PS3 firmware update could kill jailbreak

SONY HAS RELEASED yet another compulsory PS3 firmware update that might put a damper on the recent open source jailbreak fun.

Every time Sony releases a firmware update for the PS3 it is normally followed by a wave of negative publicity. The biggie came a few months ago when Sony halted support for letting the PS3 run Linux. The company made the update pretty much compulsory, by which we mean fanbois couldn't play online or use new Blu-ray discs without the upgrade.

Then in August we reported that a bunch of open sourcerors released a dongle called PS3 Jailbreak that turned Sony's games console back into a Linux system. This has now been banned in Oz but it hasn't stopped other open source fanbois from using similar hacking methods on the once impenetrable PS3.

If there's one thing Linux developers like it's a good old fashioned tinker and mod so we weren't surprised when one of them hacked his PS3 using a smartphone. The modder used a Nokia N900 to hack his console and the online open source community immediately ported it to the Palm Pre as well.

So Sony has responded with a yet another firmware update that might take the fun out of the recent mods. While Sony hasn't said that firmware upgrade 3.42 will kill the jailbreak, it seems obvious that the update has been rushed out to counter the mods.

According to Joystiq, the update is little more than a system software stability update, as claimed by Sony US websites. However, Sony Japan says the 3.42 update will have "added support for problems caused by hardware security vulnerabilities." µ