Slashdot Mirror
Sony Can Update PS3 Firmware Without Permission
Stoobalou writes "Sony's latest firmware update comes with a revised End User License Agreement which allows the company to change any part of the console's operating system without notification or permission. You might think you own the console you paid for, but Sony has a very different idea."
Frosty piss?
Shouldn't the EULA that I agreed to when I bought the hardware apply, not a revised one released after the fact? What are the consequences of refusing this firmware update?
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
Guess that means that hacked firmware is the way to go, and keep your machine offline.
There Can Be Only One...
is rushing at us at breakneck speed. How many devices are out now that give the manufacturer complete remote control of the device? How many companies are using that control with impunity? Amazon, Apple, Sony,all have recent incidents of completely over the line behavior. The law is not catching up quickly enough.
Good-bye
How is Sony doing this a surprise to anyone?
It is like the iTards whining about the gigatiPod, iPad nano, or the iPad nano phone edition being locked down.
All your PS3s are belong to SONY
Kinda sorta sounds familiar . . . but I dunno . . .
Would a company like Sony rootkit their customers . . .?
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
This seems like such a huge deal when you put it that way, but really... so what? No, so WHAT?
You're going to have to explain this to me. I'm sitting here thinking about this whole Linux disabling and trying to comprehend how important it must be to you all, but I keep coming back to the same question. So what?
You aren't using Linux on your PS3. Yeah, yeah, it's installed and you started it once or twice to show your friends. But come on. You didn't lose a damn thing when all this happened.
So Sony wants to push patches out to you. So what?
Who else can see all consoles going this way? Part of the appeal to content producers and the console makers themselves is having consistent and complete control over the platform. It's things like this that will hopefully keep the PC relevant as a gaming and entertainment platform
Sounds pretty reasonable. At least there's no mention of rootkits for now.
My work here is dung.
If you're surprised at this. Did any of us really think that Sony would a) roll over and cough up refunds for anyone who sued over the removal of "Install Other OS" or b) reinstate the feature? Corporations. Assume the worst, and you're usually right.
This pretty much disgusts me as a customer, because most likely it means I won't be able to play newer games on my PS3 without worrying that they might be messing around with my system and removing functions I enjoy using on my system. The summary fails to add that Sony also says it's not their fault if they end up bricking your PS3. So, besides having a new flash pushed down your throat, if it fails you have to pay to have it fixed.
No, thanks. I'll stick to my DS Lite and Wii (which is still running System Menu 4.0 and had the IOS files updated using DopIOSMod), where I actually do have enough freedom of what I can or cannot do with my BOUGHT hardware.
EULAs aren't the most legally bind 'agreements' at the best of times. But one that applies retroactively is ridiculous even by EULA standards.
Is anyone really surprised? I don't think so. Sony saying one thing and then doing the complete opposite is nothing new.
I waited a while after the PS3 release for all the stupidity to get worked out, and this is what happens. Sorry guys, its my fault. Though, I haven't updated my firmware since I opened the box at thanksgiving
Include KY with their products?
Just wait until the first time they accidentally brick some systems.
No, no, Sony, I've used my homebrew to implement a content protection system which prevents my children from copying my musical masterb^Hpieces!
If you update the firmware, you might be breaking the DMCA! You have been warned!
(Welcome to "Illogic in the Courtroom", episode 28)...
LOL! What are you thinking? This is America, dammit. And in America, corporations are king. Corporations dictate the law. Corporations dictate how you can use their products, even when you've bought them outright. Corporations can change contracts whenever they want, however they want, and you just have to suck it up and enjoy it.
Shit, son, if you're saying that the terms of contracts have to be honored, and can't be changed unilaterally by corporations, then that sounds damn near like SOCIALISM.
It is time for PS3 owners to take SCEA to court over Theft of Services and also over their EULA being a contract of adhesion This has to be illegal, but a class action suite won't do anything, every PS3 owner in America needs to take SECA to small claims court and slowly bleed them.
GENERATION 25: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation. Social exper
EULAs say all kinds of crazy stuff that never actually get done. I seen ones that border on 'signing' away Constitutional rights. But I've ever heard of a single case of a legitimate, license-holding, console-owning user being forced to do something awful because of EULA verbage. Like buying a house. All real estate loans since forever ago allow the bank to 'call' the entire loan amount at any time for any reason. But they never actually do. They just was you to know they can.
