Sony greases the banhammer, threatens PS3 “homebrew enthusiasts”

16 February 2011

Want to pirate games and cheat in multiplayer reinstall Linux on your PS3? Best reconsider that – Sony’s prepping the banhammer. According to a rather terse warning posted on the PlayStation Blog, any console found to be running “unauthorised or pirated” software will have its online access to PSN and Qriocity “terminated permanently”.

The full statement reads:

Unauthorised circumvention devices for the PlayStation 3 system have been recently released by hackers.

These devices permit the use of unauthorized or pirated software. Use of such devices or software violates the terms of the “System Software License Agreement for the PlayStation 3 System” and the “Terms of Services and User Agreement” for the PlayStation Network/Qriocity and its Community Code of Conduct provisions.

“Violation of the System Software Licence Agreement for the PlayStation 3 System invalidates the consumer guarantee for that system. In addition, copying or playing pirated software is a violation of International Copyright Laws.

Consumers using circumvention devices or running unauthorized or pirated software will have access to the PlayStation Network and access to Qriocity services through PlayStation 3 System terminated permanently.

To avoid this, consumers must immediately cease use and remove all circumvention devices and delete all unauthorised or pirated software from their PlayStation 3 systems.

Or, as blog manager James Gallagher puts it, “By identifying PlayStation 3 systems that breach our guidelines and terminating their ability to connect to PlayStation Network, we are protecting our business and preserving the honest gameplay experiences that you expect and deserve.
“Rest assured, this message does not apply to the overwhelming majority of our users who enjoy the world of entertainment PlayStation 3 has to offer without breaching the guidelines detailed above, and we urge you to continue doing so without fear.”

Cryfacing about “homebrew” aside, rampant cheating in online multiplayer games has become a significant problem since the console’s security went bottom up. This is why we can’t have nice things.

Are you a homebrew enthusiast? Is your PS3 jailbroken? << Share your thoughts on Sony’s homebrew policy in the forums

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