Why The PS3 Still Isn't Hacked

From Ps3hax.net:

"Why isn't the PS3 broken already?" We hear this every day. Someone somewhere thinks they can write a better media player with HD support. A guy wants to release his game but needs the RSX for the amazing graphics it can generate. Why can't we just tear open the PS3 solder a few wires and be done with it? The answer is both simpler and more complicated than you might expect.

The PSP, the Wii, even the Xbox 360 have all been hacked and can run homebrew applications so everybody thinks "the PS3 should be just as easy." The PS3 in some ways is as easy, in fact easier. No other console let you install Linux and run anything you want to. Sure Linux on the PS3 is great. You can write your own code and use it. You have the largest collection of applications anywhere (thats right, WAY more than Windows). It's all free (or at a very low cost).

But it's limited. You can't touch the RSX (The very powerful graphics chip in the PS3), you can't use the full hard drive, and nothing is really optimized for the PS3's fantastic Cell processor, this means that what should be fast and easy tends to be slow and cumbersome. In fact, DVD playing which can be done on any modern computer is a monumental task in PS3 Linux."

[decapitator]

Short answer - "The Power of Cell".

Long asnwer - Sony built one hell of a machine. With the PS3 they really thought about it and it seems to be paying off.

[Hydrollex]

they have to pay 60$ which is alot of money for them. I have been in Turkey and all games were like 2 or 3$ because they were illegal coppied.

[360CameFromHell]

Instead of presenting good explanatory reasons why they can't hack the PS3 he just kept going about how easy the other consoles are to hack, could have been so much better.

[Richdad]

@hydrolex people in developed countries dont pirate since if they do so they will be kicked by the police but in 3rd world countries sales are not high so piracy means good publicity for them so they could capture the market in future.
Yeah but Sony really did a good job because PS1 and PS2 created hell of piracy mafia in these countries.

[TalzWhite]

http://rcm-uk.amazon.co.uk/...

[Massacre]

Simple, why is because Sony did not rush the game to the market and took their time building a solid machine.

[Danja]

Cuz Sony actually intended to improve upon it's predecessor and build the best console they could unlike some Company who only care about a one year head start so they can brag about how far ahead they are in consoles sales..so they just threw together recycled plastic and a semi powerful graphic chip and didn't bother to test the product..>>RROD..!

[socomnick]

Wait I thought Its been proven that the video card in the Xbox 360 is much more powerful than the ps3 one even though it came out a year earlier.

[Alcaponeyou]

socom, you're so far up M$'s ass it's not even funny

[Snukadaman]

looks like sony is so far up your azz you got their d*ck on your breath...socomnick do you happen too have a link too that statement..I never seen nothing like that on these pages..and im quite sure it would of been great fodder by now.

[The Killer]

just imagine majority of people salary is 100-200$ a month even less in some places, do u think they will throw 60$ for playing original games??
as long as there is no hacked ship in the ps3 it wont sell so well in these countries, BUT again these countries never had a market for software sales and they are the very last who joins the current gen of gaming!! right now wats popular is ps2 and will continue for few more years!!and by that time ps3 will be hacked(i hope) but mean while thats good for sony, at least they will get high attach rate much higher than the 360 when ps3 outtake it in install base!

i will be buying some original games, the very big game(FF13,MGS4,GTA,KZ2) but the rest i will wait even 3 more years(1.5 year past already) for the hacked ship so i can get the copy ones! if not then i will just buy 2 games a year!

[XiaoSet]

@Snukadamen

Learn how to properly use grammar, I guess all Xbug 3fixme users are still in Junior High.

@The Killer

It's "chip" not "SHIP" What the hell?

[The Killer]

i wasnt paying enough attention!

[Alcaponeyou]

you have ur head up socom's @$$ so deep, he goes though his @$$ and up into M$'s @$$

[Mr Playboy]

It seems like ken Kuturgi stole the cell from Aliens LoL

and E.T. is the only one who can unleash the power of the PS3

[Snukadaman]

lets stick too the facts kids.....also when your communicating with droids you have too speak in a manner that they can keep up with..

case in point...droids cant even spell snukadaman...they come up with snuckaman..go watch a movie. caboned.

[LJWooly]

No, the RSX and Xenon GPUs both exceed and fall short in different areas to one another, but in terms of raw number-crunching, they're pretty much equal.

