With the court case pertaining to PSJailbreak being delayed until September 3rd, Maxconsole has taken the time to reflect on possible reasons why the device could very well triumph in court. Few people are truly optimistic that this device could win against the brains of the costly Sony legal team, although we have reason to believe otherwise. Moreover, regardless of the result, Sony would have actually lost from a market-perspective as explained below.

First things first, these are the possible arguments that PSJailbreak retailers could exercise:

No copyright code upon shipping – The makers have allegedly claimed that the device contains no copyright code upon shipping. If true, this means that the device is actually legal in its original form without consideration to the intent of the device.

Even Sony knows people want and value homebrew – To a number of pessimists, the ‘homebrew’ argument is flawed because a lot of people will use such a device for piracy. However, one must question that if homebrew was such a limited occurrence, why did Sony included OtherOS functionality on the PS3 as standard?

Reinstating OtherOS – As many of you are aware, OtherOS was part of the core-feature set of early PS3’s. However, since Geohot’s various claims, Sony backtracked and removed the OtherOS functionality. This actually restricted the freedom that users have on their PS3 console. With PSJailbreak, the makers can rightfully arguing that they are trying to re-instate a similar function to what Sony initially offered.

Only allows you to play back-ups of disc you possess – The PSJailbreak only allows users to backup game discs that they already own. It has not been designed for use with ‘internet ISO’s’ at the moment. Yes there are a lot of possible ramifications as this, such as users ‘copying’ friends discs and rented discs, although the fact remains the device is doing it all can to ensure legitimate back-up use. Discs can become lost, scratched and so forth, why shouldn’t users be allowed to install games to HDD? The benefits of HDD installs are also recognized by console manufacturers themselves despite needing the disc for verification. It is a known fact that smoother experiences await, even the producer of GT 5 revealed this himself recently.

The PS3 has no problem copying illegally downloaded movies to HDD - For video files, including the highly pirated DivX format, the PS3 allows owners to install and copy films directly to the hard drive. These movies can be illegally downloaded and include some of the hottest blockbusters. Would it be fair if the movie industry ‘banned’ the PS3 because it allows people to copy and playback downloaded movie files? Of course it wouldn’t, although the PS3 does allow this. Ultimately, it is the end user who decides the most reasonable course of action with a codec or software. Some will legitimately copy their games to HDD; some will legitimately run homebrew, why should these people be punished because of the fears of game piracy?

Over-riding all the above, is the ability of the defendants to create a compelling and reasoned argument. All evidence surrounding PSJailbreak has been fixated upon ‘backups’ with little else to show thus far.

Whatever the result, it's still a lose-lose situation for Sony

Although, whatever the outcome, it does seem like a lose-lose situation for Sony. PSJailbreak is ‘out there’ and being cloned, people will figure out how to update it. Despite all the ‘reports’, Sony must really ask themselves if they are fanning the flames and bringing validity to something which was always intended to stay ‘underground’. Those purchasers of PSJailbreak who intend to be pirates are not the kind of customer who would NEVER put a penny in the pocket of software developers (we don't care what b***** estimates by researchers state). Just because the pirate may have 50 games on his HDD, it doesn’t mean that he ever intended to purchase more than 1 or 2 of those if any. At least this way, Sony is making money off of potential PS3 hardware sales spurred by PSJailbreak. It still isn’t right, although the Xbox 360 seems to be doing pretty well for itself despite its piratability (my new word). MS has done the right thing in keeping their head down and fighting back with their technical know-how, making things as uncomfortable as possible for pirates so that they actually think twice about whether the pain is worth the pleasure.

The way Sony is handling the situation is evidently poor. Everywhere you look the mainstream is talking about PSJailbreak, Sony read the headlines and sh*t themselves un-necessarily. Trade publications, news corporations amongst others are now regularly talking about something that was previously considered for the ‘scene only’. Sony’s constant involvement in this is just making it higher profile and raising awareness about the possibility to hack the PS3. A cloned solution will come, a free solution will come and Sony would have just been sucked in and played a part potentially building up a mainstream legion of pirates.

Everything so far seems to be a poorly thought knee-jerk reaction; the sudden removal of OtherOS and they way they are acting right now just goes to show how they have limited faith in their technical abilities. Unfortunately for them, their technical abilities will be needed more than ever for the cat and mouse game that is about to ensue.