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Debating The Playstation 3 Other OS Removal

By Ishaan . April 11, 2010 . 7:10pm

Debating The Playstation 3 Other OS Removal

About a fortnight ago, Sony announced that they would be removing the PlayStation 3′s “Install Other OS” feature, which allowed users to install Linux on the system, via a firmware update. While it wasn’t explicitly stated — Sony cited “security concerns” — it is widely assumed that the measure was taken in order to combat the potential rise of piracy on the device, due to a hack pioneered by iPhone hacker George Hotz.

 

Following the announcement, the denizens of the Internet were quick to point out that Sony were removing a feature they had paid for while purchasing their PlayStation 3s; some so violently offended by the move, they suggested that they hoped that the measure would drive the hacking community to pursue PS3 hacking and piracy more aggressively. More disturbingly, it would appear this is a sentiment Hotz has resorted to using in defense of his actions.

 

“Note to the people who removed OtherOS,” he writes on his blog. “You are potentially turning 100000+ legit users into “hackers.” There was a huge(20x) traffic spike to this blog after the announcement of 3.21. If I had ads on this site I guess I’d be thanking you.”

 

In another post, he writes, “Hacking isn’t about getting what you didn’t pay for, it’s about making sure you do get what you did.”

 

He goes on, “And this is about more than this feature right now. It’s about whether these companies have the right to take away advertised features from a product you purchased. Imagine if an exploit were found in Safari on the iPhone, but instead of fixing it, Apple decides to pull web browsing altogether. Legally, they may be within their right to do so, but we have to show them it’s the wrong move for the future of the product and the company.”

 

The first obvious flaw to this theory is, of course, that we, as consumers, are in no position to decide what is in the best interest of a company. Sure, as consumers, our opinions are valid and our suggestions and feedback critical to future expansion. However, the majority of us don’t have the insight or the incentive to truly be aware of what is and isn’t good for the future of a company that provides us with services.

 

Making games is a difficult business. Not only do you have to remain profitable, you also have to pay and reward your staff for their effort. It’s easy to point to a company like Nintendo and say, “Well, they’re making money hand over fist. How hard could that be?”

 

If you took a look at NCL’s working hours — and I don’t mean their “official” working hours — or any other company’s for that matter, you’d probably look at this situation from a different perspective. Every single day, there are people that sacrifice their personal pleasures and families to give us the content we enjoy. Sony are no different. One certainly can’t blame the company for attempting to nip a potential problem in the bud before it has a chance to bloom, especially when it’s a feature as niche as this. Especially in light of what happened to the PSP.

 

There’s little doubt that this move was not easy for them to make. It never is. They’ve been in this business a long time and they saw the complaints coming from a mile away. Will they look back some day and regret their decision? Perhaps. But it’s impossible to be 100% accurate when finding potential solutions to potential problems.

 

The other statement that rubs me the wrong way is about how hacking isn’t about getting what you didn’t pay for. This is an utterly bizarre notion. Hacking most certainly is about getting what you didn’t pay for because it involves making a device do things it wasn’t intended to. Really, if we’re going to be idealistic enough to suggest that hacking doesn’t promote piracy, in the name of fairness, we should also be idealistic enough to understand that Sony are reacting the way they are not as an “evil corporation” out to spite its consumers, but to protect themselves and their employees from a very real threat.

 

Hotz might be young, but he isn’t stupid. He most certainly understands the consequences of his actions. Regardless of how he justifies himself, at the end of the day, his “hobby” ultimately puts the welfare of thousands of people at risk. It also endangers the rights of legitimate consumers, as this Other OS business has demonstrated. Remember, piracy is a large part of why PC gaming changed so drastically over the years. Are we really going to feign naivety when it suits us?

 

To conclude, take a step back and look at what Hotz is trying to justify. His hack wasn’t a reaction to anything, which is how he presents his argument. Rather, it’s part of a larger problem that plagues the industry as a whole today. Hacking in itself isn’t wrong, but there are more productive ways to use those skills, whether one wants to admit it or not.


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  • http://myanimelist.net/animelist/OnyxSyaoran OnyxSyaoran

    It was the worst decision Sony Entertainment could have made. That’s it.

    • http://www.younganimal.com/berserk Mr_Qoo

      I highly doubt removing this feature is the “worst decision” they could have ever made, but it does seem to rub a lot of people the wrong way.

