80°

Is banning hackers the right solution?

The Sony against hackers war is very much alive and we have left to be wondering who is really winning it at this point. Last week Sony announced in their forums that they would start banning hackers from their Playstation Network but this week we have learned that hackers have developed a way to un-ban themselves and what is worst, they could use information from legitimate users to get them banned.

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kickarss.com
LordMarius5492d ago

Why is this even a question?

"we have learned that hackers have developed a way to un-ban themselves and what is worst, they could use information from legitimate users to get them banned."

And that was proven false

Dante1125492d ago (Edited 5492d ago )

*Nintendo bans hackers*

"Oh well..."

*Microsoft bans hackers*

"Oh well..."

*Sony bans hackers*

~spits out Mountain Dew~ "...Wait, WHAT?!?! WHY? Was that necessary?"

Edit: Kickarss, that unban/ban thing was proven to just be a theory a hacker had in the very first article on it. That's why psxscene and ps3hax took it down.

http://streetskaterfu.blogs...

ChristianGamer5491d ago

Actually Microsoft bans hackers and the world turns against them and calls them greedy and people want to sue and everybody on the internet is on their side. Remember that lil debacle? Yeah so can it with the sony conspiracies

NewMonday5491d ago

If I remember correctly, MS was accused of using the ban to increase hardware sales just before the release of MW2. The fuss wasn't about their right to ban, which was fair game.

FailOverHero5491d ago (Edited 5491d ago )

Exactly, they were ACCUSED. It was a huge debate. But when Sony does it nobody is allowed to accuse them or debate and we somehow forget about MS banning debacle and claim that when they do it nobody says a thing. Just look at the comment above, completly neglects that when ms does it, it was a massive scandal. PS3 fanboys like to forget facts that do not support their conspiracy theory agenda
Microsoft were banning PIRATES, which is a GREAT thing and STILL they were gunned at! That's like crying foul when speed cops set up speed traps!

NewMonday5491d ago

Im getting confused, are we talking about pirates or hackers now?

ComboBreaker5491d ago (Edited 5491d ago )

Is it? Come on! Give me an answer here!

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kickarss5492d ago

We don't question the fact that Sony should do whatever is necessary to protect themselves and their game developers, we are just saying that if done incorrectly, it could cause more harm than good. Please read the whole article and not just the intro

beavis4play5491d ago (Edited 5491d ago )

i did read your story and several things jumped out that i'd like to bring up for a response. i'm just curious -
1. do you really believe that hackers can easily spoof legit accounts? from all of the info i've read it seems to be VERY difficult/if not impossible. it seems hackers would say this (even though they can't actually do it) as an attempt to make sony hesitate or stop the bans entirely. if someone is banned,i'm SURE they'll cry about doing nothing wrong.....hackers/pirates are an amusing bunch: they talk tough sitting alone with their equipment but when they're exposed and punished? they squeal like little babies.
2.in the article you said this: "Sony may well have a list of "suspect" consoles, but arbitrarily suspending PSN access without a proof of sustained usage would be an over-reaction. As a knock-on effect, it would obviously stop these people spending money in the PlayStation Store." - i disagree with this statement. most ps3 owners are decent people who want to play legally bought games and movies...go online....etc....etc. i don't care if it's short-term or sustained usage - bans have to occur. if they have proof - ban the console. and as far as sony gathering info? i'm sure the majority of legit users feel as i: they can moniter my account all they want. they can look at ANY info i have on my ps3. since i have NOTHING to hide - it means nothing to me. only the people who are doing something illegal/improper would be worried. and these people being banned are the ones who would NOT be buying things off of psn - they're the ones who would be working on STEALING off of psn. you don't even consider this in you article.

just some thoughts i had.

kickarss5491d ago

beavis:
Your points are very valid. Let me respond to this:
1 - At this point nobody knows if spoofing accounts is possible or not. However, Sony already sent official statements threatening people to ban them from the PSN, yet I am still waiting on a massive ban, and people with hacked consoles are still playing online. What leads me to think either Sony has all the information they need and are just waiting to have legal proof that your console is hacked and you have been on PSN to actually have a massive ban (which is a good thing!), or they can't really track hackers because hacked consoles can pose as legit users. This is why the spoofing argument was used in this article.
2 - I think you misunderstood what I wanted to say here. I was just mentioning that if Sony bans legitimate users in error, the trust that those legitimate users had on Sony and PSN will be gone and ultimately Sony will be hurt by this, since legitimate users will no longer be willing to spend money on Sony and PSN products.

