I used to have a 360, and I remember Microsoft rolling out various 360 dash updates etc. But you were never forced to accept them - worse case scenario, you weren't allowed on Live till you updated.

Sony, on the other hand, force you to apply an update before you can play a game if your system has the lower version of the game. This has always bugged me - they're actually stopping you playing games you legally buy unless you let them modify the functionality of your console. And that's what they are doing - granted, every update may not remove a feature like OtherOS, but they're still altering a product that you legally own.

What happens if you say no to the update's licence terms anyway? Has anyone tried returning a game because they refused to accept/apply the update? It seems kind of a drastic thing to do, but I'd like to see this get tested - I can't see many stores accepting an opened return on the grounds of not accepting the licence/update.

Apparently not, no.

... which is highly unlikely, I'd suggest Magicgate.

Yes, some of the claims that various firmwares have crashed the PS3 that turn up when the firmware is updated are likely a result of coincidence. However, in this case, the problem is definitely real. Here are a few points. This problem occurs whether you have the update on memory stick, or HDD. The update is also in the correct directory, which is PS3\Update - and I've swapped my HD before, with no problem. I myself did use Sony's backup facility. However, how do you get 2 HDs in a PS3? You can't - you have to put a new one in, and then use restore to put the old data back. However, the problem occurs before the PS3 even gets as far as the main menu. The PS3 requires the firmware to prepare the new HD to be used, and this is where the problem crops up. It's not clear if this affects only Slims or Slims and fats. There have at least been one or two apparent reports people with Fat PS3s having the issue. Putting the old HDD back in does mean the PS3 works - but I put the 3.41 firmware on just before I upgraded the HDD. I could kick myself.

Also, Kotaku goes on to say 'the solution it (Capcom) is working on with Sony Computer Entertainment America involves providing notice of the DRM in the game's description page on the PlayStation Store in North America and Asia, not removing or altering the DRM.' But that doesn't really help people who've already bought the game. I wonder if anyone will be applying for refunds on that basis?

.. and further information can be found [url="http://kotaku.com/5523238/capcom-apologizes-for-not-telling-users-of-final-fight-drm"]here[/url]. The statement from Capcom reads...

"Capcom would like to formally apologize for the issues consumers are having with the PS3 version of Final Fight: Double Impact. Typically, the notification for a required PlayStation Network connection appears in the full game description when a game is downloaded from the PlayStation Store. Unfortunately when populating this content this detail was overlooked and wasn't included in the versions of the game that released in North America and Asia. It was included in the release for Europe. Capcom should have checked to make sure the notification was included when the final game was made available and we sincerely apologize for this oversight.

The DRM requirements for Final Fight: Double Impact are not unique to this release. This protection mechanism has been implemented in numerous games offered on the PlayStation Store before. When it was brought to our attention that the notification was missing, we acted quickly with Sony Computer Entertainment America and a fix is on the Way.

We would like to thank our vigilant fans for bringing this to our attention and we will exercise better scrutiny on future Capcom releases."


Hang on a mo... not unique? So there are other PSN games that require you to be logged in to fire them up? I don't remember hearing about any. Kotaku asked Capcom to tell them which other games used a similar system, and were greeted with silence.

I did eventually find this after doing a search on Yell.com and sent them a letter, which they got today. As to who it was addressed to, I address it to escalations. Don't know if anything will come of it, but at least it's based in the UK.

The general attitude at least two electrical places I've worked at, with some managers there has been that once we've got the customers money, sod it. If something bad happens, they have to do all the waiting around and pissing about till the item gets fixed. They think there's plenty of other fish in the sea. And they used to be right, but now they're losing money hand over fist, they need to realise that customer service matters, or die like the dinosaurs they are. I'm not saying to bend to every customers demand, because the customer sure as heck isn't always right. But just stonewalling/messing them about is no good any more.