PS3 Firmware (v3.21) Update

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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)

Comments are closed.

7,437 Comments

  • Sony, I knew you were going to do something like this. I was a loyal PS1 customer. Then when the Sega Dreamcast came out you changed your marketing strategy for the PS2 “Hey LOOK it’s a DVD player oh and a game console. BTW the graphics suck more than the Dreamcast but dont worry you can watch movies!” That’s great now imagine that you released the ps2 Slim and removed DVD functionality or worse PS1 Compatibility, Do you really think you still would of come out on top? I mean REALLY DO YOU? This latest move is blaphemy! Who’s descision was this? Was it Kazuo Hirai’s, Howard Stringer’s,or maybe even Ken Kutaragi? I personnally want an explanation as to why there couldn’t of been an alternative method to fix this?

    Thank You,

    WeEbLe3000

  • SOON TO COME-
    Street Fighter Alpha 3-Dead Space 2-Driver 5,Metal Slug,Earthworm Jim,Twisted Metal PS3,DOOM 4,Sims 3, The,Max Payne 3,Crysis 2

    TO PS3 .

  • Krazio here is you respons dude :) :)

    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

  • The best way to send a message is to hit them in the wallet. Don’t buy new titles for the PS3. Instead, purchase them for the Xbox 360. Encourage your friends and family to purchase an Xbox 360 instead. Stop recommending Sony.

    Eventually the early-adopters will leave and when the next gen rolls around, the next system will go the way of the Dreamcast.

  • XBOX360 cant use otherOS idiots

  • dr_DOOM69 we know you can’t put otherOS on the XBox360. Sony just lowered their functionality to theirs.

    Sony should now disable BlueRay and make us all purchase BR players.

  • XBOX360 cant use otherOS idiots
    ——————————————————–

    Do you not think that’s why we bought the PS3, i.e. because it originally had features that other games consoles didn’t?

  • you people just need to never buy video game systems. they all suck as a computer but as a video game system they are good just buy buy a computer you stupid dumb idiots

  • are you people really crying my god your all a load of p u s s y s

  • are you people really crying my god your all a load of p u s s y s
    ————————————————————————————————

    Hmm, I can see your a very intelligent individual.

  • ok guys first off, the BBB has no control of what sony does…. second i can’t believe yall are actually complaining about this when something like this happens everytme they do an update…just let it go, its been done you cant undo it and thats all she wrote, so get over it

  • dr_DOOM… you must be too young to understand the principle of it.

    They offered it as a selling feature when it was 700.00 system. Now since they’ve dropped it to 299.00 they’ve decided to remove it, screwing everyone who was a TRUE fan of their system.

    I wonder what they’ll sacrifice when they start selling it for 99.00? Maybe the wireless controllers will cost too much to include in the future consoles.

    I love it when companies decide to take steps backwards! Another thought, Remove all capabilities to play any video or audio/songs. This option makes people who own the PS3 to Pirate Movies and CDs.

  • second i can’t believe yall are actually complaining about this when something like this happens everytme they do an update…just let it go, its been done you cant undo it and thats all she wrote, so get over it

    ———————————————————————————————————-

    Couldn’t we just as easily say the same to Sony, it’s been hacked. Those that are hacking your “entertainment system” are not going to update their firmware, just let it go.

    If the BBB has anything like some of the consumer protection agencies in Europe, particularly the UK, they would be able to do quite a bit!!

  • Guess what SONY. You’ve lost 1 more customer over this fiasco. Linux is the single biggest reason I bought the console along with blu-ray and games coming in 3rd. By alienating your paying customers. People who pay YOUR salaries. Since this update was forced on us, YES FORCED as locked out of psn & paid dlc is not a “choice” you’ve lost yourselves not just me but thousands of others as customers. I have spent over $1000 well on the way to $2000 on PS3 products. And I was gonna spend a few thousand more on sony products over the coming year but no more. I simply cannot trust sony to deliver a functioning product or that it will stay functioning after this debacle. My money is now going to sonys competitors. BTW, what do you think will happen when thousands if irate former customers stop buying games from 3rd party publishers & developers on PS3? If you think they will continue developing for PS3 then your reality check just bounced.

  • you people should just pick s u i c i d e

  • For those who think the PS3 makes a bad computer:

    It’s interesting that the US Air Force, the NCSA, and many universities use the PS3 as a clustered supercomputer. I guess the PS3 must do pretty well as a computational workhorse. After all, these guys are not entirely stupid. They’re certainly smarter than most people.