The RSX does have the advantage of utilizing the Cell's SPUs, but I'm not sure any developer has fully utilised this as of yet.

And Snukawhatever, I don't think they really care about you enough to bother to spell your name properly. they must feel all the work that goes in to typing it properly would be wasted energy on you. But that's just my take, I could be wrong :)

[longduckdong]

what's the motivation?

[RJ2000]

Being able to rip your games with enough hard drive space.

[caffman]

literally thousands on games

[toughNAME]

...no way...I'll keep this smartass comment to myself

[killer_trap]

good idea. lol

[Expy]

Duplicate, I'm sure I've seen this story before.

[Jack T]

This is a duplicate story. Mods please delete.

[killer_trap]

now that you mention it, yeah i remember reading this before. it hit me right in the middle of it.

[gEnKiE]

Yeah...ive defintely seen this posted before

[PirateThom]

There's no real motivation to hack the PS3.

A lot of the games are way to big to store on harddrives/download in the first place and BD-Rs and Blu-ray Rewriter drives are still way expensive.

Plus, Firmware updates will kill any hack. Without updating, you can't play online, get new features etc

It's not like the PSP where you can have the latest firmware to play the latest games and then use a Pandora's Battery to go back to FW1.5 to run homebrew.

[ITR]

I figure as soon as it's hacked Sony will issue a firmware update to break it.
Eventually, you'll have hackers vs Sony updates.

[PirateThom]

Like the PSP was before the Pandora's battery hack was discovered. I love that thing, I have the new games (always bought, never downloaded) and the ROMS from consoles gone by.

[Whoooop]

yep.. Just like Dish Network...

[Lumbo]

Somehow i think you fail to understand how hacking and homebrew on the PSP works ...

You don't have to install the official firmware anymore. Neither do you have to downgrade to FW1.5 for homebrew. The latest custom firmware plays all games available and allows homebrew at the same time.

And thats important, as the firmware chip in the PSP can only be reprogrammed a limited time(estimates put the reprogram cycles 100). It was never designed to be constantly up and downgraded. Thats a sure way to brick it.

[wowsauce]

Firmware won't affect hacking unless you want to play online, and they can replace updates for that. They have to design all games to play on the original launch PS3s, so you only have to emulate the system enough to get it to read like a launch PS3. No firmware update will stop that.

The only reason people don't hack it is because it's complicated. I'm sure someone's probably working on making a chip to work around licensing for things like this already though.

[ChickeyCantor]

if someone can "crack' this system down making a good "kernel" for linux....hell yess there is motivation for doing this.

[ruibing]

I liked a few parts of what the guy wrote:

"The Wii isn't a full upgrade of all the technologies in the GameCube, in fact, it's almost identical except for a few upgrades."

It looks like Sony thought things through.

[IntelligentAj]

Give it time. I'm pretty sure they'll find a way to hack it. They did with everything else.

[ITR]

Eventually, everything gets hacked. I think the reason the Wii and the 360 got hacked so easily is because the tech is based on current tech out in the wild. The cell and rsx are a bit more obscured. I think cell hacking will hit an all time high once more products with it are available. RSX will have to be reversed engineered to be hacked completely.
If it was built by a human it will contain a human error to exploit.

[Armyless]

Exotic, powerful hardware. Almost Alien technology when compared to the follow up technologies caught up in supplanting sequal cycles of safer, and familiar bloodlines.

Something bold was forged in the fiery minds of many maverick engineers when they birthed this new concept to life.

It will be new. It will be vastly more complicated, much more difficult to master, and unlike anything you've ever seen before.

Was it worth it? I think to the creators, and the avant enthusiasts, it has been and will continue to be.

Will it carve it's mark on the world's creative canvas? Exciting things may be happening as we speak. Either way, I'm proud of the business that courageously decides to embark on a new quest, in hi-brow style, challenging potential, and lingering doubts.

This is more interesting to me, and stirs my passion more deeply than more-of-the-same-only-4-times- faster.

[ryuyasho]

were built by human hands nor mind... it was Skynet with components from the future who sent a T-800 with skematics of it's architecture, so in a couple of years more, the PS3 will become Skynet... that's why them hackers haven't figured it out yet. ;P

[LJWooly]

ryuyasho... I thought i was the only one who knew... they told me never to tell anyone...

[ryuyasho]

then I guess I'm beign targeted for Termination. I better run...