      @Ishaan: You sure opened a can of worms. I’m interested to see some opinions. Personally, in the past and present, I’ve backed up games, yet it’s always been of something I already own. I’m a gamer yet also a collector so I like to keep things pristine and play the burns or copies. I understand the piracy issues these companies have but sometimes it can really turn around and bite them in the backside. The slight Nintendo bricking Wii problem comes to mind (or am I off with that and misunderstood what happened?) Either way this is certainly a going to get some people heated. ^-^

      • http://myanimelist.net/animelist/OnyxSyaoran OnyxSyaoran

        I’m mad because is a feature they decided to put and then just decide to take away, I love my linux on my PS3 D:. And the Nintendo Bricking thing was apparently something Nintendo made up, I checked the Gbatemp Forums and never found someone saying that their Wii Bricked because of Update, it only removed all the Homebrew Related software.

        • http://www.younganimal.com/berserk Mr_Qoo

          Why would Nintendo make up their update bricking someones system. Could someone clarify this for me? Now I’m interested?

          • http://myanimelist.net/animelist/OnyxSyaoran OnyxSyaoran

            I don’t know a lot actually, my Wii isn’t modified, but I visit those forums regularly, and all I found was that the 4.2 update removed the Homebrew Channel and all related stuff, but didn’t bricked the Wii as reported, and people there SPECULATED that Nintendo was the one that leaked those news. But there’s no official word about it.

          • 9thsage

            I’m certain that if anyone said it “bricked Wiis” it was users who didn’t bother to do the research first. It wouldn’t be the first time rampant speculation got out of hand in that way, I’ve seen it several times before in regards to Wii updates. :P

          • 9thsage

            Oh wait, if you mean the recent 4.2 update, then I think some said this because it was updating boot2, which long story short is something very very early in the boot process of the Wii. If it got messed up, the system would be toast. But really, if almost any of the update got messed up it would be the same (if it were the system menu instead, for example). I’ve actually seen a few Wiis update with it and they were fine, so I don’t think it’s nearly as worrisome as some people seem to think. Blown out of proportion, at the very least. What I said below definitely applies to most Wii updates though in some way in the community that follows that kind of thing however. lol

    • MisterNiwa

      If someone is saying:
      ‘I am going to hack your system through an option that gave us much freedom to do so to let other hackers do whatever they like to do with it.’

      Wouldnt you think it would be a better idea, to just deactivate this option so all the users are getting treated the same?

      Sure, cutting it, was something that could’ve been prevented, but this GeoHotz wasnt helping at all with his threat.
      In my opinion, he is somehow a premature that was playing around with something valueable, then broke it and blamed someone else for it.

      Cutting the OtherOS Option was the fault of GeoHotz.
      He is just a coward to blame Sony for it, his threats made Sony act that way.

  • kupomogli

    It’s a feature no one used and the ones that did use removed it. People don’t want it there because they paid for it, they want it there because there is a potential to crack the system and that’s the only possible way. Instead of bi***ing about it how about those people try to hack the system instead of just utilizing other peoples efforts to get something for nothing.

    So anyways. I updated regardless, even when hearing the news about two or three days before 04/01. I tried Linux on PS3 once. It’s slower than the PC my parents bought back in 1995. Can’t run anything in 3d. Oooo wow. Emulation. Sure it’s a nice feature to be able to emulate Atari, NES, Genesis, PC Engine HuCards, Gameboy, and SNES games through your PS3, but you can do that with a PC. Or even better, those consoles itself.

    Anyways. Whenever those people bought the PS3. Did Sony have on the box that you will also be receiving the PS3 Home, Ad hoc party, Scene Selection on movie files, PSX games on the PS3, etc. No. All these features were not originally on the PS3 and only added at a later date. It’s not like Sony is charging people for adding any of those features or use those features. They were all free updates that for most users are actually worth using.

    Sure. I don’t download movies and watch them on my PS3. I purchase them. I don’t go to Home because I think it sucks. Some people do like it, though. However. Adhoc party. Remember when you had to be right in the same room to play PSP with other players? I’d like to forget that. Atleast with the Adhoc Party I no longer have to do so. I still actually do occasionally though, because some friends own the PSP and no PS3, some with 360.

    So people can go on and cry. Most of them 360 and Wii fanboys because oh noes, Sony is really hurting people who probably don’t own the system. So yeah, some people want something for nothing, just want to bi***, or just want another reason to bash the system.

