14 DAY TRIAL // Sony Computer Entertainment of America has asked a court of law to dismiss a class action suit brought against it after the company used a firmware update to take out the Other OS feature from the PlayStation 3 home console, earlier this year.
The Other OS feature allowed enthusiast users to install another operating system, usually a flavor of Linux, on the home gaming console in order to run some homebrew applications.
When a hacker used the Other OS feature to actually break through some of the protections of the console Sony moved to eliminate any use of Other OS via a mandatory firmware update.
Recently a group of hackers managed to get through the protections of the PlayStation 3, presumably using debug tools, but Sony was again quick to make sure that no piracy was possible by putting out another firmware update.
The dismissal motion says, “These contracts specifically provide PS3 purchasers with a license, not an ownership interest, in the software and in the use of the PSN, and provide that SCEA has the right to disable or alter software features or terminate or limit access to the PSN, including by issuing firmware updates”.
The motion also attacks the initial complaint, saying it is just “a mix of quotes drawn from obscure articles and unrelated third party publications, and smattering of out of context and incomplete references to a few pages of SCEA’s website and user manual.”
A representative of the plaintiffs in the case told IGN that such a dismissal motion from Sony was expected and that they have also requested to see internal company documents that talk about the reasons for the removal of Other OS.
The PlayStation 3 has seen an increase in sales following the reveal of the new Slim version and a price cut and a lot of people were feeling positive towards manufacturer Sony.