The "Kudos to TheSpecialist and Everyone Involved" Thread

[moribund112]

Per SiliconIce's request, I'd like to start a thread to thank everyone involved in the firmware mod.
Despite the fact that since the posting of news on X-S, I think *most* people here see the events in a positive way. All of the true hackers involved in this endeavour over the past weeks have put in enormous amounts of time and energy using their talents in order to make the scene better. This is a great aspect of the Xbox community. People truly working together in order to achieve a mutual interest. The firmware hack opens up a lot of possibilities to what can be done not only on the Xbox but the Xbox 360 as well. Whether or not people would use it to play their own backups or in attempts to play on Xbox Live is their business, and the repercussions are harsh enough if they are indeed caught.
The firmware hack not going public is the best thing these guys could have done at this point in the game. With a new console out, Microsoft is looking to make the big bucks, as usual. The kiddies and every damn Xbox website on the net would post up a tutorial or some type of windows patch in minutes, leaving a lot of heat not only on this website, but on TheSpecialist, MacDennis, SiliconIce, and everyone involved. It's also dangerous due to the nature of the modding scene these days. People stand to make tons of money off these kinds of finds, copy someone else's hard work, and profit off of it. Producers in China are salivating for a way to mass-produce chips for the 360 and make a killing. How should I know? I live there  . Just yesterday I received a rumor about a chip coming out in the middle of February at the local games market. It's purely speculation and most likely is FAKE for sure.
Thanks for everyone here for keeping the scene clean. We don't need posts about playing backup games, how to play on xbox live, or any of that other crap. It's not conducive to new discoveries and puts a false label on the nature of this site.

So, KUDOS to everyone involved. You guys really inspire people to experiment and create. I just wish I was well-versed enough in these topics to contribute  .

[fazered]

I'd like to second that post. I have wanted to post a congratulations but I have been saddened by all the newb posts flying around and didn't want to add to the rubbish. I've been reading this site for a few months and have read the DVD thread from the beginning, check several times a day sometimes. Although in this area I am certainly a newb I like to think of myself as more considered than the average (I hope that is actually true.) A lot of the posts have been way above my understanding but not so that I couldn't follow the logic if I couldn't follow the specifics. Strangely I have become emotionally involved and now a big part of the chase is over it's tinged with disappointment.

Although I'd love to play my back-ups on Live [Note: Not to cheat! I have a genuine reason as I play from three locations and lugging all my originals around is more than a pain in the arse. Worse is not having them and not being able to play online when all your mates are there.] I think it might be best if this information isn't released. Although it is a great step there is no direct merit in the endeavour to get  unsigned code to play on the 360, we already can on the Xbox.

As the whole disc isn't signed or verified then new forms of cheating could possibly be rampant (although if the mod was difficult it would hopefully put off most of the general herd of cheaters.) The Live experience could be badly affected and that would be a real shame. On the 360 the gamerscore scheme could be ruined by people using hacked games. Perhaps the number we are talking about would be relatively small so it might not make a massive difference but it might. So although being able to play backups would make my life better I totally understand the choice not to release. Unfortunately I think it won't make that much difference and other will replicate and then release but it is a honourable choice.

I congratulate TheSpecialist for his choice and I really congratulate the whole group (people keep getting overlooked) including MacDennis, anita999, Tiros, Geremia, djhuevo, darkfly, robinsod and loads of others. Well done guys and good luck with the rest of your work. You can be sure that I'll be there, a silent passenger along for the ride.

If you need me to do anything with my Xbox's or my soon to arrive 360 then let me know.

[Ravo_5002]

Kudo's!

To everyone whining bcuz there isnt a rls, dont worry, there will be one in the comming week(s). With all the technical info in the dvd thread there must be someone who will develop this hack anonymously and then rls it

-Rav

[82ross]

The time and work that people have put into this idea was great. Im glad TheSpecialist completed his work on the 8050L and hope he got what he wanted from it. Releasing it or not isnt a big deal. People will be able to follow the work contributed by XBH members and/or find out for themselves what needs doing, so hacks wll eventually spill out nto the public domain. If anyone wants it enough they could learn to patch it themselves, theres plenty of clues to what needs to be done.

Im just glad that it give a little boost to a community thats been around for a while (Xbox) and also something for the new 360 community to look forward to.

[Stryfe]

But why was there technical information removed from the thread, specifically anything after Jan 29?

[james01]

If you were never going to release it you should have never told anyone about it. If you wanted to keep this to yourself then you should have kept it ALL to yourself not telling people what you can do and bragging that others can't. Now i would not benefit from this at all since i have a softmodded xbox and i don't play on live but it just seems mean to announce you can do it and not share with the rest of us. Thats what this site is for sharing info, you should have never said anything about it and kept it to yourself if you had no plans on releasing it. Just to brag that you can do it and we can't is just plain old ignorant. I compliment you on your work but look down upon on your ignorance...

