AfterDawn: Tech news

Sony releases PS3 firmware v3.55, adds nothing

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 07 Dec 2010 7:50 User comments (14)

Sony releases PS3 firmware v3.55, adds nothing Sony has released the latest firmware update for the PlayStation 3, adding nothing.
Says Eric Lempel, Sony VP of Network Operations: "This is a minor update that adds a security patch."

What Sony will not come out and state is the fact that the update will do little but block potential jailbreakers of the console.

In September, PSJailbreak released the first jailbreak, showing how PS3's security model was open to be exploited, and Sony was quick to shut down the project. However, open-source alternatives cropped up, giving users a chance to jailbreak their console for free.

Sony has since continued to update the system's firmware, blocking jailbreakers. Last month, however, a "downgrading" option appeared, giving anyone a method to downgrade their PS3 to firmware 3.41, the last version to fully work with the jailbreak devices.



Earlier this week, video emerged of unsigned code being run on a PS3 with v3.50 firmware, but that has yet to be fully confirmed. It won't make a difference now as the latest firmware is required to log into PSN.

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14 user comments

17.12.2010 20:31

What else is new, thanks for nothing sony!

27.12.2010 21:12

We all know that, Sony is not a gaming company! Does not matter how much they want to be.

37.12.2010 21:31

Like the PSN is worth anything.

47.12.2010 21:47
cowboynwo
Inactive

Who knows what gonna happen next I think sony needs to fix this before it gets any worse




57.12.2010 22:48

Sony can't fix the jailbreak...Pandora is out of the box. What they can do is to try their best to keep their non-jailbroken users happy. Fixing the massive problems caused by the 3.50 update would have been a good start...it has been out for a long time. Not constantly forcing ~20 minute long update installs on them would be another possibility (If it is just a "security update", then why must I download a whole new firmware?).

Even newer games like GT5 that require newer firmwares will go down quickly as new firmwares are hacked, so single-player backups/piracy on the PS3 are just a reality now...nothing sony can do about it but complain and sue people.

As for online, their best bet is to attack it on a game-by-game basis...they need to move to a PC-style strategy where the game disk is just installation media. Every copy gets a unique serial number, and you must enter the serial number and go online to activate (or call some guy in India and activate by phone). Also, you cannot go online so long as there are any non-activated games on the system; it will make you activate them before letting you play. They might also consider building the serial numbers right into the install media; so that they could have long, hard to crack serial numbers that users were not forced to enter using a DS3. Go online with the disk in the system, and you can activate just like that. Of course, the same rules that apply to PSN games would apply here.

68.12.2010 09:03

Originally posted by KillerBug:
Sony can't fix the jailbreak...Pandora is out of the box. What they can do is to try their best to keep their non-jailbroken users happy. Fixing the massive problems caused by the 3.50 update would have been a good start...it has been out for a long time. Not constantly forcing ~20 minute long update installs on them would be another possibility (If it is just a "security update", then why must I download a whole new firmware?).

Even newer games like GT5 that require newer firmwares will go down quickly as new firmwares are hacked, so single-player backups/piracy on the PS3 are just a reality now...nothing sony can do about it but complain and sue people.

As for online, their best bet is to attack it on a game-by-game basis...they need to move to a PC-style strategy where the game disk is just installation media. Every copy gets a unique serial number, and you must enter the serial number and go online to activate (or call some guy in India and activate by phone). Also, you cannot go online so long as there are any non-activated games on the system; it will make you activate them before letting you play. They might also consider building the serial numbers right into the install media; so that they could have long, hard to crack serial numbers that users were not forced to enter using a DS3. Go online with the disk in the system, and you can activate just like that. Of course, the same rules that apply to PSN games would apply here.
Out of curiosity, what are the massive problems in 3.50, I'm still on 3.41.

78.12.2010 13:13

For some reason, about 1/4 of everyone who updated to 3.50 has been getting extremely frequent crashes. The fix is to wipe the system drive completely and start over...not an ideal fix for the average user, and a pain in the *** even if you know what you are doing. I personally know two people that this happened to; and I skipped the torture and wiped the drive right from the start when I got my slim for online play.

Crashes like this can be hard to pin down to a firmware update; but it is noticeable when you go from crashing once a week to once an hour, and then go back to once a week after starting from scratch. It is possible that more than 1/4 of the updates have these problems, and people just think that there is something wrong with their systems. Heck, Sony might have even intended it that way...why else would they refuse to issue a fix?

88.12.2010 18:03

"Earlier this week, video emerged of unsigned code being run on a PS3 with v3.50 firmware, but that has yet to be fully confirmed."

It's been confirmed.

PSX-scene.com

98.12.2010 22:49

Yup...confirmed a few places now...also confirmed working online with the proxy trick...for now.

108.12.2010 23:25

can someone please send me a link for this as I have been trying (without success) to download this jailbreak for my PS3 FW 3.50 to put on a USB stick and hack my PS3 :(

119.12.2010 02:03

Originally posted by Mik3h:
"Earlier this week, video emerged of unsigned code being run on a PS3 with v3.50 firmware, but that has yet to be fully confirmed."

It's been confirmed.

PSX-scene.com
Yeah its been confirmed that it has been seen but it hasn't been confirmd that it is reaal! Its already been 72 hours and we still haven't heard anything.

1211.12.2010 10:18

I made the mistake to buy the console. Any time that I want to play it needs an update that takes forever, now I only use my Xbox.

1311.12.2010 17:33

Originally posted by KillerBug:
Sony can't fix the jailbreak...Pandora is out of the box. What they can do is to try their best to keep their non-jailbroken users happy. Fixing the massive problems caused by the 3.50 update would have been a good start...it has been out for a long time. Not constantly forcing ~20 minute long update installs on them would be another possibility (If it is just a "security update", then why must I download a whole new firmware?).

Even newer games like GT5 that require newer firmwares will go down quickly as new firmwares are hacked, so single-player backups/piracy on the PS3 are just a reality now...nothing sony can do about it but complain and sue people.

As for online, their best bet is to attack it on a game-by-game basis...they need to move to a PC-style strategy where the game disk is just installation media. Every copy gets a unique serial number, and you must enter the serial number and go online to activate (or call some guy in India and activate by phone). Also, you cannot go online so long as there are any non-activated games on the system; it will make you activate them before letting you play. They might also consider building the serial numbers right into the install media; so that they could have long, hard to crack serial numbers that users were not forced to enter using a DS3. Go online with the disk in the system, and you can activate just like that. Of course, the same rules that apply to PSN games would apply here.
I dont think that would be very cost effective. If everyone who doesn't have online started calling in at once to activate. Also game by game basis seems very tedious

1427.1.2011 19:02
crazykidtyree
Unverified new user

man i'm in 9th & i wanted 2 work 4 sony but how can i when they put updates that only block jailbreakers & they still get pass

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