The next system software update for the PlayStation 3 (PS3) system will be released on April 1, 2010 (JST), and will disable the “Install Other OS” feature that was available on the PS3 systems prior to the current slimmer models, launched in September 2009. This feature enabled users to install an operating system, but due to security concerns, Sony Computer Entertainment will remove the functionality through the 3.21 system software update.
In addition, disabling the “Other OS” feature will help ensure that PS3 owners will continue to have access to the broad range of gaming and entertainment content from SCE and its content partners on a more secure system.
Consumers and organizations that currently use the “Other OS” feature can choose not to upgrade their PS3 systems, although the following features will no longer be available;
- Ability to sign in to PlayStation Network and use network features that require signing in to PlayStation Network, such as online features of PS3 games and chat
- Playback of PS3 software titles or Blu-ray Disc videos that require PS3 system software version 3.21 or later
- Playback of copyright-protected videos that are stored on a media server (when DTCP-IP is enabled under Settings)
- Use of new features and improvements that are available on PS3 system software 3.21 or later
For those PS3 users who are currently using the “Other OS” feature but choose to install the system software update, to avoid data loss they first need to back-up any data stored within the hard drive partition used by the “Other OS,” as they will not be able to access that data following the update.
Additional information about PS3 firmware updates, including v3.21 (once it becomes available), can be found here:
http://us.playstation.com/support/systemupdates/ps3/index.htm
PS3 owners who have further questions should contact Consumer Services:
http://us.playstation.com/support/ask/
800-345-7669 (800-345-SONY)
I’m truly amazed that a company can take something that people paid for and they don’t care… I’d like to sell them stuff… so I can make them pay and then take it away… I’d like to think most people are smarter than this…but I guess this is the sad reality…. they are uneducated enough to just not care…Sad…really sad….
You agreed to this when you signed up for PSN.
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But not when I bought my PS3. I, honestly, knew nothing about PSN when I bought my PlayStation 3. It was only when I got it home I found out about PSN.
You see, I’m an old geezer used to buying things that have a function and that function remains until I get rid of the thing.
It seems there’s a new world coming where YOU buy something and THEN agree to any terms the manufactuer says just so you can use the something as THEY see fit.
I’m guessing the only people thinking this is right either had their PS3 bought for them or work for Sony.
They will care when it is something that they use…..Maybe they should take away the ability to play disc games…then would you care…It is the same thing…I paid to use these features and Did nothing to loose it. It is my 600 dollar system…NOT SONY’s…..MY money paid for it not theirs….Get a clue…
And truth be told…Weather it is 100 people or 90000……It is still a paid for feature…even if only one person uses it…it is still wrong to take it away
But in the end they will learn…I was a huge supporter of playstation stuff… as I own over 20000 worth of their stuff…Its too bad they want to end it this way…I hate microsoft…but at least they don’t remove paid for features
Google on the ps3!
For the record, I didn’t agree to jack squat about them removing anything; yet here I am with a system unable to access PSN. Here’s a question, what about what THEY agreed to provide?
Yeah, there, I said it. THEY were the ones who marketed and sold the thing with the capabilities I PAID FOR. IT SAYS ON THE BOX and I quote “easy access to the free PLAYSTATION Network.” Agreeing to the removal of the feature is one thing but the consequences of refusal to do so involves the removal of advertised capability that I HAVE PAID FOR. This is, at best, coercion and at worst, outright theft.
once the new consoles come around, im definitely thinking twice which one im choosing
Wait a second… an update that actually REMOVES features!?!?!?!??! This really cuts my respect for Sony. It only does everything.. but Linux support…
I’m really angry. Just want to install Ubuntu today, realising that the feature is taken away. This was definitely my last PlayStation!
I’m assuming this bad PR storm of comments is the highest number any thread has ever gotten on the PSB. Did any one else note a decided lack of coverage of this on the “big” sites, like 1up? I wonder why they haven’t chimed in on this issue? Sounds like news they would normally comment on?