[moses]

This sounds like some sort of cult. He makes it sound as the sun revolves around the PS3.

"RSX for the amazing graphics it can generate."

"You can't touch the RSX (The very powerful graphics chip in the PS3)"

Last time I checked, the RSX isn't that special, with many GPUs out currently that can put it to shame? Or am I incorrect?

Please don't blindly and ignorantly disagree with me, if I'm wrong, reply with a correction.

[PirateThom]

No, you're spot on, the RSX is basically a redesigned GeForce 7800.

Nothing special about it at all. This guy is just talking nonsense.

[KILLERAPP]

Did you even read the story or are you mentally retarded I think both.

[incogneato]

You're an idiot, he is not saying "you can't touch the RSX" as if it means it's the most power GPU ever. He is saying you literally can't access it in Linux and such. Stop trying to find something to troll damn xbot.

[moses]

Of course I read the article, and what struck me the whole time was all the PS3 ass kissing.

Also, I know what he was talking about, that they can't access the RSX, but RIGHT next to that statement, in a nice pair of parenthesis is "(The very powerful graphics chip in the PS3)." Kind of hard to ignore.

Why do you judge me to be a "xbot"? I don't even have an xbox o_o, last console I had was a N64. How about stop being so ignorant and as soon as you see anything questioning PS3's "holy amazingness" you click the disagree button.

[Armyless]

In your mind, does that mean he's saying the Hard Drive is SO AWESOMELY HUGE that you couldn't fill it up if you tried?

lol

[moses]

You're obviously incorrectly interpreting what I said. What I said is nothing like that. He praises, in plain english, the RSX for being some super amazing GPU, while it's pretty ordinary.

I know whatever I say is going to be disagreed with, I don't even know why I'm here.

[Armyless]

This is a PS3 article. (And a pretty old one at that, I don't know why anyone is here.)

[LJWooly]

Moses is actually right, I have no idea what your problem is. The RSX, on it's own, is not an extremely powerful piece of hardware compared to high-end GPUs available today.

Now stop blatantly attacking people with a difference of opinion, that's just ignorant.

[Armyless]

he's reading more into it than he should. Kind of shows his bias. Kind of like you, eh?

[PeterGriffinSays]

Sony wins yet again. By not even trying! They GIVE you an option to put in your own OS and it STILL can't be hacked?

For Sony, it ain't hard, it's EZ like Pass.

[Goodfella78]

when sony designs hardware they do it like gods taking there time ,pushing the limits of technology and also importantly testing there hardware when its only good and ready, u listining ms u should of took a leaf or 2 out ov sonys book, but we all know its 2 late for ms now eh people?.

[Snukadaman]

face it..sony is just as dumb as ms sometimes...theres also only one god.

[jadenkorri]

@Snukadaman
"so thats why there have been several firmware updates...
face it..sony is just as dumb as ms sometimes...theres also only one god."

Sony as dumb as MS...right name something that sony messed up in the gaming industry...while your thinking of something I'll be writing out MS dumb mistakes however it'll take me awhile...

[Snukadaman]

for one thing..1#trying to charge 600 dollars for a gaming console....2#how about not having unified ram and only dedicated..which in turn handcuffs the devs when it comes too multiplatform games...3#what about not having the option for analog controls in lair....4#how about giving out better development kits at LAST years gdc...5# no access to messages while playing games... your turn...

[millerlite]

Figure out how to use the words "there" and "their" and "they're"!!!!!!!!!!! Learn to spell while you're at it! "Listining"? 2 U? ov?

[sumfood4u]

HACKERS dont have a life an love challenges! Besides there prolly still busy destroying Ps3 on You Tube since they can't Hack them! Most hackers look like this Image!

[PeterGriffinSays]

EPIC.

[PeterGriffinSays]

You get a bubble for that one. =D

[Bladestar]

hehe... you are just envious your are not able to understand the level of skill and knowledge required to acomplish what these people can... their ability to beat huge corporations and hundreds of people and bring their security to the ground... I do not encourage hackers that use their knowledge to hurt people or to cause harm.... just so you know many of these hackers are also the ones making our data safe by exposing flaws... they do like challenges... but I don't agree with not having lives.. many of them are married and have kids... many of them have jobs where they make 10 times the amount of money than you... and bottom line they might be more valuable in terms of knowledge value than you... think of hackers as under value resources... maybe Sony should be trying to hire these guys and fire their entire staff... I'm sure they can make a more secure system if they are able to crack Sony's.

