PeerPressure: a new Xbox 360 softmod is in beta

A new Xbox 360 softmod called PeerPressure is in beta testing. The GBAtemp thread says it’s due in early October, but the date line is a mess: “October 9th October 7th.” Somebody didn’t proofread. Pick one and wait for the official word.

The thread points to a Grimdoomer video that walks through the details. According to the poster, the exploit uses a ROP chain when the southbridge pulls the security sector from the HDD. That’s a specific spot to hit.

Who’s it for? Mostly people stuck without RGH and now without the older coldboot route. One commenter says Winchester owners have had no RGH for years and now no coldboot softmod, so BadAvatar is the fallback. Another wonders whether the poster hinted at swapping the disc drive for a second HDD, maybe an SSD. Nobody has confirmed that, and the thread shows no hardware details.

The catches are real. There’s no DashLaunch plugin support. SylverReZ says the limit comes from the exploit itself, and that DashLaunch has problems due to how the kernel patches were written, so he tells people to keep using BadAvatar. Grimdoomer, according to commenters, also said he’d disallow Xbox Live stealth plugins, and that set off a fight in the comments. Some users say stealth servers are the only way they can play, because their store purchases don’t work and their disc drive is broken. Others call it cheating. I’m not refereeing that one here.

My take, clearly marked as opinion: a fresh hit on the 360’s security path matters, even for a console the scene has mostly left on old exploits. If the author keeps the source closed and blocks stealth plugins, forks will show up and add the features he refuses. That’s how this scene has always worked. Watch the release date, the source decision, and whether the fix reaches RGH and JTAG boxes, which a few people in the thread are already hoping for.