Update 1: It seems that HGcontrollers is not the only company around modding controllers for online shooters. Their products are different from each other, so check 'em both out.
Controllers with turbo buttons have existed for many years, going all the way back to the NES, and controller mods for the 360 are nothing new. But having a turbo button (among many other things) modded into what looks like a standard controller is news to us. The guys over at HGcontrollers seem to have started up a fine little business doing just that. The above graphic is really from their site (can you spot which are the real and fake buttons) and details some of the special enhancements made to the controller for the express purpose of playing shooters.
The goal of these mods is to create a controller configuration that can be played through the entire game experience without having to remove one's thumbs from the sticks. Theoretically, this means that your aim with said sticks will improve, as you no longer have to take your thumb off it to hit the essential buttons. However HGcontrollers does more modding of controllers than simply moving buttons. The staff there will actually create a controller with a custom button layout, toggle switches, microprocessors (turbo) for rapid fire, and more if you've got the cash for it. In fact, their website seems to be a bit behind the times forgetting to tell its readers that there are even controllers specially built for Gears that do your Active-Reloading for you. These controllers look great and all, but specifically modding (or buying) your controller to get better at a game sort of defeats the purpose (FUN!) for us here.
Posted Aug 24th 2007 1:45AM by Dustin Burg Filed under: News
Microsoft seems to be losing the war against modders attacking their precious Xbox 360 hardware with news hitting the internet that a group of modders has successfully downgraded the 360's kernel. Since our last hack / mod update, modders have been diligently working to gain access to a vulnerable kernel by flashing an eFuse without relying on the nearly impossible CPU-key hack and they're happy to announce that they've been successful. Using some sort of "timing attack" a group of modders has flashed one of the CPU's eFuses and been able to revert back to a vulnerable kernel which could possibly allow homebrew apps in the near future. The specific details are quite techie, but if you're curious you can read about the blown eFuse news over at Xbox-Scene.
But before everyone gets all worked up and runs through the streets screaming "teh haxorz are modding my Halo 3s!" you should know that any consoles with old kernels which modders revert back to will not connect to Xbox Live or let them play games online. So, in effect, any kernel downgrading would prevent the console from making its way onto Xbox Live ... that is unless they figure out a way to use a dual kernel system. Just play nice online fellow Xbox 360 modders and if you don't ruin our games then we won't tell Microsoft you opened up your console. You rub our back, we'll rub yours.
The Xbox 360 modding community's excitement levels are reaching an all-time high as they are one key away from making their modding dreams come true. The ultimate goal of 360 modders is to get the console to revert back to the vulnerable kernel that was found, but quickly patched by Microsoft. And it sounds like Microsoft blocked the ability to revert back to that kernel by blowing an eFuse on the CPU. Modders have now found out that they can bypass this whole eFuse thing and revert back to the vulnerable kernel if the CPU key is known. But guess what. The CPU key is only attainable through blown eFuse data, so it's a catch twenty-two and no progress has been made on attaining the CPU key through other methods. So, as of now, their attempts have been unsuccessful.
If we were Microsoft we'd be working on another way to block the modding community's advances, because it may only be a few weeks before they find out how to get the CPU key, revert back to the vulnerable kernel, and mod, mod, mod until the sun goes down.
A few weeks ago Microsoft dropped their ban hammer on any modded Xbox 360, but the modding community has quickly adapted. A new firmware version has just been released for all 360s with the TS-H943 DVD drive preventing against any Xbox Live detection attempts and allowing the 360 to play all "backup" game copies. This firmware update ultimately prevents Microsoft from "seeing" the modded 360 thus not allowing them to ban the console from Xbox Live. Now we'll just have to wait and see if Microsoft can counter the modding community's left hook with a jab of their own. Let the fists fly!
The other day we reported on a hacking group that cracked opened the Halo 3 beta code and found values referring to new weapons, new vehicles, and new gametypes. But now it looks like the beta code has revealed more info about how we'll be playing the campaign. Over at the 7th Columnist they dug up some error text in the Halo 3 beta code that could confirm four player co-op, which states "The party size is too large to start the game. Up to 4 players may play coop on Xbox Live or System Link". Does this confirm four player co-op in campaign? Well, not just yet ... but we'll be an optimistic bunch and cross our fingers and toes. Anyone thinking four player co-op over Xbox Live would be the greatest thing since, say, sliced bread?
It looks like Microsoft has finally brought down the hammer on modded Xbox 360s. With the release of the Halo 3 beta and as part of Microsoft's efforts to make Xbox Live a fair, fun, and unified community they are actively banning any Xbox Live connection from a 360 that has been hacked or modded. So, as such, the Live account isn't actually banned, just any connection to Xbox Live from the console is banned. As a result, some people may be finding that they can't connect to Xbox Live and get an error message similar to the one above. You know who you are and shame on you.
What do you think? Is banning modded Xbox 360s from Xbox Live a good thing or is Microsoft taking their banning powers a little too far?
That wee little unsigned code problem Microsoft dealt with months ago has finally produced some hacking results. Taking advantage of those hackable kernels, Cpasjuste was able to install and run the operating system Ubuntu on his Xbox 360 including web browser functionality. We're sure Microsoft is kicking themselves already, trying to figure out either why they didn't sign their code or why they can't figure out how to get Windows Vista to be compatible. Stupid drivers. So, are we one step closer to a full blown Xbox 360 mod chip or modding community that will unleash terror on every Xbox 360 north of the equator? Or should we just forget about it and go back to playing some video games?