If Sony releases a firmware update that pisses off more than a tiny percentage of users, they will undoubtedly reverse it. And if that tiny percentage of modders/cheaters/hobbyists or whatever else are really hacked off by the update, then they should sell their PS3's on Ebay for 80% of what you paid for it and move on with their lives for God's sake.
I judt got a nre Kinesis keybiartf so please excusr ant egregiou typos.
How many devices are out now that give the manufacturer complete remote control of the device?
A lot, but most of them have an alternative without such a leash. Game consoles have PCs, iPod Touch has the Archos 5, iPhone has phones that run Android OS such as Nexus One, iPad has the Touch Book, and soon handheld game systems will have the Pandora PDA. This leaves cable boxes, but those aren't tied to the manufacturer as much as to the MPAA-puppet cable companies.
I know these recent steps by Sony are done with the aim to prevent modding of PS3s, but these moves will actually drive more PS3 owners to mod or hack their PS3s.
I'm still disappointed over the removal of the OtherOS feature. That being said, this extension to the EULA is neither surprising or actually useful in any way. By limiting my access to the PSN (and the downloadable games and content I have purchased through it) Sony has already basically forced me into updating my PS3 firmware any damn time they feel like it. So to claim they have the right to do so automatically doesn't really have any more of a negative impact beyond what I already suffer.
I went to eat some animal crackers and the box said, "Do not eat if seal is broken." I opened the box and sure enough..
Last I remember, PS3s were for playing games.
Most PS3 owners won't be hacking their console, I'd imagine.
Non impediti ratione cogitationus.
I haven't updated to the 3.21 firmware (the one that disables Other OS), and I suspect many others have ignored the update as well. I'm betting Sony sees this and in response has decided the best way to go is to force future updates down our throat, not giving us the option.
DEMETRIUS: Villain, what hast thou done?
AARON: Villain, I have done thy mother.
Shakespeare invents 'your mom'
If Sony wishes to house a device under their control on my premises, I hope they won't mind being invoiced for my (very reasonable, I assure you) colocation fees...
and they have proven time and again that they are not trustworthy.
Such behavior should be punished by the market.
Don't buy from companies you consider not trustworthy.
Not sure why Sony is taking the heat for it more than others. Maybe it's because the good guys like Valve wouldn't pull this crap on us!
http://store.steampowered.com/subscriber_agreement/
2.A. License Terms.
Face it, all EULAs are designed so that the seller (ha, I mean licensor of course!) can screw you all they want. You just have to hope they don't do it.
http://lkml.org/lkml/2005/8/20/95
I stopped buying games for the PS3 about a year ago, and now I guess I have made up my mind to never purchase another Console (Sony or otherwise).
I like the fact that my PC is MINE. It does what I want it to do, play more and better games than any console, and it also has other purposes (software development, business software, a sandbox for me to mess with whatever I want to).
Thanks Sony! I was on the fence about the "Next Gen" consoles until today.
This is, after all, the same company that brought you the "we own your PC" DRM rootkit.
Do you hear a whooshing sound all around you?
How is it these guys can get away with this?
Where is the user outrage and class action lawsuits? You sold me X and then you remotely turned it into Y and Y
Sadly this seems to be the trend, we are expected to concedes that all electronic devices we buy (a la iphone, ipad, PS3, Canon DSLR, Nintendo Wii) are no longer ours, and we basically have no rights to their internals. We are willing victims, trading our money for their experience rather than the product.
If I don't agree and stay on my current version, but I still connect to the network, and then a forced upgrade comes out... Will I be force upgraded without every agreeing to that? And then when I sue them they will say, you agreed when the software installed? (by itself) Furthermore, I guess this means no more EULA changes since the upgrades will go on automatically.
A strange maxim to apply: the principles of capitalism say that if Sony decided to discontinue the PS3 and brick every system (say, directly after the release of the PS4), consumers would be free not to purchase Sony products anymore and a competitor would exploit the company's poor behavior and corrective action would naturally result. On the other hand, the principles of jurisprudence over property say that the same action would be trespass to chattels (i.e. something similar to destruction of property) without the normal coupling of aftermark modification. A party cannot interfere with the lawful possession of property by another.
