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Week of June 24, 2007
iXtreme firmware 1.2b for TS-H943 Xbox 360
>> A new firmware for the Toshiba-Samsung h943 xbox360 drive..
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Features
(v1.2b) Slow-read (4x) version
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This version is for users who may have lesser quality lasers that have issues reading media. It offers nothing more than a slow-read.
Regarding iXtreme for hitahi: Soon :) We are currently testing, and everything seems smooth. The hitachi ixtreme will still need to be ported over to each specific version (v32-79), so that will take a little time, but most of the hard work is over.
Official Site: n/a (by commodore4eva)
Download: n/a (May be Illegal under EULA/DMCA)
News-Source: xbins.org
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
CNET's Tech Top 10 Most-Hyped Product Launches
>> From CNet news.com:
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With the release of the iPhone Friday, Apple will complete what some are calling the most hyped product launch in technology history. But the iPhone is hardly the only tech product to launch with a high hype factor and heavy expectations. Here is a look back at some of the other high-profile launches that got the tech industry talking.
01/ Segway
02/ Original 1984 Macintosh
03/ Xbox 360
04/ PlayStation 3
05/ Nintendo Wii
06/ Windows 95
07/ Motorola Razr
08/ Gizmondo
09/ PlayStation 2
10/ World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade
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Full Story: CNet news.com
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
XCM 360 Hot Rock Case Pictures
>> From Team Xtender:
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Welcome to the XCM 360 HOT ROCK Case. This case combines the Crystal XCM 360 Case with the "HOT ROCK" electronics to all a color change display for different temperatures that the Xbox is experiancing:
Below 29℃ --- Orange light
30-31℃ --- Purple light
32-35℃ --- Light blue light
36-39℃ --- Green light
40-43℃ --- Blue light
44-47℃ --- Red light
Over 48℃ --- Red light flashing
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Official Website and More Pictures: Team Xtender
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
Another New Round of Content On creators.xna.com
>> From the XNA Team (FYI: MS owned blog):
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We have another great round of content available for you on http://creators.xna.com for the month of June, including an all new mini game and more. Here is a full list of what's new this month:
Mini Game:
* Pickture
The goal in Pickture is to slide the puzzle chips until the picture is complete. However, there is a twist: on the more difficult settings, the board is two sided and puzzle chips can be flipped!
Tutorials:
* Authoring Particle Systems Using XML and the Content Pipeline
This tutorial teaches you how to extend the Particle 3D Sample so the particle systems are defined using XML files loaded with the Content Pipeline.
* Collision Series 3: 2D Collision with Transformed Objects
This article details how to perform per-pixel collision detection on sprites with linear transformations such as rotation or scale.
Samples:
* Chasing and Evading
Featuring a cat, a mouse, and a tank, this sample demonstrates how to implement several simple behaviors for AI, including chasing, evading, and wandering.
* Non-Realistic Rendering
This sample shows how to implement stylized, non-photorealistic rendering techniques, such as cartoon shading, edge detection, and a pencil sketch effect.
* Picking with Triangle-Accuracy
This sample extends the Picking sample with a more accurate picking algorithm, which tests against individual triangles that make up a mesh.
* Shader Series 3: Per-Pixel Lighting
This sample shows how to use a pixel shader to perform per-pixel lighting with specular highlights that shift depending on the viewer's orientation.
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Full Story: XNA Team Blog
Official Site: creators.xna.com
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
36pct of U.S. to have HDTV next year
>> From tomshardware.co.uk:
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The latest prediction from the Consumer Electronics Association is that 16 million HDTVs will be sold this year, increasing the total number of sets to over 50 million.
According to CEA, 36.5 million high definition TVs are already in US homes, accounting for about 30% of nationwide households. The trade group expects that number to rise to 52.5 million, or 36%, by 2008.