[darkfly]

No one is bragging. It was meant to further the knowledge of the authentication process of an xbox game which helps us understand how the 360 drive works. The communication to the 360 drive is encrypted and would have been much more difficult to start with that. This was a PROOF OF CONCEPT; If you cant understand that, then Im sorry. Perhaps you should voice your opinion elsewhere.

[Arakon]

fact is, releasing it would endanger him (he could get sued bigtime), AND xboxhacker.net as well. he nowhere bragged, he even posted the entire approach that led to it. fact is also, within days some random company would be starting to sell this for profit and MS would crack down HARD on any pages and people related.
you have no right whatsoever to demand or expect anything just cause you want it. think logically and you will see why he didn't release it, and understand it.

[Napalm]

If you were never going to release it you should have never told anyone about it. If you wanted to keep this to yourself then you should have kept it ALL to yourself not telling people what you can do and bragging that others can't. Now i would not benefit from this at all since i have a softmodded xbox and i don't play on live but it just seems mean to announce you can do it and not share with the rest of us. Thats what this site is for sharing info, you should have never said anything about it and kept it to yourself if you had no plans on releasing it. Just to brag that you can do it and we can't is just plain old ignorant. I compliment you on your work but look down upon on your ignorance...

There will be a time and a place for somebody to release this hack and if you were following the thread from day one most people could see where this was going anyway. 

[gollum]

I also did not want to add to the loser comments that emerged saying "Fake, Liar" and all that crap..!

We know it was achievable, and Im glad TheSpecialist was the first to do it. I feel he needed it more than anyone just to proove to himself he had both the talent and understanding to do so. He has nothing to proove to anyone else at all.

Having followed the thread and concept from the begining, I can only say that it has helped me understand many things. It was a rollercoaster ride which I trully enjoyed and many times it seemed to trigger ideas from all the people involved.
It certainly was a team effort without a doubt and caught many in its trap. If nothing else, its one of the longest threads I have ever read, was more like a novel 

Loved it...
Would like to see/follow more like it...

Once again, Congrats to TheSpecialist and all the others involved.

[TheSpecialist]

Thanks everybody, really appreciate it !

Wow ... The news went over the scene like a hurricane  Some people understand, some don't. I don't feel I have to explain anything, EVERYBODY that's been a reader or participant in the thread from te beginning understands. However, even THIS site still gets flooded with the most bizarre theories. So to stop this, a few words:

1. The hack was NEVER meant to be released. I actually didn't even THINK of the possiblity to go on LIVE with it ! It was just a 'proof of concept', nothing more, nothing less.

2. About the reasons for me not releasing a hack: EVERYBODY who has some brains could at least think of 1 VERY good reason not to release it. There are several very good reasons not to release it, while I couldn't think of *one* good release to release it. We hackers are really NOT interested in playing backup games.  Man, I don't even have a 'live' account. The only reason I own a XBOX 1 is that I won one   We hackers are interested in security processes, finding flaws, the thrills, the suspense to go where no one has gone before ... The feeling of outsmartening the XBOX development team that worked several years on security It's like a gigantic puzzle we love to solve, finding a way in ... THAT's what we love. We did that and had great fun all the way. But we realise that releasing a hack would have several results we really can't accept.

3. About all theories of modchip companies that are going to develop chips and me selling info to them. COME ON !!! Try to understand what we did here ! It's a FIRMWARE mod ! How can a modcompany build a chip for that ? It's like selling a softmod idea to a modcompany ! Completely useless ! Of course, you could make a few dollars if you'd sell the first drives with hacked FW but i could GUARANTEE you that the day after the first drive has been sold, the firmware would be downloadable on xbins. So, I don't think that would be a very good business model   Besides, even if it WAS possible, everybody that's smart enough to do something like that is smart enough to make good money (probably MUCH more) in more ethical ways ...

