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)
First Aspect, then Echo, now Gigidy…
Seperate trolls? Or, the same person?
@Gigidy17
Stones666 you should’ve got a xbox….. it doesn’t have nothing but gaming capabilities ……you a Playstation user who’s complaining over the removal of the OtherOS feature would’ve been real happy
The difference is : When you buy an XBox, or a PS3 slim, you know that it can only do gaming.
When we bought our PS3 Fat model, we know that it can do gaming AND home computer. We have paid for all thoses options. The problem is here: SONY take back half the capabilities of OUR hardware, but we have payed for ALL the capabilities.
SONY is wrong, they override Laws and hope on people like you not to say anything. Tomorrow, they find the PS3 can peharps possibly be hacked by USB ports, so they will block you from using them. But YOU have payed for a system which have USB on which you can plug keyboard, mouse, external hard disk etc…
@ Apprendice
I don’t think we’ll see a useful update for a while now after what happened here w/ 3.21 .. sorry thats just the way it is
between what they might do to answer the hatred from this issue and all the pointless ideas that they get blinded by we’re goin to have to wait even longer for beneficial updates
I contacted Marita Wilska. She is currently the official who’s job in my country (Finland) is to negotiate with company who sold the product and consumer if there’s any disagreement on something between them. UK has bit similar thing “Consumer Direct”, to Finnish “Consumer Agency” but there are differences.
I hope that I can at least get back my 300€ out of 633€ I paid for Playstation 3 which has the Other OS functionality. Current slim model Playstation 3s cost 300€s. That way I can get another Playstation 3 or put the money on something better.
And don’t update your systems! And don’t use that DNS resolve hack which allows you to connect to PSN without updating. That’s like the only way to protest directly against this update.
@Sponge-worthy
It’s the same person. I’m sure. And it’s a SONY employee.
thanks to this we’re probably goin to also see those good old +.01 updates that we always got w/ the psp because of cfw
thank you whoever brings cfw .. thanks alot
o well im off to enjoy the weather now that i can actually see the sun here in PA after days of rain
Question to those who did upgrade. Are partitioning tools of SonyOS aka. GameOS still there? Can you format your HDDs so that GameOS gets all the space?
I have not updated nor will I. I paid too much freaking money for a system that had endless possibility. So now you take a function away that sold me on the PS3???? SONY READ THIS WELL…. GO…. PHUCK…. YOUR….SELF…!!!!!. Anyone else with a 60gig and wants to run other OS (Linux) don’t update.Cause there will be a solution to the problem. As for SONY why must you continue to take away features from the PS3 and claims its does everything???? You are lying and should be sued for false advertising.
for those that saying just get a computer-
my understanding is if you were to get a computer with a Cell Processor Architecture, you would be paying considerably more than just picking up a PC to run Linux.
Is Linux limited on the PS3- yes.
Does it allow you inexpensive access to a sophisticated Processing Architecure- yes, and this is the Feature that many are dissapointed in having taken away from them, and justifiably so, in my opinion.
@AnXa
I WASNT ABLE TO….
People that say that this isnt a big deal are missing the point. No company has the right to say their product has x features and then after awhile decided to remove the features in their feature list. This is morally wrong!! They should fix the hole. Or if they want to temporary remove it fine but bring it back. This is a classic bait and switch tactic.
hey out of curiosity has anyone seen any notification regarding any update? offically i mean. its now nearly april 2nd jst and i still haven’t heard of anyone who has actually had to update. So anyone saying this complaining doesnt work take notice. either sony was playing a cruel joke or they really are scared of a class action lawsuit. U know what this may have also been just a publicity stunt. everyone knows the easiest way to advertise word of internet. they could’ve planned all this as a way of hyping up the s3 even more. either way this announcement is either a bad joke or illegal business practices that they will get sued for.
i have never been so angry at a company. I really care very little for the other os option but its the fact that they feel that they can just do something like this that really gets me going.
PSN, current online games, and OtherOS are still an option if you bypass the fw check. Secure your functionality by performing the following,
1) google “tutorial bypass ps3 fw update”
2) follow instructions
3) DO NOT UPDATE
4) enjoy existing functionality
If it helped you then pass it along.
I love how it wasnt a April fools day joke.
zepala i only use the dual shock 3 controller ….. hey but nothings holding you guys here anymore now that OtherOS feature is gone why dont you go sell your ps3s. its not gonna hurt sony seeing that owners of the PS3 Fats are so upset.. the slim is bringing in gamers not whiners….. well at least i hope…….the FAT PS3 doesn’t sell anymore.
I’m fine with this because I never used the feature. I think some people may be angry, but for the most part more people have moved away from this feature, and all the slim users can’t do it anyway. There’s no point to having it anymore. And piracy on games needs to stop as well!
yeah I love the “Im going to buy a 360 blah blah anger anger” people.
have fun paying 120$ for a 60gb hard drive. and have fun paying for online, and paying 100$ for a power cable. you think sony is a money hungry company well you never heard of Microsoft then.
also guys please keep in mind what corrupt is saying. this could open a floodgate. sony could easily try and remove mp3 playback video playback or basically any feature they choose based on “security risks”. this is not cool. also by restricting ur access to psn should u choose to not update ur firmware they are BREAKING THE LAW. Either way with this firmware update its illegal. a company can not advertise a product with certain features and then remove them with an “update” or restrict alternate features should you choose not to update your software. both of these actions are illegal in america.
