Smoke, smole and smoke again - INQ cognitive dissonance correspondent
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INQUIRER readers tell Sony what it can do with its network
OUR READERS are standing defiant in the face of threats from Sony and its medieval intentions for customers that hack its Playstation 3 console.
The huge Japanese corporation told the world in a foreboding statement this week that anyone using circumvention devices or running unauthorised or so-called 'pirated' software "will have access to the Playstation Network and access to Qriocity services through Playstation 3 system terminated permanently".
The games console maker has already struck out at one hacker. But if any of our readers are threatened with the loss of Qriocity, The INQUIRER says, don't worry about it because it probably doesn't work anyway. Just view this demo of the movie service and watch it churn.
No doubt whistling the Colonel Bogey March at the time of writing, the readers' comments came thick and fast but in no particular order.
Shouter is standing firm in the face of intimidation, "THEY'VE GOT A SIMILAR DEAL WITH THE PSP, WHICH I BOUGHT ONE OF FOR $40 SECOND HAND BY THE WAY, BUT I RUN PLENTY OF PIRATED AND EMULATED SOFTWARE. I JUST DONT USE THEIR DOGGONE ONLINE SERVICE, AND I'M OKAY WITH THAT."
That sentiment that, we don't use your products so take a hike, was also eloquently communicated by one Pharma, who said, "Another Sony Fail. I banned Sony products from my life some time ago, and have been blissfully happy without them ever since. Their proprietary products (Atrac, Minidisc, memorystick, UMD etc etc) and Sonymusics utter ineptitude at dealing with both their artists and paying customers (CDs with rootkits, DVDs with unplayable DRM) left me cold. The PS3 with OtherOS was a ray of light, but after a return to form this was pulled and I once again gloated that Sony have directly received precisely none of my hard earned cash. Do yourselves a favour and ditch them."
Indeed ditching seems to be at the nub of the problem here. Users ditching Sony's inadequate protections that allow hacking and Sony ditching features that it had sold to its customers.
So, perhaps unsurprisingly, it emerges that Sony's demands become another example of corporate hypocrisy. Anonymous Coward reminds us about what Sony has been up to in the past. "For example, Sony hacked everybodys PS3 so it wouldn't run Linux any more, after they had bought the product on the specific understanding that it could. Therefore I banned Sony from appearing on my 'to buy' list ever again. And thus far I've been absolutely delighted with the decision. So I couldn't agree with you more. Hacking is a crime, and criminals like Sony should be brought to book for it."
Cowzilla was equally outaged, writing, "Sony products are crap! Anyone dumb enough to pay a premium to have half the functions removed from a capable device deserves the product they get. I booted Sony out of my life permanently after the whole DRM audio CD fiasco. Here's a Big FU! to Sony from both myself and Microsoft."
And finally, reader P points out the big flaw in Sony's evil plan by writing, "what if a person is banned, they sell there console on ebay, someone else buys it. Is the console banned or the user?" µ
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The ps3 sucks. I have no use for one and no need for one in my life. I've been opposed to sony for awhile now and I think other people are coming around to their poor quality of service and customer relations. The hardware is abysmal too. Load times for a hard disk? Most non-ps3 exclusives are favored on the 360? Why? Live doesn't suck. The ports aren't terrible and I'd argue the frame rates are better.
If any sony exec. reads this, Your quality is sub-par now. Your hardware is a joke and I hope you choke when blu-ray drags you right underneath the water.
I mistakenly purchased the ps3 believing that I could install and run my own linux OS alongside the game box. They removed that functionality in an update. No choice, no beforehand message. Just *POOF* your machine has been nerfed without asking. That's hacking, by a foreign entity, and is illegal.
I will never again, in my life, purchase another Sony branded product. You have permanently lost my dollars Sony. Your draconian methods of sales and customer "service" are deploring. Your company is despicable.
I have an older FAT PS3, and was happily using PSUbuntu on it. Switching between Ubuntu and PS3 OS
After I had to replace the hard drive due to failure, I had to reinstall games and download updates and redownload PS3 software from the online store, I could not do this without upgrading firmware, so Sony forced me to upgrade, lose OtherOS, just to get access to my bought online games and get game updates.
My complaints against SONY are...
1. I bought the PS3, so it's MINE now.
2. If sony want to impose restrictions on what I can do with the PS3, they should have leased it to me, and provided a lifetime warranty during the leasing arrangement.