  • @7217 WeEbLe3000:

    “Sony, I knew you were going to do something like this. I was a loyal PS1 customer. Then when the Sega Dreamcast came out you changed your marketing strategy for the PS2 “Hey LOOK it’s a DVD player oh and a game console. BTW the graphics suck more than the Dreamcast but dont worry you can watch movies!” That’s great now imagine that you released the ps2 Slim and removed DVD functionality or worse PS1 Compatibility, Do you really think you still would of come out on top? I mean REALLY DO YOU? This latest move is blaphemy! Who’s descision was this? Was it Kazuo Hirai’s, Howard Stringer’s,or maybe even Ken Kutaragi? I personnally want an explanation as to why there couldn’t of been an alternative method to fix this?

    Thank You,

    WeEbLe3000”

    _______________

    .. personally think Mr. Stringer may have had alot to do with the recent direction of SONY; specifically, why PS3 isn’t as interesting as PS2 or PSOne. I don’t think Ken Katuragi would have been as lazy, — which is probably why he’s ‘retired’ now.

    Also, hated the Spider-man 3 font on the PS3.. Mr. Stringer’s company had something to do with the movies production.. but, bad design choice after PS2.

  • Maybe Sony did this just to liven the blog up. It’d seem positively empty if not for the comments here.

  • Oops, I just noticed that comments appear to be closed for blog posts over 30 days old. So presumably it will be impossible to comment here after sometime around the 26th of April.

  • We’ll just have to start another one a day or so before this one closes and refer to it for some ‘good’ reading.

  • With this 3.21 firmware update, Playstation is taking away features already bought and paid for, by us, the customer (older ps3 machine owners).

    So the choice to either ‘remove’ the Linux capability or being denied access to the Playstation Network is utterly disrespectful.

    I bought my older PS3 machine with Linux features legally and I bought my Games legally too.

    Please explain to me why we deserve this kind of treatment from Playstation ?

  • The fact that theres over 7000 comments overwhelmingly negative is most telling. Even with many posts deleted for no reason. Yet comments from lunatics telling people to commit suicide & flagrantly engaged in harassment are left in place without fail. Most telling about sonys so called “business practices”. At this point all Microsoft need do to market the 360 is show the comments here and the lunatic fringe of perverts & stalkers on HOME followed by the slogan “On XBOX you wont see this”

  • @pirateHarlock But you forgot to add ” But It Will Cost You 20$ a month”

    lol

  • I did the update not realising what it was, I was very surprised to understand they’d removed software.
    I didn’t use the software but was only just talking to someone about getting it installed. I won’t miss it, but I can imagine the people who have it installed will.
    I can’t see how this can be legal, it’s like buying car and having the engine removed at a later date…it just doesn’t happen, so why now?
    Why haven’t sony made more effort in trying to keep up with microsoft? They still haven’t brought out online private chat, why didn’t they concentrate on this first and then hack everyone off after….at least then we’d have something to enjoy.
    All their time has been spent upsetting people and not giving us the features we all want.

    I still think it’s a better system though, the xbox is so noisy and I hate the control pad. This is a nasty kick in the teeth for a lot of people though, sony have made a grave error of judgement here.

  • @LS1980: Fully agree with you there. But I wouldn’t have used that car analogy in quite that way.

    Let’s set up a mock dialogue, goes like so. Year’s ’06:
    Sony (to consumer): Look! Here’s the PS3! We’ve got great games, Blu-ray, and more for $600!
    Consumer: It’s too expensive!! I don’t need all that just to play games. I’ll just get an XBOX 360 (the WII wasn’t out yet).
    (Or: I don’t SEE any games, but I see the 360 has lots of them. I’ll take the 360.)
    Sony (internally): Where are our games? Somebody find out what’s going on with the devs!
    Sony (calls Devs): Hello. We’re looking for games for our platform. Got any?
    Devs: Nope. Your platform’s too costly. The other guy can sell more games, so we’re going there. Sorry.
    Sony: But…
    Sony again internally): Damn, we’re not doing well! Nobody wants to play. What can we do?
    Sony Employee: Have you been listening? The console’s too expensive! We’ve got to cut production costs!

