.jpg "Sony kills older PS3s with update -")
Owning a PS3 is fast becoming an albatross around user's heads.
So far, Sony has allowed hackers to take credit card details and personal data and has turned off the network for a month. Now, it seems, in a desperate bid to stop them installing Linux onto their systems, the Japanese outfit is causing its punter's machines to overheat.
Firmware update 3.61 for the PS3 has created a big problem for older consoles. If you have a 60GB model, the warranty is gone, and the update appears to cause your machine to die by overheating.
The news comes from Rockstar which is cross that people are complaining that its new game, LA Noire, is killing their machines. It insists that it is not Rockstar's fault.
Initially Rockstar released a statement to this effect and then retracted it.
The original statement said that it had received some reports of PS3s overheating while playing L.A. Noire or beeping three times before shutting down or turning themselves off, mostly on older 60GB and 80GB fat models.
The statement said that updating to firmware 3.61 will cause PlayStations to overheat.
There have been various reports of this on a few different games now, all reporting their PS3s turning off or 'Red Lighting' after having installed 3.61.
It claimed that it had confirmed locally that multiple games overheat or freeze only when 3.61 is installed.
Obviously you can't release a statement like that based on limited R&D, which is why Rockstar pulled it. But it does look like it is the case.
Sony has not made any statement on the meltdown of older machines.
We expect owners to point out the same sorts of problems had with Microsoft's Xbox. The Red Ring is a fact of life for many.
After all, your favourite company's failings are always seen in perspective of some rival's.
wich was only one year, and I didn't play much with it (only during the week-end) so it's definetely not normal.
Of course, Sony wouldn't do anything about it because the warranty was expired !!
And I had bought it for 600 € !!
I hate sony !
Its a shame though this happen. I wish sony aknowledges the problem and replaces dead consoles.
Sony proved many times it isn't a thrustworthy company.
First they released a console boasting it's capability to run Linux. Then they disabled it without asking.
Then, they spilled credit data of over 70 million people, and only notified them several days later.
The PSN isn't recovered yet, and it seems likely it won't be running again before Fukushima 1 is fully restored.
They opened a breach that allowed people to steal PSN accounts by allowing anyone to change the accounts passwords.
They released several flawed firmware revisions, now a deadly one for the console.
They are competing with XBOX about who has the worst console and custumer support.