The release of Medal of Honor on the PlayStation 3 has a free on-disc bonus – it’s called ‘Firmware 3.50’. Your PS3 must have the latest firmware upgrade, if it does not then the game will not play.
It’s a clever move by Sony and the games companies: if someone wished to play a game online in the past there was no way to escape the current firmware as you must have your PS3’s system software up to date to play via the PlayStation Network.
In addition, though, ensuring the game doesn’t run at all without 3.50 means that anyone who wishes to play offline will also have to upgrade so all those naughty jailbreaking pirates are locked out.
If 3.50 on disk becomes commonplace then, as expected, jailbroken PS3s will not be able to play any future titles. Sony have the upper hand once more and the only thing pirates can do now is to start disassembling the code for PS3 games and hacking out the requirements for 3.50.
You can read our full review of Medal of Honor here.
Source : MCV / Digital Foundry
Kamokazi-UK
Naa Naa na Naa Naa..
cc_star
There is rumours that this is why GT5 is delayed, and Sony’s silence on the reasons for the delay probably suggest it could be along these lines (they’ve never talked about Jailbreaking, only their lawyers have in the importers courts
nofi
I was just thinking that.
Tuffcub
Would make sense.
nemesisND1derboy
How are you writing articles while playing KZ3? I would have people think I’m dead so I wouldn’t be bothered by anyone…
Tuffcub
Top player TWELVE round in a row *and* writing for TSA at the same time.
Yes, it’s true, I am a god.
Alternatively I worte this earlier, got home and sat on KZ3 and Alex found the article and finished it off for me.
nemesisND1derboy
I’m guessing you are enjoying it then…. :P
G_The_Enemy14
I think F1 2010 had this too.
kivi95
GOOD news i hope every future game will have 3.50.I wonder what all the 3.15 people are thinking now.
cc_star
If they’re that fussed to have not upgraded so far, they’ll have bought another PS3 by now.
mcduff1979
another good move!
nemesisND1derboy
That’s good news, and a smart move by Sony. Well done!
peespee63
Well, it’s a standard practice for PSP UMD games, so why not for PS3. I’m only surprised it didn’t take Sony much sooner to implememnt.
tantalus_blank
I was thinking the same
Phizzy
I’m pretty sure there’s an update section on most game discs, they’ve been required to have at least version… 2.40 was it? Before this to allow for trophies, it’s just that for most people the update on the game disc is well behind what most people have. PS Move games will all have the earliest XMB update that included Move Support. Can’t expect everyone to have gone online to get their update.
Just time for them to update it, different reasons now though.
dude90
HAHA! Unlucky Jailbreakers, Sony wins again!
KeRaSh
iIf MoH can do it now, why can’t GT5 do it in November? If this is the reason why GT5 is delayed, what’s taking them so long? Do they have to polish the firmware upgrade process until Kaz is satisfied?
3shirts
I doubt this will make much difference. Jailbroken PS3 owners have already made the decision to sacrifice certain features of PS3 ownership. They will either have another, fully legit PS3 or will simply not play this or any other upgrade requiring titles until custom firmware comes along. I expect it has been worked on since the hack first came to light anyway.