised custom firmware, improperly capable of running almost any dumped PlayStation image from a Memory Stick. The underlying method appears to involve duping a PSP into believing it's running a legitimately downloaded game.
Newsgroups and similar channels were, if course, flooded with illegally distributed ISOs over the course of the following days, and the compatibility of the emulator reported to be exceptional, though less so in the case of PAL games. Presumably, this versatility would have been the object of some pride at Sony under different circumstances.
The platform holder has avoided going into detail when discussing the security of its software, on this occation choosing to instead reiterate its stance on piracy in general. 'Privacy is detrimental to the entire industry and, as a result, is detrimental to the end consumer,' said a company spokesperson. 'We are against piracy 100 per cent and will continue to protect our intellectual property and fight against it in all its forms.'"
PSP Enjoys a grey Christmas
EDGE Magazine (UK)
February 2007 Issue
View a shot of the article here... (Via PSPUpdates)