Without specifying how (and explaining it to me would be like reading Siddhartha to a dog, in Klingon), George Hotz says he pulled it off after five weeks of work with “very simple hardware cleverly applied, and some not so simple software.”

I have read/write access to the entire system memory, and HV level access to the processor. In other words, I have hacked the PS3. The rest is just software. And reversing. I have a lot of reversing ahead of me, as I now have dumps of LV0 and LV1. I’ve also dumped the NAND without removing it or a modchip.

3 years, 2 months, 11 days … that’s a pretty secure system

Hotz says he’s not revealing his exploit yet. While it “isn’t really patchable … they can make implementations much harder.” Wonder if this portends a fast firmware update to snap it shut. That is, if it really has been hacked. But Hotz’s cred in this realm is pretty solid. Interesting.

On the PlayStation 3 [George Hotz, via Gizmodo]

A makeover like the one provided by Filip Victor. It adds HDR lighting, new models, new textures, an upgrade to the Orange Box engine (Valve performed their own tweaks for the 2007 re-release of the game on Xbox 360) and even some new Steam achievements to the ageing PC version of the original Half-Life 2.

You can see examples of the improvements made in the clip above (though be advised, you’ll want to kill the sound). If you like what you see, you can find instructions on how to download the mod below.

Hl2 Pc Achivements & HDR Released [Steam, via Rock, Paper, Shotgun]

Nearly five years in the making by Studio Radi-8, NeoTokyo borrows inspiration from Masamune Shirow’s Ghost in the Shell and Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira, plunging players into a future Japan fraught with strife both internally and geo-politically. When an attempt to alter Japan’s constitution to allow the country to perform military actions outside of its borders fail, the military attempts to overthrow the government. Their initial attempts fail, but with the formation of Group Six, a military force sworn to protect the constitution, tensions are again on the rise.

The game looks completely amazing. As a fan of works like Akira, Ghost in the Shell, Appleseed, and many others, this is a world I’ve wanted to explore for a long time. Of course, once I do get in there I will be shot dead in seconds, but I’ll really absorb the spot where my corpse lands.

Check out the official trailer below, and hit up the link to experience NeoTokyo for yourself.

NeoTokyo Client Download Page [Official Website]

NYC Resistor collaborator Kelly Farrell shows off her latest project: a gazing-ball trackball controller that plays Katamari Damacy the way we should have realized it was meant to be played all along.

How does it work? Kelly explains:

It uses an optical mouse to track the ball. I gathered up some cheap PS2 controllers, ripped out the potentiometers on the analog sticks, and replaced it with a digital potentiometer and an arduino. The arduino takes signals from a PS/2 mouse and adjusts the potentiometer accordingly…

Originally I wanted to use one of those giant yoga balls, to really get the scale. But it turns out those don’t roll very well on ball bearings. Luckily Adam had one of those mirror balls folks put in their gardens. Or at least I assume they do, no one I know has a big enough yard to put lawn ornaments in.

Life-Size Katamari Lives [Kellbot]

Creator Matt Bradley totally gets it and submits this video of DM-Spectrum, his Unreal Tournament 3 deathmatch level that could easily be the best thing I’ve seen all week (Trico aside, of course).

Plus! It’s not all for show: Bradley adds:

The cubes also serve a purpose. They help to keep the level paced. Each coloured cube represents a different area of the map. These areas are colour-co-ordinated to match the cubes. When a player is in one of these areas the corresponding cube lights up notifying other players. As one learns the map they should be able to find enemies without too much hardship.

Games industry: much more of this, please.