Over the holiday break at the Chaos Communication Congress event in Hamburg, hacking group Fail0verflow has successfully bypassed the security defenses of the PlayStation 4, as shown in a video demonstration (posted above) in which they force the console to run a PS4 Linux port.
This isn't too much of a surprise given that Fail0verflow has been able to hack the PS3, Wii, and Wii U, and it goes to show that it took over two years for the PlayStation 4 to be hacked even with their expertise. The PS4 Linux port is available on their website.
To prove that this low-level hack indeed works, Fail0verflow has the PS4 run a modded version of Pokémon Emerald near the 3:50 mark, to the applause of the audience in attendance.
It wouldn't be too difficult to imagine a scenario in the future with news that hackers have made the PS4 emulate PS2 and PS3 titles, proving that it can indeed be done. The concern with this hack, of course, is that we'll begin to see more pirated versions of games, which Sony is rightfully worried about.
In the meantime, we now have a glimpse of the pipe dream of Nintendo publishing games on a Sony console. Alas…
