PlayStation have published PS Vita Firmware Update 3.74 and PS3 4.89 out of the blue yesterday. At a quick glance, these firmwares are a (real) security update, preventing the creation of new PSN accounts from the devices and limiting account management features. Early reports indicate that existing exploits for the console still work or can be ported, but check the disclaimer below.

The last updates for these consoles where 3.73 almost 3 years ago, and 4.88 last year, respectively.

Disclaimer: As always, if your console is hacked (or you’re hoping to run hacks on it eventually), we recommend you do not update, until it is fully confirmed that exploits work on the latest firmware. Don’t be a hero, wait for a tuto!

PS Vita 3.74 and PS3 4.89 Update – What’s new?

The PS Vita and PS3 are pretty much unsupported at this point by Sony. However, these devices, and, more critically, the PSN APIs they can access, are still “entry points” into PlayStation’s network. And it seems Sony have been wanting to plug a few holes here, by preventing the creation of new PSN accounts from these consoles.

PS Vita 3.74

• Signing in to PlayStation Network now requires a device password for enhanced account protection.
• Account creation for PlayStation Network and some account management features are no longer available on the console. Use your PC or mobile browser to use account management features with improved performance, speed, and safety.

PS3 4.89

No surprise here, exactly the same stuff

• Signing in to PlayStation Network now requires a device password for enhanced account protection.
• Account creation for PlayStation Network and some account management features are no longer available on the console. Use your PC or mobile browser to use account management features with improved performance, speed, and safety.

PS Vita Hacks – Hencore 2 reported to work on 3.74

Scene veteran NanoSpeedGamer reports that H-Encore 2 still works on firmware 3.74. Wait for more confirmation, but it seems the Vita is “safe” to run its long term exploits.

@frwololo Confirmo que Hencore2 funciona en PSVita 3.74 !!
Yujuuuuuuuu #psvita pic.twitter.com/pdr42JSq3A

— ☢️NanospeedGamer🦎【YouTuber】 (@NanospeedGamer) May 10, 2022

PS3 Hacks – Work in progress for 4.89

On the PS3 Side of the force, Esc0rtd3w (of PS3Hen/PS3xploit team) stated he is currently working on 4.89 compatibility for PS3HEN, pending more details. Similarly, EvilNat will “try to update his CFW to 4.89 ASAP”, he says.

PS Vita and PS3 Firmware updates. Why now?

Some people speculate that the revamped PS+ service is what’s triggering these changes. It’s likely PlayStation are changing APIs under the hood, and do not prioritize keeping older consoles up to date.

although this makes sense from a priority perspective as a company, this brings a few questions to the surface. Namely, what happens of these devices 2, 5, 10 years in the future? Fans of 8-bit consoles can buy a used NES and expect it to work “out of the box” (give or take a few component replacements) with its original games. For consoles of this era, focused heavily on digital downloads and online DRM, the future might not be so bright for enthusiasts. The PS Vita and the PS3 do support physical games, but not all games for these consoles where published physically.

The only way to play some Vita or PS3 games down the line might be to hack the consoles. And I can’t begin to think of what a useless piece of trash my digital-edition PS5 could be in 20 years, considering it can’t do anything physical… What do you folks think of the future of game preservation? Let me know in the comments.