Wells I gave in Sony, I could not take it anymore. I just wanted to play mah games, but you had other ideas…… So I got an xbox and a live membership. And I wish that Godzilla was real, so’s he could stomp on you :)
@AndyAlfredo,
Contracts do not overrule local or national LAW. LAW always overrules contracts, which is why you almost always see a clause like “ALLOWABLE UNDER LAW” contained within it, since some things in the EULA might not be allowable under your law.
but Linux support…was free its not like it was a, add-ON that costs money. You paid for hardware and software sony made. If sony had in fact made otherOS were it was a, add-ON i could see why people were mad but but Linux support…was in fact FREE!!!! yellow dog didn’t cost anything. a good hacker has linux on there pc everybody know this. SO SONY bring back a new type of 2nd OS for playstation 3 that isnt able to use command lines or cmd type stuff. On upon the new future system firmware update and even add-ON’s bring us Google Chrome Browser AND Google Chrome OS !
@ deathsmile
good for you
So, here I am, on my non-up.dated PS3. Just finished installing Yellow Dog L.inux 6.2, and it is sweE-Eet!:) Thank you Sony for getting me interested in using this distribution of L.inux once more. I do have to admit that until you came out with this up.date, I wasn’t really using L.inux on my PS3 very much. I had it installed, but it wasn’t like I was booting into every day. No, I spent most of my time playing games online, buying new games from P.SN, chatting with friends on my friends list and helping to advance the whole P.SN community. There’s still 25 bucks in my P.SN “wallet”! Who knows what I would have spent that on, and I was just getting started. My fiance and I had just bought Little Big Planet and we were just about to start buying all sorts of little add-ons and costumes and crap. Thank God we didn’t! I was also playing Tekken 6 online, A LOT! For some reason, if I started that game, I wouldn’t stop playing for hours. Hours and hours of my life spent on P.SN. And I was JUST about to buy God of War III, as well. Talk about dodging THAT bullet!
(cont.)
Now, I’m not spending money on P.SN and I have a bunch of free time getting to know my L.inux distribution on PS3. What I’m going to do with it, besides use it as a regular desktop PC, I don’t know yet. I’m just now beginning my Electrical Engineering degree, so hopefully it’ll be of some use when I get into programming and compiling.
I really just wanted to say: “Thank You for helping me save money and forcing me to refocus my time on things far more constructive than video games. You have helped me see the light.”
linux yellow dogs WAS FREE it didn’t cost anything, it may have a small cost but that was sony integrating the xmb menu for otherOS this was pretty much a free thing.
SONY bring us Google Chrome OS for playstation 3
SONY bring us Google Chrome OS for playstation 3
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I know you’re not too bright, anyone on Sony’s side obviously isn’t, LOL, BUT you do realise you could try using
share.blog.us.playstation.com/
You not going to piss me off, people have already tried that. I dont believe in getting mad because the only reason why you people talk like your so big and better then anyone is in because if you talk this way in real life your most likely to get your face beat in.
and to the blog on this site iv told them around 50 ideas but only got one.
–SO youre incorrect saying that, so keep your internet mouth up because your a coward.
@maninashed, it’s best to ignore the trolls. Everyone else in this thread have been ignoring him for a while now. Best to just post as if he doesn’t exist. Pathetic people like that are just fueled by replies.
linux yellow dogs WAS FREE it didn’t cost anything, it may have a small cost but that was sony integrating the xmb menu for otherOS this was pretty much a free thing.
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This is true facts
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Sony could make up for it. With Google Chrome OS – – in the playstation store as a, add on- OR system firmware update
one more thing MAYBE THE SLIM USERS want a 2nd OS ?
why even try anymore? I selling mine, that’s the only way to sell a message to sony!!! think about it, if overnight a million or so was sold back to game stores, the value of the playstation name would drop quickly & would be to hard recover!!!
@lastamerican
There is good and bad with that. Sony loses money on the console sale, meaning they sell it for a loss. You selling your PS3 however would hurt since you no longer would buy a game, however whomever you sold it to would likely buy games. So it’s wouldn’t register.
