Hackers Leak Xbox One SDK Claiming Advancement In Openness and Homebrew 86
MojoKid writes Microsoft, it seems, just can't catch a break. Days after a major hack took its servers offline on Christmas day, and after being lambasted in multiple stories for shipping games like Halo: The Master Chief Collection in nigh-unplayable condition, the company's Xbox One SDK has been leaked to the public by a group calling itself H4LT. H4LT, which apparently objects to being called a hacker group, offered this explanation when asked why it was distributing the SDK. The group claims that "the SDK will basically allow the community to reverse and open doors towards homebrew applications being present on the Xbox One." To be clear, what H4LT has done is a far cry from groups like Lizard Squad. The SDK for any given product is typically available behind some degree of registration, but they don't necessarily cost anything. The SDK is one small component of creating the ecosystem that would be necessary to get homebrew up and running on the platform. Whether or not users will ever pull it off is another question.
No. (Score:3, Insightful)
Zero shits given. By anyone.
Not a hack (Score:1)
A ddos is not a hack.
Re: (Score:2)
True, except that in practice to DDOS any target of a reasonable size, you need to hack several thousand PCs to create a botnet. The alternative is you pay someone who has a botnet to DDOS for you.
In any case, a DDOS requires a hack, even if you were not the one to do it.
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Or just enough cash to spin them up "in the cloud."
I stopped reading ... (Score:2, Insightful)
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Or that GTA Online still has...
Translation (Score:5, Insightful)
Translation: Microsoft is poorly managed.
Re:Translation (Score:5, Funny)
Every time I read Sith I have to wonder whether it's intentional or due to dyslexia...
Does it really matter (Score:4, Insightful)
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It does not matter. Console security systems are designed to sandbox code written with the SDKs, game developers are seen as adversaries for the purposes of security because otherwise a hacked game makes it too easy to "level up" to full control and then piracy. For example an early Xbox 360 exploit was based on replacing an unsigned shader file in a specific game, which allowed arbitrary shader execution and from that control over the CPU.
The Xbox 360 security system was very impressive and only encountere
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Yes there were several exploits, but they were all patched with good success up until the very last round, I think. A lot of them were based on glitching attacks and similar. Quite advanced stuff.
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I haven't heard of any major security breaks in the Xbox360 - the old ones that were present are still there (reflashi
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SDKs are useful to investigate and develop homebrew exploits (they provide information on the system architecture), but they are not useful for actually developing homebrew unless you want to end up with a situation like the Xbox 1 (the original) where all homebrew (except for Linux) was basically illegal because compiling it meant using the SDK and the resulting binaries were not legally redistributable. As a counterexample, the Wii has a fully open source homebrew SDK (though some bits have a questionable
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the original xbox with its highly illegal homebrew was still the largest homebrew scene so far for any M$ console.
If you think about it, Microsoft has produced a console with a far larger homebrew than any Xbox product. It's called "a PC running Windows."
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Given what I've heard of the Xbox One security architecture, it's going to be a tough nut to crack, SDK or not.
And what's the point when you can just buy a cheap PC where you dont have to be concerned about cracking security or distribution legalities of linking against an unlicensed SDK or that a new update might close whatever security exploit you were using. Not to mention the available audience is much larger with the PC.
I can see how deterministic performance and targeting exact hardware is advantageous for game developers so just register as a developer for the platform if that's what you want to do.
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Well given that Microsoft originally claimed that every Xbox One was to be a dev kit to allow widespread indie development once they get around to releasing the more broad based anyone can build dev kit then I think the question is do they care?
The console was always intended to at least some degree to be developed on by everyone and anyone, so I'd wager it was always similarly designed to be hardened for exactly that purpose regardless.
Ramifications (Score:5, Interesting)
So someone gave a disposable email address, downloaded an Xbox SDK, and then reposted the SDK somewhere else?
Is this what we're talking about here? Or is there actually more to the story?
Re:Ramifications (Score:4, Informative)
No, that's not what we're talking about here. It was either leaked by a Microsoft insider / licensed developer or it was obtained by hacking into some system that had the files on it.
