News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Indie Game Removed from Switch After Dev Reveals It Has a... by beenBoutIT on Monday April 29, 2019 @08:40PM (#19784060)
It is okay, just don't buy anything made by Nintendo unless you're ok with Nintendo's restrictive 'nanny console' TOS. You can run Linux and play GTA and Mortal Kombat on other consoles. Nintendo is geared towards people who like Nintendo.
Re:Indie Game Removed from Switch After Dev Reveals It Has a... by SantalBlush on Monday April 29, 2019 @09:29PM (#19784323)
I think the "Just don't buy it" mantra has been applied too broadly. It implies that people have no right to complain about a company, which I completely reject.
Re:Indie Game Removed from Switch After Dev Reveals It Has a... by beenBoutIT on Monday April 29, 2019 @10:48PM (#19784704)
The ability to complain about companies is a fundamental right, although it's I important to understand that no one at Nintendo is listening. I personally hate Nintendo and despise the way they prevent young people from modding/hacking their consoles and playing GTA games. Those are the two things I want out of a gaming console, so I don't buy anything Nintendo makes.
Re:Indie Game Removed from Switch After Dev Reveals It Has a... by eridius on Monday April 29, 2019 @10:39PM (#19784663)
Sony removed the ability to run Linux many years ago, after it was determined that it was impossible to prevent a jailbreak as long as the second OS feature existed. I’m not aware of Xbox ever supporting this.
Re:Indie Game Removed from Switch After Dev Reveals It Has a... by blkhawk on Tuesday April 30, 2019 @01:27AM (#19785374)
Two comments on that A) its impossible to prevent jailbreaks no matter if a second OS option exists or not and B) the Linux option was removed since it was seen as an unneeded expense. Its function for Sony was to keep the people motivated to jailbreak a console from doing so. After the removal of the Linux option the PlayStation was jailbroken.
Re:Indie Game Removed from Switch After Dev Reveals It Has a... by eridius on Tuesday April 30, 2019 @02:51AM (#19785691)
OtherOS was officially removed due to security concerns. I'm not sure how to find this offhand but my recollection is that OtherOS was used to facilitate jailbreaking the system. Its function wasn't to prevent jailbreaks but to get people interested in programming for the Cell processor.
Re:Indie Game Removed from Switch After Dev Reveals It Has a... by aepiepaey on Tuesday April 30, 2019 @09:51AM (#19787903)
A significant portion of the skilled hardware hackers cracking consoles do it because they care about homebrew, but they dislike piracy.

By providing something like OtherOS, you remove the incentive for that group to crack your console.

It is fairly telling that the PS3 was only cracked after OtherOS was removed.

Re:Indie Game Removed from Switch After Dev Reveals It Has a... by eridius on Tuesday April 30, 2019 @01:49PM (#19790217)
A news article talking about George Hotz's original PS3 hack was released January 25, 2010. The PS3 software update that removed OtherOS was released April 1, 2010.

As I recall, ultimately Hotz managed to compromise the device's root key, and Sony determined that it was impossible to protect the key (after replacing it) as long as OtherOS continued to exist.

Re:Indie Game Removed from Switch After Dev Reveals It Has a... by beenBoutIT on Monday April 29, 2019 @10:53PM (#19784735)
Sony did technically 'remove it', although it's still something that can be done if you're really interested in doing it. Nintendo seems to prioritize jailbreaking above everything else and for most of their consoles there's literally nothing interesting that can be done outside of using them to play Nintendo games.
Re:Indie Game Removed from Switch After Dev Reveals It Has a... by zimpenfish on Tuesday April 30, 2019 @01:08AM (#19785313)
> outside of using them to play Nintendo games

Small nit - you probably mean "outside of using them to play Nintendo-approved games" since there's only 2 Nintendo games on the Switch here and 6 non-Nintendo games.

Re:Indie Game Removed from Switch After Dev Reveals It Has a... by DerekL on Monday April 29, 2019 @11:21PM (#19784866)
> You can run Linux and play GTA and Mortal Kombat on other consoles.

I don't know what you mean here. You can play the latest Mortal Kombat on the Switch, too.

Re:Indie Game Removed from Switch After Dev Reveals It Has a... by bobthepanda on Tuesday April 30, 2019 @04:11AM (#19785991)
He means that if you don't like Nintendo's restrictive policies, you're more than welcome to play the vast majority of the games on the other consoles/platforms they're available on.