On the other hand, if you can somehow alter your HOME client so it runs unsigned code, that'd be a pretty major exploit. From what I saw in that blog posting, it seems highly unlikely.
Sony Home - The official thread*
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On the other hand, if you can somehow alter your HOME client so it runs unsigned code, that'd be a pretty major exploit. From what I saw in that blog posting, it seems highly unlikely.
It's part of a vector.
Someone may be able to upload malicious code to the server, crash it via another known exploit (depends on app server and OS version), and then execute the uploaded binary. In this case, the attacker knows exactly what your uploaded path is. I have been hacked before this way. If the server is treated with care, they may have second level defences, but regardless... it is one step closer.
Man-in-the-middle attack is also possible via modified proxy (for other users).
Someone may be able to upload malicious code to the server, crash it via another known exploit (depends on app server and OS version), and then execute the uploaded binary. In this case, the attacker knows exactly what your uploaded path is. I have been hacked before this way. If the server is treated with care, they may have second level defences, but regardless... it is one step closer.
Man-in-the-middle attack is also possible via modified proxy (for other users).
Well, we don't know yet where the uploads are placed, or if you can upload code and force another console to download it. The most likely attack vector works like this:
1) I upload an exploit masquerading as a PNG/JPG/GIF or movie data, probably a corrupt file that takes advantage of a buffer overflow in the HOME client with respect to parsing images (precedent: PSP TIFF exploit)
2) Somehow, this file can be shared with other home users. If HOME has a facility for letting other people see your images or movies (like say, on a TV monitor in your home/apartment) or even as a profile photo of yourself, then there is a full roundtrip exploit available.
#3 encryption solves nothing. The key has to be embedded in the HOME client somewhere, sooner or later, someone would find it be able to encrypt/sign uploads properly.
The only real protection is to design the client so avoid these issues, like forcing downloaded code into a protected process, verifying it (like Google's NativeClient), using a VM/scripting language, and making damn sure that file format parsers and codecs don't have bugs.
1) I upload an exploit masquerading as a PNG/JPG/GIF or movie data, probably a corrupt file that takes advantage of a buffer overflow in the HOME client with respect to parsing images (precedent: PSP TIFF exploit)
2) Somehow, this file can be shared with other home users. If HOME has a facility for letting other people see your images or movies (like say, on a TV monitor in your home/apartment) or even as a profile photo of yourself, then there is a full roundtrip exploit available.
#3 encryption solves nothing. The key has to be embedded in the HOME client somewhere, sooner or later, someone would find it be able to encrypt/sign uploads properly.
The only real protection is to design the client so avoid these issues, like forcing downloaded code into a protected process, verifying it (like Google's NativeClient), using a VM/scripting language, and making damn sure that file format parsers and codecs don't have bugs.
Retry Retry Retry
Cool ! I found a new friend who can help me with The Bunker in LBP !!! He'd completed the game and volunteered to help me out after my b*tching. We will co-op to clear it. Also made a few other new friends. Not a bad service for looking for gaming partners. ^_^
I found out that if we enter a new space together, we will all stick together in the new space. This worked even if some of us had to download the space for the first time (while the rest of us waited in the new area). Now I can not only see the potential, but I am realizing it bit by bit.
Also, got invited by jonabbey to one of the locked rooms in the Uncharted Space. First time for me to enter that room since I was too lazy to break the keycode. Also first time to met jonabbey "in person". Hi jon !
Hi patsu!
I have to say, I find Home strangely compelling. It is rather rough and content-free at this point, but what it does have is the feeling of 'place'. I can now go onto PSN and be in a place, and meet people there. That's big.
Right now, Home seems like a sketch of what it could be. It needs ties to PS3 games made widely manifest in Home, it needs game launching sorted and ubiquitously supported, and it needs rich support for party formation and communication. Imagine Home as a universally supported lobby system for PS3 games. That's big.
I hope Sony can get and keep their momentum going with this. It may not appeal so much to the hard core Internet forum crowd as it is now, but I think it has potential for a very wide audience.
Yeah, I've said it before but that's the biggest thing. After playing some chess (I guess I'm an old school nerd, as I'm still undefeated 
- I wish there was stat tracking ) I got into chatting with someone and we got to discussing Motorstorm which we both really loved. Would have been awesome if we could have jumped into an online game straight from there and then stay in a party together. I'm sure it won't be too long before Motorstorm 2 is supported for this, but it still can't come soon enough. Ditto for Resistance 2 (would be great for coop) and LBP. Hurry up Sony!