    Proud owner of a 60GB OtherOSless PS3. Former 360 Disc Driver Error and didn’t like paying for XBL Gold. The Wii blows.

    • http://www.younganimal.com/berserk Mr_Qoo

      “Proud owner of a 60GB OtherOSless PS3. Former 360 Disc Driver Error and didn’t like paying for XBL Gold. The Wii blows.”

      0_o … ?!?!?!

      PS: Calm down?

      • kupomogli

        I like the 360. Just don’t own it anymore. To be honest most people bashing Sony because of the OtherOS removal are probably people who don’t own a PS3 and don’t know how bad the Linux on PS3 really sucks, plus a reason to bash the system. That was just towards those people. Also the people who were waiting for the system to be pirated.

    • dioioib

      Wow kupomogli, I have to contest everything you are saying about the linux install on PS3. The os is not actually slow at all, provided you know what you are doing when you install it. Sure you do not get access to the GPU for 3D acceleration but you can still run some interesting software none the less. Although you make a sweeping generalization about most linux users, I would doubt many of them use the system to do something simplistic like run emulated games from other consoles. I personally write programs to experiment with the CellBE processor and to use the system as a backup computer system just in case my server goes down and I need a quick replacement.

      And there are a large number of people using the otherOS feature on the PS3, they are not just a bunch of people complaining that don’t own the console. In fact many of the people who do use the feature are older gamers whos main intent much like myself was to purchase a feature rich “it just does everything” console. Taking away my main reason to buy a PS3 and what do you have left, an over priced computer. Put linux on the machine and you have a reasonably priced multimedia system which rivals many of the manufacturers other products.

      kupomogli, the other point I would like to make is you sound somewhat inexperienced with the sony way of working. This problem occurs on many of there products, should I remind everyone about miniDisc with DRM (only checking out a song 3 times) , or the sony CD rootKit problem. The main issue seems to return to DRM and the lack of understanding around it. Sony is afraid to loose money to piracy which every company should be, but the question I pose is if someone comes to burn down your house do you just shut the door? This analogy fits perfectly into the situation and highlights how futile the otherOS removal is. No mater how tight the door the house will always burn. And no mater how secure the system it will always be penetrated given time and will.

      There are so many other things that could have been done, or at least tried.

      Tako Tacos: you make a good point about the feature removal. What business in history has become more successful by removing features? It does seem counter intuitive.

  • Ereek

    I can already tell this is going to be an “adventure” and there haven’t even been 10 posts yet.

    I’m going to refrain from posting my opinion, but I’m interested in how long it will take until the “it would have been hacked anyway,” “why delay the inevitable?”, and my favorite: “piracy won’t affect sales, as the pirates wouldn’t have bought it anyway” start coming in.

    • http://www.siliconera.com Ishaan

      That kind of reaction in the last post was what actually drove me to write this. I’m not trying to attack Hotz or any other hacker. People know I keep a close eye on the romhacking/ fan-translation community. It’s just that I don’t like the thought of people not manning up and admitting that, yes, what they do does have several undesired consequences instead of pretending otherwise.

      It’s also kind of messed up in a way because this is something being triggered at the consumer end, which is causing a company to react to it. We (or the hackers, rather), are the ones sparking this off, which I really wish people would stop to consider.

      Grrrr, hypocrisy!!! :P

      • Ereek

        Well, the ad hominem has already started, but they’re being a bit more subtle this time. It took a bit longer than I expected!

        • http://www.siliconera.com Ishaan

          Either way, it looks like you’re backing me up. :P

          Thanks!

  • ritchan

    Sure, why not, it’s also about getting your hardware to do something it wasn’t meant to do. But in Sony’s case, amazingly enough you can make an argument that it’s about restoring functionality that was formerly there, and you can win that argument.

    So I will most certainly support Hotz’s hack, not only if, but also because it may get my PS3 to do some things it was never meant to do. Because I actually do appreciate a lot of the features that my CFW PSP gives me, and I don’t miss PSN on it.

  • http://twitter.com/#!/Kamiwoo Kamiwoo

    If Sony had added in PS2 software backwards compatibility (if this is even possible) when they dropped OtherOS support, most people wouldn’t even have cared. The reality is, a majority of people didn’t utilize the ability to install Linux on their PS3s, it didn’t work very well anyway, and there is the potential for hacking/piracy with it, theoretically. A lot more people would’ve got legit use out of being able to play PS2 games, which wouldn’t be harmful to the PS3 at all.

