The last firmware upgrade by SCE that integrated Facebook with PS3 may have been greeted with enthusiasm by owners. But it’s likely that the new PS3 firmware update to be introduced by Sony this April will get mixed reactions. The official Sony PlayStation blog states that the PS3 firmware v3.21 upgrade will disable the ‘Install Other OS’ feature that came with the bulkier PS3 units. It wasn’t until September 2009 that the slimmer PS3 version hit shelves.
Though this new system software update is optional, what’s there to dislike in it may be pretty obvious to a lot of people. Users who do not upgrade to this firmware will not able to access PSN and use services like chat and online features of PS3 games. PS3 software titles and Blu-ray disc videos that require this firmware will not be available to those who do not go in for an upgrade. There’s also the playback of copyright-protected videos stored on a media server that will be inaccessible via PS3 units that haven’t been updated.
At the same time, Sony maintains that the ‘Other OS’ functionality has been dropped due to certain security concerns. In spite of this change, users can avail of a wide range of gaming and entertainment content delivered by SCE and its content partners on a more secure system, according to the company. PS3 owners using the ‘Other OS’ feature and looking to update to this firmware are required to back-up data stored within the hard drive partition used by the ‘Other OS’ since the data will be rendered inaccessible after the upgrade.
Sony is scheduled to roll out the PS3 firmware v3.21 update on April 1, 2010.