PS3
Many videogame generations manage to surprise us even after several years from their commercialization. Among the most recent examples is certainly the discovery made by an enthusiast who, replaying a title of the PlayStation 2 generation on a PS3, realized the existence of a feature that has remained secret for all these years. We are talking about an all too well hidden menu that allows you to enjoy PlayStation 2 games at a much higher quality than the original.The discovery was made by the user known online as 'Stickman Sham', who while was playing Digital Devil Saga on PS3, a spin off of the famous Shin Megami Tensei saga, he came across a hidden menu that made him discover an important possibility. This secret functionality of PlayStation 3 allows you to change some settings on PlayStation 2 games and consequently go to significantly improve the performance of those titles.
The method to activate this hidden menu is not so intuitive; if this were not the case, it would not take 10 years to find everything. The player, in fact, will have to press together the arrow on the left of the D-pad, and the square keys, L1 and R1 for a total duration of 10 seconds. Once released you will be able to access the settings menu, but only after pressing the central PS button.
apparently the PS3 store version of Digital Devil Saga is actually playable thanks to this hidden settings menu, shoutouts to @Freedom_PulseSR and @RPGLimitBreak pic.twitter.com/RDESQSMlax
- Stickman Sham (@StickmanSham) June 20, 2021
This menu has been hidden for a good ten years, and most likely having known it before would have allowed many more fans to enjoy an improved version of their favorite PlayStation 2 games. Who knows if PS3 hides other secrets of the genre, but above all, who knows what other consoles still have several cards to show that have never been discovered by fans over the years.
If you have abandoned PS3 for a long time to move on to newer consoles, you can buy these PS5 exclusives on Amazon at the following addresses: Demon's Souls, Returnal or Ratchet & Clank Rift Apart.
Sony's alleged security breach may have affected millions of PS3 users around the world
Sony has reportedly faced a security breach which resulted in millions of PS3 IDs being leaked to the hackers. This is thought to be the reason behind lots of PS3 users reporting in the PSN forums that they were banned for no reason whatsoever.
While there is not enough evidence to ratify the claim, it does not seem too far-fetched considering the circumstantial evidence at hand. There has been a significant influx of reports by PS3 users in PSN forums recently, regarding them being banned for no apparent reason.
A Spanish Youtuber, TheWizWiki, made a video reporting the alleged breach of PS3 IDs.
Apparently the hacking community found a list with all the serial ID numbers of all Sony's PS3 consoles. Sony allegedly didn’t have stringent security measures in place to prevent a breach like this.
The video states that there wasn't any encryption or any complex computational security lock by Sony to safekeep the PS3 IDs. Shockingly enough, Sony apparently stored them in a “simple folder” which a random hacker got hold of. It seems the hacker then spread the info to the wider hacking community.
This means that anyone can use the ID number of a console and do online hacking and other malicious things, while the rightful console owner does not know anything about this. As a result, the console can be randomly banned because Sony would think that the user has jailbroken the console.
PSNProfiles forum user GUDGER666 drew the conclusion that this alleged hack is the reason behind the significant PS3 ban reports in the forums.
Sony has not officially disclosed any information regarding this yet.
As it stands, Sony is not new when it comes to facing data breaches. The names, addresses, and other personal data of about 77 million people with accounts on its PlayStation Network (PSN) were stolen in 2011.
Also Read: Top 5 most anticipated PS5 games in E3 2021
If the recently alleged incident is true, it is surely going to put a dent on Sony’s reputation as a competent company to safeguard its users’ sensitive information.