@dr_DOOM69, I just want to point out that google’s chrome OS is most likely heavily based on linux/unix code and while I do not disagree with you that another OS would be nice – we already had that with OtherOS.. and Personally, this act of a company proves exactly what is great about the openness of linux and not having a single company in absolute control over the system.. The thing about Google is that, although they have my trust for the time being, (Sony used to have it too before this updat e) the danger is that as Sony has demonstrated, what if Google decided to remove features from their OS?
Continued…
Linux is one of the few remaining hopes I have for the digital future of humanity… Aside from linux, it seems as if every new generation of software and hardware is even more rigidly restricted and controlled than the last. There is less and less freedom and more and more software E U L As that have shady subtext for spying on customers, remo ving features, and so on.. More and more stuff is proprietary belonging to a individual company, that if it goes under – could potentially render all of your work (say creating documents in that program) useless.
The cloud based computing of the future that google is pushing, is convenient now.. but really frightening in terms of… you’ve got absolutely nothing – no hardware, just a weak system with a browser, not even any documents… you’re digital life is relying totally on someone else – a corporation… and who knows what they’ll decide to do?
@GandNooblar
but if the new OS, is an add on. and new way to install it to the slim unit and normal and newer normal units would help. maybe they would add a anti hack sheld to the software with a impossible encryption.
I hope they Hack the living crap out of it and the go bankrupt
@foote_jason
you act like sony r a p e d your wife.
No, he acts like they’re stealing from their customers, which they are. They agreed to free access to PSN right on the box, which implies that the PS3, out of the box will give us access to the service. Now, they intend to take out the ability to install and use Linux, another ability that was included right out of the box, something that many of us refuse to agree to, so instead they forcibly take away the ability to access PSN.
Any company that treats its customers with such contempt deserves nothing but contempt in return, especially when the competition only ADDS to the capabilities of their respective offerings.
Crap, my comments keep getting moderated. If anyone can see this one, please follow VGC_Reviews on tw.itt,er. I have posted instruction for filing com.pl.aints.
ha – data poachers… :-)
I broke down and bought a Wii. There are a least a handful of games on that system I want to play. I boxed up my ps3 and put it in the closet, finished my last ps3 game two days ago. I would sell it, but I don’t want my system showing back up online after someone decided to update.
My future is Sony free. I’ll take it back out once the system has been hacked. Then I’ll by a blu-ray burner (not made by sony) and download every single last game and make copies to anyone who will ask.
Bite me.
haha
your all crying too each other sony wont respond to such since they may laugh but as far as you guys pushing hateful acts to sony wont matter i hope sony counter sue you all and uses this site for all the hack bs talk to back it up. i hope you all have to play fines.
pay fines * *
@cjalber #7149
I’m a proud Wii owner since launch. I’ve got like 30 Wii games, probably 27 of which are great. There are several coming out this year: Super Mario Galaxy 2, Metroid Other M, possibly the new Legend of Zelda, and there are probably others. Those are just off the top of my head.
What a joke. You couldn’t patch a problem so you remove a feature. A feature that heavily swayed me in my decision to go with PS3 of the 360. This “optional” update spiel you’re peddling is a damn joke. It isn’t optional. If we don’t update, then you can’t play any newer game that require this update. I’d be fine without PSN access, but you’re gonna strip the ability to play newer games if I don’t update? WTF is that? I used Linux on the PS3. It was listed as a feature of this system and I wanted to take advantage of that. My how you have strayed. I dropped a lot of cash on this console and now Sony tells me to suck it or else I can’t use the console for future titles. PATCH THE PROBLEM, DON’T REMOVE A FEATURE. This is the dumbest move I’ve seen by a company. Your damage control sucks. I will report this issue to the FTC, BBB, and CRTC. I hope you get investigated, fined, and hit with a couple class actions lawsuits. If a method comes out where I can get back linux, rest assured, I will use that method to get what I paid for back. ~Get Bent
well they didn’t add it to there new systems so you had to of known it was being removed. You people need to grow up get a real life. SONY DOES NOT CARE i bet there laugh at you all in japan.
