PS3 Gets A New Update, But The Store Is Still Up

PS3 owners will have to do something they haven't done in a while the next time they boot up the console: Update it. And before you get worried, no, this update doesn't take down the console's PlayStation Store.

According to the extremely short list of patch notes posted on PlayStation's website, update 4.88 for the PS3 simply "improves system performance." It's not clear how the PS3's performance could be improved after all this time, but it's nice that Sony clearly intends to continue supporting the console.

Today's update for the PS3 comes after Sony reversed course on its plans for the console. According to the company's original plan, today would have marked the start of the last month that the PS3's online store would be up. However, Sony decided to leave the PS3 PlayStation Store up following outcries from PlayStation fans.

"Upon further reflection, however, it's clear that we made the wrong decision here," wrote Sony Interactive Entertainment president and CEO Jim Ryan on the PlayStation Blog. "So today I'm happy to say that we will be keeping the PlayStation Store operational on PS3 and PS Vita devices."

While the PS3 store lives on, not all members of the PlayStation family were so lucky. The online store for the PSP will still be shutting down on July 2 as planned.

With the PS3 and PS Vita stores staying online, players have a wealth of games to check out before they eventually are made unavailable. If you're looking for suggestions, we wrote up a list of games you should check out on both platforms as soon as you can.