[Whoooop]

a while back I could be desperate and even a little bit pissed about this, but I've download so many PC games and applications for free that I think enough is enough.

The PS3 can be unhacked for all its lifespan and I will be more than happy to BUY any game I wish for it...

So.... sorry to all PC games developers, but the money I stole from ya'll will be recovered by console devs and SONY.. :)

and I think you guys are entitled to another apology because I won't be buying any PC games soon nor any applications... :D

[m9105826]

...to a fellow pirate. Never again will I buy anything with a MS label on it without trying it before hand!

[poopsack]

Same here

[ultraviolentz]

systems arent hacked to run pirated games. they are hacked to run imports and homebrew. piracy is an unfortunate side effect

[hfaze]

"systems arent hacked to run pirated games. they are hacked to run imports and homebrew. piracy is an unfortunate side effect"

And Sony was smart about things like that from the start. PS3 games are not region locked, so every console is able to play imports. And with the ability to install Linux, you get at least basic ability to do homebrew (although without the RSX chipset)

Sony made sure to GIVE their users these things right out of the box. The only incentive left to hack the PS3 is to play pirated games, and they did an excellent job of making that VERY difficult to do.

I'm not saying that the PS3 will never be cracked, but it is pretty impressive that going into the second year there are still no hacks available for it.

[caffman]

I own 5 systems and 3 of them are hacked. I don't have my 360 hacked as I love being on Live. Even my DS has an R4!

[Bladestar]

there is no incentives... what's there to hack? Now, when Sony comes up with a movie marketplace then hackers may be interested in spending their valuable time on it... let's say they can hack and burn blu-ray games... still they would need blu-ray blank disc and they are too expensive... hackers abilities to crack the PS3 like an egg has nothing to do with cell and bla bla... but simply because there is no return of investment as far as the amount of of time they have to spend cracking it.... you can get a preview by seing how hard Sony tries with the PSP just to see a hack within 24 hours...

[KILLERAPP]

Well why hack the wii then, do you even think before you speak.

[m9105826]

Actually, as someone greatly involved with PS3 hacking, I will tell you that that just isn't the case. We were very close to unlocking the Hypervisor back around FW 1.9, Sony caught on and patched up the holes. The Cell, and working with XDR, are the main reasons that we haven't made much headway in a while. Reverse engineering from a single core is hard enough. Reverse engineering code written for 6 or 7, and utilizing a form of RAM that none of us have and type of access to or experience with, that's just downright crazy.

[incogneato]

Umm hardly anyone gets an "investment" from hacking consoles except mod chip suppliers. And mod chips suck.

[caffman]

same reason that you mod ANY console. Latest games for free. My ps2 has 2 original games and several hundred that are not so original. I could've never afforded them. My 360 isn't chipped but I spent a small fortune on games (about £1500 by my estimates) because I want to stay connected to live. It's a small price to pay. I was playing sonic olympics a month before it was available over here and I would've felt ripped off paying £30 for it.
So why don't you think first before YOU type

[hunter21]

i think this one already been posted before. if im not mistaken

[ChanDangle]

Because it's unpossible.

[gamesR4fun]

"Mind you, this hack is INCREDIBLY difficult to do and requires a specially designed mod-chip and several hours for your 360 to reset repeatedly until you can downgrade putting this hack well above the average user. (To the 360 hackers, I am sorry for simplifying your brilliant hack so much, but this article isn't just to sceners, it's to everyone.)"

shoot all you need is the right custom firmware a pc with a spare sata cable and a couple cheap torq screwdrivers... Whats more guys are running burnt games on live with the newest one...

[caffman]

until the next update

[jadenkorri]

im hoping the ps3 stays unhacked, sony loling at other consoles being hacked....as a fellow game developer...nothing pisses u off more than someone stealing your game..

[incogneato]

Not everyone wants to steal your game although I'll admit a lot of people do. Some people want customizing and maybe to play some old roms and other fun stuff. Also just because someone steals your game it doesn't mean they would have bought it anyway.

[Lumbo]

The amount of people wanting a hack purely for homebrew pales in contrast to the amount who just want to steal games. its like a 10000:1 relation. And if you can steal all games you don't have any incentive to buy them even IF you want it. The old "i buy the good games after i downloaded the warez copy" excuse is just that, an excuse. Once you have the warez version there is NO incentive to buy the game and give the devs the deserved money for their work.

