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 am also extremely disappointed in Sony’s decision. They have proven to be scared of something that has also happened to the other 2 big systems. Has 360 and Wii died yet?? They seem to be doing just fine. Instead, they are just making more people notice the works of geohot (didnt know who he was until now). He’ll probably get hired from a big company now (such as hackers have by the american government) while everyone else gets shafted. I don’t blame him… I blame Sony for using this oportunity to sever their roots with the customers.
It
Only
Does
EVERYTHING.
(until Sony takes it away)
Well I would like to thank you for the updates, but I think that would encourage you to remove more features that I had paid for. If you continue to remove or downgrade my system I will not use the playstation store for purchases and I will not buy any games for the PS3 and disconnect my PS3 from the internet entirely. I still have an old update to resort to. In the future I will use my hard earned money for purchases for my Xbox.
So far…
You removed USB ports
You removed Memory Card Slots
You removed the ability to enter codes for games I purchased
You removed the ability to install other OS
I don’t see a positive alternative to owning a PS3 if you continue in this direction.
I am very unhappy. Do you value the customers or the money?
You must be learning your business ethics from China.
Please don’t respond to this comment if you’re going to tell me anything other than how I am going to be compensated for taking that which I paid for, away.
Ahh, I forgot…
You also removed backward compatibility…
Greedy Bastages!
EASY FIRMWARE UPDATE BYPASS
Figured I’d at least post this somewhere, since Sony made a Basically, this will allow you to use the PSN and play your games online while still having an older PS3 firmware version installed, such as 3.15.
If, eventually, a disc game comes out that requires 3.21, you will be forced to upgrade to play that game; there’s nothing you can do about that yet. But in the meantime…
You can go to customize your network settings from XMB, and get to the part about DNS nameservers. Select custom, and enter the following IP as your Primary DNS:
67.202.81.137
And there you go, PSN works.
This is absolutely unacceptable Sony. I bought this device with the ability to both play games on the internet and specifically because of the options available such as installing another operating system. Had it not been for these reasons I would probably have bought an Xbox 360.
Being a software developer understand the issues you face entirely however, you cannot take features away from customers. You are also strongly insulting those of us who have paid a significant amount of money for our games and have no intention of ever pirating them. Are you going to give a full refund as this product is no longer fit for purpose?
I went to my Network Setings and have put 67.202.81.137 as my primary DNS but it still asks for me to update.
Should I not test the connection?
Anyone else having this problem, or maybe sony has caught up with this IP?
This update is very annoying and not very well-thought.
Refuse! Resist!
Hopefully everyone now agrees this wasn’t an April’s Fool joke! I hope everyone who claimed this are now ashamed of themselves. They had an important role in subduing the initial reaction, allowing Sony to this in relative silence.
Sony once again equals fail.
When will you yellow bastards learn to stop messing with Americans? Worse case scenario? Hiroshima.
:)
bypass issue: what values do you put in the other inputs. 67.202.87.137 is the primary dns what about the rest?
good great
*67.202.81.137
There is reports of PS3, who loose BR Drive after update. You will say : As every time there is an update, there is a certain % of PS3 who cease working. But, what is about laughting limit to die :
To make the BR Drive working, the solution is : BOOT UNDER LINUX !!!
Mouahhhhhh … SONY !!!
Everything else should be set to auto. Secondary DNS would be your router (e.g. 192.168.1.x).
You have failed me Sony, once a 12 year loyal purchaser and consumer representer of sony products. I will never update unless you start ADDING features. But until then, “My PS3 only doesn’t do everything.”
Until you have listened to your true investors, your fans. My extensive gaming time will now go to another console and I will choose to spend my money elsewhere, to honest corporations who will have my best interests at the front of their agenda.. or at least keep their word at the point of sale.
They have committed a crime for falsely advertising a product that I purchased to make sure that I am able to enjoy. 2 years later, this feature is removed for “security reasons” that someone else has committed with THEIR OWN playstation console. I don’t know what logic you guys follow to basically shut out everyone including your legitimate users of this feature , but it is at the cost of your most loyal audiences that does use it for everything.
Sony Playstation 3 R.I.P.
Sep. 9th, 1995 – Apr. 1st, 2010.
It supposed that any upgrade bring up more advantages to the user so he can do more things with the system that had buy with money….
Let’s bet:
Next update will remove:
a) BC
b) BluRay player
c) Video Player
d) Bluetooth
e) Browser
f) Music
g) Photo
h) PSN (This will be funny, if you don’t update you will not have PSN Access but if you update Sony will remove PSN for security issues)
i) PS3 games
I will bet for the i options, Motivation:
If someone hack the PS3 there is a posibility that someone could play pirated games, but if you remove the posibility of play games you will remove the Piracy!
Oh I forget some options
j) USB
k) WiFI
l) Ethernet
m) Card reader
Wow, I’m seriously disappointed. What do we need to do to reverse this? Because if you don’t I’m going to start pirating your games. And that’s a threat.