Earlier this week news broke of a supposed Xbox Live hack which ultimately turned out to be false, but we still didn't have specific answers. But Major Nelson, being the detective he is, dug deeper into the peculiar account hijacks and discovered what really happened. With the help of security researcher Kevin Finisterre Microsoft learned that the problem was nothing more than human error caused by the process of pre-texting. Pre-texting happens when individuals (those l33t haxorz) call customer support and "trick" them into giving out confidential account information. So, it wasn't as widespread as we all thought or due to some mysterious techie Windows Live ID account hack. It was just a few customer support reps being tricked into giving out account information. Don't fret though, Microsoft is committed to re-training their reps with the knowledge of this incident and hopes to prevent any further pre-texting headaches.
Gold star goes to Microsoft for acknowledging the problem, finding its source, and taking steps to correct it. As we all know, it takes a real man to admit he is wrong, but it takes a bigger man to fix his mistakes. Be safe kids!
Our good friend Major Nelson sent us an update on the whole Xbox Live / Windows Live ID hacking fiasco that hit the news wire today. According to Major, there is "no evidence of any compromise of the security of the Xbox Live Network or Bungie.net" but there has been a "few isolated incidents where malicious users have been attempting to draw personal information from unsuspecting users". So, the accounts that were seemingly "hacked" were probably due information gained from phishing schemes rather than an actual network hack. We knew those hackers weren't the real deal ... dirty monkeys. Please take the time to get learned and don't give out your account information, because you can never be too cautious. Play safe kids!
If you've purchased Bullet Witch you may be wondering where the additional free content is that the Japanese have. If not, you should know that in Japan they can download free costumes and additional missions, something that the States don't have access to yet. The short answer is that the content is already on the game itself, but isn't "unlocked" yet via a Marketplace key download. But don't fret guys, the fine folks over at Sekiria.com have found a workaround so you too can have the additional (somewhat Japan exclusive) costumes and missions. All you need is the Datel Transfer Kit, export and rename a few files, and shazaam ... instant additional content. Of course it really isn't worth purchasing the transfer kit just for this, but if you already own it we'd give this little hack a whirl. Chalk one up for the the free-content-workaround mavens, they are a good hearted and knowledgeable bunch.
Back in January, we reported on a possible Xbox 360 OS hack that came from a German hacker's congress. Today, we learn from a post on SecurityFocus that indeed it was real, because there is proof that those hackers found a way to break Microsoft's iron clad code. As the story goes, back in November a vulnerability was found due to "Unsigned Code Execution in Hypervisor Mode" in the latest kernel update. In the end, this vulnerability could potentially allow full access to the Xbox 360's OS and hackers to wreak whatever hacking havoc they wished. But before you get too excited about running Windows Vista on your 360, the problem has since been fixed. Microsoft was notified back in January about the problem and they quickly released an auto-update six days later to prevent anyone from exploiting the bad code.
So ... any uber cool hacker up for teaching the rest of us some l33t hacking skills? We're thinking something along the lines of "Hacking Xbox 360s for Dummies".
If you've played your fair share of Gears of War you know that being able to accurately blind fire is a useful tool in your arsenal of death. And if you're having some difficulty mastering this technique and want help gauging where your bullets are flying then Raging Fool has a soft mod for you. All that's needed is a sandwich bag, a ruler, and a Sharpie. Ultimately, you're attaching a reticule onto your television screen to know exactly where the aiming reticule would be if you were zoomed in. But this can be extremely useful if you're still mastering the technique or just want more accuracy out of your blind fire shots. Give this mod a try, tell us if it helps, and please be sure not to Sharpie directly onto your television screen.
For everyone who thought Microsoft's XNA project would be worthless, now is the time to rethink your opinion. Xbox-Scene got word that a guy by the name of Lone Coder has used XNA to build a NES emulator that runs on the 360 called XNA SharpNES. Though, you'll need to purchase a XNA Creator's Club membership, have Visual C# Studio Express and XNA Game Studio Express installed on your computer. There are a few bugs to work out yet, like no ROM loading menu and overall performance on the 360 running at 60% - 70%. But at least things are moving in the right direction. For more information and to download the code head over to XNA SharpNES's Google Code site. And if you're willing to try this out please comment on your experience with the emulator so we can live vicariously through you.
It looks like someone may have finally hacked the 360 to run Linux. Xbox-Scene is reporting that during the German 23C3 Hacker Congress an anonymous presenter came on stage during an "open mic" type session. With 360 in hand, he (or she) proceeds to load King Kong and fiddles around for a minute or two. Then, on the screen appears the Linux penguin and the old Mac logo with the words "Coming soon...". Could this finally be confirmation that the volatile King Kong shaders were exploited and are the key to hacking the 360's OS? Only time will tell, but someone should have warned that anonymous hacker that this little experiment voided his 360's warranty ... joke's on him!
If you think a 4 or 5 decibel reduction in Xbox 360 noise pollution is worth voiding your precious warranty, this relatively easy mod (which involves the installation of sound dampening material around the optical drive) might be music to your tender ear drums.