The PS3 now forces you to buy or not buy a game, but at the same time you can not go the cheap way and simply steal the games you did not buy to play it anyways.

[ArmrdChaos]

root kits in every box.

Send in 10 box tops with a self addressed envelope to:

Krazy Ken's 4D Emporium
Blu Wang Blvd.
Tokyo 108-0075, Japan

...to receive your free install disc to work around but not remove said kit. Hurry...supplies are limited.

Caution: Some users after using this product experienced sudden dizziness, migraines, and uncontrollable bouts of depression. Should you experience any of these symptoms, please seek professional (pharmaceutical) help immediately.

[1-800-4MY-XBOX]

1-800-4MY-XBOX for all your coffin needs.

[Alcaponeyou]

$69 per second. hold please.

[arakouftaian]

sony is the one who hack psx and ps2 and they will hack ps3 when they fell like it but not know when the time is right they will ...

[jadenkorri]

plz...explain...in English with proper grammar too...what i took from what you wrote is that sony hacks their own ps1 and ps2 and will hack the ps3 when the time is right?...!!!!

@incogneato i have to agree with you on the part of playing roms of old consoles on your ps3.. old games are good to go back too and on the ps3 would be the ownage right there...and ya i would put roms on my ps3 for sure...

[Lumbo]

Complete nonsense.

The reason PSx and PS2 (and Wii and Xbox360) where hacked relatively fast is that they all share the same weak spot: PC drives for the media and the drive checking if the disk put in is an original.

All the modchips and firmware mods for all the consoles except the PS3 do this, they hook into the DVD/CD ROM firmware and fake a valid disk signal to get your warezed game disk passing the check. Sony couldn't completely change that system with the PS2, no matter what version as the old consoles on the market needed to be able to play the same games as newly produced ones. That limits you in the ways you can change the security process.

Neither Sony nor MS nor Nintendo made the system hackable because they wanted to as you suggest.

[permutated]

Because most hackers are poor and couldn't afford the PS3 when it was first released, back when it had exploitable bugs but came at a tag of $600.

Not even the power of their combined 'comic book' money could save up that amount, not since their purchase of that famed PS2 that is.

:D

(Kidding)

[jadenkorri]

Not trying to start a fanboy my system better than yours...however ps3 was expensive yes but buying 2 xbox 360's is more money than a ps3..
People should decide what they want quality or quantity....

[permutated]

My entire post was a joke.

Get off your high horse, too, it's a gaming console, they're not paying you to stick up for them.

I'm f'ing tired of people like you.

[jadenkorri]

i think the post i made was meant for somewhere else..it don;t even belong considering if u read what u posted and what i said it don't match to what you actually said...blames multiple window tabs...lol

[KozmoOchez]

Sony has a firmware update sitting on someones company computer just waiting for someone to hack the ps3 so they can release this super security system and kill any thought of hacking it...

plus it would seem with all the new technology in it, it would cost too much to hack anyway and probably not be worth the wasted money in the long run

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

Shouldn't this be over at BadJoystiq as a joke?

[hfaze]

Really... If you're so sure that the PS3 is hacked, provide proof.

If said proof doesn't exist, then STFU.

[caffman]

I've seen one being taken apart and a chip soldered in two weeks ago at a computer fair in the UK. Don't know the results though but as with all systems its only a matter of when not if

[muss1210]

yawn.......................

[Sir Ken Kutaragi 3]

...the best console on the planet thats why!!! ;)

[Sir Ken Kutaragi 3]

...Why do you want to hack PERFECTION!!! ;)

[Regret]

Is this copy/paste from someone? Cuz I'm sure I've seen same article months ago.

[themyk]

whats the deal with you xbots bringing up lair. it's pathetic. like lair not having analog sticks is sonys problem. not having in game messaging. what a loser.