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Full Story: tomshardware.co.uk
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
Repair specialist refuses to take further Xbox 360 consoles
>> From gamesindustry.biz:
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UK-based repairs specialist Micromart has told GamesIndustry.biz that it has had to refuse to service Xbox 360 consoles that display three red lights, dubbed the Red Ring of Death.
"We were seeing about 30 a week before we pulled the plug on the service," said Jeff Croft of Micromart.
"We saw it over a period of several months and it was just getting worse. It began towards the end of last year. Once the twelve month warranty finished then we started to see more and more machines being sent in to be looked at.
Micromart acts for individual retailers who send customer's goods to the specialist. Croft says his company pulled the service after discovering problems with the motherboard, and that that repairing the console wasn't financially feasible. Even after working on a number of machines, the company didn't feel comfortable with the end result.
Croft said the company had written to Microsoft to inform it of the problems encountered but had received no reply.
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Full Story: gamesindustry.biz
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
Few console owners using multimedia capabilities, says study
>> From gamesindustry.biz:
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According to the Diffusion Group, while 80 per cent of US households own game consoles capable of DVD playback, only 30 per cent were aware of that fact and only 13 per cent of gamers are using them for that purpose.
The Dallas-based research firm also found that, of the households who view movies on their game consoles, 74 per cent are watching physical DVDs and only 26 per cent are going online to purchase or rent a digital movie download.
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Full Story: gamesindustry.biz
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
Warner Bro's Total HD Format Delayed To 2008
>> From ign.com:
[QUOTE]
Way back in January, shortly before CES, Warner Brothers announced it would premier a new disc technology for next-gen DVD players that would press HD-DVD material on one side and Blu-ray data on the other. The unique combo format, dubbed Total HD, was planned as a means of mitigating consumer fear in choosing one warring format over the other. The first titles on the new format were scheduled to begin appearing at retail this month.
Warner Brothers has now announced that its Total HD discs will in fact not be making an appearance in 2007 at all. No details were provided as to why the delay was necessitated, though Warner is now apparently aiming for a launch in early 2008.
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Full Story: ign.com
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
Blue Dragon Dated for US (28th August) and EU (24th August )
>> From the US press release:
[QUOTE]
Microsoft Game Studios today announced that the highly anticipated role-playing game (RPG) "Blue Dragon" will ship to retailers throughout North America on August 28 for the estimated retail price of $59.99. Rated "T" for "Teen," "Blue Dragon" will usher in the next generation of RPG exclusively on the Xbox 360, with a combination of realistic environments, anime-styled characters, unique battles and a deep, compelling storyline.
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From the EU press release:
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Microsoft Game Studios today announced that the highly anticipated role-playing game (RPG) "Blue Dragon" will go on sale throughout Europe on 24th August for the estimated retail price of £44.99. Rated 12+ "Blue Dragon" will usher in the next generation of RPG exclusively on the Xbox 360, with a combination of realistic environments, anime-styled characters, unique battles and a deep, compelling storyline.
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Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
Grand Theft Auto IV Trailer 2
>> Here's the 2nd trailer of Grand Theft Auto IV for Xbox360 and PlayStation3
You can download a higher definition of the video on xbox.com or on Xbox LIVE.
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
Microsoft squares up to Nintendo
>> From mcvuk.com:
[QUOTE]
While Xbox 360 continues to build momentum within the UK enthusiast gamer market, regional vice president of the EMEA home and entertainment division Chris Lewis has told MCV that invading Nintendo's patch is vital in taking Xbox 360 to the next level.
"Our drive is to appeal to a wider genre with more casual types of gaming," he said. "Clearly we need to continue toward more casual-based gaming experiences, and more peripheral-based gaming experiences in front of the screen.
"You're going to hear more about that at E3. For 360 to appeal in the way we want it to and for us to achieve our aspirations, we need to be in the broader space as well as investing in the core element."