beavis4play5491d ago

thanks for the reply!
i can only go by articles i read online - and i've been reading about people being banned from psn. sony could try and take the high road and announce (a few days before) that the massive banhammer is about to drop and give those who are doing the illegal stuff a chance to stop. however - when it comes down to it - the bottom line for me is to ban them however possible. i think all of this crap that hackers are doing is unnecessary as far as having an enjoyable experience with the system.
to those who say otherwise? i'd ask them why they don't develop their own hardware to manipulate instead of leeching off someone elses ability.
as far as #2 - i can see what you're saying. someone being punished for something that they didn't do is NEVER a good thing. in a way - those legit users should be just as (if not more) angry at the hackers - they're the ones who've created this mess. hopefully sony gets it straightened out and under control.

Silly gameAr5492d ago (Edited 5492d ago )

Haven't we been through this? That hacker baning/unbanning thing was bull. A hacker and his wishful thinking.

On a positive note, some friends tell me MW2 is a lot better online since the bans. I don't play it, but I'm happy for them because that's all they play.

Let's ask them if banning was the right move.

5492d ago
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90°

PS5 Sales Pass 92.2 Million Units, Beating Nintendo Switch 2 in the Holiday Quarter

Sony announced its financial results for the third quarter of fiscal year 2025, alongside the traditional update on PS5 shipments.

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simulationdaily.com
29d ago Replies(5)
italiangamer29d ago

Sony and Nintendo are both thriving and I'm happy, thank goodness for them or otherwise the whole gaming industry would be in shambles if they only had PC to rely on!

dveio29d ago

• Total G&NS revenue: 10.5 billion USD
• Operating profit: 900 million USD
• Hardware sales: 8M units shipped
• Software sales: 97M units
• PSN MAU: 132M

vs. Xbox:

• Total gaming revenue: 5.96 billion USD
• nothing else gets reported

__y2jb28d ago

Xbox operating costs are without a doubt eye wateringly high, way way way higher than Sony. GP is costing them an absolute fortune to operate.

Tapani28d ago

That is a very solid operating profit. It's not net, obviously, but still a very healthy amount of cash you make after cost of debt and taxes (+ other expenses), and can invest into R&D and future endeavours. And give back to your shareholders or buy back shares.

DivineHand12528d ago

It would be in Sony's beat interest to not rush next generation. Let 2029 or 2030 be the start of next generation. There is clearly plenty of demand for the PS5 and gamers are not asking for more at this time.

S2Killinit28d ago

Yup especially with the price of tech going up. They already have the PRO to hold them over.

__y2jb28d ago (Edited 28d ago )

Exactly this. Let Xbox wither on the vine for a couple more years and there will be nothing left.

fr0sty28d ago

I fully agree for 2 reasons:

1. Microsoft seems to be in a hurry to release the new Xbox, if they do at all... AMD speculates a 2027 release. This will hurt them in the long run, because:

2. Datacenters are buying up ALL the RAM, and some RAM manufacturers have stopped making RAM for consumer products entirely, while the other remaining ones are scared to ramp up their production capacity to make more RAM because they're worried this whole AI thing is a bubble that is about to pop, and they don't want to be caught holding the bag when it does pop. So, for now, it costs $300-400 for 32GB of DDR5. That's the MSRP for some entire consoles.

If Microsoft drops the new Xbox now, it's going to cost them a fortune. If Sony holds their cards a moment and lets PS5 cook for a while, as it's showing no signs whatsoever of slowing down in sales, then by the time PS6 is ready to drop, RAM prices should have stabilized, allowing Sony to devote much more of their budget towards making PS6's CPU and GPU more powerful, in addition to the tech itself maturing and the available CPU and GPU parts being much more powerful for the same price point than they would be if released today. So, we'd get a super powerful PS6 in say, 2029, that won't have to cost $700-800. They speculate, based on the current specs, that the new Xbox will cost north of $1,000, and that was before the RAM shortage came into the picture. It's definitely going to be even higher now that RAM costs so much.