SONY DOES NOT CARE i bet there laughing at you all in japan.
hahahaha dumb americas
you people are the reason why american get a bad rep i hate you all
Say there are just a thousand people in this blog, complaining about this update and the removal of Other OS. Not very much, you may say, in the overall scheme of things.
Well, those thousand people are technically inclined. People come to them for advice. Say five people ask each of them about what game console to buy. I’m sure they’ll be saying to stay away from the PS3. So that is 5000 PS3s not sold. Those 5000 people each pass on the recommendation to another 5 people they know. Now that is 25,000 PS3 sales that could have been, plus the original 5000. It can only increase from there.
The irony is, in trying to protect their game sales from non-existent piracy, Sony may well have lost over a hundred thousand potential game purchases. This could turn out to be the most brain-dead decision Sony have ever made. Well, OK, maybe not worse than the cd rootkit.
I know I’m not going to recommend the PS3 any more. Sony have lost any support that I’m willing to give them.
@ Zombieland-can | April 15th, 2010 at 6:38 pm
Quit spamming. As a consumer, I will GET what I paid for. If you want to be ignorant and not have consumer rights, live with what you peddle.
@ DaKh | April 15th, 2010 at 6:48 pm
For real, they will lose any future business from myself, my friends, and my family. Don’t mess with you fans and users.
I wasn’t a Sony fan to begin with. I got my Slim for Christmas, and for three whole months, I started to like Sony and the PS3. Then this happens, and now I don’t think I should trust Sony. I know I didn’t really lose anything because I only have a Slim, but if I had gotten a Fat, I would definitely have been using Other OS, and probably wouldn’t update because I don’t get anything from the store, besides the free stuff, and I don’t really know anybody to play with online, anyway. I also have a Wii, so why would I need new PS3 games that would require the new update? I’d just stick with some of the old ones. I really hope Sony learns a lesson from the people who are going to sue, and those who already have. Good luck to you all!
#7161
As far as I’m concerned, Sony as a gaming company is dead. I will be sure to spread this message to as many people as possible. This goes for blu-ray, I’ll tell people not to bother.
I do OK (I bought a launch ps3 for $600 after all which has turned into a big mistake), but if I were a rich man, I would take my Bravia TV outside and smash it and go buy one from a different company. No more Sony products, ever again.
I am not going to “rent” games when I’m paying full price. As consumers we should all be outraged at this model. Someone else already mentioned this, but cloud computing is a horrible idea. They would love it if no owned a computer and just a dumb terminal, pretty soon you’ll be paying for CPU cycles.
I want to watch HD video from an external hard disk. I know I can’t use NTFS of EXT3/EXT4 filesystems to store the huge files on, so I thought I can install Linux and watch it from that. I went to format my drive and low and behold I can’t do it anymore.
Please Sony, get with the times, your console used to be at the forefront of media technology. You are slipping back into the realms of worthlessness. If I can’t watch my HD video from my PS3 I will find myself an alternative method of watching media. I don’t play games much so the media capabilities are important to me.
Don’t forget the people who use the PS3 as a media unit more than a games console. We want some love soon too you know!
@Red8316:
Don’t bother responding to trolls. He’s obviously about 9 years old. He’ll learn to stand up for himself when he grows up.
Anyway, I’m an active person on a lot of gaming forums, and as an actual adult, I’m pretty well respected among my circle of gaming friends. I’ve been telling everyone that the PS3 is my last Sony console and I’ve been explaining why. I can’t say whether I’ve swayed anyone, but there are certainly plenty of people who are shocked when they hear what Sony has done here.
It would be wise of Sony to think of the damage they’re doing to their corporate image here. There is no better marketing than word of mouth marketing, and the converse is also true.
Hah! Wipeout HD on sale. I would have totally bought that too. Thanks for saving me money Sony by not allowing me to buy things. :)
Probably a good idea to never buy anything from the PSN ever again. Never know when they will decide to take back my purchase.
dr_DOOM69 ……………………. do you know what the term “troll” means on the internet? i welcome your comments here, but it sure seems like you are fishing for flames. remember “tolerance to the tolerant” .