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Full Story: mcvuk.com
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
XNA GSE: Making your 'Game in 60 Minutes' work on the Xbox 360
Grand Theft Auto IV 2nd Trailer Coming Tomorrow 10am PST
>> From the press release:
[QUOTE]
On Thursday, June 28 at 10 am PST, gamers will be able to download Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto IV trailer, "Looking For That Special Someone," on Xbox.com and in high definition on Xbox LIVE Marketplace and, of course, rockstargames.com/IV. This will be the second trailer for the highly anticipated title slated to release on October 16 in North America and October 19 in Europe on the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft. The first trailer released in March, whetted the appetites of millions of gamers worldwide with the first peek at the epic title from Rockstar Games. The Grand Theft Auto IV trailer was one of the most downloaded trailers to date on Xbox LIVE Marketplace.
To celebrate the release of the second trailer, Xbox 360 gamers will be able to download exclusive Grand Theft Auto IV theme and gamer pics from Xbox LIVE Marketplace.
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Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
Microsoft's Early Talks XBLA Competitors, Lag Fixes
>> From gamasutra.com:
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As part of today's in-depth Gamasutra interview, Microsoft exec Chris Early has discussed the swift rise of the company's Xbox Live Arcade, discussing 'appropriation' tactics by competing console download services, and commenting on multiplayer lag issues on XBLA.
Firstly, when asked by Gamasutra whether there are "...things within the PlayStation Network and the Wii's Virtual Console that have alerted you to gaps within the service", Early was understated in his comment on competing digital download services, explaining:
"Well, I know that we do our best to keep track of what's going on, though I think we're operating on a slightly different road-map - we know where we're heading with the Live service, and we have a vision for what we're delivering to customers and so far we're staying pretty true to that. I think in some areas, we're actually seeing reinforcement from some of what's happening on the other services."
In another part of the interview, the issue of lag in multiplayer XBLA games such as Contra was raised, and Early commented in detail on what Microsoft was doing about this particular issue:
"Lag occurs in many cases and in many games, whether it be an Arcade game or a retail game because of the way the game is developed and so forth. We do test fairly extensively and that's why we're not happy when something like that does happen. In Contra's case, we're actually working on fix, and there's other games that have had lag problems at one stage or another that we're working on fixes for."
He continued: "We try to find as many of those as possible before they get out to the consumer, but developers aren't always happy when we pull the game out of cert on something because, in many cases, looking to launch as quickly as possible. Still, we want to deliver the best quality games that we can."
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Full Story: gamasutra.com
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
Penny-Arcade about Doritos Game Creation Contest
Modder Faces Jail Time After Raid
>> From arstechnica.com:
[QUOTE]
A San Diego-area man has been arrested and charged with 10 felonies relating to selling pirated games and modding consoles. Frederick Brown was taken into custody earlier this month after his home was raided by the San Diego Computer and Technology Crime High-Tech Response Unit (CATCH) and has since been freed after posting bail in the amount of $100,000.
In his home, Brown had over a thousand copies of pirated games as well as a large number of mod chips. Brown had allegedly built up a thriving business selling counterfeit games and installing mod chips, having advertised his services on Craigslist and other web sites. He allegedly sold pirated games from his Vista, CA, residence as well, including both discs and hard drives preloaded with games that he would install into customers' Xboxes and Xbox 360s,Entertainment Software Association senior VP for intellectual property enforcement Ric Hirsch told Ars Technica.
Hirsch explained that the ESA chose to pursue a criminal case instead of suing Brown in civil court because of the scope of his activities. "CATCH was very receptive to the evidence we brought them and were able to put the investigation together in very short order," Hirsch told Ars.
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Full Story: arstechnica.com
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
A new look for Xbox.com
>> From majornelson.com (FYI: MS owned blog):
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The web team at Xbox has been busy working on a redesign for Xbox.com that has gone live today. While there are no new features in this update (it's just a visual redesign) there are a couple of things worth mentioning:
* A new look for all of the content pages.