    BUT, it’s still a removal of features, which the PS3 unfortunately has had a long history of. It’s pretty pathetic that people on launch day have so many more features on their consoles than someone picking one up today does. However, now it’s something being remotely disabled by a software update that’s required if a player wants to use any of the online features of the PS3, rather than a hardware choice. I really don’t like the idea of losing console features as time goes on, shouldn’t it be the other way around?

    • 9thsage

      This is what bothers me. It seems like they keep removing features. Are they going after something else next? Who knows, but so far they’ve a history of doing it.

      • malek86

        This is my only problem with hte situation (aside from the legal point of view). Until now, they had removed features whenever a new model came out. But this time, they have even removed something from an old model via firmware…. which means they are willing to do it.

        What’s next? Will they remove compatibility with PS1 discs in order to gain more money from the PSOne Archives?

        Well, I’m only kidding here, but if it does really end up happening, I hope no one here will be saying “nobody wanted those old games anyway”.

    • Hraesvelgr

      The fact that they still haven’t readded BC makes me sad. I still own a PS2 (two, in fact) and use it, but it just seems silly to not have it. I mean, that was one of the reasons the PS2 did so well, it could play (most) PSX games.

      • http://twitter.com/#!/Kamiwoo Kamiwoo

        Sony owes a huge amount of its success to the fact that so many people bought PS2s… there might not have even been a PS3 if it hadn’t sold as well as it did! And the awesome part about buying a PS2 back in the day was that it was backwards compatible. Whenever you decided to upgrade you got access to PS2 games as well as something to play all your PS1 games on. All of this without and “oops you didn’t buy one quickly enough no more BC for you” bullshit.

        So now we have shiny black boxes that can play PS3 games and PS1 games but, retardedly enough, not PS2 games.

      • Devonian

        Never did understand that. The PS2′s success (and massive game library) was the only thing Sony really had going for them for most of the PS3′s existence, and they just squander it…

  • TeaGreen

    I like how now that its being disabled people now are jumping out of the woodworks and all up in arms crying foul like they’re losing something big. I know 12 people who have a ps3 and NONE of them have Linux installed on their console. It was a feature that by far was not the most used (at the very least in my area). On the one hand it is never a good thing when a company removes support for something that they brought up as one of their perks since day one. On the other hand leaving it open after that hack could very well have opened the floodgates for pirates everywhere. Its unfortunate that it was disabled, and I can see the problems people who actually utilized the OS would have had with the decision, but when people do things like this, there is very little that can be done, especially with the way news travels around the internet. It would have been nicer if they had stated that they would attempt to fix the loophole, and then allow for the feature again though. But it seems that they chose the easy way out of it, which may come back to bite them.

    If George Hotz was truly as altruistic as he wants to make himself sound, he would have mailed the entire procedure he used to unlock his ps3 to Sony and outline possible ways to fix it and make damn sure no one else could even peek at it, while suggesting ways they could enable the “other features” he seems so adamant on keeping without the threat of piracy. Unfortunately, he chose to attempt to open the floodgates and force Sony to take drastic measures to prevent losses. Both sides here have done foul, but in my opinion Mr. Hotz’s side just plain stinks.

    • Hraesvelgr

      When did anyone say that George Hotz was being altruistic? Outside of pro-piracy BS, that is.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1472407455 Charles Lupula

    I think there’s about five times more people complaining about the removal of the OtherOS than people who actually used it.

    I personally understand exactly why Sony had to do this. I think it’s always bad when you have to remove a feature, but that Geohot moron ruined it for everyone. Even if he had no ill intentions whatsoever, which I do not believe, he opened the door to piracy, leaving Sony with no choice.

  • mirumu

    To me an article like this is about as ill advised as Hotz’s comments. Can we not have a serious discussion on this topic without hyperbole or back-and-forth denigration the opposing side? No one comes out smelling of roses here.

    Sony are a business. They will do what they need to in order to protect their revenue stream. If they and companies dependent on their platform are to make a profit and remain in business is clearly of importance to them and ultimately their responsibility. I don’t blame them for a moment for doing what they need to do, but that doesn’t mean we should all just forget that they created this situation themselves. If Sony weren’t happy to support the OtherOS feature throughout the PS3′s lifetime then they shouldn’t have put it in there in the first place. There always was a “plan C” available to them. Fix the OtherOS hole. Unfortunately it seems they don’t want to put any effort into fixing a feature they don’t view a selling point any more.