You guys dont understand. i still think they should remove blu ray playability I dont use it
IF THEY REMOVE BLU-RAY PLAYABILITY THEN THEY REMOVE GAMEPLAY…. LOOK @ ANY PS3 GAME DISK IT HAS THE BLU-RAY LOGO
don’t see how they are “breaking the law” as you NEVER payed to use there online service. no one has a subscription to it. its free the provide it.
if people had been paying 60$ a year for psn and this happened yeah that’s a little shady..but you didn’t so its not illegal not bu a long shot.
maybe this is a new idea,but loyalty should be rewarded.most of the people who are complaining spent well over $600 for their system.not the $299 slim model.that is over a 200% increase in price.we were standing behind a sony system when the price was unheard of,getting mugged for that same system,and dealing with horrible launch titles.i use linux and my ps3 fat is backwards compatible due to emulation.i dont want firmware 3.39 or whatever to deem my emulation isnt needed for whatever reason they may come up with.please see the point here.it is a big company with a god complex”the lord giveth and the lord taketh away.”
If this got you guys up in arms i wonder how mad you would get if they started charging for Playstation Network
That’s a bunch of [DELETED] SONY! Removing a feature that you were previously committed to keeping in an official statement!? First, you screw us by removing PS2 compatibility, then this? I EXPECT there to be a PSN title that introduces PS2 Game Compatibility into the system again. This is a sham…. No wonder so many gamers are NOT choosing the PS3 as there main console.
I just read GeoHot’s blog and he himself said his hack was not about pirating and explained why. Many people had installed Linux on their PS3s and not pirated anything.
And all Sony have now done is irritate people into creating custom firmware which I don’t think would have happened.
Its the same thing with the DRM/DMR Sony, Apple and a few others attach to music and movie files consumers legally buy from them. A friend of mine recently bought a film form itunes using an Apple iMac. He bought the movie with the intention of playing it on his PS3 which is connected to a 6.1 Home Surround system and a 42inch LCD HDTV. And he couldn’t play the movie. So no longer will he be buying films or anything on itunes. Far from discouraging illegal downloads all these measure these corporates take only fuel the desire to download illegally.
I am old fashion and like to have all the bells and whistles of buying movies, cd, and games. And if they are too expensive I wait for a sale, ebay or ex-rentals.
let me also make it clear i do not use this feature nor do i have any intention of using this feature in the future. however this does not make it ok for sony to remove it after i have paid for it. i dont use my psp to play music but it doesnt mean sony can strip away my right to play mp3’s on it. i also dont use the internet on it but they cant disable the browseer just cuz i dont use it. hell sony knows about people hacking it through the battery and yet they continued to sell it with battery. they dont tell u u cant remove the battery. why cuz its illegal. sony knows this move is EXTREMELY ILLEGAL which is why it has yet to go live even though in japan there is only 1 hour left til april 2nd.
Looks more and more like April Fool’s stuff. Looks at the checksums for previous update and this “new” 3.21
Thank God I have three options for gaming. I’m considering in boycotting Sony and selling my PS3 and all my games (I have more than 30).
I guess I will have to go with N1nt3ndo (M1cr0s0ft? No way!).
“THEY CAME FIRST for the Backwards Compatibility
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t using that.
THEN THEY CAME for the ports,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t them anyway.
THEN THEY CAME for the Other OS,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t using Linux.
THEN THEY CAME for the feature I used and loved
and by that time no one was left to speak up.”
@twoinches
how can u not see how they are breaking the law. the ps3 box and all games clearly state that they allow access to the psn. it’s even advertised in their commercials. at no point is it stated that any recent firmware is required to do so. this makes it illegal for them to restrict access based on firmware. a company can not sell a product advertised with certain features and then restrict them after purchase. this is illegal in america.
didnt buy a ps3 to play ps2 games on.
you really need 4 ports?
cell processors might be nice and all, but I bought this to play games.
as long as I can play games online then they can do whatever they want.
Lol well I updated my ps3 its pretty uselees i wished they would have added anything T^T
THEY WILL AND ITS GONNA BE ABOUT 69.99 FOR A YEAR WITH 3 YEAR WARRENTY,ECT YOU CAN GO TO KOTAKU DOT COM- SONY -SURVEY- SAYS – PREMIUM – NETWORK – SUBSCRIPTIONS – UNDER – CONSIDERATION HERE YOU CAN FIND ALL THE INFO YOU NEED ABOUT PAID PSN
@improper
so if sony came out next week and stated it was going to start charging for the PSN would that be illegal?