[calderra]

This article and 90% of the responses are crap.
-As pointed out, most of the article just talks about how other systems were hacked, and not about the PS3.
-The reasons he claims PS3 wasn't hacked are nonsense. The real reason is that you can load Linux on the PS3 out of the box and run homebrew apps immediately- hacker's haven't been stopped, they've been too busy to get to other aspects of the hardware!
-How is installing Linux on the system and running your own apps out of the box not "hacked"? Oh, but they can't access deeper parts of the hardware? They can't do that on 360, either. A quick search turned up that the only real 360 homebrew is an NES emulator. You can run more homebrew on the PS3 out of the box, making the PS3 significantly more "hacked" if anything.
-The only good part of the article is the last bit, about how the other main reason for advancement is that the big hacking groups aren't sharing any information, because they want all the glory (and profit, from hardware mods) for themselves. All this really does is hurt the community as a whole

[DFresh]

To be honest you can hack to any of those consoles all it takes is time, research, and money.
The Linux Program is designed by Sony so it's a Sony made product.
I really don't care about hacking into my PS3 as long as I can hack into my PSP Slim that's good enough.
Sony has copy right protection that's why you can't hack into the PS3.
Burnt DVDs, CDs, and Blu-ray movies won't work.

The 360 can be modded and hacked but as soon as someone reports you to MS on XBL they'll permanently shut you out of your Xbox forever.

PSP is also simple all you need is coding and to make a program that can run off the engine in the PSP.

Nintendo Wii I'm not sure what you can modd but it's cool though.

[caffman]

MS just monitor what mods are going around, design a counter and then put it in an update. Then the hackers do another one and the cycle continues. And as for Sony being "GOD LIKE!!!" the PS2 is one of the easiest to hack (done it myself several times) and the PSP can be too. Its just a matter of time.

[Ri0tSquad]

"Sony has copy right protection that's why you can't hack into the PS3.
Burnt DVDs, CDs, and Blu-ray movies won't work."

Burnt dvds, and blu-ray movies on my ps3.

[SpaceCowgirl]

Why the heck is this on the top of my 360 section?

[gixxxer]

I sometimes wonder what would be better for Sony. Im sure there are people waiting for the time when the PS3 gets hacked meaning more PS3 will be sold to consumers. Fact is though that those people would probably buy less games unless multiplayer is a big part of the game.

Still think it's a good deal for Sony if it gets hacked. More PS3's sold is more people on PSN, more people buying PSN games and exclusives that require original copies to play multiplayer.

[PirateThom]

The PSP was hacked and has an attach rate of less than 1.

For every PSP sold, there's less than 1 game sold with it.

I own 14 PSP games which means there's 13 other people out there who have yet to buy a game for their PSP.

[memots]

I have a PSP slim and i dont want it hacked and i wont buy game because the games are not very good.
Why the Fock would i buy game that doesnt look that great and that has bad control when i could buy myself a great game on my ps3/xbox or my 8800gtsli computer. I mean seriously.

Attach rate thingy that peoples keep talking about is such a load of horseshit. It has nothing to do with the success of a console and im tired of people bringing that up. If people dont buy games for their console of choice its either that person is not interested in these game/title or they spend their money somewhere else.

[PirateThom]

There's plenty of good games on PSP which are half the price of PS3/360 games. I can't understand why anyone would own a console and not buy games for it. These games all look amazing for a handheld, which is what this is, not sure what you're expecing from a handheld? It's still better graphically than the DS. Remember, the PSP is a PlayStation PORTABLE, the key here is that it's to take anywhere, it's not going to give PS360 graphics ever.

Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops
LocoRoco
Wipeout
Patapon
God of War
Crisis Core
Daxter
Ratchet and Clank

[gixxxer]

Well the most profit comes from games and not from consoles sold so attachrate is kinda important but as you say it doesn't mean everyone that doesn't buy games has a hacked console.

[SubzeroX]

Easily because nobody cares

[gunnerforlife]

Mind you, this hack is INCREDIBLY difficult to do and requires a specially designed mod-chip and (several hours for your 360) to reset repeatedly until you can downgrade putting this hack well above the average user

if the 360 lasts that long without breaking down:D:D

[Bill Gates]

Genius.

[Pain]

good one

[TwissT]

Because Sony made the ultimate firewall. lol

[SSJSubgeta]

Just to throw it out there, the RSX/GPU "Was" accessible before the last FW update via Linux. But now since the update I forgot when that was. That last FW update completely blocked off access to it via Linux. The only way to regain access is to restore your PS3, basically do a factory reset. This is for models from launch all the way to October of 2007.
The reason I bring this up is that, it is possible to make a CFW just like the PSP's counterpart. But if there is access to the RSX. I think there could of been a potential risk that Sony found out and blocked access to it.