Calendar Bug Disables Older PlayStation 3 Models

JohnWilliams writes "The Sony PlayStation Network appears to be inaccessible to older ('phat') PS3 units. Players cannot play games that require a connection, even in single-player, offline mode, e.g. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Also, the system date resets to January 1, 2000. Sony is 'looking into it.' Speculation abounds that it is a bug related to 2010 being incorrectly flagged as a leap year. The newer PS3 Slim models seem to be working properly."

Re:Can someone explain the bug?

[Sowelu]

It happened because two different time tracking systems disagreed with each other and were stupid. System 1 said "It's February 29th, 2010", and passed it to System 2. System 2 says "WHOA, that's impossible, nuke it from orbit and start over". Why did they do it like that? Who knows?

Re:Can someone explain the bug?

[Anonymous Coward]

the clock that is displayed on-screen is just some application level date. it's for 'display purposes only. changing this has no effect on DRM licenses restrictions (such as when you download a movie with an authorization to watch it once over the next 7 days).
the 'real' ps3 clock is a hardware device (I guess they changed model between the 'phat' and 'slim' hardware releases, which is why slim is not affected). this clock has read-only access via the hypervisor only.i don't think it's even possible to reset it - at least that's what was claimed in a Sony document describing the PS3 Linux kernel [ncsu.edu]
if the hardware RTC has a fault, they've got a real big problem

Suing as a means to modify behaviour?

[CdBee]

Potentially could suppliers be forced into higher standards by the fear of consumer litigation?

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Effects are rather... odd

[Raxxon]

It was refusing to install the Star Ocean Trophy set. I could get it to start Bayonetta, but when it attempted to load the first cutscene it just hung forever. Tried doing a number of things, nothing worked... And it wouldn't let me back up my data as the largest thumbdrive I own is 8gb and after removing ALL game data, installed demos and everything else I could strip, it claimed it still needed another 750mb of space (original claim was over 17gb). And of course it refuses to recognize either of my external USB HDDs as a target for backing up or reading data from...

So I started thinking "HD Failing" (it is an original PS3 after all). Figured I'd have it format the drive then reinstall and repatch my games. Nearly a 5 hour time estimate. Take a nap, wake up, see this.... "oh god damnit."

Re:No PSN on sim yesterday

[mjwx]

Are they really trying to kill gaming on all platforms?

No, DRM is and has always been about killing 2nd hand sales. The piracy non-issue was just an excuse that no one would question whilst they went about removing your consumer rights. For over a year now publishers have been openly equating the 2nd hand market to piracy. The ultimate goal is to destroy all media they don't control, if DRM isn't stopped in the near future all games will require an authorised console, with authorised media, on an authorised display device and an authorised user and if any of these things fail authorisation then the whole system will stop working (for you at least).

So at least write to your representative (I know in the US this will do nothing but not all /.ers are in the US) about DRM.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, consoles have DRM built into the hardware. This makes it both more prevalent and more aggressive then DRM on the PC. It also makes it harder to remove.

Since when is a year = 2 mod 4 EVER a leap year?

[kalidasa]

Guys, it's really not that hard:
GregYear <- (appropriate year for start of Gregorian era in locale)

IF (month = 2 AND year MOD 4 = 0 AND (year < GregYear OR year MOD 100 > 0 OR year MOD 400 = 0))
{MaxDayForMonth <- 29}
ELSE IF (month = 2)
{MaxDayForMonth <- 28}
ELSE IF (month IN (4,6,9,11))
{MaxDayForMonth <- 30}
ELSE
{MaxDayForMonth <- 31}
(pseudocode style adapted for Slashcode)

what will happen in 15 years?

[PmaxII]

2 months ago my PS3 died (i've replaced it since)... so I decided to show to my kids what kind of games we played when I was a kid. So I dug out of the basement my old ps1, my sega genesis and my 30 years old mattel Intellivision... All of them worked. I didn't expect anything else! (now I remember why we were playing real hockey outside ...) But it make me wonder, will my ps3 still be working in 15 years (or maybe 30)... A simple drm check and everything is down... I have COD warfare 2, and it has to connect to the net ?? I didn't know that.. And I sure would'nt have buy that game if I knew that... What if the current ps3 network is not compatible with the network in 30 years.. what if sony's servers are down next year? I have a serious question here, are we really all going toward this kind of drm in everything (tv, blueray, fridge, beds (whatever..)) or is it dying (like for the mp3s) ?

I'll be playing my Dreamcast

[Plastic Pencil]

I've had one Dreamcast since 9/9/99 that's run flawlessly to date. In that span I've had: -2 N64's (#1 from '96 croaked in '02) -2 PS2's (#1 died after 1 year) -1 Lonely Gamecube -2 Xboxes (okay they both work, but #1 is sounds like it's on its deathbed...) -4 or 5 360's (#1 broke in a week, RROD gave me 3 or 4 different 360's in Spring/Summer '07) -2 Wii's (1st was broken out of the box) -1 PS3 (although it was sidelined last fall after a Sony 'update' broke it, and demanded $150 to fix. A user fix resolved the problem and it's been ok til now). But that system from going on 11 years ago (and a launch day system at that) is still going strong. Long Live the Dreamcast indeed.

Re:How many other systems have this y2k bug?

[kirkb]

I've got a fleet of GPS vehicle trackers that crapped out last nite when they hit "00:00 March 1st" UTC. Working with the vendor to resolve :(