No comments from Sony…
I’m going to see if they say anything when I send in a nice long letter that I want a refund for Yellow Dog Linux that I purchased.
I just decided that I have too many games. (33)
I don’t need to buy any more because of this crap, I guess.
Your loss Sony.
Oh yeah, that Bravia HDTV I was thinking of getting with my tax refund…
It will be a Samsung.
And that Sony HD Receiver I was looking at…
…Harmon Kardon now.
Well, i think the bad things start about now, because in a month or two, hackers will find a way with a custom firmware.( I think the PS3 is still not hacked today because of the alternate OS System, look how “hacking” begun on other consoles, almost everytime homebrew or linux was the start! Gamecube, Wii, Old Xbox 360, Dreamcast) So those people who will use this, have otherOS, but the loyal legal user don’t… its always the same, like copy protection on PC, those who download a crack or the pirated copy can easiely enjoy the game, but the honest custumer has to activate the game, almost everytime restricted to a certain number of pcs, if it even works with your old DVD-Hardware, securom is a [DELETED]!
(1/2)
I was hoping this was a bad April fools joke…
I had a bad experience with Sony, a CD writer I purchased several years ago that was packaged as a model that had all the features that I wanted. I got it home, unboxed it and to my dismay it was not as advertised, Sony had done the old bait-and-switch and swapped model numbers. With the PS3, and its capabilities, I thought I’d give Sony another chance. One of the reasons I bought a first gen machine was because I had the option to install Linux and develop on a big endian platform and on the cell processor. To take away a feature that has VERY little to do with hacking or reverse engineering is just like the Sony I remember. We bought the features and the device as advertised, and now Sony is removing them to protect the consumers(?) for fear of piracy… just pure BS (more so since the hardware requires modification too).
(2/2)
Sony, you want to discontinue features in a new line of your product, that is your choice; no one could say word one about it because the feature list is right there for everyone to see. Changing your tune and dropping support of a long-standing feature that was a selling point is just plain evil in every sense. Further a real hacker will find another way of doing what they want, because that is what they do… its about getting into the nitty gritty and making the device do more; the only thing Sony has done with this is isolate and annoy a section of its consumer base… ‘grats.
@ ROTT3N_H3ll sony’s been this way for 2 1/2 decades man good pr bad pr they’ve seen what happens to gamming consoles ie, the early days with the first online colleco vision console this was conceived n waged over 10 yrs ago just finally took a bunch of cheating and hacking for sony to put a gilloutine to the hackers access pass I stand by sony’s cell broad band engine processor linux proved it’s just as powerfull as a pentium if used correctly but as always some people abused everyone elses fun to enjoy this feature we now can’t access for now im sure is only temporary. If you fully read the update it says disabled not gone from the ps3 fat entirely yet,so for now i enjoy my ps3 with a smooth ol’ knock free running engine that gets me there with my games n won’t burn no oil due to…. no viruses,no hacking,and all the access the ps3 was intended and built for maybe as good as built sony tough hehe! lol appearently with this update it was sony just puttin the middas touch to my ps3 hehe…. to insure my cpu keeps its life.
READ THIS!
Amazon pays a refund for missing OtherOS feature post firmware 3.15.
“We are writing to confirm that we have processed your refund in the amount of £84.00 for your Order 666-5327564-4432412.
This refund is for the following item(s):
Item: Sony PlayStation 3 Console (60GB Premium Version)
Quantity: 1
ASIN: B0007SV734
Reason for refund: Account adjustment
The following is the breakdown of your refund for this item:
Item Refund: £71.49
Item Tax Refund: £12.51”
Ref: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=20573361&postcount=2059
I have contacted sony on a refund they stated that on eula that it said that the the instal other program was removed can anyone please confirm this thanks
It’s called hubris, Sony. And I’ve been maintaining for years that you’re guilty of it.
Rather than foster a good relationship with your early adopters, you’ve decided to pull a move from Apple’s playbook and insist that everyone has to do things the same way because it’s easier for you to control things that way.
It’s unbelievable how you can refuse to listen to so many of your customers — many of whom paid $600 to have your system in that first troubling year of launch. They deserve better.
I’ve seen some rumblings of a class-action lawsuit. I hope it happens, and I know I will sign up for it if it does. Like the thousands of commenters here, I think it is wrong of you to remove an advertised feature with a firmware update simply because you fear piracy.
screw sony im selling my ps3 peace of crap system and buying an xbox 360
Well they told me I would “still be able to play on PSN with 3.15” ( which I could not obviously.
File with the BBB, FTC, or your state’s attorney general’s office. Hold out for a few weeks and a Class Action Lawsuit may be under way.
SONY – It only degenerates itself…
April fools, right? Right? Actually, I’ve read your prior blog forewarning this. It seems that you are the only company to downgrade the system with every ‘update’. I understand it is perfectly legal for you to do this. I also understand it is perfectly legal for me to condemn such an act and not update.
