What Do You Get by Jailbreaking Your PS3?

The Sony PlayStation 3 has the ability to be jailbroken, much like an iPhone can be jailbroken. However, once your PS3 has been jailbroken, you will lose access to some of the PS3 benefits. Knowing the advantages and disadvantages of jailbreaking your PS3 will help you decide if it's the right move.

When you jailbreak your PS3, you will be able to copy a video game from the actual Blu-ray disk onto the machines internal hard disk. You can also copy the Blu-ray game onto a external USB hard disk. The main advantage of doing this is to have a backup of the game on file, in case the disc becomes scratched or ceases to work for any other reason. You can also copy the game onto a friends PS3, saving them the time and hassle of buying it themselves. However, you should still hold onto the disc in case your PS3 crashes, in which case you would lose the game.

After you jailbreak your PS3, the automatic firmware updates will be disabled. This is actually a disadvantage because firmware updates allow your PS3 to do more at a quicker speed. While this may not have a major impact if you only play games by yourself, it will have a negative impact if you enjoy playing multiplayer games onliine, as a lot of them require a firmware update to be installed. Before you jailbreak your PS3, ask yourself how often you play games online against other people. If that is your main source of entertainment with the device, jailbreaking would be a bad idea.

Sony frowns upon the jailbreaking process and -- if it realizes your PS3 has been jailbroken -- you will lose your warranty and can lose access to the PlayStation Network, which allows you to download games you cannot purchase at video game shops. According to Technoscrap.com, the jailbreaking process can also damage your PS3. If your warranty is void, you will have to shell out money to have it fixed or purchase a new PS3.

Although there are major disadvantages to jailbreaking a PS3, you will be able to place -- or copy -- numerous games onto an external USB hard drive. This is ideal if you are going to a friend's house and do not want to bring all of your games with you on disc form, which can be a lot to carry. Once you connect your external hard drive to your friends PS3, you can access all of your copied games. Just make sure your external drive has enough space -- or memory -- to store all of the games you own.