But that argument returns to the client/server nature of the property in question: is it intentional conversion if your wireless company stopped accepting connections from your particular model of phone? The phone is clearly property that you own and free from restriction beyond the federal regulations regarding airborne communication, but so are the towers owned by the service provider.
These questions just go to show that a large portion of property law is theoretical and has not been litigated. Fascinating nonetheless.
When the PS4 comes out, don't buy one.
I know, sounds odd, but you can live without it, I swear.
When I decided to buy the PS3, it made that choice based on the fact that I could legally run Linux on it, as well as use it for a game console. What happened to the promise in the commercials that "It does everything?" I refuse to install any update that takes away this important functionality, and will continue to use the system as a computer. I have already filed a complaint against Sony with the Federal Trade Commission. I will never buy any more games for it, and I will never buy another Sony products again. Sony you can stick it to everyone else, but you've lost this customer, and any profit that you will ever gain from me again.
Where is it starting up, because I want onboard.
http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
I haven't updated my firmware in a long time. It makes me wonder - are games labeled with a firmware requirement?
Given that Sony is attaching undesirable terms to their firmware updates, should they be?
I see all this outrage over Sony doing something to a product we bought and our rights to do what we want with it, but I see no outrage against a Government who is taking away our hard earned money and our right of choice... and nobody says a thing. Why is that?
Huh? How is automatically pushing down firmware updates keeping me from playing MLB 10: The Show, or watching Mad Men blu-rays?
I was just here, where did I go?
Hacking laws? so what if a forced auto update kills Linux can sony go to jail under hacking laws?
W00t too m4ny rule>s and
Next item to be removed: Software BC for all those "Non Original Launch" Fat PS3's out there.....
You keep buying hardware with built-in DRM. You're the media industry's bitches. Quit whining and pay your dues.
They want to kill Linux on the PS3. Ever since they found out the NSA and others were buying hundereds to use in encryption cracking they announce EOL on Linux use and now a new policy to erase your firmware for you.
Problem is some enterprising lawyer is going to launch a class action and say Sony is taking away functionality and that functionality is worth $XXXXXXXX.
Those Laws do not apply to corporations, just Citizens. Get with the program.
I decided to read the entirety of the new EULA before the update yesterday, after the whole "Other OS" situation, and the bottom line is that you, as a user of the PS3, are only licensing the software on the system.
You own the plastic and the metal of the console, and can do anything you want with it. You do not own the system software on the machine. This means no reverse engineering the system software, no editing the software, no reselling or redistribution of the software. This includes editing the software to circumvent encryption or DRM on any medium you play on the console, or editing it in any way to use the system software as a gateway to installing another OS or apps. The Other OS hack that is currently out now is in direct violation of the user's licensing agreement.
You can turn your PS3 into a doorstop, or you can run any OS or apps you want on it, AS LONG AS YOU DO NOT MESS WITH THE INCLUDED SYSTEM SOFTWARE. If you can code an entirely new system software to run the PS3 WITHOUT using any preexisting code from the system software included with the PS3, you are welcome to do so, and I encourage someone with the skills to do so to attempt this.
If you have ever pressed "Accept" while updating your system software, then you have agreed to play by Sony's rules, which is just fine for me and the other 95% of the people using the PS3 to play games and watch movies.
If you are on Slashdot, then you are well aware that Sony does these kind of things. If you still bought the PS3, then you expressed your approval to Sony with your $$$. Here is a novel idea...Stop purchasing/consuming products from companies that act this way (Sony, Apple, etc.). Just say no.
I know the problem with this idea, is that these companies have been very successful in convincing the cattle (people) that they must have it, because it is cool and everyone else will have one. When will the cattle wake up and think for themselves?
This is a SCEA EULA, yet still seems to apply to users outside North America? Also, this is NOT related to the firmware update - it is a general EULA for PlayStation products. It seeks to apply whether you install or not...and applies to PSPs. All in all, it's quite worrying - hope it's not a precursor to a paid PSN.
Or otherwise enter into a legally binding and enforceable contract, such as by the exchange of something else of value, such as money?
In the EU at least, this EULA isn't even worth the current to power the pixels it is transiently displayed upon.
http://slashdot.org/~GuyFawkes/journal
You may have physical possession of the box but Sony owns the OS/software that runs the box. They are still free to control that. Right or wrong it's the situation.
A console is just a fancy delivery device they can fully control.
