Not being satisfied with their legal achievements over RipIt4Me, Sony have responded vigorously (at least verbally) to the news that hackers have got past the first stage of cracking the PS3 protections on games discs.

Over on gamesindustry.biz, a report gives a brief summary of the unofficial progress towards being able to back up PS3 titles, and highlights some caveats about doing so. Risks involve turning your PS3 into an electronic version of a statue, being excluded from the PlayStation network, and of course the obvious problem of warranty invalidation.

Nevertheless it is clear that being able to boot up copied games is a prelude to greater things, and with the confidence boost from the recent cracking of the HD-DVD copy protections, it may be possible in the not-too-distant future to back up to a safe medium, those original commercial titles for which we pay hard-earned money.