xREL.v3

A Response to the PS3 2011 Rules.

As detailed in the following document, there are several flaws with
the PS3 rules, and therefore we will not be following it.

This document was planned to be a rebuttal to the PS3 rules, however
it has grown to cover several reccomendations/comments that the rules
did not touch on.

Created and approved by a coalition of concerned console/PS3 groups.

Artwork

The ascii used in this "ruleset" was stolen from w* who made it for
the 2010 0DAY rules. Next time, at least try to contact the creator
to see if you can use his work rather than stealing it - show some
respect.

Duplicate Rules

Did anyone bother to proofread these rules? I'm not sure it has enough
redundancy. (rules 1.3,1.4).

Rips

Rips in the scene have always been allowed, and are a part of scene
tradition (see Apps/Games -> 0Day, DC, PS1/PS2, XBOX etc.), disallowing
rips due to some irrational fear is exactly that - irrational.

As the PS3 has custom firmware, and Sony has no way to block us from
playing the games (other than user stupidity) and as we run games from
the hard drive, we should be allowed to modify dumps in this section.
Banning rips for consoles where data modification is detectable (XBOX360)
is understandable, however isn't applicable in this situation.

There are a myriad of reasons to allow rips such as cracktros and
trainers. Stripping unwanted content from the dumps also makes sense.
Things such as custom protection, updates, 3D, down sampling HD
audio/video/cutscenes and related content, or just relinking the
lesser/greater content, doing so can save several gigabytes on games
that are already extremely large. This also allows us to store more
games due to the lesser size, while interested parties can re-create
1:1 iso's for archival purposes or change the region with patches
using software such as xdelta.

If any releases are not 1:1 dumps, they must, of course, list what
was stripped or edited in the nfo.

Rips must also be substantial - removing only one language, or a negligible
amount in comparison to the complete filesize shouldn't be allowed.

If you release a rip after another more-complete release you must prove
your own source, a thanks or greeting in your nfo is not acceptable. The
original group specifically mentioning your group is allowed to use their
source in their nfo is acceptable.

Internals & Rips

Banning rips on internals cannot be permitted either - they're internal
releases and have always been exempt from certain rules, to allow groups
to experiment and further the scene.

Provided there isn't a technical flaw with internal releases, they
should not be nuked.

Directory Tagging

The JB tag is redundant. Please do not use it.

Region tagging (USA,EUR,JPN,KOR,ASIA) in the dirname for the first pre
isn't required provided it has english lang, however it is required
for any later releases, or non-english language releases.

If you don't tag your release with a region, please mention it in the nfo.

Proof

Requiring proof for console is questionable, and can be argued both ways.
The proof section was obviously taken from the MP3 rules, and is flawed.
The purpose of the mp3 proof rules does not directly translate to console
sections, and can easily be abused for petty arguments in between groups.

Each release requiring proof is excessive - requesting proof on a case by
case also doesn't work. Nor does requiring proof after a p2p leak (which
is rare in the console section, although more common in the handheld
section (see NDS)), which would required groups to keep tabs on p2p
sites which is of course, undesirable.

If you are going to provide proof requiring the cover and/or booklet page
is overkill if you have a disk - what's next? requiring a scan of the cover
also? what about scanning the entire manual? An image of the disc & a group
tag should be enough, provided both are clearly viewable in a high quality
jpg/png format picture.

Responsibility for Proof/Proof fixes

Regarding proof fixes, the idea is flawed. The after nuke aspect removes
responsibility from the group to the person who is doing the nuking, and
makes the release fine until someone notices the proof is missing.

Also, where does this nuking take place? sites, a console council, nukenets?
If nukenets, which ones are endorsed? Have nukenets been contacted to
clarify their position or responsibility? nukenets generally don't nuke
releases older than 12 months, are groups expected to keep the games for 12
months in case of a nuke, that nukenets have missed in the past? Many groups
won't even have the game for more than a few hours.

Do we really want to shift such power on to networks that are known for
p2p/p2l members?

Patches/Updates/DLC/etc

Regarding patches (eboot), they should be allowed provided that they have
been created by the group, and they are required to play the game. Updates
should be pred provided that they need to be cracked, and are indeed
cracked, otherwise they can be downloaded from the PSN. This also applies
to DLC.

Regions/Dupes

Region dupes are up to the individual sites to accept or deny - as always
the first release with english is considered the winner, especially as the
PS3 is region free. However other releases with different languages or
content cannot be considered a dupe - games that differ purely in serial
number should be considered a dupe, as they are a waste of bandwidth for the
difference of a few megabytes that can be replaced with a patch.

Signatories

Some groups didn't sign the rules, yet their names where still added to the
list. Some groups signed on the basis that other groups were also
signatories although they were mislead, and the other groups did not sign.
Several of the groups listed are also the same group. This is the same
stunt that the author pulled with the NDS rules.

Misc

The 1:1 identical dumps originated from p2p, for torrent archival
(redump, no-intro) going against many things "scene".

The main driving force behind the PS3 rules is heavily involved in p2p,
administrating sites such as ludibria, fragmenting the scene in regards to
handheld consoles, and has been caught numerous times stealing directly
from p2p.

The console scene survived for decades without rules, by following
traditions which this ruleset breaks, coupled with the lack of depth in
the PS3, and other relevant console/handheld rulesets show that they
are unnecessary.