    It’s easy to speculate as to what Hotz should or shouldn’t have done, but we’re talking about a human being here and have to accept that we’re not going to all behave the same way or believe the same things. If he reported this hole to Sony someone would inevitably find another one. This is the nature of software (I’m a software dev myself B.T.W). If their system isn’t robust enough to withstand attacks like this then Sony have their own internal problems. They’re clearly doing what they can now and I’m of the opinion it’s going to work preventing any meaningful PS3 piracy, but that doesn’t mean consumers like us who paid for the feature should just quietly accept it’s removal. Whether we used the feature or not is up for each individual to decide. “Appeal to Popularity” is considered a logical fallacy for good reason.

    There are no “Good guys” here. We only do a disservice to ourselves by trying to gloss over the obvious mistakes of both sides.

  • kupomogli

    If Sony threw on the update without saying anything I bet no one would have noticed. Well. No one but those three people in the world who use Linux on the PS3.

  • ritchan

    For all the people saying how nobody used the OtherOS: I used it. I used it for about a month when my laptop’s hard drive failed on me, and I enjoyed programming for the SPEs and making them do general stuff. People do use the OtherOS – granted, the implementation sucks, but with this hack, you can potentially get 2D/3D acceleration from the RSX. Sony would never allow this.

    But wait a minute, does it matter whether anybody used it or not? I bought a fat PS3 for the OtherOS, therefore it should be there for me, whether I use it or not, whether I need it or not. I think this quotation sums it up nicely:

    “it’s OK that Ford remotely disabled the AC in your car. You can still buy another car, or you can just drive around with the windows down. I live up in Alaska, so I never actually use the AC anyway, so I don’t see why it bugs you so much.”

    • Ereek

      Allow me to play Devil’s Advocate for a moment, using a Utilitarian argument. I’m not a big fan of pure Utilitarianism (hedon-dolor, the like), but it works nicely here.

      Let’s say that disabling Other OS will stop future piracy on the PS3. Now let’s assume that 1,000 people pirate games (the real number is much higher, of course). Assuming that half of these people would buy their games under normal circumstances, that is ~$30,000 lost. This money is lost through multiple areas, via publisher, store, and even Sony itself. Despite how some people dislike publishers, they do provide jobs.

      That $30,000 a year can save someone’s job. Saving even one person’s job is “worth” more than a few people complaining about “oh no, my features are removed!”

      • ritchan

        I’m not much for types of arguments, but I’d like for the person who voiced the idea that OtherOS should be removed to be removed from his position, because he’s an idiot, and so is everybody who thinks that removing OtherOS is going to solve the piracy problem.

        It’s not going to solve the piracy problem because Geohot won’t update, I won’t update, millions of PS3 users in the know won’t update, you can use the proxy to fool your PS3 into thinking you don’t need to update, and piracy will ONLY run rampant once a soft mod that doesn’t need a hardware mod and a FPGA is released. Which could possibly be run on future versions of PS3 FW for all you know.

        • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1472407455 Charles Lupula

          Millions? Come on. You’re exaggerating. Hundreds, definitely. Maybe, if we stretch it a little, thousands. But not millions of PS3 owners. I’d be willing to bet that millions just don’t care and never used the feature.

          • ritchan

            Very well, maybe not millions. However, once a softmod comes out for the PS3, you can bet that a significant number of those millions that never cared before are gonna start caring and mod their console.

  • malek86

    I’m going out on a limb here and say “let’s look this at the legal situation”, rather than the idealistic one.

    I don’t know how this stuff works in the USA, but here in EU, it could be considered a breaching of contract if a company removes a feature that was present AND marketed as such. I already have news of an english guy who managed to get £100 back because of it.

    http://www.playstationuniversity.com/ps3-owner-refunded-without-return-for-missing-other-os-3555/

    Now, I’m pretty sure this is a one-case only, and most people will not even try anyway. It’s also worth noting that it was the seller giving back the money, not Sony themselves, because the law says it should be the retailer’s fault (and besides, it was an Amazon policy). Still, the article does show the law in question, so there are chances that Sony could be not entirely legal in their decision.

    Either way, I don’t think this will do much to them, and the feature will likely remain removed. They’ll change their marketing and it will be the end of it. But, it would be nice to know if something like this also works in the USA.