But it’s ok. I never use my ps3 for gaming anyhow.
Wow!
Human rights violation? Fraud? Can we have a moment of reality algnment please?
It’s a game console for crying out loud.
That said, Sony has certainly screwed the pooch on this one. Heading towards 6000 responses here alone and a day hasn’t passed.
You could have offered 3D in exchange for the OS loss or waited to throw the baby out with the bathwater until the technology was in place to offer the one for the other.
You could have made some kind of gesture offering free gaming or some cyber crap as a trade off for removing a feature that was provided as a come on to buyers.
Free ducats at the PS store maybe?
C’mon Sony this ain’t rocket scientry.
You are competitors in a marketplace. You think they aren’t laughing loudly ovr their Wheaties at Microsoft right now? The folks at Nintendo are no doubt laughing too over whatever they eat at this time of day.
Has the economic downturn forced you to lose your minds? If you take something away that people paid for then you provide something of equal or greater value to them to shut up their whining about human rights and whatnot.
What a bunch of maroons!
www .neogaf .com /forum/showpost.php?p=20573361&postcount=2059
IF this is genuine then quite simply Sony HAVE broken the law.
I’m surprised at how much of a refund has been offered just goes to show just how much that feature is worth in monetary terms.
So are we are supposed to just let them get away with stealing £80 of us?
everyone here is still going on about how they think its a joke. ITS NOT. and NONE OF YOU can sue Sony. remember that Terms Of Service you agreed to? read it next time. Sony is 100% allowed to make any changes without notification OR compensation. Sony doesn’t owe anyone here a thing. and stop crying. you guys whine like Sony went and murdered your families. i bet majority of the people who bought a PS3 (ORIGINAL) don’t even know what to do with the Other OS feature. so for most people, its no big deal.but you guys are making such a big deal out of NOTHING. if you leave your PS3 running 24/7 like me and stay signed in, you’ll be fine. no need for me to update yet.
I demand a partial refund. You keep giving me reason to hate the PS3. I bought my PS2 specifically for the backwards compatibility and OtherOS.
Almost forgot. THEY MADE AN OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT saying that they would NOT remove OtherOS.
ok people realize this. when sony initially sold the system i’m sure they use this increased functionality as a means of determining price. if they made u pay a higher price to obtain this feature then shouldnt we get a refund for losing it.
I’m glad I never put another OS on my PS3.
also please keep in mind that every single update specifically states that includes ant and all features included in previous updates. by stating this it nullifies the tos statement of being able to remove previous functionalities. these are contradictory statements and therefore render both agreements void.
Even if you do not use other os on your ps3, consider this: sony has constantly been using bait and switch methods on their consumers. Just google it!
Thanks for promising you weren’t going to remove OtherOS just a few months ago
only to remove it now.
http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2009/08/28/sony_firmware_3_0_secrets/
Sony promises are worth nothing.
This really pisses me off, I was actually in the process of adding the Ubuntu OS to my PS3 last night and then saw that I needed to update, whenever the update was complete the option for “Install OS” was gone.
I feel like the only way for PS3 to redeem theirselves now is to either give back the option, or make a new OS that would run like a Linux OS.
Okay i must say. I waited 40+ hours outside in the freezing cold to pay $599.99 for my system. I toughed it out through a very hard first year with the system while buying virtually all the psn games and very soft lineup of games that came out..you can even go to the point of calling me a fan boy for all the times i have stuck up for the ps3 and refused to buy microsoft products. But wow since then all they have done is downgraded my system over and over i really don’t see why i constantly support this system anymore. I have spend thousands on ps3 and its hard/software but after this up/downgrade to my ps3 i am seroiusly considering dropping all my loyalties to Sony and giving my support to a company who rewards its fanbase instead of doing the opposite like Sony has been…
Sincerely,
Very disappointed Sony loyalist
File a complaint to the BBB and the FTC.
(from arstechnica)
…This is a fight Sony can’t win
The wins .Removed. has enjoyed in playing with the system were enough to make Sony nervous, and taking away Linux hasn’t made many gamers happy. Catching the interest of someone who clearly has both the time and the knowledge to open the system wider isn’t likely to end well for Sony; .Removed. may not be interested in piracy, but the more capabilities put into the hands of the cracking community the more likely that outcome is going to be. Sony knows just how damaging piracy can be to a platform—the PSP has suffered from that problem almost since launch—but taking away features and claiming security concerns may have simply given the issue more attention than it deserved.
As well as a refund for loss of functionality what about the loss of 10GB of disk space? LMAO
Seriously, what company rushes out an update that just removes menu items and doesn’t even FIX the mess they’re making of my HDD?
Altogether now
1
2
3
SONY
i find it interesting how my numerous post keep changing in number. that could only mean sony is removing comments. it would be interesting to know if the comments they remove are more towards the side supporting them or the side speaking the truth? just curious.