MS will be shooting themselves in the foot (again) if they try to drop a new Xbox now, and Sony would be wise to capitalize on that mistake by holding their cards a while longer, raking in more of those PS5 profits, and then dropping a new console as soon as the hardware market stabilizes from this AI datacenter BS.

darthv7228d ago

7 years is a hurry...? Its the same amount of time between XBO and series. The same amount of time between PS3 to PS4 and PS4 to PS5. The 360 was 8 years between it and XBO.

If they do release first, and then Sony a year or two later... is it not possible for prices to come down in that time?

repsahj28d ago (Edited 28d ago )

I think Switch 2 beat PS5 during December 2025 that is why the gap decrease to 1m units. Because during black friday, I know PS5 sales is 2:1 against the Switch 2.

And I just want to add that the PlayStation 5 is currently 1.94 million units BEHIND the PlayStation 4 when you align launches. While Switch 2 is 10M ahead against the Switch 1 when you aligned covering it's first 7 months.

S2Killinit28d ago

I think you are forgetting to mention the chip shortages for PS5.

salis84428d ago (Edited 28d ago )

No one wants the Switch 2 to do badly.

PS5 being less than 2m behind PS4 is not a big deal; PS5 had to deal with COVID and ongoing supply and pricing struggles that clearly still exist today. Sales of software are incredibly strong, and the size of the community is bigger than its ever been.

PS5 is well on pace to exceed its early (2021) estimates of 110m by end of life even if that's 2027. PS5 will hit 100m before November and then sell another 6-8M in November + December.

PS5 is doing great, and so is Switch 2, it's good for everyone that they succeed, pitting the two against each other is more damaging than anything related to the sales of the two consoles individually.

repsahj28d ago

"No one wants the Switch 2 to do badly."

majority on this site tells otherwise.

Dexterio28d ago

@repsahj
Yup because they’ve been the anti consumer they are for so long and needs to be humbled 😆

CrashMania28d ago (Edited 28d ago )

I'd be lying if I said I didn't regret my purchase a bit. I mainly bought it for Mario Kart World, but I find it pales in comparison to 8. I'm annoyed that Nintendo charged money for a super barebones 'upgrade' to Jamboree, no new minigames? No new boards? Just some gimmicky low res camera mode. Oh and Midtroid Prime 4 let me down as well, yet to go back and finish it.

I don't want the Switch 2 to fail, it's contributing to a healthier console market with the death of xbox consoles. I'll get use out of mine long term, but some of Nintendo's decisions like the ones above just annoy me lol.

jznrpg28d ago

@respahj the only thing I want Nintendo to badly is the 80$ games so they lower the price.

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50°

Sony Patents AI-Generated Podcasts Using PlayStation Character Voices

A new patent registered by Sony suggests the company is exploring the idea of personalized podcasts on PS5, hosted by PlayStation characters.

Eonjay29d ago

Okay this is actually really cool too. What is being proposed here is that the AI will generate you a podcast that is focused on the games tht you play or have wihlisted. This means you always get topic relevant to your tastes. Just don't screw it up with a bunch of ads.

PapaBop28d ago

AI is very cool, it's just all the real cool stuff is being drowned out by companies exploiting it as a marketing buzzword, generative AI slop and companies using it to cut corners and save money.

Sciurus_vulgaris29d ago

This is a terrible idea. Firstly the characters voices originate from real voice work. Secondly, the ai could end up saying questionable things. Thirdly, some voice actors use their regular voice when acting.

Juancho5129d ago

I know it's cool to hate AI, but we only hate AI because of idiots that misuse it or exploit it to take away peoples jobs. THIS is a GREAT application of AI, instead of having a human being voice actor sitting there for hours talking in character while having people writing scripts or coming up with topics etc, it can all just get POOFd into thin air and you can enjoy unique and entertaining content that harms no one.

