Sonic fans of the homebrew communities (plural), here's a project you might want to take a look at. Several homebrew developers have gotten together to bring the classic Sonic the Hedgehog 2 game into the world of hi-definition. Details in the full article.

Back during the last Game Developers Conference, Microsoft's Chris Satchell announced that XNA will soon be providing a community publishing pipeline for the Xbox 360 and the Zune. Now it seems that XNA might be extending its reach even further. Read the story in the full article by following the "read more" link below.

If you're an MMORPG player, you've probably found at least a couple of things that could've been done better as far as your favorite MMORPG is concerned.

Now, Microsoft is offering players a chance to create the kinds of online multiplayer games they want with XNA Game Studio 2.0 game development software for Xbox Live or Games for Windows. More game creation goodness after the jump!

For budding video game developers and designers who are fond of using the application framework XNA either for the Xbox 360 or the PC, Microsoft is sending out word that version 2.0 Beta of XNA Game Studio has just been released.

When this was first revealed, reports mentioned that the second build will be compatible with Visual Studio 2005 and that it will be packed with a networking API for the Xbox Live. More details and the link for the downloads after the jump!

Some time ago, we reported about a few hackers who have been working on a way to downgrade the kernel of the Xbox 360 without needing the console's unique CPU-Key. The process, which they have dubbed as the "Timing Attack", is already working pretty reliably as of this article's writing.

One of the hackers working on the project, Robinsod, has released a parts list, schematic, PIC Boot Loader, PIC Source (complete with a pre-compiled Binary), as well as instructions needed for this hack to be performed.

It was also announced that a tool to build downgradable flash images will be released soon. For those who don't want to go about messing with the innards of their Xbox 360, Team Infectus is already developing a Daughter Board which should allow users to downgrade their systems without any fuss.

The implications of this project are pretty big as it opens the doors for Xbox 360 users to create and use homebrew on their systems. If you want to get the full instructions, you can click on our Read Link for more information. Be advised though that any modifications of this nature will void its warranty and could possibly damage your Xbox 360.

Downgrading your Xbox 360 firmware from any Kernel without using your CPU key used to be just a legend. However, some enterprising hackers on the xboxhacker.net had plans on doing just that.

After much thought they were able to successfully do so using a method that has been dubbed a "timing attack". A hacker by the handle Robinsod managed to successfully boot his Xbox360 using a flashed eFuse with kernel 1888.

While less experienced (and less daring) individuals might not be able to do this for now, the hackers are currently working on a way to simplify the process.

Here's a little quote from Robinsod explaining how the process works:

The timing attack does not try to "bruteforce" the cpu key itself. It tries to find/bruteforce a hash value which is a result of the usage of the cpu key (so even if you have that hash you still cannot backwards compute the cpu key). But finding this hash value (I usually refer to it as the CB-auth value) will enable the xbox to boot the original kernel (v 1888).

This then allows you to upgrade to a vulnerable kernel (eg 4532) and THEN you can extract the cpu key using the kk exploit. Since -on average- you will find the correct value at roughly half of the possible byte values you only need to try (approx) 128 values for each of the 16 bytes.

Thats why vax is talking about 16 * 128 total number if byte changes... There is a theoretical minimum to the reboot time of about 1 second. So in theory you could find the 16 bytes in 34 minutes. Thats probably not gonna happen. Grin And installing the hardware will probably take even more time so its not a really big issue. But this is basically where the time speculations are based on.

This could be good news for the hacking community considering that further refinements on this technique will eventually lead to homebrew, Linux, and possibly even custom firmware for the Xbox 360. For more details on this, feel free to click on our read link which will send you to the forums where this was announced.

 

With Microsoft's Gamefest 2007 tech conference expected to start up next month, one highlight that's been receiving attention is the conference's discussions on XNA Game Studio. Among other topics to be covered about the suite's  and its framework is an expected discussion on XNA Game Studio's latest update, version 2.0, which may have already caught other developers' attention.

Details are sketchy at this point on what 2.0 will carry, although one feature the site listed is that it will include Microsoft-approved support for networked games. We imagine small budget developers, especially the homebrew advocates, on the Xbox 360 will find this update most lucrative. The conference in turn will be this technology's first public showing. Gamefest 2007 is expected to take place August 13-14 at the Washington State Convention and Trade Centre in Seattle, Washington.

