If there's one complaint that players and consumers constantly raise, it's the lack of compatibility and “interoperability” between available systems, platforms, and devices. What's most irritating is that these “barriers” stem from internal political decisions, not technical limitations. Once again, code enthusiasts are demonstrating the enormous potential that could arise from greater cooperation between companies, by running nothing less than Steam on a PlayStation 4.
The arrival of x86 architecture in the console world was supposed to make porting titles from one platform to another easier, saving time and avoiding headaches. Now, I'm sure many companies have taken advantage of that benefit, but the end user still jumps between glass prisons.
The concept of “exclusive titles” is an absurd excuse when at the same time it's sought to get a game to as many people as possible. Could Uncharted 4 run on an Xbox One? Could Halo 5 do the same on a PlayStation 4? I think we all know the answer deep down. And that's what leads some code geniuses to break locks, achieving things on consoles that their manufacturers don't expect, nor desire. An example? How about Steam on a PlayStation 4?
The proof of concept
The video serves more as a proof of concept than anything else, but its message is clear. The work done by user OsirisX is not simple, and to be honest, it has several sharp edges. The first step is to install the latest version of the PlayStation 4 operating system that received a jailbreak (1.76), and then install Arch Linux on it. After that, you'll need to incorporate the prepared patches that Fail0verflow published on GitHub and finally, get to the installation of Steam itself. Fortunately, the demo doesn't stop at simple images, but shows a short session of Bastion at the end. The classic from Supergiant Games isn't a very demanding title by nature, but it works quite well.
What's next
It's estimated that we'll soon see the jailbreak for version 3.50 of the operating system on the PlayStation 4, which will probably lead Sony to continue its cat-and-mouse game. After watching the video, many commenters on the Web appealed to the inevitable “buy a PC”, but that's not the point of this hack. The point is that current consoles are very solid platforms with the handbrake on. Imagine what could be done on them without so many restrictions.