After the RootKits and the spyware and the treatment of so many Sony customers from EverQuest to PlayStation... You buy a Sony product you should expect to have your privacy and your ownership rights trampled on. On day. The CEO's and VP's and the board of directors and the lawyers of these companies will swing in the breeze by their necks.
Thanks to eating disorders most chicks are reasonably good looking these days.
A few months ago, I was actually considering purchasing a second PS3 to perhaps experiment with Linux running on the cell processors.
As a result of the elimination of the 'Other OS' feature, and other various blunders executed by Sony of late, I have entirely abandoned the prospect of purchasing another PS3.
Sony will be lucky if I ever buy another game for the PS3 that I do have. They seem to have quite the affinity for shooting themselves in the foot.
That section of the EULA has not changed. Here it is from December 2006 with identical language: http://web.archive.org/web/20061206023303/http://www.scei.co.jp/ps3-eula/ps3_eula_en.html. You can debate the pros and cons of such language, but this is not some new sneak totalitarian attack.
>If you can code an entirely new system software to run the PS3 WITHOUT using any preexisting code from the system software included with the PS3, you are welcome to do so
Incorrect. Bypassing their code signing is illegal. You cannot (currently) run any software on the PS3 that is not signed by Sony.
Fat, blubbering geeks: WHAAAAA! WHAAAAA!
Considering that the only people who need a firmware other than the one that Sony provides are the pirates, I'd say this is well within the confines of legality.
We're all going to die. i intend to deserve it.
Ever since the rootkit fiasco, which BTW they were very stubborn and arrogant in their response for some time.
This is a company that wants to control the device in your house, the distribution channel, and the content itself (remember they "own" a lot of movies and music).
I won't buy an Xbox 360 either, because Microsoft looks like the example that Sony is trying to follow.
Looks like they actually are looking at possible criminal charges. The sad part? It's the second time that company would have been prosecuted.
Source: ABC News
meep
Most of this segment of the EULA's been there since the first EULA.
see: http://web.archive.org/web/20061210231357/http://www.scei.co.jp/ps3-eula/ps3_eula_en.html
(Someone at TFA pointed this out.)
except this bit:
Additionally, you may not be able to view your own content if it includes or displays content that is protected by authentication technology. Some services may change your current settings, cause a loss of data or content, or cause some loss of functionality. It is recommended that you regularly back up any data on the hard disk that is of a type that can be backed up.
Basically, if you buy something off of another music, movie or other digital download site, it may not work on the PS3. Also, back up your shit incase it crashes.
Non impediti ratione cogitationus.
In Soviet Russia you update Sony firmware.
as I remember a time long ago, when manuals actually were the DRM!
Don't you remember having to look up chapter 3, paragraph 4, line 2, word 5, and having to type that word into the game as a code in order to play? Ah good times...
I also remember others would include "code wheels" or other like devices as DRM.
Heck I remember the most DRM part of the original Mech Warrior game was that it came with a keyboard cover and a list of what every key did because the interface was so crazy that every key on your keyboard actually did something for your Mech! I remember trying to use a photocopy that was so frustrating that I eventually gave up.
Perhaps they should drop their online DRM checking servers of FAIL, and bring back some manuals. Might work out better for them. If anything, ditch the in game tutorial...
Now you kids, get the hell off my lawn!
People who have lived under totalitarian governments are speaking up about how parts of the West (esp. the English-speaking parts) have more surveillance than the Eastern Block ever had, and how saddened they are that the War On Drugs and War On Terrorism are being used to promote a cycle of maximum incarceration.
Oh, BTW, welcome to the War On Piracy.
All this complaining ... .. how many of you will line up and buy it.
And when the PS4 comes out
Vote with your $$ people.
People wine and cry about how Sony treats them. Have you ever thought of just not buying anything they make? Sure they treat you like crap, but then you go right back because they have the latest/greatest game?
No one has the right to complain, if they bend-over and take it again and again. Screw you once, shame on you, screw you twice (3, 4, etc.) shame on me. That has a good meaning.
But you know what? People are stupid, so Sony will continue to screw their customers. RIAA, MPAA, Sony. Who cares, as long as I have my fix.
That is the difference between a cell phone and a PC. My experience with consoles (going back to Atari) is that the firmware and contract terms do NOT get changed by the manufacturer's whim. What's more, they were considered modifiable by the owner.
