I’ll be honest, I never once thought to touch the OtherOS feature that was initially built into every Playstation 3. In that regard I’m a pretty boring gamer. I don’t tinker with my systems; I can hardly get myself to install new themes. I usually enjoy the console I get in as “pure” a form as possible. With that being said, some people love to tinker, and upgrade, and push their hardware in whatever means possible. When Sony updated the Playstation 3 to 3.21 and removed the OtherOS feature it started a commotion like nothing we’ve ever seen in this Industry. The subsequent events that followed were as dramatic as they’ve ever been in gaming. Hacker, George Hotz rooted the Playstation 3 to get the OtherOS feature back, Sony, in turn, sued him for it, soon after the Playstation Network itself was hacked, and then taken down, this left users with their data compromised and pundits bickering about who was truly to blame.

Since those dark days of the Playstation Network outage, among others; Sega managed to get hacked, Bethesda also, and never to be outdone, EA was the latest target for hackers. What do these game companies have in common, other than the obvious? Nothing–to mainstream media outlets; but the hardcore gamers that are invested in this story understand the Sony hack had little if anything to do with the other game companies. Originally, when Sony was hacked, there was a small movement that felt Sony’s unjust business practices brought this upon themselves and now it just seems like a random attack from a cyber-bully. This works in Sony’s favor. Howard Stringer, CEO of Sony (for the time being), has argued that these attacks are part of a global attack and not just Sony.

Sony did what they’re supposed to do; defend their intellectual property. By suing George Hotz they were attempting to send a message to anyone else wanting to modify their system. Again, I’m not into the hacking scene; I usually take what the hardware manufacturer gives me and go on my merry way, but what all this comes down to is George Hotz putting a feature back into a system he purchased and showing others how to do it also.

It’s more than mildly upsetting to think that Sony will ultimately learn nothing from this. I’m not suggesting someone else go out there and make an example of them but when I buy a game system, I want features added, not removed. The fact that these events will unfold and end with a Harrison Ford-style hunt for fugitive outlaws means the initial consumer rights issue will be lost.