How not to do a patch

[Zonerunner]

On April 6th, Microsoft will release a system update. In this update, you'll be able to use any USB memory stick (between the sizes of 1-16Gb) on your Xbox 360 to save... anything you want. Game saves, downloadable content, even full games. All it will take is plugging it into your system and formatting it via your 360's Memory Settings. (You can use bigger memory sticks and even USB hard drives as well if you want, though only 16Gb of it can be used.)

On April 1st, Sony will release a system update. It's sole function is to remove the "OtherOS" ability from all PS3 units. I would like to point out that one of Sony's biggest selling points a few years ago was that this was a system you could also use to function as a makeshift PC, via an installation of Linux using Cell's computational prowess. As of Thursday, if you have a Linux installation and update, you'll lose everything stored on that section of the hard drive. Sony haven't even confirmed if you'll be able to recover that portion of the hard drive back for game saves.

I hope I don't have to tell you which one is the more sensible here.

 

[St Helens RLFC]

Have they even attempted to justify there reasoning behind this?

 

[Zonerunner]

Sony's claim is that it will help "protect intellectual properties" - i.e. prevent piracy. A noble endeavour, to be sure, but with two key failings:

1) If there's a vunerabillity in the Linux portion of the PS3, it can be patched. Completely removing access to a whole portion of a system just to prevent one potential bug seems a little... extreme.

2) This patch happens to come out in the week Microsoft are allowing people to use any off the shelf memory stick in their system. I can forsee people plugging these memory sticks into their PC's and trying to crack it so they can download some DLC and essentially pirate it. I am sure Microsoft has put plenty of protection in on this front - they're not stupid - but it's a clear case of one patch removing functionality and closing up the system, while the other adds features and opens it up.

 

[St Helens RLFC]

All in all, not good for Sony then.

 

[Olyy]

Not heard about that 360 update before, but i'm very happy about that! I'm running low on diskspace on my harddrive, and USB sticks are much cheaper than new harddrives

 

[Cymro]

How I love Microsoft is starting to listening to what people want!

 

[TRF_woosaah]

is anyone else thinking April 1st???? sounds a bit dodgy to me. Also the last update, after the big feb 29 error, they said they were never going to remove it, so ill beleive it when i see it.

 

[Teh Mite]

Nerdiest April Fools gag I've ever heard. Whatever happened to good old-fashioned immiturity like putting cling film over Bill Gates' toilet?

 

[Saints1]

Sadly Woosaah I don't think Sony have a sense of humour...

 

[Zonerunner]

I'm afraid I have to agree with our resident friendly administrators. As much as the timing is suspect, Sony don't exactly have a track record for April Fool's concerning system updates...

 

[TRF_woosaah]

yeah that sucks though i havnt looked after my system update i am sure its gone, kinda sucky i was looking at upgrading my hard drive and putting ina linux system. I though that was a great idea but oh well

 

[Zonerunner]

Fortunately, using a specially modified proxy, i've been able to connect to PSN without updating, so I still have my OtherOS functionality.

Really, it's a temporary solution at best (it's pretty slow), but fortunately it looks like someone's nearly ready to release a custom firmware that retains OtherOS functionality even though the system is 3.21. (Indeed, he suspects it might even re-introduce OtherOS functionality to Slim systems, which had the feature removed from launch.)

 

[TRF_woosaah]

oh yeah, i'd like to see that, i need to get a bigger hard drive before i decide to do anything like that anyway.

 

[alex]

cool, i can buy a usb drive instead of another memory unit!