OTOH, cell phones are generally regarded as neither owner-modifiable nor stable in terms of firmware and contracts. Because of this its no accident that governments consider cellphones, and not consoles, as an effective means to conduct surveillance. However I see that could be changing...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/sony_rootkit
never forgive, never forget
someone needs to hack the PS3 now. all this rage must end up in something good.
When was the last time a game you bought came with source code. How about never. You NEVER owned the games you paid for. Everybody loves to reminisce about the golden days of the NES. Cartridges were just another form of DRM. It was a very convenient DRM for the consumer, but it was still there to explicitly restrict the copying of the game. If you think that you ever have or possess the fundamental right to "own" the game that you paid $50 for rather than the producer, who could have paid tens of millions for the game, then you seriously have no idea about any of the legal ramifications of what you are talking about.
As an AC I have no mod points to grant you, so all I can say is double-plus good comment.
Have you read your agreement with the 360? Its makes the sony agreement look like freedom accord.
People listing all the things the PS3 has 'lost' and then then xbots some out and say ooo see 360 is awesome. Except for one thing, the 360 never had (and never will) any of those things.
So yes the PS3 is starting to suck almost as bad as the MS consoles. This is truly a tragedy. However there is no reason at all to think about getting a '260' instead so I can enjoy my freedom rofl.
The last console I owned was a Sega Genesis. And only owned it to play a single game.
Haven't ever been happy with the state of controllers.
Haven't cared for the fact that consoles weren't as flexible as my computer.
And HATED the fact that they wanted you to put the machine on the internet of some of the latest systems.
This is just one more reason for me to stay the fuck away from consoles.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Oblig bash.org quote:
DmncAtrny> I will write on a huge cement block "by accepting this brick through your window, you accept it as is and agree to my disclaimer all warranties, express or implied, as well as disclaimers of all liability, direct, indirect, consequential or incidental, that may arrive from the installation of this brick into your window"
DmncAtrny> And then hurl it through the window of a Sony officer
DmncAtrny> and run like hell
That's fine. We already have your money. Thanks for buying our console.
--Sony.
Simple, I stopped buying Sony a long time ago. ( with the copy right issue ( Sony BMG CD copy protection scandal - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)) The best way to resist is with your wallet!
How much less could you care? Maybe so much less that you couldn't care less?
HAND.
At the guys wrapped in tin foil who are "yanking their internet cables". The paranoia of some people is borderline hilarious. It's a freaken game system not your soul. Oh noes!!! Seriosly people...get a grip on reality. You act like one day you're gonna power it on and it no longer plays games...Sony decided to make it a dedicated picture viewer only. LOL!!!
The Slashdot crowd seems full of people who let misplaced principles get in the way of common sense. Then again these are the same guys who use Linux.
Great job!
When Sony gets rid of a feature I actually want, then I'll get mad. Until then, I just don't care. Everything I've ever done with the PS3 can still be done with it. When they retroactively disable backwards-compatibility on older PS3s, or make them stop playing movies or something, then I'll get mad.
When my Xbox 360 dies, I guess I'm done gaming. I might play some FOSS games on Fedora, but I'm done with this proprietary shit that I have no control over. Oh well, guess I'll have more time to read books.
'Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.' - Mao Tse-tung
Admirable.
Alot (more then 9,000) have, for all intensive purposes, a couple brain cells. Their so fick they're brainz haz mad leet skillz at being OMG, like, duh and that.
Whiny American bitches who gave up reading books because something shiny came along should get their fat arses back to school and finish learning to write; hopefully attaining a standard that renders their tripe at the very least legible.
If you agree to the EULA, they have permission.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
I don't have any US examples, but look up the case of "Irvin Leroux" in Canada. From my understanding of the case, Revenue Canada (Canuckian equivilent to the IRS) screwed up on his taxes and said he owed a whole bunch of back taxes. The bank backing his property panicked and rescinded his mortgage - which he couldn't pay back on an immediate basis - before it became a possible loss to them, and he lost it all.
Here's another case with a car loan.
I've heard of similar issues with renovations that the banks didn't approve of, and believes to be devaluing the property that they have stake in (though in those cases it's often the owner trying to do something dumb like renovations that don't meet code).