    (Story to continue)

  • (Cont’d: By early ’07, Sony sees no real change in sales, and the Wii surfaces. The Wii, however, does more to the effect of robbing Sony AND MS of sales).
    Sony (internally): Oh, here’s why..we’re putting PS2 chips in to maintain compatibility. But we want to sell our new games.
    (To Employees): Remove the chips!
    Employee: Yessir!
    Sony: Now, let’s drop the price by $100 and see what they think.
    (To Consumers): The PS3 is back–now $100 less!
    Consumer: Maybe…but the other two consoles are cheaper, and they have games. You, where are the games?
    Sony: They’re coming, but we’ve got free online play, etc., etc.
    Consumer: Well….

  • (Story continues: Through late ’07 and early ’08, Sony sort of gets a clue. It’s figured out a way to reduce the cost of Blu-ray, and by February, HD-DVD gets crushed, ending a protracted format war. With this threat gone, Sony can ramp up marketing on the PS3 and other stuff. Meanwhile, the devs start to see the PS3’s advantages as well as those of Blu-ray. And, oh yeah, a Linux demo takes the gaming world by storm. Result: Increased sales, despite the all-out removal of PS2 support which causes a stink too small to notice)

    Sony: PS3’s looking better, but still not where we’d like it to be. We need more sales!
    Employee: Needs a bigger hard drive, boss.
    Sony: Done, and we’ve got a crazy idea: Consumers apparently aren’t impressed by the PS3’s profile. We can do the slim thing.
    Employee: Roger! On it!
    Sony: What?! Microsoft price-cutting again? Well, we’ll see about that! We’re knocking another $100 off!
    (To consumer): PS3: It Only Does Everything™
    Consumer: Cool! And I hear FF13 is coming soon. I’ll take it!
    (He knows not of what measures Sony took to cut the price as much, including the silent drop of Linux support from his box.)

  • I REALLY hate this company. ‘Nough said.

  • @swordzmanp236 – you didn’t mention that FF13 is also on the xbox 360….

  • And I think we know where the rest of the story goes. Point is, Sony’s taken this fancy car with the premium package–mag wheels, kickin’ six-disc stereo CD with satellite radio, piano black finish and all–and slowly stripped out the package in order to bring it down to the level of, say, a midsize sedan for all to drive. Engine’s still the same, but the body’s plastic with a matte finish and the killer stereo has been swapped for a standard model. They didn’t have to take the stereo away as there was no cost savings. But they did for another reason which has no analogy I can think of right now. Then they went overboard, changing all the stereos over to the standard model. It was not because of a typical recall problem, though. The car still runs, and for most, that’s what matters; but for a few who still want that killer stereo, the niceties of it far surpass making the car safer.

  • So much Ps3 hate out there grow up… the MAIN function of the ps3 was never to be a computer anyway it’s games N media some haker F*ke% it up for anyone that was legitimately using the Alt OS.. boo hoo… oh n if you had a decent TV you would have a way to hook up your computer to your TV… 4 those cpmplaining they want to be able to run linux on their TV

  • now have new firmware. found way a way round it to begin with.. had a big hacker head on me.. i then bought 2nd hand game (wont buy new no more) wouldn’t install.. looked 4 ways round that and thought sod this i aint gonna play cat n mouse.. i aint no hacker even if it feels sony are forcing me to.. so said good bye to my yellow dog, 2wks have now past and i dont half miss him and his beautiful browser and compatibility with things.. miss him so much gonna have to buy a pc.. i shall still continue to use the ps3 but ive lost all respect 4 it.. why u couldn’t add a decent feature to soften the blow ill never no.. followed the ps from day 1.. not anymore….. u can keep ur ps4 im out……….o and sony SPEAK UP WE CAN’T HEAR U!!

  • Sony just though you might want to know this since you have pretty much forced me to play my XBox the last few weeks. I believe I’m now up to $100 I have spent on none PS3 games in the last three weeks. First time I have done that in well over a year if not two. I was planning on getting ModNation but what is the point if I can’t get online with it. At last SSFIV is multi platform. I wonder if I qualify for the bonus if I get the Xbox version but my original SFIV is for the PS3.

  • maninashed

    [Couldn’t we just as easily say the same to Sony, it’s been hacked. Those that are hacking your “entertainment system” are not going to update their firmware, just let it go.]

    i gues you havent reasearch, you say we wont update, well we are gona update, we will have every update that sony releases but with one option, custom update, yes custom, so we will have any up coming update and we will still use every feature and play every game they release but not the way they want us to be, is gona be the way we want to be, i laugh at you SONY, this is what you get for doing this, this will definitly hurt their wallet

  • F sony

  • LOL,

    I use the Linux portion on my 60GB PS3. Now, to get ModNation Racers, I bet we can’t run this title unless we “Upgrade”, just like on the PSP… Kinda screws the customer!