* Redesigned navigation
* One click access to the My Xbox section (see the examples on Flickr)
* New search function using LIVE search
* A bunch of other little things to make it easier to use
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Official Site: www.xbox.com
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
Microsoft now receiving 2500 broken 360s per day in UK alone?
>> From 360-gamer.com:
[QUOTE]
According to Lee Sherman (Gamertag, Toxic Daywalker), who sent us details of his horrible experience, his Xbox 360 had been sent to Prague for repair, which has extended the repair time considerably.
Lee even claims that when he asked to speak to the repair centre direct, he was told this wasn't possible because they don't have phones... However, using a directory enquiry service he was able to obtain the number for the repair centre, where he was shocked to learn that his console was actually in Prague, not Havant as Microsoft customer service reps had claimed.
Additionally, the call to the Havant repair centre revealed some other worrying stats: "A shocking statistic we found out though is that between 1,500 to 2,500 consoles get sent to Havant by three UPS lorries per day, to then be shipped to Prague for repair," Lee told us, going on to add, "[We] phoned up Nora the [customer service] supervisor again, who then admitted my console was in Prague and hadn't been looked at yet - she seemed amazed that we knew!"
Comments from users on the Xbox.com forum reveal similar woes, and some have also discovered their consoles are indeed in repair centres outside of the UK: "I just spoke to the customer support people because my 360 has been gone since the 8th of June," says forum user, LordBrown in a post dated 23rd of June. "Apparently because of the backlog in Havant they're sending 360s to repair centres outside the UK! And that because of this Microsoft are legally allowed an additional ten days to get your 360 back to you."
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Full Story: 360-gamer.com
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
Microsoft justifies Xbox Live costs
>> From gamepro.com:
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A recent podcast has the Gamerscore crew expounding the virtues of Xbox Live, particularly by defending its $50 a year price tag.
"There are bandwidth costs, there are things that go above and beyond", said Chris Paladino of the Xbox Community Team. "I think it goes back to this unified system. We have to have voice communication, text communication, now we're doing cross-platform. There's Marketplace, there are demos, and all these things don't just mystically hover around that you can pull them out of the ether."
Microsoft PR manager Michael Wolf later appended Paladino's statements by emphasizing that, as a Live customer, "you get what you pay for" with the service's myriad of options. And in Wolf's estimation, the customer satisfaction numbers for Microsoft's Live service have been "through the roof". But, as a means of comparison, Wolf also equated it to other services one might pay for outside the realm of gaming.
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Full Story: gamepro.com | gamerscoreblog.com
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
Gears of War Ad Gets Silver Lion at Cannes
>> Epic Games' Gears of War "Mad World" TV-Spot received a Silver Lion over at the Cannes Festival in the category "Best Use of Music". The advertising agency responsible for this commercial is the McCANN WORLDGROUP from San Francisco.
At was already announced earlier that Blue Dragon won a Gold Lion for the Blue Dragon 'Big Shadow' outdoor advertising.
You probably all saw the Gears of War commercial tons of times already either on TV, the cinemas or on the internet ... but in case you lived on another planet or just want to see it again, here it is ...
Official Site: www.canneslionslive.com
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
XboxMediaCenter (XBMC) 2007-06-25 SVN rev9424 build - T3CH
>> T3CH released a new SVN compile (rev9424) of XboxMediaCenter(info) for Xbox1.
This T3CH-compile is a complete snapshot of what is in SVN at the time the build was compiled, with just a few small additions.
Special Notes and Noteworthy/XML/Script changes:
* I'm including the XBMC Win32 PC environment.exe that is meant for skinners & python developers, read more about the concept here. It was built using Microsoft DirectX Summer 2004 SDK.
* I've tweaked the win32 run_me_first.bat so it runs and then unmounts the virtual drives when you exit.
For the full changelog (all added/fixed/changed/updated stuff) since the 2007-06-17 SVN Rev9336 build click here.
Keep in mind this is a SVN snapshot of the current development tree. It's not an official (stable) point release. Use only if you know what you are doing.