Another fun item on a mortgage is an "interest rate differential." The odds are - and always will be - stacked again you in favor of the big corps, but lets hope that Sony will go down for this one.
If you purchase a system with a set feature list you should be confident that it is accurate and you receive exactly what you paid for.
In the case of the original PS3, customer received a machine that had the Install Other OS feature, access to the PSN etc. etc.
However, I couldn't find any guarantee over the longevity of the features. From the looks of it, they could switch off the PSN tomorrow, or perhaps release the PS4 and make your PS3 obsolete, or maybe just stop making compatible games completely.
There seems to be very little appreciation for the fact that they offer a service whereby you have free access to updates to the software, where they continue to offer the free service of the PSN and when new games are continually released for a system that is now several years old.
And if you don't agree to the changes that Sony are offering, you can simply not agree to them. It's well within your right. BUT you will still have exactly what you paid for originally. You can continue to use the Install Other OS feature, you can play all the games you could before and that were stated as being compatible with your system (or more appropriately, the version of system), and you also had access to the PSN for as long as your system was compatible with it - nowhere (that I can see) does it state that you have a right to continued and interrupted access to the PSN for an unlimited amount of time. On the back of every game I own, it clearly states that the PSN is subject to terms and conditions and may not be available.
The reason that these changes are being made is clearly related at least in part to the actions of Geohot. I have no problem with what he has done and he is free to do whatever he pleases. But the issue it raises for Sony and its game developers is whether you want to invest in a multi-million pound/dollar project knowing full well that once your game is released it will be freely available to those that have implemented Geohot's patch or a derivative of that. And the ease to which pirated software can be accessed and the temptation for the customer in terms of money saved (and money lost by them, however true that may be) makes this more of a problem. The removal of the Other OS feature is an attempt to guarantee that future releases will not be affected. And so again we have this element of time and ensuring those that continue to invest in the PS3 are protected, and those that wish to continue to be supported by Sony also do not miss out on future developments.
So, in conclusion, I don't believe Sony is forcing its customers to do anything. Everyone received and has exactly what they paid for originally (all the same games still work, all the features are still there, and Sony continue to offer the PSN to those that accept the agreement), but if you want to be supported by them, use their free services and wish to continue to receive the benefits of future developments and investments in the PS3, then you should do it by the company's terms.
Plus, as a few have said above, the linked article's claims do appear completely false as the quoted lines can be found in the original EULA: http://web.archive.org/web/20061210231357/http://www.scei.co.jp/ps3-eula/ps3_eula_en.html
"Our extensive online searches have failed"...are you kidding me? Dump the current URL into archive.org and you'll find V1.2 of the agreement, from June of 2008. Here is the old text for section 3:
And here's the current one:
The main change made since the version they had years ago was expanding "pirated games" into "unauthorized or pirated content"; everything has been minor wording adjustment.
But what attach rate does Sony need to break even? In other words, how many games, or how many spare controllers, or how many Blu-ray movies (Sony is the founding member of the BDA and holds some of the MPAA), or how many Columbia Pictures movies (Sony owns Columbia, Tristar, Screen Gems, and a few other studios), does it take to recover the loss on a PS3?
Same lost battle, anyway. Not for end user consumers, but for companies. Because who is fool enough to waste money for a thing he can't use correctly and he doesn't fully own? Lambda consumers, wake up!! (Pest anonymously...)
I've heard of hardware as a service but this is ridiculous!
"Most people, I think, don't even know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it?"
Doesn't this just effect the modders hackers, cheaters and pirates? I mean what percentage is weeping at the loss of Linux or that the new CD player visualization comes up now in menu. The point is almost 100% of the time the patches are for your good and if you are not f'in around with yer system then its all roses.
I almost missed the best quote from Sony about this action. From http://www.ps3vault.com/list-of-sonys-greatest-quotes-in-the-past-1659
an open source console already?
I just updated my PS3 and the EULA was dated December 2009. It's the same EULA you had to agree to with each and every firmware update in the past 4 months.
This is not news.
