PSJailbreak Gets Beaten At Its Own Game

The PSJailbreak is the current front-runner and pioneer in hacking the PS3 but it may just have some competition. Enter PSGroove, a free open-source alternative.

Firstly, the name sounds far less dodgy but wait there’s more. PSGroove may not allow for the playing of pirated games (although you can backup games on your HDD) but it paves the way for so much more. It is designed to support homebrewed software and since it’s open-source, there’s nothing stopping someone from dumping the PSJailbreak code somewhere in the source code or just modding it to allow backups to be played.

The main function of PSGroove is that of a hack which allows users to write unsigned and unencrypted code onto a PS3. What it does is open you up to a plethora of developer-only options and menus in the XMB UI. Say hello to bedroom development: don’t like the UI on the PS3, mod it. This is essentially the ultimate mod tool for the PS3.

Unlike Jailbreak, which locks your PS3 up when the USB is removed, Groove is perfectly safe to remove and your PS3 as well as your hack will keep going as if nothing happened.

The best thing is that PSGroove is technically legal because, while it does void your warranty, it doesn’t break any of Sony’s copyrights. All you need is an internet connection (which, should you be reading this, you probably do) and a USB microcontroller (typically found in any USB development kit) which retail for about R300. You get the source-code online, upload it to the microcontroller and bada bing bada boom, you got yourself a PS3 modchip.

Watch it in action (note all the extra menus and options that pop up):

[Source: CVG, Kotaku]