- I wish there was stat tracking ) I got into chatting with someone and we got to discussing Motorstorm which we both really loved. Would have been awesome if we could have jumped into an online game straight from there and then stay in a party together. I'm sure it won't be too long before Motorstorm 2 is supported for this, but it still can't come soon enough. Ditto for Resistance 2 (would be great for coop) and LBP. Hurry up Sony!
I'm too lazy for that! If Sony want me to be a part of their Home community, they need to make it as easy as possible for me to get in. As long as there's any faf, I won't give it a look. I'll try it once every while out of curiosity, but I'm not putting any effort into experiencing something I'm quite sure will be lost on me.
For me, the big positive for Home was a combination of party features and chat which would appear in XMB to boot. That is, the communication services would have been improved for Home and extended into the PSN as a whole. This hasn't happened. I can boot up Booty with voice chat enabled, accept an invite, then sit in a lobby as the host sets options without us being able to duscuss them, then into the game where we have no communication (voice chat still enabled, microphone working fine elsewhere...) and can't have any strategy whatsoever. This is not how it's supposed to be! Two years since launch to get PSN up to snuff hasn't been enough, and I doubt it will be now, as Sony don't even talk about communication features and are putting their efforts elsewhere.
I tried the retrying thing on the EU Home server today - 7th time first attempt, and later I got in on my 8th attempt. I always can get on the US Home server so far though. Anyway, I fully respect people who aren't going to retry all the time - my colleagues aren't going to do that either. I reckon they'll sort it out though and eventually everyone will be able to get in. The European Home is quite a bit behind the other regions as yet anyway, so I'm hoping we'll get the extra spaces (and saucer game) in there soon.
I tried the Namco museum beta thingy from the Japan store that unlocks bonus items in Home. I tried all for games for one or two attempts and netted me 8 new items, among which two Arcade cabinets. I can't play them on the European Home yet because as yet they are locked in closed beta in this region, but I do really like how that works and it's definitely going to be a draw similar to trophies and achievements, though with a little more entertainment value / use - I'm wearing a Xevious T-shirt and Namco shorts right now and when it's unlocked for Europe, people can come play Pacman and Galaxy in my Summer House (which apparently I'm allowed to keep after the closed beta, along with a whole bunch of clothes, furniture, ornaments etc.) But the arcade cabinets are in there now anyway just looking nice.
It's not just PSN to blame for lack of voice chat in Booty though - surely the devs could have implemented voice chat as so many other games do. They probably could even have gotten a library for it for free. This is probably part of the problem - because Live probably has SDK support for it, it's easy not to make more effort to include it for PSN.
I tried the Namco museum beta thingy from the Japan store that unlocks bonus items in Home. I tried all for games for one or two attempts and netted me 8 new items, among which two Arcade cabinets. I can't play them on the European Home yet because as yet they are locked in closed beta in this region, but I do really like how that works and it's definitely going to be a draw similar to trophies and achievements, though with a little more entertainment value / use - I'm wearing a Xevious T-shirt and Namco shorts right now and when it's unlocked for Europe, people can come play Pacman and Galaxy in my Summer House (which apparently I'm allowed to keep after the closed beta, along with a whole bunch of clothes, furniture, ornaments etc.) But the arcade cabinets are in there now anyway just looking nice.
It's not just PSN to blame for lack of voice chat in Booty though - surely the devs could have implemented voice chat as so many other games do. They probably could even have gotten a library for it for free. This is probably part of the problem - because Live probably has SDK support for it, it's easy not to make more effort to include it for PSN.
The question is, will they want to? Everyone has this nice new icon on their PS3. They click it to see what happens, and get this error. After a few tries, why will Joe Public want to give it another go in a week or three's time? I'll be well and truly used to ignoring the icon by then!
Yes (and it's there as an option in the menu) but the point is an effective online gaming platform needs people to be able to meet up, chat, and migrate between games/applications, seemlessly. Cross-game messaging is as good as we've got, and it looks unlikely to progress beyond that. So we're dependent on devs implementing their own solutions, which they're not all doing, and doesn't allow chat with a mate on one game when you're in another, or just turned your PS3 on and want to invite them to join something. It's a hodge-podge solution. Home is an integrated solution but doesn't work yet and adds a bit of overhead. If PS3 booted into Home, it'd make more sense to me, but that would also be overkill!
I visited Japan Home yesterday morning for the first time.