You can't get the major native-code console SDKs simply by registering. The way it's typically set up is that you have to formally apply to become a licensed developer, which generally involves having a corporate entity (Nintendo used to also require that the entity have its own dedicated commercial-grade office space, i.e. no "garage startups") with some demonstrable track record of publishing commercial-quality games and substantiation of sufficient funding to actually complete development on commercial-quality games. Then you have to drop a decent chunk of money on a short list of approved test/debug hardware in order to actually develop games. There are several levels of security and contracts/NDAs involved that require manual review and execution.
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AKA Publicity Stunt. They are riding the coat-tails of the Sony hack and want everyone to talk about X Box.
Demonstrable track record (Score:2)
The way it's typically set up is that you have to formally apply to become a licensed developer, which generally involves having a corporate entity [and in some cases a commercial office] with some demonstrable track record of publishing commercial-quality games and substantiation of sufficient funding to actually complete development on commercial-quality games.
How does Microsoft expect a company to demonstrate such a "track record" before becoming accepted to the Xbox developer program for the first time? PC games, Windows Phone games, or something else? Or is Microsoft mostly looking to poach companies from the other two consoles?
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How does Microsoft expect a company to demonstrate such a "track record" before becoming accepted to the Xbox developer program for the first time? PC games, Windows Phone games, or something else? Or is Microsoft mostly looking to poach companies from the other two consoles?
PC games, mobile games, XBLA/ID@Xbox program titles, etc ... or teams made up of people who have previously delivered titles. But no, you cant get in if you are a complete newbie with no experience.
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How many such games from a company are typically needed? And must they be pay games?
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It should be pretty obvious that the number of games would be a silly metric. The FAQ states:
Q: I want to be a certified Xbox publisher. How do I do that?
A: Companies interested in becoming a publisher for the Xbox gaming platform should write an email to newpub@microsoft.com. Interested companies will be required to show a strong commitment to retail products and a solid plan for multiple Xbox titles. Applicants will be asked to share that plan along with information about their company’s history
"Leaker" is a shill (Score:3)
Why bother trying to create an open home brew environment around a closed platform?
I suspect the so-called leaker is really working for Microsoft.
BTW, "leaking" is something you do in to a toilet. :P
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The XBox is better described as a 'half closed' system. For $100 a year you can be an Indie developer, and get the Indie Dev kit which allows development on the retail hardware platform.
Last time I checked, App Hub (formerly XNA Creators Club) charged $100 per year per machine. So if you want to test multiplayer with 4 players, that's $400 per year. At least Apple allows provisioning a few dozen devices per Developer Program account. And it was only available in a few countries, largely due to some countries' bans on unrated video games. And all games in the indie program have to be rewritten in C#. And it was for Xbox 360. And Microsoft reportedly hasn't been keeping XNA updated [slashdot.org]. Or has M
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Well what are they supposed to do? Make it available and break the local laws?
Make available a program that allows for obtaining the compulsory classification but is otherwise identical to the indie program of other countries. Otherwise, how shall developers in those countries earn the experience to be accepted into the "big boys" program? Visa lottery?
Establishing a track record on PC first (Score:2)
Otherwise, how shall developers in those countries earn the experience to be accepted into the "big boys" program?
Through another platform (like the PC).
In 2015, would a PC game intended for play on keyboard or 1-4 USB gamepads sell? Or does the market require PC multiplayer to be online? (PROTIP: PCs have VGA and HDMI out, and TVs have VGA and HDMI in.)
Though the developer would likely be breaking the local laws unless they obtained classification for their game.
Lately, some countries have recognized that requiring a separate classification for each of tens of thousands of games in each of dozens of developed countries doesn't scale, especially when the alternative is their citizens having no access to the games and their small businesses having no access to the mar
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Why bother trying to create an open home brew environment around a closed platform?
Cost and availability of hardware? While the original platform/OS might be closed, it might be possible to root it and get raw access to the underlying hardware. With original Xbox this was super easy, since it was essentially a cheap Intel PC in a console box. There was a very lively hobbyist culture around the original Xbox with many people installing Linux on it to convert it to an affordable HTPC.
Why homebrew anymore? (Score:2)
But nowadays I don't see the point of homebrew on a set-top console. The price of PCs has fallen so much that one can buy a set-top PC that will run a media player and indie PC games for no more than the cost of a current console.
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Cost and availability of hardware?
No you can easily put together a decent system for the $400 a console would cost you.
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I suspect the so-called leaker is really working for Microsoft.
Interesting. For what purpose?
