Alright, so you've been browsing around the intarwebs absorbing the latest news. And you've probably come across a few sites reporting this so called "PS3 Firmware Update bypass hack." And maybe you guys were wondering why we didn't cover it. Or maybe you weren't. Anyways, while the "hack" does work, it's nothing more than sensationalism since most of the supposed advantages are either outright fake or uneducated speculation.

First, details about the hack. It's nothing more than hosting your own DNS server in your network, modifying a couple of entries to redirect the PS3 update check host to a different IP and using that DNS server on the PS3 instead of the one provided by your ISP. What happens is that the PS3 will now try to check that modified IP address for the update information. Since you've now modified it, it will look in the wrong place. Not finding any update information, it will think that it has the latest update available.


This is all good. Unfortunately, the hack is pretty useless unless all you do on your PS3 is browse around the PlayStation network. Here's the list of advantages that a few other sites have been listing:

• You can now access the official PS3 store without updating your current PS3 Firmware version! - Only for now.
  
• You can now play PS3 games on-line, without updating your current PS3 Firmware! - Fake.
  
• You may be able to downgrade the PS3's Firmware through this circumvention technique. - Fake.
  
• You may be able to 'install' your own desired PS3 store items using this method. - Fake
  

• Since nothing has been exploited on the PS3, you still have to update your PS3 to the latest firmware if the game requires it. There is no way around it since you're not spoofing the version on the PS3 itself.
• You cannot downgrade your PS3's firmware using this method. The PS3's OS will not run any code if it isn't signed by Sony themselves. Simply spoofing a DNS entry and "trying" to send rogue files will not make it run on the PS3, it would still fail the sign checks.
• With regards to the PS3 Store items, they're probably signed too, which means that you can't simply install your own stuff.
• As for accessing the official PS3 store without updating your firmware, it will only work as long as Sony lets it work. They can simply move the update-check host to the same domain as the PlayStation Network, which will mean that you can either use the network by updating to the latest firmware, or not being able to connect to the PlayStation Network at all.