3. Removing advertised features that were available when I bought the PS3, is extremely bad, especially since SONY forced firmware updates on me after I replaced faulty hard drive to get accfess to games I legally bought from their online store.
I will be looking to install what software I like on MY PS3 in order to get otherOS option back.
i myself own a ps3 and play it everyday mostly online, hacking a machine to play pirate games is one thing but when people are running round like clark kent on MW2 shooting you with a pointed finger and stripping all your stats off you and getting platinum trophies on GT5 (impossible with the current sebastian vettel challange) this makes me rage, i stopped playing pc games online due to the likes of these people, punkbuster was always one step behind, i thought i'd be safe in the console world ... not anymore, this is one of the most biased articles ive ever read on INQ i agree that taking linux support was wrong but if that means the 0.01% of people that did use it miss out on it to keep the other 99.9% of us safe then so be it, by all means crack your console but don't expect to use it online with honest folk like me cos i can assure you that me and none of the other honest gamers i know are in the slightest bit happy about it, the sooner they are banned the better!
Remember Vaio laptops? Yeah, the ones where Sony locked the BIOS by default and you had to contact them/RETURN it if you wanted in? That really just says it all with respect to Sony's view of their customers. They don't give a damn about their obligations to customers.
While I fully agree that Sony are well within their rights to throw off hacked users from PSN, that's about as far as their right to interfere goes. Throwing out an "update" to consoles to disable functionality that was advertised at the time of sale is "hacking/cracking" the console, no two ways about it. Yet, when users hack their own consoles, the lawyers come out in force.
I have long since made a point of not buying Sony products, and for a good 8 years or so now, my consumer-related life has been the better for it.
I honestly think that users do have the right to do what they want with their PS3s, and any other hardware that they own.
The machine belongs to you, and you can make a doorstop out of it for all I care. You could turn that baby into a military super computer or a Cell-powered toaster, and no-one would give a damn.
Thing is, the PlayStation Network belongs to Sony, not you. When you modify anything in a PS3, or circumvent any security measures, you are not complying with PSN's entry requirements.
It's completely up to Sony whether or not they let you and your system on to their network. Sure, they advertised that you could get PSN access for free (subject to terms and conditions), but you agreed not to modify your console when you signed up to those terms.
If you don't like it, start your own network, so that all the modified PS3s can happily play online together.
As an aside, I'd really like to know just how many of the INQUIRER readers who commented are actually PSN users. The reaction on most PS3 forums has been positive, as most players don't mind playing for games, have no interest in running other software, and just worry about online cheaters.
CoD was a bad example. ;)
CSR: Game cheating in COD is not spawned from "jailbroken" "Hacked" PS3's. COD game cheating is easily done with manipulating saved data files without the need to "hack" the PS3. Just an FYI.
So there's no problem with someone using an aimbot in CoD? Sony should just turn a blind-eye to griefers with hacked systems?
Look, if you want to jailbreak your PS3, please do. Sony can STFU about that for all I care, but for Heaven's sake, in-game cheaters need to be addressed too. Normally, that level of cheating requires a hacked console.
If I buy a PS3 and want to run Linux on it, as some people do, which is fully legal and advertised as a product perk & all-of-a-sudden the company decides that the only reason I bought the damn machine for is now something that breaks T's and C's then screw them.
Also, I own the damn thing and the PSN was always shit IMO.
Screw Sony. They cannot stop people from doing what they want with their hardware, they cannot change human nature & they intimidate no one.
How about a big long letter of apology ending with "Thank you for buying our product and making it successful"?
After all, those that will hack the machine tend also to be the people that bought it.
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What is the main benefit to hacking a PS3? If you say, to pirate games, then Sony is right on accounts as well as any other company that wants to protect their product. If you say its because you want to "enhance" the experience by adding and modding and tweaking, then stop bitching and go build your own PS3!! or iphone or whatever else! Fact is, sony made a good product one that you love, but you want to hack it, and you can't! If you hate sony so much, stop buying their products, if you love them so much, why do you need to "fix" their products? If you don't think there product is good enough, MAKE A BETTER ONE AND BE THE NEXT SONY!
The only ones on bias are those who like to have his own property fully controlled and monitored by its previous owner.
Or they are just plain stupid.
Actually the comments I read on numerous forums are about 50/50 so I think this story as is typical of Rob is bias.