PS3 Firmware Updates

[thegamezmaster]

How many users here update when they get a notice? Why? How does it help or hurt? Just looking for some input.

[+Gemintronic]

I personally chose not to allow Sony to take away features that I bought. Firmware 3.21 is the offending update. If you own a slim PS3 then you don't have to worry - no Other OS in the first place. Firmware 2.50 disabled Java Homebrew so don't update if you dabble with BD-J games. The problem now is they've taken the PSP route and forced you to upgrade in order to play the newest games. Red Dead Redemption on up will kill your Other OS.

 

Generally, for me, the added features haven't had an impact. I updated previously because, hey! new features are better than none. Still, what scares me is that occasionally these updates brick your PS3. Doesn't happen often, but I don't want to be the "lucky" one.

Edited August 1, 2010 by theloon

[thegamezmaster]

I personally chose not to allow Sony to take away features that I bought. Firmware 3.21 is the offending update. If you own a slim PS3 then you don't have to worry - no Other OS in the first place. Firmware 2.50 disabled Java Homebrew so don't update if you dabble with BD-J games. The problem now is they've taken the PSP route and forced you to upgrade in order to play the newest games. Red Dead Redemption on up will kill your Other OS.

 

Generally, for me, the added features haven't had an impact. I updated previously because, hey! new features are better than none. Still, what scares me is that occasionally these updates brick your PS3. Doesn't happen often, but I don't want to be the "lucky" one.

 

Thanks for your input but not sure what "brick" means as in kills the system so it's unusable?

[HammR25]

Thanks for your input but not sure what "brick" means as in kills the system so it's unusable?

Yes, that's what he means. Pretty much any firmware update for any piece of electronics can make that item unsable if it doesn't go the way it should.

 

I download all of them as soon as I get notification they're out. 99.999% of the time they include new, helpful features.

[thegamezmaster]

Thanks for your input but not sure what "brick" means as in kills the system so it's unusable?

Yes, that's what he means. Pretty much any firmware update for any piece of electronics can make that item unsable if it doesn't go the way it should.

 

I download all of them as soon as I get notification they're out. 99.999% of the time they include new, helpful features.

 

 

 

Thanks for the reply. Not sure if I should update my used 80G. Any suggestions I'm a newbie and didn't get an owners manual explaining this stuff.

[Kid Ice]

I update as soon as the update becomes available. This way I'm not forced to update when I go to start a new game later.

 

I can't recall any update that bricked the PS3 except for that "leap year" bug. You can download updates off Sony's website in the event that an update gets goofed up (you put it on a usb drive). I guess if the PS3 was my only system I'd think twice about it, but I have a lot of other stuff to play in the event it gets bricked.

[Mord]

I update as soon as the update becomes available. This way I'm not forced to update when I go to start a new game later.

 

I can't recall any update that bricked the PS3 except for that "leap year" bug. You can download updates off Sony's website in the event that an update gets goofed up (you put it on a usb drive). I guess if the PS3 was my only system I'd think twice about it, but I have a lot of other stuff to play in the event it gets bricked.

 

You got lucky then since there was at least one time that an update bricked PS3s - and Sony attempted to get them to pay for the unbricking. I wonder if that thing reached class action status afterwards.

[HammR25]

Thanks for the reply. Not sure if I should update my used 80G. Any suggestions I'm a newbie and didn't get an owners manual explaining this stuff.

I don't see any reason not to update. The chances that you actually brick your PS3 by updating it are very very small.