Bastards!!!

[Trev]

I use my PS3 primarily as a Blu-Ray player, but I'm sure Sony will kill that feature eventually as well. ;-) (And in the United States, the PS3 is heavily marketed as a Blu-Ray player. Of course, most salesmen will tell you that it can't be better than X dedicated Blu-Ray player, but that's mostly perception. Most people won't have their displays tuned to the point that it makes a difference. The image is awesome on my 55" Samsung 8500.)

A number of universities and governments use PS3s for analytical computing, but with mainstream x64 processors coming with 8, 12, and more cores, and mainstream graphics cards carrying hundreds of stream processors, the Cell (as it exists in the PS3) isn't much of a win apart from the price.

[Trev]

Usually advertised features are subject to change (often without warning), as stated in some minuscule text on the advert somewhere.

http://www.amiga.org/forums/showthread.php?t=52074

As the thread asks, why do people believe the advertising?

But, it wasn't just an advertised feature, so Sony can't claim that here. If they remove it now, even with proper notice, they still be in violation of an implied warranty of merchantability, especially in places like California (where I happily live). No amount legal wrangling can get around an implied warranty. While Sony may be vulnerable to a class action lawsuit, however, I doubt it will happen. As others have noted, this will just encourage users to find so-called illegal methods of accessing the hardware.

[Trev]

@Trev

This change if true only affects FAT PS3's, most or all of those are out of warranty.

The implied warranty is separate from the express warranty and is based solely on the product being fit for a particular purpose, e.g. running an alternative operating system. The act of accepting the upgrade's license agreement may qualify as a renegotiation of the terms of the original sale complete with a new implied warranty of mechantability that doesn't include running alternative operating systems. I don't know if you can renegotiate the terms of a sale after the sale has taken place. I'm not a lawyer, but my mother is. I'll ask her. ;-) One thing I do know is a blanket AS-IS disclaimer would not apply to features the product is expressly documented to support.

EDIT: Working around implied warranties is also a key part of advertising. That's why products are always advertised to "MAY" or "HELP" do something instead of actually doing something. Crafty that.

[Trev]

Or just leave law enforcement in the hands of law enforcement. If companies like Sony spent less money seeking their own remedies--corporate vigilantism--prices would be lower and margins would be higher. There must be a win somewhere in their math, however, or they wouldn't do it. They could be bowing to pressure from studios, given the Blu-Ray functionality. (Because you know, it's not like you can't do whatever you want with a Blu-Ray disc on a PC with BD-ROM drive.)

[Trev]

So, fallout so far includes systems that won't play games, systems with flakely network connections, systems that won't play Blu-Ray discs, and incompatibility with fully licensed third-party peripherals. Good job, Sony! If Sony didn't have a closed, proprietary platform, I'd have more sympathy for them.

[Trev]

I don't buy games that require network access (I don't play multiplayer games, obviously), so I'm good to go as long as Sony doesn't force an update. If that happens, I'll just disconnect the PS3 from the network (or prevent it from talking to Sony).

[Trev]

No, I have a choice. I can either buy the game for a different platform, or I can not buy the game at all. I'll then write a short, friendly letter to Sony explaining why I didn't buy the game.

[Trev]

I agree with you, but the best way to deal with Sony or anyone else in cases like this is to not buy their products and let them know exactly why you didn't.

[Trev]

It's piss easy to rip a Blu-Ray from any system. Apart from saving face among their fellow studios, that's hardly a valid reason from removing the feature.

Some good could come out of this, though, if it leads to more secure hypervisor implementations.

[Trev]

How about a MSSIAH v. Korg DS-10 (and Korg DS-10 Plus) comparison thread? It's kinda sorts console related. ;-) That's what I'll be up to this weekend when I have a bit of spare time.