hcubed wrote:I guess I just want someone to give me a reason to not upgrade firmware... any reason.
As far as I'm concerned - you had the perfect reason earlier in your message:
hcubed wrote:What Sony has done (and is doing) with regard to removing OtherOS and other features (can't use Netflix, etc.) is super irritating to me.
For me - this is reason enough never to upgrade my PS3. The very idea that Sony would remove one of Ken Kutaragi's features rather than try to fix it still has me pretty steamed.
And - frankly - I just like having Linux on my PS3. One of the main things about it that I like is that it's not Intel based. I used to use a lot of PowerPC-based computers - and this is probably the last major machine to use this processor architecture.
Then again - I also run a MIPS processor on my PS2 Linux installation.
The flip side to this is that I also refuse to give Sony any more money for the PS3. Why should I reward them for taking away OtherOS by upgrading my PS3 to access the PSN network - which eventually gives them money?
I wrote a long article about this for the PlayStation forums. Here it is:
(Heh - Sony's site is down. *lol* I'll quote it when it comes back on-line.)
My purist stance was recently complicated by the fact that I was given a PS3 Slim as a present. Apparently, my brother got tired of my purist stance.
So - there's no real hardship for me in leaving my PS3 phat on 3.15 with OtherOS. And - technically - I didn't give Sony any further money.
I guess the way I'd look at it is like this. If you have other gaming machines, and you feel like sending Sony a message with your purchasing dollars, leave your PS3 at 3.15, and keep it off the PSN. Finish playing the existing PS3 games you have, enjoy PS2 BC if you have it, and wait until the next generation of gaming consoles to see if Sony regains your trust. This is what I'm doing.
If the PS3 is your only gaming console, you're an avid gamer, and you really don't care that you have one of the last PowerPC Linux boxes, go ahead and update it. If you really bought it strictly for gaming, it's pointless to wait for Sony to rectify this - based on the engineering staff Sony has left, OtherOS is probably never coming back.
Be aware that certain features will break on your console after you update it. Currently, there are issues with the Blu-ray movie Sunshine - you can't turn off the Picture-In-Picture feature - and some third-party USB controllers. Sony started restricting USB to licensed peripherals only, to help defeat the USB homebrew devices.
Also - there are a few posts on the Sony Forums detailing issues with blu-ray drive failures after firmware upgrades on the phats. I have never experienced this myself, but a good friend of mine did. His drive was working - he upgraded it - afterwards his PS3 would no longer read DVDs. It somehow became a Blu-ray only drive. He didn't even bother repairing his phat since it was one of the 40 gigs. He just replaced it with a slim.
Cheers,
Paul