Official XBMC Site: www.xboxmediacenter.com (manual and FAQ)
Official T3CH Site: http://t3ch.yi.se (release RSS feed)
Download Binaries: n/a (built with XDK) | Download SourceCode: here
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
Team Xtender Releases Pictures of White360 HDMI Cable and 1080p VGA box
>> From Team Xtender:
[QUOTE]
* XCM White 360 HDMI 1080 P Cable Concept PIC!
This is concept picture of the XCM white 360 HDMI 1080P cable (the final design may differ from this picture). With its sleek design retractable nature, and TRUE DIGITAL OUTPUT. Team-xtender is again at the front of game accessories innovation.
* XCM 1090p VGA BOX launch
We are proud to launch the XCM 1080p VGA box. Attached is the picture of the actual product. Constructed in top quality ABS and high quality electronics, this is a "must" have for your high definition gaming entertainment.
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Official Site: www.teamxtender.com
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
XBINS GiveAway Contest
>> From a xbins announcement ...
[QUOTE]
In celebration of our 5 year anniversary, with over 2 million unique visits, xbins is proudly presenting the first xbins contest! As the center of all xbox homebrew, we still thrive today in providing developers support to contribute publically to this large scene. We must first give our most expressed thanks and appreciation to our sponsor http://www.modchipman.com who is providing the prizes for this competition.
Here's how the contest is going to work:
Various 'items' are going to be randomly hidden on our FTP server. Inside these item's will be a code. Once you find one of the item's, you will enter the code inside(just open the file with notepad to get the code) into the code box with your email at the bottom of this page. Once that code is submitted, it will no longer be valid. One prize per person. The contest will begin at 3pm PST on Saturday June 30th, and will last for 3 hours. You will need to join our channel #xbins on Efnet, IRC in order to participate. You may learn how to do that here . I want to note that the channel will be left unmoderated so that people can actually talk in the channel...something not done in quite a few years ;)
The prizes are as following: 1 $100 giftcard, 2 $50 dollar giftcards, 2 Liquid Metal Ghost Xbox360 cases, 6 Xbox360 faceplates, 5 XCM xbox1 ruby cases, 5 xbox1 clear cases.
You can view the contest page here
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Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
Downgrade Kernel of 'eFused' Xbox 360 Possible if CPU Key is Known
>> Some nice progress by several people has been made over at the XboxHacker forums where they found a way to downgrade a kernel even when the eFuses were burned to prevent this. The bad news is that you'll need the CPU key (also 'hidden' in the eFuse data) to do so.
Originally downgrading kernel was possible but Microsoft blew eFuses during the upgrade from kernel 4548 to 4552 as that's where they fixed the Hypervisor Vulnerability (which only works on kernel 4532/4548 and allows to run unsigned code / linux). It was already known that by removing the r6t3 resistor from the motherboard before the upgrade you could prevent MS from blowing eFuses and thus still be able to downgrade from a 4552+ to pre-4552, but I don't know how safe this is for future kernel updates.
MS doesn't blow new eFuses (located on the CPU dye) on each upgrade because they only have a limited amount available: 768 (12 'fuselines' of 64 fuses each) in total and only a part of these (5 'fuselines'(= 320 fuses)?) can be used to prevent kernel downgrading (= 80 possible downgrade bans? - once blown it can't be undone}. The eFuses also contain other data like a unique 'CPU Key'.
According to tmbinc, this key is used for:
* Encryption of the *keyvault* (that stores: console certificate(s), per-box private keys, DVD key, however NOT any code-related encryption keys)
* Encryption of an imported console revocation table (CRLL, that stuff which recently hit 360gamesaves.com, and no, this isn't live-related),
* "Encryption" of the pairing information of the 'CB' and 'CF' (for exact details, please reverse that code, it's a bit hard to describe.)
'CB' (2nd bootloader?) and 'CF' (kernel patches) are located on the Xbox 360 on-board flash in the "CPU data" section (data which is read when the power is switched on. If invalid, console might blink red etc.).