The PSP homebrew community has seen a certain number of great programmers out there, Mathieu Hervais of Noobz being one of them. 22 years old and still a student, he is know by most in the PSP homebrew scene as Mathieulh. Today, the Exophase Forums has posted an interview they've conducted with the homebrew developer and a couple of interesting tidbits surfaced.

Now in light of hearing about Dark AleX leaving the PSP scene for good (supposedly due to possible issues with Sony), it seems that Mathieulh might be following suit. Not that he's leaving-leaving, but he says he'll quit working on what he's know for most: custom firmware.

Mathieulh: I will continue to be in N00bz and perhaps help a few friends of mine developing softwares but I am done with anything related to custom firmwares.

This bit of news might prove to be a slight hitch at homebrew development, to say the least. However, our sullen feelings were quickly replaced by something from out in left field. Homebrew for the PS3 and 360? Is he leaving PSP custom firmware for bigger fish to fry? Right after giving the answer above, he was asked whether he would like to tinker around with other next-gen consoles.

Mathieulh: The Xbox360 or the PS3 (I am not intested into the wii for homebrews and I do not take part in piracy either). I am more interested on the Xbox360 though as the system is way better to develop on (unlike what Sony tries to claim with the ps3). I like the fact that the cpu uses real cores (and not SPUs) and that each of those can handle 2 threads at a time. Although the PS3 would probably be way easier to hack than the 360, the 360 installed userbase is greater. Beside SCE claim that they will persecute anyone finding an exploit on their console (which is still not illegal in certain places such as the EU) so I rather not take my chances on it. Still kudos to Microsoft for their work in securing the 360 kernel, this is what I call a real security (and a real challenge for hackers)

Will he pursue homebrew on the 360 or PS3? The way he says it, it seems unlikely - Mathieulh thinks that both the PS3's Linux and Xbox 360's XNA are "way too restricted." Regardless, it's interesting to note what his take is on homebrew for both next-gen consoles. To see the full transcript of the interview, we've posted a Read link below which leads to the Exophase Forums.

You know what, there's really a cool way that video games can be used to catalyze social change, especially with our worsening problem with global warming. Microsoft just teamed up with the organization Games for Change (G4C) to do just that. It was announced during the fourth annual Games for Change Festival at Parsons The New School for Design in New York.

Accordingly, a video game design competition will be held this summer for participants in more than 100 countries. It's open to all college students, and the objective is to come up with games based on the theme of global warming using XNA Game Studio Express.

The winners will receive cash prizes which can be used to further the winners' education. Quite interestingly, the winners will also be invited by Microsoft to present their games to the MS Games Management team for possible inclusion as a download in the Xbox Live Arcade service.

The overall winner will be invited to have an apprenticeship with Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business as part of its internship program.

The team of tmbinc, Cpasjuste, stonersmurf and the rest of free60.org, who've been furiously at work porting Linux to Microsoft's Xbox 360 have just made two big releases getting us closer to the dream of having a full-blown Linux distro on our 360.

First, the Free60.org team released X.org drivers for the Xbox 360 hardware called xenosfb. X.org is the implementation of X Window System, the software used by Linux to render graphical user interfaces. This means that once distros incorporate these drivers into themselves, you can run these distros with better graphical compatibility, including higher resolution support.

And the second release is what I just talked about. Cpasjuste has released a Gentoo LiveCD (Full version - 608 MB) with these new drivers built into it. This means that you will be able to run the LiveCD with the GUI and with a lot more compatibility. The livecd uses the xenosfb drivers, plus it includes a powerpc toolchain so that you can compile and build applications on the 360 itself, without having to cross-compile applications on your PC and then transferring them to the 360. The Gentoo LiveCD contains the Gnome Desktop Environment.

Firstly, here's what the Free60.org team had to say about their new drivers:

X.org driver and a new LiveCD No April Fools' Day joke. We have released a preliminary X.org driver and Cpasjuste has built a new LiveCD which makes use of it. Unfortunately, support for Samsung drives and sound drivers are still missing.

The full article awaits after the jump!