When the first generation PS3 was released, I spent more with the Yellow Dog folks getting up to speed with their Linux then I did on games. What we have there is a company that invested engineering time creating a distro that ran on the PS3 and provided the only moderately priced CELL platform I knew of. So this change not only pisses me off because I spent money to run Linux on my PS3, The Yellow Dogs are more of less out of the business of selling their product. I don't know if they had a contract with Sony allowing them to run their Linux on the platform, but from every angle this change is ugly. I guess I don't need to go on and on about this, but all the time I spent learning about writing Linux based software for the PS3 in hopes of selling it to clients who would also buy PS3's from Sony. I even had a plan to sell a bunch to the government with some special software I have spent serious hours on. This is the problem with writing software products that run on other vendor's hardware. I want to build my own hardware in the future, so if I want, I can screw myself over by making it incompatible with my own products. :-)
Rumor just in: Sony hopes to remove support for sound on their PS3-platform by next Christmas, in order to prevent unauthorized copying of content and this way enable Playstation-users to still enjoy the rich catalog of games and entertainment from SCE and its content partners on a more secure platform.
In its continued effort to improve the Playstation-platform, Sony aims to move onto selling only the idea about Playstation3 by the end of 2011, and this way be able to offer a 100% secure platform for its content partners. Sony promises to pass on any production savings to both old and new customers. "By moving on to only selling the idea about Playstation3, we can finally reach our $99 price tag goal," says SCA CEO Kaz Hirai in an interview with Playstation Magazine. "Existing consoles will be upgraded to support the new feature set through a firmware update," according to Mr. Hirai. "We think our customers understand that SCE needs to protect our investment and at the same time be able to guarantee the security of the platform for our content partners."
Reactions from Sony customers are already pouring in: "With a price tag of $99 me and my family can finally afford a Playstation3", says Ben Dover, a resident of Let Pants Fall in California, who have already put in a reservation for the new PS3-model.
I bought with my money a PS3 digital prison for 300 €.
Something is not right...
I think there is a certain point when you just make life simpler and say, "Let's stop now".
I used to be a big music purchaser. But I decided to stop when in college I realized that CDs were getting very expensive with less good music on them. I could afford it if I really wanted it, but I just stopped. It was much easier than for someone to quit smoking, a no-brainer really. I had some music lying around, and hear music on the radio, and it was fine. I still buy a CD when I hear a live performance I like though, I buy it from the artist.
I also stopped playing video games. By the time a game console dropped in price to where I thought it was worth it, I wasn't really interested anymore. There were not that many good games too.
Look, all you have to do is stop buying from these companies. You will have more money left over to do fun things. You certainly can do without buying from Sony.
One more thing. The front cover of one of the top business magazines in Japan is "Sony vs. Samsung". It used to be in the U.S. anyway, people would buy Sony because of trust associated with the name. My family did. I no longer trust Sony because of all their underhanded tactics.
It would be very interesting if a smart Korean company like LG or Samsung would realize that if you build trust with the consumer, it pays off. Which is Do No Evil. Imagine what if Google bought a consumer appliance company, or a music publishing firm. How would they run it?
On top of all the other issues, it's worth noting that system updates take a LONG time and don't multitask. Is Sony going to decide to update my system whenever it wants, and lock me out of actually using my PS3? If it's possible to download the update in the background and play games at the same time, why can't I already do that?
Not really sure, should we find out?
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To join the class action suit against Sony contact Jerome Noll at (914) 517-5000, extension 221.
I love my PS3! I can't explain why I love Sony. I grew up with it. Sony has innovated so many cool things in my lifetime; that must be part of my affection. My TV's are Bravia's, 1 is connected to a Sony STR-DA4300ES receiver + 5.1 SS via Infinity bookshelf speakers, 1 to a Boston Acoustics sound bar + wireless woofer system. I have a Sony DVD 400 disc carousel. I love the way the hardware works and looks. I love the X-Bar U/I. I bought the PS3 for the simple reason that a 39 year old man/boy wanted to play visually stunning with even better audio type video games. The PS3 is the gaming console for the adult. You can get some of the strangest but compelling titles from the PS store, like a game called 'flower'. The hardware is sleek and cool. I was elated when NETFLIX became available. My expectations about what I was getting for my money were balanced against what I used to find myself spending on constantly updating my PC with RAM, VGA cards, and Mobo's. My 40GB PS3 original fat box cost me $500. But the last AGP VGA card I bought cost me $350 and the spec was soon rendered useless.... I guess with this attitude, I don't care as much what Sony does to the O/S as long as I can still play my games and watch some NETFLIX. Does that make me a pathetic fanboy? If it does, then please say it with a chuckle.