I was a little surprised at the number of gamers onboard. They seem to chat more in Home (compared to Americans). It is rather common to see dialog bubbles crowding the screen. Most of the time it's short blurb (like "Woah !", "Yes", "My turn", "Here I go !", etc.).
The level design is also more intricate (more interesting). Would be great if we can cross visit easily someday. How the hack do you type Japanese on a US system anyway ?
The best case scenario is to siphon the Home party launching mechanism into XMB. But extend the basic mechanism with Home's community feature (when you're in Home). That way utility-minded people can benefit from party launching, but others can also drop by Home to poke around the community more.
I have 60 friends on my friends list. I forgot who's who for most of them. I find that the Home encounters helped me to know and remember them better/easier. I can associate many different things with the gamers (e.g., "RenTheRedDog" is the sales guy who asked me about "Computing Cloud", "martmart" is the one who can help me with LBP The Bunker, "ScuttleBug" is really DrJay from here, "JonAbbey" is a nice guy who seems to be very curious, etc.). In the process I also added 3 more friends.
I was a little surprised at the number of gamers onboard. They seem to chat more in Home (compared to Americans). It is rather common to see dialog bubbles crowding the screen. Most of the time it's short blurb (like "Woah !", "Yes", "My turn", "Here I go !", etc.).
The level design is also more intricate (more interesting). Would be great if we can cross visit easily someday. How the hack do you type Japanese on a US system anyway ?
Shifty said:
The best case scenario is to siphon the Home party launching mechanism into XMB. But extend the basic mechanism with Home's community feature (when you're in Home). That way utility-minded people can benefit from party launching, but others can also drop by Home to poke around the community more.
I have 60 friends on my friends list. I forgot who's who for most of them. I find that the Home encounters helped me to know and remember them better/easier. I can associate many different things with the gamers (e.g., "RenTheRedDog" is the sales guy who asked me about "Computing Cloud", "martmart" is the one who can help me with LBP The Bunker, "ScuttleBug" is really DrJay from here, "JonAbbey" is a nice guy who seems to be very curious, etc.). In the process I also added 3 more friends.
Ah, but you've answered your own question!
Seriously though, they could change the icon, add a new pop-up when Home goes live, etc. Once games start to use it there will be indicators in games that encourages users to go try it.
One thing they could do is change the default view of trophies to a trophy cabinet in Home. Gamers that like trophies would end up looking at their cabinet in a 'Home view' rather than the current view. As long as going from the XMB to looking at your Home trophy case was quick enough it would push a fair percentage of gamers in there.
I'm still not sure what Home is for me, but I find it fascinating at a number of levels.
I dont have that many friends on both services and I still forget who is who sometimes. I would love it if I could attach a custom friendly name to each friend so I wouldnt have to rack my brain every night sorting out is 'mathesar' and who is 'mafat'.
Trust me, after a few months, even English-like nicks don't mean a thing, especially when you have name clashes.
I am having fun with Home. It's relatively easy to get lot's of friend requests. I am filtering the list now. The GAF R1 clan folks used to gather before the fight to chat. This would be perfect for it.
The only fly in the ointment now (and the only thing that truly p*ss me off right now) is the game launching. In the closed beta, I could launch into different games. Now I simply can't (Arwin, I tried !). I I hope they put that back in like yesterday.
EDIT: It's frustrating to go Home without a keyboard/keypad or headset though. DrJay would know.
I am having fun with Home. It's relatively easy to get lot's of friend requests. I am filtering the list now. The GAF R1 clan folks used to gather before the fight to chat. This would be perfect for it.
The only fly in the ointment now (and the only thing that truly p*ss me off right now) is the game launching. In the closed beta, I could launch into different games. Now I simply can't (Arwin, I tried !). I I hope they put that back in like yesterday.
EDIT: It's frustrating to go Home without a keyboard/keypad or headset though. DrJay would know.
Trust me, after a few months, even English-like nick don't mean a thing, especially when you have name clashes.
I am having fun with Home now. It's relatively easy to get lot's of friend requests. I am filtering the list now. The GAF R1 clan folks used to gather before the fight to chat. This would be perfect for it.
The only fly in the ointment now (and the only thing that truly p*ss me off right now) is the game launching. In the closed beta, I could launch into different games. Now I simply can't (Arwin, I tried !). I I hope they put that back in like yesterday.
EDIT: It's frustrating to go Home without a keyboard/keypad or headset though. DrJay would know.
