Sony vs Hotz - Hacker shuns PSN account lie claim

PS3 hacker George "Geohot" Hotz has dismissed claims by Sony that he lied to a court about creating a PSN account.

Hotz's representation, as noted in newly-filed documents by Groklow (via Gamasutra), says that none of his four systems are tied to a PSN account that was apparently made under the name "blickmanic."

Sony claimed that a system bought by Hotz was used to create the blickmanic account at an address not far from his residence, despite the fact that Hotz had steadfastly denied to a court that he was in possession of a PSN account.

If the company were to find a link to the account and Hotz, it would mean that he agreed to the PSN terms of service, meaning a stronger presence in Sony's case against him.

The account hasn't been linked to three other used PS3 systems bought and owned by Hotz because their serial numbers haven't been disclosed yet.

This new twist also included a comment from a neighbour of the hacker, saying he borrowed a console from him.

"See, I live next door to George Hotz and we've always been good friends," he said. "At the time I bought the console, I was waiting to be connected to the internet by my ISP so I asked Hotz if I could use his for a while. Good neighbors, that's all."

Hotz has also reiterated claims he wasn't aware of the existence of involvement with Sony Computer Entertainment America, insisting he believed PS3 was a product of Sony Japan. This has become a sticking point in the case as SCEA has claimed Hotz's use of the PS3 SDK has created a "relationship" between the hacker and the US PlayStation arm, and used this as reason to gain access to Hotz's hard drives - Hotz claims the SDK is owned by SCE, the Japanese PlayStation wing.

Hotz is now on spring break - that or getting cosy in a hideout - somewhere in South America. The case continues.