With all the news about breached security, homebrew and Sony taking hackers to court, the underlying allure of installing custom firmware on the PS3 is still something a lot of people are interested in. Whether they simply want to return OtherOS to their machines, mess around with emulators or pirate games is beside the point. We here at TheSixthAxis do not recommend dabbling about in the custom pond for one simple reason: you could irreparably damage your console.
Case in point, the recently released CFW 3.55 which, according to the very community that are driving custom firmware development, appears to have bricked a number of consoles. Hacker Waninkoko (hackinblack on Twitter) announced today:
Yay! It’s coming! Custom Firmware v3.55 for PS3 released!
Only to be followed 19 minutes later with:
Do NOT install in Slim consoles! Looks like users are reporting bricking issues. That’s weird as the CFW was tested on both models. Well… I don’t know if those problems are real or just jokes. As I said, some testers tried this and worked in both models.
Brickage was confirmed a few minutes later when an apology was also issued:
I’m sorry for all the consoles that have died, this was unexpected :S
The coding elite over at NeoGaf, watching from the sidelines as the nightmare of PS3s dying around the hacking world unfolded, have chimed in, warning interested parties of the inherent perils of going rogue.
Apparently the guy who made this messed with lvl2 to make it accept a bigger payload, this is why random consoles are killing themselves. lesson = let the guinea pigs go first.
Sure, it’s early days yet and, who knows, it’s very likely the hacking community will iron out these issues and create a safe, robust custom firmware. Then all you have to worry about is Uncle Sony nuking your PS3 from orbit. Seriously, there will always be those who get a kick out of circumventing security measures; the challenge of cracking what is perceived as the uncrackable sublimely attractive.
For the rest of us, be aware that you not only risk losing your PS3 altogether (either now or in the future when your CFW may be detected) but will likely spend more time updating and tweaking your console rather than what it’s actually intended for: playing games.
TheSixthAxis does not condone piracy and does not recommend the modification of your console – doing so is against the Terms of Use of the console and is possibly illegal.
dude90
Haha they deserved it!
solidsteven
Only two words come to mind
HA HA.
serves them right.They knew the risks when they deicded to hack and now they are paying for it.
RudeAwakening
Would of loved to see the expression on some of the people’s faces after installing their CFW and getting bricked! Haha! priceless! Im glad they got bricked. I pity the fools!!
jayjay119
I PITY THE FOOL WHO BRICKS THEIR PS3!
Anybody? Nobody? Psychiatrist?
freezebug2
I am absolutely gutted for these poor people, they must be beside theirselves with grief at the loss of their old chunky black or new Anoerexic black. Mwahahaha…not really! Bloody daft sods, they only have themselves to blame.
gamerindia
What is the meaning of “Bricked” ? Also I remember that there was an article (about 1 week ago ) that Sony can destroy your PS3 with the help of a “Kill-Switch” .
Phil_E
they deserve it. and why dont they just stop wasting their time and play some of the superb games available on Playstation 3 *hand gesture towards shelves full of games
TheUgandanGamer
Because there are times when people would much rather play some absolute classics like Sonic the Hedgehog and Super Mario World, ‘n not have to bother with the fiasco known as Online Gaming.
Ryan
To be fair, its only this guy’s CFW that is bricking consoles.
TheUgandanGamer
This exactly.
It’s because he has attempted to patch the lv2 to allow the usage of backups – Something that GeoHot wouldn’t do.
DarkHarbringer
You know what? Your all a bunch of idiots!!! And you know why?!! Because anybody has a right to use their paid for and rightfully owned PS3 system however THE FUCK they please and see fit!! Perhaps you should tell people that they are only renting Sony’s PS3’s and not owning them? Yeah! Didn’t fucking think so! We have every God Damn right to use our paid for internet however the fuck we see fit and please, and shouldn’t be judged by moralistic fucktards who stick their noses where they don’t belong. They have no right or place forcing their idiotic moralistic views and other idiotic filth on us Pirates! You see, that’s the very reason why we are always going to be on top and get what we want, when we want, and is the reason for why the moralistic ones will always be below us, nothing more than scum beneath our shoes that are forever trodded upon, and then spit upon as we scrape them and their stupidity off of our shoes. We Pirates do not degrade ourselves to the weakness and stupidity of Internet Morals. If we want something, we download it, end of discussion.