Yeah, I was frustrated with the headset stuff until a fellow I was attempting to chat with told me how to press the R2 trigger to talk. Amazing how much that helps. Having push to talk makes it easy to have the PS Eye set up and just use that, too.
What kind of game launching features did the closed beta have? I was in the closed beta for a couple of months, but the build I had kept crashing my PS3 to the point of needing a restart, so I didn't play with it much.
I had a fun experience in the beta where I was taping down the R2 button and then started playing live guitar ... got a few listeners and one player also picked up his guitar and we played a bit of 'guess the intro'. Was fun, but after about a minute I think the microphone shuts down anyway and you have to re-press R2 to continue, which was a bit tricky, so it's hard to just sit in a corner and play for an audience. But I'm sure I'll find a way around that (using my feet maybe ).
The Listen@Home thing in the U.S. Home is also interesting, and the strange saucer game they now have in the main square.
I always figured that the Arcades you could play could end up (for money or for whatever) in your own room so you didn't have to bother with queueing (a common complaint). For those interested enough, you can see how it works - on the Japan store there's a Namco public beta of an Arcade compilation which works with Home Rewards. I tried it as mentioned above and it works great, and here's some pictures from someone else who also unlocked the Arcades and placed them in his own space (summer house):
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=13996760&postcount=1611
Now this is just one example from Namco, and it gives you a bunch of items already - something like 16 or so. Imagine that you have just 10 games doing this - that gives you 160 items already. I personally think it is really cool.
But I'm sure I'll find a way around that (using my feet maybe ). The Listen@Home thing in the U.S. Home is also interesting, and the strange saucer game they now have in the main square.
I always figured that the Arcades you could play could end up (for money or for whatever) in your own room so you didn't have to bother with queueing (a common complaint). For those interested enough, you can see how it works - on the Japan store there's a Namco public beta of an Arcade compilation which works with Home Rewards. I tried it as mentioned above and it works great, and here's some pictures from someone else who also unlocked the Arcades and placed them in his own space (summer house):
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=13996760&postcount=1611
Now this is just one example from Namco, and it gives you a bunch of items already - something like 16 or so. Imagine that you have just 10 games doing this - that gives you 160 items already. I personally think it is really cool.
Ah ! That's probably why we couldn't hear him.
You could launch into any game in the closed beta. However only Warhawk supported party launching. Now I can't launch anything at all from Home. Now that I think about it, I could just launch a game from in-game XMB instead of the MenuPad. >_<
I had a fun experience in the beta where I was taping down the R2 button and then started playing live guitar ... got a few listeners and one player also picked up his guitar and we played a bit of 'guess the intro'. Was fun, but after about a minute I think the microphone shuts down anyway and you have to re-press R2 to continue, which was a bit tricky, so it's hard to just sit in a corner and play for an audience.
It's user interaction like this that makes Home interesting. I am not really into the mini-arcades. Already have PSN and full games to keep me occupied.Have also created a female character. I made her look like Jaime Pressly (or Jaime King) but housewife-like. Some passer-by called me "mom !".
From GAF:
Namco Beta-From Japanese PSN Store
Make a japanese PSN Account: http://blogs.ign.com/xheavenxsentx/2006/12/09/39684/
Search until you see a namco download (its a big namco n). download, and install.
Pac-Man
1 Cherry - 1 gift in Home
1 Strawberry - 1 gift in Home
Beat first level - 1 gift in Home
Eat all 4 ghosts with one power pellet. - 1 gift in Home
Galaga
Beat Stage 1 - 1 gift in Home
Beat Stage 2 - 1 gift in Home
Get a Dual Fighter (let one of the yellow guys capture a ship then get it back by killing yellow guy) - 1 gift in Home
Get Your Ship Captured & Destroy It - 1 gift in Home
Dig-Dug
Beat first stage - 1 gift in Home
Get carrot in 1st stage - 1 gift in Home
Get turnip in second stage - 1 gift in Home
Kill 2 monsters with 1 rock - 1 gift in Home
Xevious
Complete first area
Complete second area
Find the Sol Tower using a bomb
http://media.strategywiki.org/images...us_TowersA.jpg
Find the flag and retrieve it using a bomb.
