There's an old saying that “software is eating the world,” but these days, it feels more like artificial intelligence is eating software.AI is definitely having a moment, and I'm not talking about generating images, writing emails, or building your website.Just last week, I wrote about how AI and the small team behind ArtCraft were building free, open-source alternatives to expensive software, including Adobe Creative Cloud and Microsoft Office.
That's giving the traditional software-as-a-service business model a lot to think about.What’s interesting to me is how quickly AI is helping these small teams and individual developers accomplish things that in the past would have required a lot more time, expertise, and resources.Add How-To Geek on Google Add as Preferred Source Follow on Google Discover Now it looks like AI is coming for gaming platforms and the games themselves.
Developers are using AI to find vulnerabilities in supposedly locked-down gaming consoles.Others are pushing things further, using AI to mash up game elements in the most unexpected ways.Sure, some of these projects are little more than technical experiments, but others are already producing working results.
And if this is what developers are already accomplishing with AI, it's worth considering what that means for gaming hardware, homebrew software, and the restrictions console manufacturers have spent years putting in place.AI helped developers find a way into the Nintendo Switch 2 Codex did the grunt work Close Security researcher Sammy Hajhamid, also known as pepsipu, developed a software-only jailbreak for the Nintendo Switch 2 with help from OpenAI’s Codex coding agent.Much of the grunt work involved in testing vulnerabilities, reverse engineering software, and working through trial and error was handed off to Codex.
Hajhamid built a testing setup that allowed Codex to interact with his Nintendo hardware, issue controller commands, observe the console's output, and then restart it after it crashed.His AI-assisted research helped to identify and exploit software vulnerabilities in the Switch 2 that allowed unauthorized code to run.His tethered exploit, called ns2jb, demonstrated that developers could run unauthorized homebrew code and even modify games on the Switch 2 until the console reboots.
To show what the exploit could do, Hajhamid modified Mario Kart World to include characters that were never supposed to be in the game, including Peter Griffin and Cinnamoroll.It also requires access to SmileBASIC 4, additional equipment, and a supported firmware version.But that's not the takeaway here.
What's interesting is how AI accelerated the process, handling much of the repetitive work that would otherwise have fallen to Hajhamid.Claude helped bring Xbox Cloud Gaming to the PS5 Sony and Microsoft have spent decades keeping their gaming ecosystems separate Nintendo isn't the only console maker seeing its platform restrictions challenged by AI-assisted development.A developer who goes by RafaelNGP used Anthropic's Claude to help build PSBox Cloud Gaming, a free, open-source application that brings Microsoft's Xbox Cloud Gaming service to the PlayStation 5.
Of course, Sony doesn't officially support this, but the developer managed to get it working with DualSense controllers, Xbox Remote Play, and streaming at up to 1080p and 60 frames per second.There is even GPU-assisted 4K upscaling, although that's not the same as running games natively at 4K.Something worth noting here is that the PS5 isn't actually running Xbox games on its own hardware.
Those games are running on Microsoft's servers and streaming to the PlayStation, much like they would on a PC or other supported device.It's not without limitations.First, you need a jailbroken PS5 to use PSBox.
This isn't something you can easily download and install on your ordinary PlayStation.Second, you need a Microsoft account that has access to Xbox Cloud Gaming.This typically requires an eligible Game Pass subscription.
Third, since everything is streamed, your internet connection will have a lot to do with how well it performs.Early versions reportedly had issues with video quality and controller vibration, but RafaelNGP has continued updating the software.What I find interesting here isn't that Claude was used to hack the PS5, because it wasn't.
It's that an independent developer used AI to help build an application that lets two competing gaming platforms work together in a way their manufacturers never intended.AI is helping developers combine games in strange mashups Minecraft in Skyrim? Apparently, that's a thing now AI isn't just helping developers get around console restrictions.It's also helping them to combine games that weren't designed to work together.
In recent reports, developers are using AI coding agents like Claude to create some pretty cool gaming mashups.Imagine playing Skyrim as Minecraft's Steve, mining and placing blocks while exploring the world inside Skyrim.Or bringing Minecraft's building mechanics into Elden Ring.
Someone even figured out how to bring skateboarding into Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.These aren't necessarily simple character swaps or texture replacements, either.Some developers are using AI-generated code to connect two different games, synchronize what's happening between them, and bring gameplay mechanics from one game into another.
Some of these projects have gone beyond short videos circulating on social media.SkyCraft, for example, is a downloadable Windows project that combines Minecraft's movement, inventory, building, and combat mechanics with the world of Skyrim.There's also Minecraft Ring, which experiments with bringing Minecraft-style gameplay into Elden Ring.
Of course, not everything you see online is a fully functioning game mashup.Some are simply technical demonstrations.The trend has also drawn criticism from experienced modders who argue that many of these AI-assisted creations are superficial or buggy compared to traditional mods.
And they have a point.Getting two games to work together is one thing.Making the result something people actually want to play is another.
AI is changing what's possible None of these projects are perfect, and some are still just experiments.That said, I think that we're only scratching the surface of what's possible.AI isn't necessarily replacing the expertise needed to pull these things off, but it is helping individual developers tackle projects that would have needed considerably more people, time, and resources in the past.
Whether we're talking about gaming or subscription models, I think we're going to be seeing a lot more of this in the future.
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