Games Cheats and Reviews

This article only applies to those of you who recently purchased a PS3 Phat.  Sorry PS3 Slim owners, but you never had the “Other OS” option to start.

Here is the skinny.  Sony has recently released firmware 3.21.  This firmware has taken away the PS3 Phat owners ability to install software such as Yellow Dog Linux on their systems.  While this feature might be a small part of the PS3, it was also an advertised feature.

Amazon is just one such retailer that advertised this “Install other OS” feature.  So, you just might be entitled to some retribution for Sony yanking this feature.  Here is a breakdown of the US False Advertising Code:

• To prove that an advertisement is false, a plaintiff must prove five things: (1) a false statement of fact has been made about the advertiser’s own or another person’s goods, services, or commercial activity; (2) the statement either deceives or has the potential to deceive a substantial portion of its targeted audience; (3) the deception is also likely to affect the purchasing decisions of its audience; (4) the advertising involves goods or services in interstate commerce; and (5) the deception has either resulted in or is likely to result in injury to the plaintiff. The most heavily weighed factor is the advertisement’s potential to injure a customer. The injury is usually attributed to money the consumer lost through a purchase that would not have been made had the advertisement not been misleading. False statements can be defined in two ways: those that are false on their face and those that are implicitly false.

This just might be worth looking into if you have recently purchased a PS3 Phat.  You will need your receipt, and the PS3 needs to be within the warranty period.  We hopped onto Amazon this morning and noticed they removed the fact that you could install another OS onto your PS3.  It might be time consuming, but you just might be entitled some money back on that hefty purchase.  It never hurts to try.

One upset gamer in Europe already laid claim to a similar law.  They did not have to send their PS3 back.  They cited their law and got a credit back to their account.  You can read the full story here.

Sony, you screwed us on feature removal.  It is time we stand up and get a few bucks back.

Sharing: It’s Win/Win

A judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a disabled gamer against Sony Corporation of America, Sony Computer Entertainment America and Sony Online Entertainment which alleged that the defendants denied access to their services for people with disabilities.

The suit was originally filed by plaintiff Alexander Stern in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California last October. The dismissal notice (PDF) was handed down on February 8 of this year.

GamePolitics.com writes:Erik Estavillo, the Resistance: Fall of Man gamer who sued Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) over being banned from the PlayStation Network has targeted the remaining two major console makers in a new lawsuit.

Microsoft Corporation and Nintendo of America are defendants in a federal complaint, which was filed November 18 in the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California.

Microsoft is being sued for a "red ring of death" affecting the plaintiff’s Xbox 360 console. Estavillo notes that as he is disabled, he cannot afford to pay the "well over $100" fee to fix the console, nor can he afford to purchase a new one. He feels "that Microsoft should have to bear the burden that is now put on the shoulders of this disabled plaintiff."

Owners of bricked systems file suit on behalf of everyone who downloaded system update 3.0 or 3.01; demand unspecified damages.

The ability of console makers to update their systems’ firmware has a number of benefits, as evidenced by the continually expanding capabilities of the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii. However, the updating of firmware on all three platforms is sometimes associated with reports of systems being broken by the updates, or "bricked."

In some cases, the owners of ruined consoles do more than make angry message board posts about their misfortune. In late 2006, an Xbox 360 owner sued Microsoft over a system update rendering his console inoperable. That suit was dismissed in mid-2007 when Microsoft and the plaintiff reached an agreement out of court.

Now it’s Sony’s day in court, as last week a pair of PlayStation 3 owners who had their systems bricked by the September 3.0 and 3.01 firmware updates filed suit agianst the company. The two gamers–one from Texas, the other from Iowa–allege that the updates caused PS3s to malfunction, with problems including loss of controller use, malfunction of the Blu-ray drive, and bricking of consoles. When they contacted Sony’s customer service representatives, the pair were told that the system failures were coincidental and unrelated to the system update. Furthermore, Sony would charge them a repair fee of $150 in order to fix the systems.