http://strategywiki.org/wiki/Image:Xevious_FlagA.jpg
Male gifts from Namco beta
* Namco hat
* 5 t-shirts
* 1 pair of shorts
Female gifts from Namco beta
* 5 t-shirts
* 1 pair of shorts
* 1 pair of shoes
Home space decoration/furniture from Namco beta
* 4 arcade cabinet
* 1 pooka statue
* 1 Namco chair
* 1 four in one table top arcade cabinet (to get the 4-in-1 table game cabinet, you need to unlock all 4 available achievements for all 4 games to get to Level 3)
--------------
The one thing I miss is better notification of what you've won. I've gotten a bunch of messages (You've received a new item), but it doesn't tell you what. That means I have to look through all the different categories to see what I've won. There's not that many categories and it's fairly quick, but I'd really like them to appear in my message history or something detailing what I received in what category. E.g.:
- You won one pair of shoes (male and female) in category clothing / feet
- You won one item in category furniture / ornament
Something like that.
EDIT: here I'm showing off a few items myself now:
Namco Beta-From Japanese PSN Store
Make a japanese PSN Account: http://blogs.ign.com/xheavenxsentx/2006/12/09/39684/
Search until you see a namco download (its a big namco n). download, and install.
Pac-Man
1 Cherry - 1 gift in Home
1 Strawberry - 1 gift in Home
Beat first level - 1 gift in Home
Eat all 4 ghosts with one power pellet. - 1 gift in Home
Galaga
Beat Stage 1 - 1 gift in Home
Beat Stage 2 - 1 gift in Home
Get a Dual Fighter (let one of the yellow guys capture a ship then get it back by killing yellow guy) - 1 gift in Home
Get Your Ship Captured & Destroy It - 1 gift in Home
Dig-Dug
Beat first stage - 1 gift in Home
Get carrot in 1st stage - 1 gift in Home
Get turnip in second stage - 1 gift in Home
Kill 2 monsters with 1 rock - 1 gift in Home
Xevious
Complete first area
Complete second area
Find the Sol Tower using a bomb
http://media.strategywiki.org/images...us_TowersA.jpg
Find the flag and retrieve it using a bomb.
http://strategywiki.org/wiki/Image:Xevious_FlagA.jpg
Male gifts from Namco beta
* Namco hat
* 5 t-shirts
* 1 pair of shorts
Female gifts from Namco beta
* 5 t-shirts
* 1 pair of shorts
* 1 pair of shoes
Home space decoration/furniture from Namco beta
* 4 arcade cabinet
* 1 pooka statue
* 1 Namco chair
* 1 four in one table top arcade cabinet (to get the 4-in-1 table game cabinet, you need to unlock all 4 available achievements for all 4 games to get to Level 3)
--------------
The one thing I miss is better notification of what you've won. I've gotten a bunch of messages (You've received a new item), but it doesn't tell you what. That means I have to look through all the different categories to see what I've won. There's not that many categories and it's fairly quick, but I'd really like them to appear in my message history or something detailing what I received in what category. E.g.:
- You won one pair of shoes (male and female) in category clothing / feet
- You won one item in category furniture / ornament
Something like that.
EDIT: here I'm showing off a few items myself now:
(Long, somewhat painful) interview with Director of Home, J. Buser:
Some of the highlighted features are still too shallow to generate any social dynamics on their own. Just focus on 1 or 2 for now (Game launching, game launching, ...).
And I have the same evaluation/projection criteria for Home as this guy here:
http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2008/12/why-sony-home-w.html
(Yes, I am tracking informally the number of women in Home)
These are some of the higher level factors. Get to work, Sony. ^_^
And I have the same evaluation/projection criteria for Home as this guy here:
http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2008/12/why-sony-home-w.html
(Yes, I am tracking informally the number of women in Home
)These are some of the higher level factors. Get to work, Sony. ^_^
Ooooh, I just saw an all-girl team (most are real) launching into Warhawk.
Anyway, something just struck me.
Would it be a good idea for Sony to "sell" Home items but when you buy them, the money simply goes into your PS Wallet. You can subsequently redeem/use these deposited money to buy stuff from the PS Store. Should be interesting to run an experiment.
EDIT: Shifty, about your C931 problem...
http://community.eu.playstation.com...essage?board.id=b_EN_PS3_Home&thread.id=83139
Anyway, something just struck me.
Would it be a good idea for Sony to "sell" Home items but when you buy them, the money simply goes into your PS Wallet. You can subsequently redeem/use these deposited money to buy stuff from the PS Store. Should be interesting to run an experiment.
EDIT: Shifty, about your C931 problem...
http://community.eu.playstation.com...essage?board.id=b_EN_PS3_Home&thread.id=83139
TedTheDog said:
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