Tonight at 9 PM MT I pick the winners for the T-Shirt Giveaway! Be sure to get your lottery entries in before then.
Prior to the slimmer PS3 models, you were allowed to install your own operating systems to Sony’s console. Those days are numbered now, as Sony has announced that firmware update 3.21 will arrive on April 1st, and it will eliminate the ability to install your own operating systems, namely Linux.
Why? Sony’s worried about security concerns with other operating systems. Technically, you could just avoid the firmware update should you want to keep using Linux, but by doing so you will no longer be able to sign into the PlayStation Network, use features that require signing into the PlayStation Network, or play games or Blu-ray movies the require firmware newer than 3.21.
If you have Linux on your PS3 but plan to comply and upgrade, you’re advised to back-up any data on your Linux partition, since you’ll no longer be able to access it after the update.
Just when you think that Splinter Cell: Conviction is a dead lock for Xbox 360 exclusivity, something has to pop up that throws all suspicion in the air again. The culprit this time is a recent discovery of a LinkedIn profile, of a Ubisoft developer that lists the PlayStation 3 as an intended platform for the game.
Marc Demers is the lead software engineer at Ubisoft Montréal, and his work for the publisher dates back to 2005. One of the listings in the ‘recently participated’ section of his profile read; “Splinter Cell Conviction 360, PS3, PC (2010)”. As of this moment, the mention of Sony’s console has been removed.
Is there something Ubisoft’s not telling us? Could Sam Fisher simply be holding off on a timed exclusive? It wouldn’t be the first time. The PS3 mention could have been the result of internal testing on the platform, which Ubisoft later dismissed when it announced the game would be a Microsoft exclusive back in 2007. Who knows?
As if there aren’t enough warnings against doing business in shady online deals, a rather sad story comes from the Daily Northwestern college newspaper about a man who lost $250 in a fake PlayStation 3 deal.
A man looked on Craigslist for a PlayStation 3 and set up a deal to meet in the parking lot of a Best Buy retail store. Upon meeting, the supposed seller took the $250 and drove off without exchanging any goods for the cash.
Police are said to be currently investigating.
While saving $50 on a PlayStation 3 may seem like an economical way to help buy your first new game, just remember to be careful when making deals involving parking lots.
Sony’s PlayStation 3 may have plenty of good games these days, but that wasn’t the case once upon a time. In fact, there was a time when pretty much every game hyped as being the Big Game for the console (before MGS4, that is) – the game that would finally justify its existence and $600 price tag – ended up releasing to a big fat “eh.”
Heavenly Sword(s) was one of those games, a “martial arts drama” whose ambition overextended its execution, and whose one real distinction was having its demo as the very first Zero Punctuation review here on The Escapist.
But it was a high-profile PS3 title in the Premetalgearian eon, which is why it’s slightly surprising that developer Ninja Theory is going multiplatform with its next title, Enslaved. It wouldn’t be surprising if we had a look at the balance books, though – as Ninja Theory co-founder Tameem Antoniades told CVG, exclusivity can be very difficult for smaller developers.
“It’s difficult. Heavenly Sword came out pretty early on the PS3, and we sold, I think, a million and a half copies, and that’s still not enough as an independent studio to break even,” said Antoniades. “The publisher potentially breaks even at that point, but the developers don’t … It’s just that when so many people have Xbox – I mean over half the market or more has Xbox 360s – why limit yourself to one platform?”
It is a very good point – why intentionally limit yourself so heavily? Ignoring a potential audience should never be done without good reason. Hopefully the company will actually be able to turn a profit on its next game, because getting to pay your employees is probably really awesome.
The Playstation3 maker recently announced that it would be removing the ability to install various flavours of Linux on the Darth Vader’s Toaster of a console, a policy no doubt inspired by a certain hacker’s regular boasts that he has very nearly opened up the innards of the PS3 for all.
Despite insisting that he has no interest in playing pirated games on the PS3, Hotz has continued to poke Sony’s security guards with his hacking stick, and is now being all indignant about them slamming shut - or more accurately removing – the back door through which he has undoubtedly been gaining his forced entries.
Hotz has now promised to provide a way of updating the console’s system without hobbling the Other OS capability in order to prove to Sony that it can’t take away services which people have already paid for.
“Hacking isn’t about getting what you didn’t pay for, it’s about making sure you do get what you did [pay for],” he says in his blog. “And this is about more than this feature right now. It’s about whether these companies have the right to take away advertised features from a product you purchased.
“Imagine if an exploit were found in Safari on the iPhone, but instead of fixing it, Apple decided to pull web browsing altogether. Legally, they may be within their right to do so, but we have to show them it’s the wrong move for the future of the product and the company.”