PapaBop28d ago (Edited 28d ago )

Not sure if intentionally being funny lol. isn't this like quite literally taking away people's jobs? I think SAG-AFTRA may disagree about this harming no one.,

Juancho5125d ago

The thing is that this isn't even something that's necessary to create as a job. Without AI it just wouldn't exist period, it wouldn't be worth the effort. So what I mean to say is, having AI utilize the voice actors (with their consent of course) to create unlimited "podcast-style" content is not only super lucrative (which people will call exploitation), but it creates an entire form of entertainment that requires a "Set it and forget it" mechanism where you don't have to babysit it or hire and fire or train or anything.

TLDR: Without AI this wouldn't even be considered at all, so I'd rather have this than not have it at all.

gold_drake29d ago (Edited 29d ago )

i hate this

i hate all of this. dont just use peoples voices for AI slob that u dont pay for

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80°

RAM Price Increases Could See Next-Generation Console Releases Delayed

Insider Gaming has learned that the ongoing price increases in RAM due to the rise in AI could delay the next generation of console releases.

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insider-gaming.com
66d ago
slate9166d ago

What is even the incentive of upgrading to the next-gen after this console generation we've had? Graphics are plateauing, prices at an all time high, studios skipping entire generations or simply releasing just one game for it...
Its a mess

Jin_Sakai66d ago

Been gaming all my life. This is the worst generation ever.

jznrpg65d ago

How do you gauge each generation? There has been a lot of really good games this gen. I only care about the games. First party hasn’t been the best but the generation isn’t over yet

DarXyde65d ago (Edited 65d ago )

jznrpg,

Thing is, every generation before this one has had something that defined console identity. Very little beyond bigger/more detailed games and performance modes are really there.

I feel the last generation that cared very much was gen 7; Capcom's darkest era, but I have to give them props for being really experimental at the time. We saw plenty of new games that still tried to do something new. Outside of Metaphor and Clair Obscur, this gen has been pretty forgettable if you ask me. I'm sure a lot of it is the corporatization of the industry and the creative talent has to keep making sequels and spiritual successors because the cost of development is out of control. But even then, plenty of these experiences are experiences we've had already. And the thing is. Switch 2 and PSVR2 could really be doing incredible things, but it's just not there. Xbox I just don't see the value or point anymore but that's just me.

anast65d ago

Why has is been the worst? I've been gaming all my life and this gen. has been one of the best.

Vits66d ago

Not to mention that just like this generation, the next one will also be shared between the current and next gen console at least for a couple of years. So the few titles that it will had, just like this one, will run on the console you already have.

franwex65d ago

We will be getting games on PS4, PS5, and PS6, haha.

Extermin8or3_64d ago

I think people have to remember the pandemic at start of this gen and how it effected game development. This next gen we will see the PS4 etc support dropped and truly see the full utilisation of SSD's improvements to ray and path tracing and the impact of AI upscaling etc will be where the biggest improvements will come from.

isarai_lee65d ago

My sentiments exactly, next gen has got to prove it's worth before i buy into it this time. This has been the weakest generation in my 30yrs of gaming. From the drawn out cross gen garbage, to so many games getting stuck in development hell or canceled, to the ABSURD levels of trend chasing to the point of self destruction, this gen just wasn't worth it

thorstein65d ago

I'm pretty sure I've already read a story that said Playstation is only halfway through this console's generation and that PS6 is a way off.

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darthv7265d ago

Im good with next gen being pushed back to 27/28. It feels like this gen has only just begun.

Melankolis65d ago

Covid-19 held back everything at least 2 years worth. Although many people disliked, i think only UE5 can generally distinguish this gen from the previous one.

DarXyde65d ago

UE5 is definitely impressive, but I would also give the nod to the current version of Decima, at least the way it looks for Death Stranding 2.

CornholioX65d ago

That's normal how you think. Time goes faster when you're older and i bought my PS5 since day 1 release and now it's 5 years old. I don't mind a year delay to release PS6 in holiday 2028.

DoubleYourDose65d ago

Tomorrow isn't promised to any of us.

Eonjay64d ago

I was under the impression that next gen wasn't coming till 2027.z u9gsq

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victorMaje65d ago

Regardless of RAM price increases, I strongly believe there’s still a lot of potential left for the current gen. I’d be fine with at least 3 more years.

jznrpg65d ago

Whenever it comes out is fine with me. I still have backlog for the next year at least

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