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Unless something changes, An issue lurking in the old PlayStations internal time systems threatens to make all PS4 games and all downloaded PS3 games playable on the current hardware. Right now, that’s not the point though when this problem will occur.
This firmware clock bomb is surely known Play Station conservation and hacking circles for a while. But it is so getting new attention Among the decision recently announced by Sony close online stores for PS3, PSP and Vita software. While the closure of the existing store will not affect players ’ability to play and re-download the software they have purchased so far, having a wider closure of PSN servers for these aging consoles could have a much more severe impact on wide area playback. games.
The root of the upcoming number has to do with the CMOS battery on all PS3s and PS4s, so that systems can keep track of the current time (they use it even when plugged in). If for any reason this battery dies or is removed, it creates an internal flag in the system firmware to indicate that the clock may be in sync with reality.
Once this flag is raised, the system in question will need to check with the PSN the next time it needs to confirm the correct time. On the PS3, this online check occurs when you play a game downloaded from the PlayStation Store. On the PS4, this also happens when you try to play retail games installed from a disk. This check must be performed at least once, even if the CMOS battery is replaced with another, so that the system can confirm the consistency of the clock.
Why does it matter so much time for the PlayStation firmware to have the right timing? On the PS3, the timer check is used to enforce the “time limits” set on your digital purchase. (The error message states: “This content has a time limit. To perform this operation, go to the date and time settings set by the Internet.”) This verification seems necessary even for downloads that do not have the actual set. expiration date, adding the final requirement for de facto online billing after their internal batteries fail.
On the PS4, however, the time check is intended to ensure that the data for the PSN trophy is apparently recorded accurately, and to prevent players from pretending to get the trophies before they get them. Do you think this check can be distinguished from the ability to load parts of the game, but player tests has shown that this seems to be a condition for loading PS4 games not at all.
All of this is not a huge problem for most PlayStation owners right now. Yes, the average CMOS battery life is slowly going through 10 to 20 years, especially the older PS3 hardware. But replacing the battery and re-syncing the internal timer with the PSN is pretty annoying for now (you can find a Wi-Fi hotspot and no PSN suffering one of its few interruptions).
But it’s nothing forever, as Sony’s recent decisions about old PlayStation online stores show. At some point in the future, in a year or 100 years, Sony will turn off PSN servers that control hardware control time that is no longer considered important. After that, it’s a short time before CMOS batteries fail before all the PS3 and PS4 hardware is slowly reduced to a half-functional gem.
Sony the problem can be quite simple with a firmware update that limits the system functions associated with this time check. So far, however, Sony has not publicly stated that it has such a plan and has not responded to several requests from Ars Technica for comments. Until then, intricate solutions that use jailbroken firmware are the only way to ensure that the aging of the PlayStation hardware will be used properly in the future.
This story first appeared Ars Technica.
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