Dark Alex site webmaster comments on debug firmware for PlayStation 3

Remember our previous report about a debug firmware being loaded on a retail PlayStation 3? Alek, the webmaster for the Dark Alex site, has posted a Q&A discussion regarding this matter. During the course of the discussion, Alek hinted at the possibility of running CFW m33 on the PS3. More on this in the full article.

A couple of days ago, some of you guys will remember running into our report about a retail PlayStation 3 running on debug firmware. The hack was attempted by XVISTAMAN2005, who further noted that it was only partially successful.

That aside, it looks like the attempt has received attention from Alek, the dark_alex.org webmaster who’s opened up a discussion thread regarding the possibility of loading debug fw’s on the PS3. During the course of the Q&A session, we ran into this interesting exchange between member Concerned Gamer, and Alek:

Concerned Gamer:

1. CAN the official PS3 firmware be decrypted ?
2. Will there ever be an M33 cfw for the PS3 ?
3. Are the any hardware limitations (modchips needed) or can the modding be done strictly from software ?

Alek’s reply:

1. Official PS3 firmwares can be unpacked, checked and studied, but itself has its own encryption (with pkg signatures and self one) that blocks most of the things that its being done for the ps3.
2. Probably.
3. Depends on the modding you are talking about.

Responding to another reader (Mike) Alek further clarified that the way things were going, homebrew apps might be the first content that will arrive on the PlayStation 3. Alek’s discussion is still ongoing, so if you’re interested in joining the thread, you can visit the blog the source link below. Drop by again in case we run into any related updates.