The SDK for any given product is typically? (Score:2)
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Security: Only registered video game development companies are given the download link. That's about it. It's not "publicly available", but nor is it seriously locked-down. Any one of thousands of employees at various game dev studios could have leaked this, intentionally or otherwise.
Nigh unplayable? (Score:2, Informative)
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The "unplayable" comment is a comment on the matchmaking system, yes. If your son solely played the Master Chief Collection offline or in custom matches with friends, he would have had no issues at all. However, if he had tried to play matchmade games (the only way to play with strangers, or to play "ranked" games) he wouldn't have had much luck at all on release day, or several days after that. I saw it take more than an hour to find a single match on release day; a week or so later it was still taking upw
Missing the point (Score:1)
This is a far cry from developing for other systems like Android, where anyone
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You could have been "fooling around" on the Xbox 360 from March 2006 when MS released the XNA toolkit to all and sundry, so what was stopping you?
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I have a 360 and a One, and I've long wanted to just "fool around" with developing apps for them, to see how difficult it is. This will potentially make that a possibility on the One at least.
Its no more difficult than learning to develop in a compiled language for any other system.
What's "experienced"? (Score:2)
To be clear to get sanctioned access to the SDK you at a minimum must submit an application (resume, not program) to MS that "proves" you are an "experienced game developer" on one or more platforms. You must also sign an NDA.
Can anyone speak to what Microsoft's criteria for "experienced game developer" are, such as how many published PC games it takes for a company to become "experienced"? Or is that part of the NDA too?
We're still calling DDOS a hack? (Score:1)
Why is it such a difficult concept to grasp? Or is it simply exaggeration to get attention?
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No WE don't. Idiots that don't know what they are talking about do.
Wasn't MS supposed to do this anyway? (Score:2)
Original tweet (Score:3)
The original tweet is not even mentioned, here it is:
https://twitter.com/notHALT/st... [twitter.com]
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Once the hard-core nerds have left the market it will die
Is this something you actually believe, or just something you tell yourself as a nerd to make yourself feel better?
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I read just last night about someone getting a $599 Alienware steam box and put it agaisn't the xbox ONE. Not even a real comparison.
Instead of buying a $400 card for Battlefield 4 or Crysis you can get the same experience for a whole console for cheaper! You can debate with me about specs and of course a $1200 machine can squash it easily but games like Shadow of Mordor require 6 gigs of video ram (not system ram) to even run at 4k?? The 399 xbox one starts it right up.
Until this changes which it is headin
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Except that the Xbox One runs Shadows of Mordor at 720p and 30FPS. An el-cheapo PC built now can run Shadows of Mordor in 1080p and above 60 FPS stable, and with better details etc.
How about XBMC? (Score:2)
I know a lot of people that would buy an Xbone right away if they could install that.
XBMC is dead. (Score:2)
XBMC is dead, there is now only Kodi.
One could hope (Score:1)
If the SDK includes information on DRM and the XBox Live protocols, one might be able to devise a compatibility layer on top of a standard x86 compute platform to run (not emulate) XBox One games. But, given the hardware specs, I'm not sure if this would be more economical than just buying an XBox One. You would also presumably require a ripped XBox One BIOS.
8 core AMD Opteron (XBox is custom AMD 8core) = ~$50
ACS Mobo = ~$30
8 GB DDR3 = ~80
8GB Flash Rom = $0 (Emulate via HDD?)
Blu Ray Drive = ~$60
500GB HDD =
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It is still not going to work properly and most likely be very inefficient. They aren't using off-the-shelf hardware, it is custom hardware and the software is written to take advantage of this custom functionality that the off-the-shelf hardware does not provide and would then need an additional software emulation layer.
Not to mention your whole system architecture is different. While the xbox contains its CPU and GPU on the same chip (the APU) and huge chunk of on-die RAM where the setup you listed has a
Microsoft SHOULD release it free (Score:2)
Microsoft could monetize it hell of a lot more by taking a cut from the app store with the extra Indie apps.
The extra apps would give it a leg up over the more proprietary PS4 which would again return the cash back to Microsoft. Monetizing off a few developers is dumb and costs more than it gains.
If I were at Microsoft I would make universal apps for Windows 10 and the xbox SDK apps cross compatible in the app store. Imagine the marketshare and the gamers who are clinging onto Windows 7 for life now migrate