To make sure I don't say anything silly/wrong, I'm gonna quote some of the guys themselves for the rest of the info about this hack.
Quoting tmbinc and TheSpecialist:
[QUOTE]
All which is different from pre-4552 to 4552 and up are the G/H bits [part of eFuses]. They encode a "sequence" number, which is also stored in the CF "pairing" data, and one bit here is burnt to "increment" the sequence.
That means: If you know how to calculate the CF pairing data, you could modify the "expected sequence" value there (this, however, should be verified by someone.) And to be able to calculate that data, you need the "per-box-key". But if you have that, you could set the number of a 4532 to those of a 4552, and it should boot again.
At byte 0x21F in CF is the number that is incremented when a fuse is burned (thanks to Robinsod). This byte and ONLY this byte causes that you can't downgrade. We wanted to try to decrement that number again, but I just found that that's not possible without knowing the fuse data: byte 0x0 to 0x220 in CF are hashed (hash stored at 0x220). The hash routine uses the cpu key as input and verifies the calculated hash to the one stored at 0x220. So no downgrading without CPU key ...
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So the 'sad' part is that you need this CPU Key if you wanna downgrade to a pre-4552 kernel ... and on kernel 4552+ there's no known way to get this key (yet). On kernel 4532/4548 you can use the Hypervisor Exploit to retrieve this data (like the Xell Linux Loader does) - but if you have one of these kernels you can already run unsigned code. However, if you're still on 4532/4548 this new hack will allow you to retrieve your unique CPU key, upgrade to a newer kernel and you'll be able to downgrade back to a pre-4552 kernel again even if eFuses got burned.
Robinsod tested this out successfully:
[QUOTE]
In the decrypted CF there is a "version lockdown counter" at 0x21F. Every time an update is applied (since version 4532) an eFuse is blown and the counter is incremented by 1 before it is written into the new CF. When booting, a check is made to ensure that the lockdown counter in the selected CF >= number of blown eFuses.
The good news is that we can modify the lockdown counter byte and re-encrypt the CF section. The bad news is that a hash of the first 0x220 bytes requires the CPU Key. So as long as we know our CPU Key we can downgrade to a vulnerable kernel.
1) Brand new XBox with 1888 & 2241
The Version Lockdown Counter in my 2241 CF is 0
2) Applied 4532
The Version Lockdown Counter in my 4532 CF is 1
Also fuseset 07: f000000000000000
3) Applied 4552
The Version Lockdown Counter in my 4552 CF is 2. Confirmed that I cant downgrade to unpatched 4532 dump
4) Fixed up a dump of 4532 with CF Lockdown Counter = 2. Boots!
Now when I dump my fuse data
fuseset 07: ff00000000000000
A second fuse was blown by 4552
[/QUOTE]
Robinsod also released v0.6 of his 360 Flash Dump Tool(info) that will allow you to fix the 'version lock' in pre-4552 kernels (again - only if you have your unique CPU key) so it'll boot even on a Xbox 360 with eFuses blown by the 4552 update.
What's new/fixed:
* (v0.5) Now decrypts and extracts the Key Vault. You will need your CPU Fuses as dumped by Xell. The CxKey.txt file has changed, you need to add a ',' and your CPU Fuse data
* (v0.6) This release supports downgrading if you know your CPU key. Right click on a CF section and choose "Fix Version Lock", enter the new lock down number, click ok & then click "Patch" and choose the directory/filename for your patched flash image. The file produced is all fixed up and ready to be flashed into your 360.
So ... conclusion, if they somehow manage to find a way to get the 'CPU Key' out of your Xbox 360 - it looks like it's "game over" for our friends at Microsoft.
News-Source: xboxhacker.net (technical discussions ONLY - pls keep thread clean thx)
Download Robinsod's 360 Flash Dump Tool v0.6: here
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
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