Anyway, I didn't even have a chance to thank everybody in the hacking thread. It was great fun to hack around with some of the smartest people in the scene. I've made some new friends here, that I respect both for being true hackers and for their personality, their understanding. So thanks to everybody who participated and had fun all the way. And to all my friends here: respect, stay out of trouble and don't do anything I wouldn't do

TS

[evestu]

TS respect to ya anyway like you say

it is all just the fun of going where nobody has gone before

and this is not a hack for 360
(which we all know)

i would like to see linux runing on the 360 that would be cool

like you said 4am your time your find

there is pleanty of info in the dvd hacking tech thread

( i havent got the first clue what you did and how you did it but damm what a read}

and again respect to you and the rest xboxhacker.net


 

[scmc0011]

3. About all theories of modchip companies that are going to develop chips and me selling info to them. COME ON !!! Try to understand what we did here ! It's a FIRMWARE mod ! How can a modcompany build a chip for that ? It's like selling a softmod idea to a modcompany ! Completely useless ! Of course, you could make a few dollars if you'd sell the first drives with hacked FW but i could GUARANTEE you that the day after the first drive has been sold, the firmware would be downloadable on xbins. So, I don't think that would be a very good business model Smiley  Besides, even if it WAS possible, everybody that's smart enough to do something like that is smart enough to make good money (probably MUCH more) in more ethical ways ...

Too true!!!! just like back in the day whenn all the modchip companys were tryin to sell chips with flashing lights and bells when a flash on the tsop was the same result just without the 32 wires hangin off the board and with out the sticker sayin "IVE GOT A MOD CHIP"

Well done to "ALL" involved in the F/W thread

[Arakon]

Too true!!!! just like back in the day whenn all the modchip companys were tryin to sell chips with flashing lights and bells when a flash on the tsop was the same result just without the 32 wires hangin off the board and with out the sticker sayin "IVE GOT A MOD CHIP"

uh, just FYI, "back then" a tsop flash wasn't even possible without installing a mochip first.

[Tharin2002]

I'd like to add my congratulations as well!  There were so many great contributors in that thread.  I followed it from page 1 and, though some of it was alittle over my head, found the whole thing highly interesting and very impressive!  For a group of non-paid, free time, hobbyist hackers... the work done was absolutely incredible.  I could tell by page 10 that the thread was going to produce results.  TheSpecialist - incredble work!!!  I completely agree with your decision.  I have two Xbox's... one for modding and hacking, and one for Live.  I like to keep those two worlds seperate and I see no strong argument for any good coming from releasing all of your information.  Keep up the work, and I look forward to following future threads, from everyone here in the scene.  Who knows, maybe I'll pick up enough along the way to make my own contributions.  Again, a big congratulations!!!

-Tharin

[k0ldfusi0n]

Thanks everybody, really appreciate it !

Wow ... The news went over the scene like a hurricane  Some people understand, some don't. I don't feel I have to explain anything, EVERYBODY that's been a reader or participant in the thread from te beginning understands. However, even THIS site still gets flooded with the most bizarre theories. So to stop this, a few words:

1. The hack was NEVER meant to be released. I actually didn't even THINK of the possiblity to go on LIVE with it ! It was just a 'proof of concept', nothing more, nothing less.

2. About the reasons for me not releasing a hack: EVERYBODY who has some brains could at least think of 1 VERY good reason not to release it. There are several very good reasons not to release it, while I couldn't think of *one* good release to release it. We hackers are really NOT interested in playing backup games.  Man, I don't even have a 'live' account. The only reason I own a XBOX 1 is that I won one   We hackers are interested in security processes, finding flaws, the thrills, the suspense to go where no one has gone before ... The feeling of outsmartening the XBOX development team that worked several years on security It's like a gigantic puzzle we love to solve, finding a way in ... THAT's what we love. We did that and had great fun all the way. But we realise that releasing a hack would have several results we really can't accept.

3. About all theories of modchip companies that are going to develop chips and me selling info to them. COME ON !!! Try to understand what we did here ! It's a FIRMWARE mod ! How can a modcompany build a chip for that ? It's like selling a softmod idea to a modcompany ! Completely useless ! Of course, you could make a few dollars if you'd sell the first drives with hacked FW but i could GUARANTEE you that the day after the first drive has been sold, the firmware would be downloadable on xbins. So, I don't think that would be a very good business model   Besides, even if it WAS possible, everybody that's smart enough to do something like that is smart enough to make good money (probably MUCH more) in more ethical ways ...

Anyway, I didn't even have a chance to thank everybody in the hacking thread. It was great fun to hack around with some of the smartest people in the scene. I've made some new friends here, that I respect both for being true hackers and for their personality, their understanding. So thanks to everybody who participated and had fun all the way. And to all my friends here: respect, stay out of trouble and don't do anything I wouldn't do

TS

 I well undrstand your reasons but i have a question for you, is the xbox 360 project now dead why i ask is because if you/others cant for legal reasons release hacks ect then surely you cant release hacks for the 360. Just a curious reader..

[Arakon]

ok, I'm getting really sick of the attacks and bitching at TheSpecialist. any further threads like this will be closed.

legman, if you want the hack so badly, do it yourself. it's his hack and his decision. end of story.