Your eyes do not deceive you: Sony's nearly decades-old console has received a new update. Version 4.93 of the PS3 firmware is now available for anyone still kicking around on the company's decidedly retro home system, though you shouldn't expect a lot from the update.
This update is the latest in an annual trend. Once a year for the last several years, Sony has updated the PS3 firmware and every time, the system's patch notes have trotted out the same line: "This system software update improves system performance."
In reality, the company is doing a bit of maintenance on its beloved console. As others, like Kotaku, have noted, the move is a shrewd one on the corporation's part, and is a bit of a double-edged sword for players still getting use out of their PS3s.
For one, it is likely that these annual patches are updating the PS3's Blu-ray encryption keys, which are pivotal for the system to be able to continue reading and supporting this disc format that it helped popularize and grow into a standard. Otherwise, it wouldn't be able to play games or read the vast majority of movies it is meant to play.
On the other hand, these updates are also meant to curb the work of jailbreakers who modify these systems to function in ways they were not otherwise built for and play games they might not have initially supported.
The PS3 isn't the only Sony console getting some love of late. The PS5 also received an update earlier this week, enhancing PSSR (PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution) capabilities on the PS5 Pro while also providing some quality-of-life fixes to all base models.
Source
This update is the latest in an annual trend. Once a year for the last several years, Sony has updated the PS3 firmware and every time, the system's patch notes have trotted out the same line: "This system software update improves system performance."
In reality, the company is doing a bit of maintenance on its beloved console. As others, like Kotaku, have noted, the move is a shrewd one on the corporation's part, and is a bit of a double-edged sword for players still getting use out of their PS3s.
For one, it is likely that these annual patches are updating the PS3's Blu-ray encryption keys, which are pivotal for the system to be able to continue reading and supporting this disc format that it helped popularize and grow into a standard. Otherwise, it wouldn't be able to play games or read the vast majority of movies it is meant to play.
On the other hand, these updates are also meant to curb the work of jailbreakers who modify these systems to function in ways they were not otherwise built for and play games they might not have initially supported.
The PS3 isn't the only Sony console getting some love of late. The PS5 also received an update earlier this week, enhancing PSSR (PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution) capabilities on the PS5 Pro while also providing some quality-of-life fixes to all base models.
Source