Braben: Hacks and custom firmware "damaging to everyone with a PS3"
Influential game designer David Braben has spoken out against the hacking of the PlayStation 3 and release of custom firmware, describing the freedom of speech argument as "rubbish".
"There have been suggestions that releasing hacking information is an issue of freedom of speech. That is such rubbish," the Frontier Developments founder wrote in an opion piece for Develop.
Braben resoundingly damned the publication of the key and proliferation of custom firmwares.
"Hacking into a machine as an academic exercise is one thing. Broadcasting the information is another. We should all be prepared to roundly condemn such people. Right now it is Sony that is hurting.
"Tomorrow it will affect all of us in the development community, so we should stand against it together, now."
Braben was firm in his resolve that hacking and subsequent piracy harm more than the platform holder.
"These people are damaging to everyone with a PS3, not just to the games dev community, because of future security measures that will be needed, but there seems to be a blind spot amongst some players, perhaps because they imagine it will mean ‘free stuff’ in the future," he commented.
Braben was responsible for the seminal Elite, an eighties space trader, as well as early 3D title Zarch (Virus). His company, Frontier Developments, is behind Kinectimals, Lost Winds, Wallace & Gromit, and Dog's Life.
Thanks, GoNintendo.