    What’s next, take away the backwards compatibility of the older PS3 units? It would make for “a more streamlined, intuitive user experience”, after all (WTF) (Just like taking away Linux). I can see this happening!

    Do you like BluRay movies? It’s going to cost $1 (US) on your PSN wallet every time you play a movie you bought, lol.

    You will need a firmware upgrade which deletes PSN purchases over 1 year old, because now PSN content will expire, lol.

    For real:

    Guys and Gals… I hate to break it to you, but the following change IS coming to a PS3 near you, and you damn well know it…

    Pay for PSN. It will NOT always be free. Microsoft makes million$ every year on Live, and Sony will force another firmware up so we need to pay.

  • What else is unfair in the American digital world?

    DMCA – An American Joke, nicely done by the Left, to protect Hollywood, against “terrorism”, LMAO.

    Comcast – Can censor American bitwise traffic. Sure it’s for bittorrent… and Netflix (competes with on-demand), and Vonage/Skype/Google Voice (competes with Comcast Phone)… You heard it here, first. The FCC can’t do a damn thing about it. Tea Partyers that hate big government… good job! Talk about the Conservative “Right” Against the First Amendment! L,O,(fn)L! Go collect your (“I’m against”) socialist benefits while (instead of working for a living) you’re building your anti-gov militia in your trailer-trash neighborhood.

    Verizon/COX/Charter/Others will now follow suit (see above), the US Government can’t stop them.

    Apple won’t let you run multiple apps on iCrap, no SD slot 4U sucka!

    It’s getting worse my friends, much worse. At least in the USA.

  • @ INFIDEL_JIHAD

    A few things about that:
    1) The PS3 was marketed as a computer with Linux compatibility to show off the power of the Cell processor.
    2) That “haker” modified his system HARDWARE to pull off his exploit. Yes, it used Linux but it needed a chip to disrupt the system to get past the hypervisor. Therefore, the average user could not use it.
    3) If I was going to go through all the copious troubles of setting up my computer to my TV, I’d rather use Linux via other OS. Not only is it less hassle for the same result, but the PS3 is more powerful than most home computers. You severely underestimate the Cell…

  • I mean is this type of lying really ok????

  • @ N3xtGeN_cz

    No, it is not. If it was, all of us who have cried out in anger would have never done so. At least I’m glad that we aren’t letting this slide…

    We’re trying to do something about it…

  • Interesting comments and opinions from both sides of the aisle. But the omission of the Linux link hasn’t had much of an affect on my gaming or enjoyment of my PS3. But then I am not a geek or tech guru by any means.

  • Please be assured that SCE is committed to continue
    the support for previously sold models that have the
    “Install Other OS” feature and that this feature will
    not be disabled in future firmware
    releases.

    sudo sue

  • BluGoose

    just be patient, the custom firmware thats coming soon will not need for anyone to take their system apart its gona be done similar to the way the psp was done, then you willl be able to play ModNation Racers amd all the cames that require the new update, after it gets release any other new update that sony isues will be done the same, sony lost this one just like they did with the psp.

  • this is the reason why they are ignoring you, all they want right now is to get as many people to update so the number of hack systems can be low, but for what i have read across the net i think is a good 60 percent of the ps3 users that are complaining about this new update, slim users talk their crap on here but in reality there is more fat model ps3’s then there is slim unit, its been 3 years so yeah there is more fat units, it has not been that long since the slim came out so we have the biger ground, there are a few fat ps3 user updating but is not that many

  • @ lil_c_sr

    Of course, he did say that there was a chance that the custom firmware would enable otherOS on slims…
    He’s waiting to get his slim before he releases the firmware so that he can test it out on one…

  • Or they could be ignoring us because they don’t want to say anything to get themselves MORE into further trouble…

  • @GodDamnDevil

    Just curious where u got that statement from? its the wishful thinking of thousands.

    @HirotoSama

    More than likely they’ve had outside legal “advice” telling them in no uncertain terms to say NOTHING that will further incrimnate them in the inevetible legal actions to follow.

  • The next ps3 needs to have a notepad of some kind.
    you should also be able to adjust the memory for the internet browser.Or add a completely different kind of browser.
    You should atleast be able to install ubuntu.
    come on-.-

  • i meant the next ps3 update.

  • This is where I got that “http://www.osnews.com/story/22073/Why_No_OtherOS_Option_on_PS3_Slim_Sony_Answers”

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