I just downloaded update 3.21 and went to play online, only to find that my super-expensive fancy gaming headset (EarForce P21) no longer works. I hear three clicks, then power to the headset shuts down, then turns on again, then three clicks and it shuts down again, then turns on again .. over and over and over. Now I’m ticked off. I understand doing updates to fix security issues, but Sony needs to make sure the new firmware is still compatible with licensed third-party equipment like this. I paid a hell of a lot of money for this headset just a few months ago. If it’s already worthless to me, I’m seriously ticked off. Sony … you need to fix whatever it is that’s causing this, and issue a new update ..FAST.
well the way i see it is being how i own the backwards compatible and a slim yhis is just another step down 4 ps3 but since the network was down we have been being bashed on then xbox get the MW2 mappack b4 us now this i dont know it just seems like ps3 is not trying be any better than xbox any more sony wake up and give something back to your consumers because it has been 2 long now
@twoinches
yes actually it would be if they tried charging for features we currently are allowed access to for free as stated in advertisements. however should they choose to add additional features they can add a charge for additional features as they see fit. by agreeing to use the additonal features u are agreeing to pay for them. sony can not however restrict online connectivity should you choose not to update or upgrde to premium as they have already advertised it as free. y do think they haven’t already started charging for it. it’s a friggin goldmine. sony could easily wipe out any losses made from the ps3 by charging for psn.
i hope they launch a ps3 slim with 4 usb ports reason why is because i need one for controller when im not using it wirelessly one for keyboard so i can type and one for usb headset mic :)
CONT>>@twoinches
the only reason they haven’t already implemented a charge is because their legal team has informed them that to do so would be illegal without advertising it as a different product i.e premium with additional features and services.
I would just like to post this to all the “Well, _I_ don’t use it, so oh well” people.
I game a lot on PSN and also use the linux part. The “OtherOS” feature helped levy my decision. My HDD was cut in half (two 20 gig partitions). Now with the update, I had to format my PS3. I have nothing to backup my data to, so I lost 2 partitions of data, which is about 20+ saved games and all downloaded PSN games. Also, I couldn’t sync my trophies because I needed the update, so any trophies I acquired are now gone. So now, all those saved games (and anything done on the OtherOS) are gone. I paid over 400 dollars for this system.
Onna76 | April 1st, 2010 at 5:22 am
Why are people threatning Sony (so typical America) with sueing them? Don’t you even read the legal agreement before you signed “I agree”? If not, then you should before start making accusations and you’ll find out that Sony Computer Entertainment has every single right to remove, change or add software in order to provide a better service for the PS3. As long as Sony are in their rights about this you’ve got nothing to say, except complain.
^ pretty sure that wont hold up in court. considering thats removing a major feature people paid to have without compensation.
@improperlyaged
Got link for the premium being held up for legal reasons?
if u guys dont believe its illegal why do u think other companies allow you to use their products without updating thier software. a perfect example is microsoft and apple. itunes will work with ur ipod so long as the ipod supports that software. they cant say oh u have an old ipod and an older version of itunes so u cant access the itunes store anymore. that would be illegal. same thing sony is trying to do. also when windows gets security patch updates they are optional. they dont limit ur internet access based on which software u have. they cant restrict u from using any feature based on ur software wether its windows media player, office or internet explorer cuz they were already paid for and that would be illegal.
@Gigidy17
they can charge for PSN if they want as long as the games do not require you to update them using PSN. PSN has to be free because everything seems to run through PSN and that is part of the issue here.
If you do not update to 3.21 you can no longer use PSN until you do, but the problem is that many of the new games will require the new firmware and psn. PSN is not just a shopping channel or tool for online game play it is the central hub through which everything PlayStation3 happens.
I have one of those Sony ATRAC players (Sony’s initial response to the portable mp3 player revolution). I hated using Sony’s SonicStage, it was slow bulky and sometimes screwup up the database on the device so I’d have to delete everything and start again.
I made a switch to Linux from Windows and discovered a nifty little java application called JSymphonic that is lightweight, much faster and much more stable than SonicStage. Charge for PSN if you want but give me the freedom to choose which hub I use.
The outcry here is because people have had enough of Sony not providing us with what we want and then have the nerve to keep removing feature they used as part of their sales pitch.
http : //kotaku. com/5429592/survey-sony-considering-premium-playstation-network-subscriptions
Sony is considering offering a premium PlayStation Network subscription in the future. The subscription offering would provide new premium features you could choose to pay for and are in addition to the features currently available for free such as access to online multiplayer gaming (current features would remain free).
Mouhahaha : We trust you now SONY : current features would remain free …
Let me laught !
i dont get this im downloading teh update right now but its been in 12% for the past 2 hours any ideas what might be happening?
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm smell that air everyone. ITS A BEAUTIFUL MORNING! Can you smell the 3.21 in the air? It smells good! It smells…less useless…almost like my PS3 got rid of some of its dead weight!
mmmmmmmmmmmmm day one of the best firmware patch ever! I LOVE IT!
“It only does…what our patches haven’t taken away yet.”
To play Devil’s Advocate, if they don’t have to spend resources closing Geohot’s findings, they COULD possibly end up spending more time adding features back into the ps3
But a man can dream, can’t he?
The PS3 is worse at each update… and this continue…
We bought a PS3, and we want to use it as we want!
Now I’ll boycott sony…