Back when I worked in an HPC lab for the Office of Naval Research we didn't have a special bat-phone to Sony or anyone else; I doubt the Airforce is any different.

but really third-party repair centers actually repair consoles better then the manufacturers and wont update firmware if they can help it. If my console breaks, I'm taking it to GameStop for repair.

Sony is not obligated to sell what the Air Force want them to sell, and the Air Force is not obligated to buy what Sony sells.

Perhaps if you actually READ the article, you'd understand (that goes for everyone who said this). They aren't connected to PSN, but as soon one PS3 breaks, they won't be able to replace it in the grid, ruining the whole thing.

I highly doubt these ps3's are connected to the PSN.

Sony is obligated to sell the Air Force what they told the Air Force they would sell though. In this case a System running Linux. The Air Force would not of purchased this without said feature that was advertised.

That said. The Air Force has no use for PSN and I doubt these PS3s are playing games. However this move by Sony guarantees that any future updates to the OtherOS feature are null. That any real and true security holes will go unpatched. Once again how important it is for this project I wouldn't know.

this is a flame bait article by some people with out nothing else to do... this is so stupid that i am not even to argue this!

I will say this only once as they say on Allo Allo.

Although they do not require PSN they do require a firmware that has the OtherOS capabilities. This feature has now been removed and all future and repaired consoles will come without this feature making them useless. Also even if they worked around this the machines would effectively become unsupported. Contrary to popular belief because the US military bought just under 2000 units via a third party Sony are under no more obligation than they are to anybody else who is upset about the removal of this feature.

If the military had a contract with Sony for a specific requirement then this I am sure would be a non issue but as the articles suggests this is not the case.

They basically selected a COTS product as it is cheaper. This happens all the time in military procurement. They become just another consumer in this respect. This is why depending on how critical the systems are or any special functions above and beyond, the militarises of this world tend to got to tender and have bespoke products made which cost light years more.

The lack of firmware updates and the removal of the OtherOS function means The PS3 console from this projects perspective becomes obsolete and they now need to understand how they support it going forward or even if they can.

I would suggest they are probably worrying less of this than we are.

what They need To Play New PS3 Games and Blu-rays? Need PSN? what a Joke, its the Air force , are trolls This Desperate To find Something to troll on PS3? LMAO

I say tough luck. The PS3 is meant to be a game console first, and an overall multimedia entertainment device second. They are mostly sold with a loss witch they hope to eventually make profit on by selling games. These kind of practises, how well intended they may be, only cost Sony money. Besides that it posed a security risk for the system to keep the feature, witch the intended audience(gamers) didn't even use anyway.

O yeah and i heart Geohot(they guy who created the ''security risk'' in the first place) made a custom firmware witch you could use to update your system and retain the Other OS feature. Maybe they should contact that guy when they need a PS3 the regain the feature after an repair.