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After Sony Computer Entertainment promised that they were comitted to keep up support on OtherOS on the older Playstaion 3 models, they have reneged on that promise.

The OtherOS feature was one of the reasons that I initially bought the $599 60GB PS3 and a reason I didn't wait for a price drop. Since then I have steadily watched as Sony removed features in new models in an effort to reduce "costs". It is not a big surprise that Sony is forced to use tatics such as this to keep itself afloat in this poor economy. However it is surprising (almost insulting) that they now produce an inferior product and pitch it as better than the previous without keeping the previous model in production as an upsell option for those who want it. (I know I do) The removal of PS2 backwards compatibility is in my opinion the worst thing they could have done with the PS3.

Another insult is Sony's decision to switch to the "It Only Does Everything" ad campain. I'm sorry, it DOESN'T do EVERYTHING, and not as much as it did before. With this one slogan it appears that Sony is attempting to redefine the word "everything" hoping that it's userbase is comprised of fools that won't notice.

However they proved us all to be fools this April 1st by removing OtherOS with firmware 3.21, a feature that all OtherOS users paid good money for. Now users can choose not to update, but tit-for-tat, we loose a slew of other features that require the lastest firmware to access. These also are features that we paid good money for. It's akin to Sony (dorobos) breaking into my house and stealing my $599 PHAT and replacing it with a $299 SLIM. I don't get anything for it either as firmware 3.21 has no new features. Instead I loose out to the tune of $300.

Why it is this way? I'm convinced it is because they're attempting to keep users from using geohot's hack to break their precious hypervisor security. (gollum-gollum) "Security" that involves dismantling the PS3 to break (read the rest of geohot's blog) and ultimately won't affect other PS3s. There's a possibily that with yet more work it can be used to create homebew apps, or play copied games. However, they've already phased out OtherOS on the Slims, so how bad can it really get? The problem with this hack is that it's just too involved to warrant blanket disabling OtherOS. Nor does Sony wish to fix the issue, probably because they can't. This leads to a situation where those who really want to crack it won't update, and it'll still get cracked. Those that are legitmate OtherOS users/gamers are stuck feeling the retaliation for the actions of the hackers. This is not fair and just punishment. Sony is alienating the usergroup they should be catering to.

I can't blame geohot for his hacking attempts either, as it's a long time coming. Because of the hypervisor, we still don't have a Codebreaker for the PS3. Why are these things considered to be so horribly bad? I liked my PS2 Codebreaker as it gave replay value to games I already grew tired of. Game developers have now even locked us out of the ability to copy some gamesaves to another console should we desire to play somewhere else. Or worse, trophies. Trophies are nice, but they should never be used to lock players out of game features, levels, items, endings UNLESS you allow the player to copy them along with gamesaves to another console. Didn't anyone in development ever think, "gee, what would happen when the system eventually dies or the player goes to visit a friend?" Given all these locks, limitations, and DRM, its as if Sony wants to make your PS3 experience the least enjoyable and most profitable as possible. geohot, on the other hand, is only trying to open up our freedom to enjoy the the PS3. Sony's response, "To Hell with enternainment, as long as there is profit and our asses are covered." Result: geohot looks like a hero, and Sony looks like the bad guy.

With the removal of OtherOS, I believe that Sony should step up and admit their wrongdoing and vow to rectify it. A shallow apology does not suffice. If they cannot, or are not willing to, return the OtherOS feature, then as compensation for the loss of features, they should offer all affected users a rebate for failing to keep their promise. $300 towards a new PS3 Slim sounds like a fair amount, as that is what it'll take to keep both PSN, et. al, and OtherOS.

As it stands right now, my PS3 is FW3.15 and is not playing games. I won't buy any more either until I am able to pick up a PS3 SLIM. I'll then have to try to get everything onto the new system. In the meantime I hope geohot does release his CFW for the PHATs. If anything, only to give Sony another headache. Though, I may go the route myself should it look sensible. I'm also keeping my eyes peeled for any class-action lawsuits.

UPDATE:

I have aquired a PS3 SLIM, and much to my dismay, have found that I can only transfer game saves and game data to it from my old PHAT system. The new transfer utility will not move trophies. The only way to move trophies to a new system is to 'sync' them via PSN. However, in order to log into PSN I have to update my PHAT to firmware 3.30 which means I'll lose the OtherOS option. Not only do I not like the idea of trophies or Sony forcing developers to implement them, but the inability to move them to a new system w/o logging into PSN is asinine, especially now since Sony has pulled this little manuever. They could have at least allowed v3.15 systems a few months (or year) grace period to facilitate a data transfer to a new system knowing that some people would not update and may want to purchase another system. As it stands, this did not happen, and they only gave users a week warning before the update dropped. I guess it's another stike against Sony's track record.

I'll also comment on SCEA's updated Terms of Service and User Agreement available here. It now conveniently contains a line that reads: "You authorize SCEA to provide such [firmware] content and agree that SCEA shall not be liable for any damages, loss of data or loss of functionalities arising from provision of such content or maintenance services." Now, as an average consumer with a slight technical inclination I view the term "loss of functionalities" as an attempt by Sony to legally cover it's ass in the event that they push out an update that unintentionally breaks functionality. That is it unintentionally breaks functionality until they release an update to fix it. If Sony thinks they can hide behind this sentence and use it to intentionally remove features that become 'problematic' at thier sole descretion, they need to take another look at consumer protection laws. What is worse is this clause also reads: "Some content may be provided automatically without notice when you sign in." This gives Sony carte blanche to remove whatever they feel like whether you like it or not. It's as if they're insisting that you don't own the device that you purchased and you aren't entitled to the features that device had as it was at the time of purchase. I'm all for adding features (it's needed to be competitive these days) but removal of features on existing devices should be the sole descision of the consumer. This new TOS is hardly a fair contract in my opinion. There are consumer laws in place to protect buyers from unfair contracts. I hope that these laws come into play in the lawsuit brought agains Sony here. I also agree that this move by Sony constitues unfair and deceptive business practices. Let us all hope this case gains class action status. I'll try to keep looking for updates as well.

- sun

Posted by sun on Tuesday May 04, 2010 - 21:31:50

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