  • http://www.facebook.com/emory.myers Emory Myers

    Sony wouldn’t remove OtherOS unless it knew it was a weak point, meaning hackers won’t update and the system will be hacked – legit customers will either stay pre-3.21 and lose functionality or update and lose functionality. Sony’s OtherOS removal is just like Ubisoft’s DRM – a company ‘fighting’ piracy by punishing actual customers. The main difference is that Ubisoft doesn’t have sympathizers like Ishaan to defend it.

    “Every single day, there are people that sacrifice their personal pleasures and families to give us the content we enjoy.” – wtf are you on about? Everything Sony does is done for the benefit of Sony.

    • Ereek

      Sony is still made up of people who have jobs. As the saying goes, a King is nothing without his people. Sony is nothing without its employees.

      I don’t know if you’re aware, but Programmers hired by some of the electronics companies (HP, Sony, Apple) are all extremely overworked and typically have to work hours without overtime pay just to get projects finished. Despite the good pay, it absolutely destroys any life you have outside of work.

      • http://photovoltaik.bandcamp.com/ Ujn Hunter

        Tell them to get better jobs then.

      • mirumu

        That’s precisely why I turned down a job at Microsoft around 9 years ago now.

    • http://twitter.com/Slashlen Slashlen

      That’s what always bugs me about this. It always seems to go the same way: Companies pull this crap to fight pirates, pirates find a way around it, and legit customers get shafted. I don’t agree with Hotz, but after things like this part of me hope he hacks the thing.

      And why couldn’t they just axe Home instead? Nobody uses that either. :)

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1488066878 facebook-1488066878

    Playstation 3: Only Does Everything.
    Other Os, PS2 compatibility, 4 USB, Card Reader…

    What’s next?

  • http://twitter.com/robertweizer Rand Travis

    So I suppose we’re over the whole lack of backwards compatability debacle? Because I’m sure not.

  • malek86

    “The first obvious flaw to this theory is, of course, that we, as consumers, are in no position to decide what is in the best interest of a company.”

    This gives me an idea about an interesting discussion. Often, we complain about what companies do. To make one provocatory example, lot of people say that “Namco must hate money” for their reluctance to bring games to the west. But that’s a business decision too. We don’t have access to their internal accountings, so we can’ t know whether it was a good idea or not. However, chances are that they are doing what they believe is the most profitable course of action. If so, why are we complaining? Granted, their recent losses might show it was actually a bad idea, but still. My point was that companies in the business have way more informations about profits and stuff than we do.

    People have this vision of corporations as evil. But in the end, like you said, they are trying to make money for their stakeholders. Sometimes I wonder if people are being too hard on the likes of Activision and EA and all the other big companies. Sure, the consumer inside me doesn’t like what they’re doing (and deep inside, I can never forgive EA for their handling of Bullfrog), but as someone who is into economics, I can understand them. If I was in their place, i’d probably do it too (of course, after evaluating the risks and returns).

    • Devonian

      “If so, why are we complaining?”
      Because people wanted to *play* the games they won’t give us?

      • malek86

        But that’s the point. Are they entitled to give us those games? Even if, let’s suppose, it makes them lose more money, would we still call them out?

        Do those companies not understand our needs… or is it us who don’t understand their needs?

        It’s a matter of pragmatism vs. idealism. technically, this whole Linux debate could fall in the same category, with pragmatism being “they must protect against piracy” and idealism being “they shouldn’t remove something that was there from the beginning”. Well, a lot of things in life could be considered in such a way. You just have to choose a side.

  • http://www.cbarth.com/ Christopher Barth

    Just don’t update.
    Corollary:
    1) Buy a new PS3 if a new game you want to play requires a higher version number. (Example: Owning two Xbox 360; NTSC/US NTSC/JP)
    2) Backwards compatibility: Buy a first gen or swap the emotion engine from a failed unit into compatible gen.
    3) Altered expectations: Console no longer equals 100% compatibility. View the console ecosystem as moving closer to the PC model.

  • http://photovoltaik.bandcamp.com/ Ujn Hunter

    Personally I’m not updating. I’m using the DNS trick to be able to still use PSN to purchase games and play online. I own a 60gb PS3 which I bought specifically to use as an upscaled PS2, Linux machine on my HDTV, Blu-Ray player and PS3 game player. If the 60gb PS3 never existed… I wouldn’t own a PS3. The Slim model is useless to me and I would never pay that much for a Blu-ray and PS3 exclusive only device.

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