In a recently published consumer alert, Sony has issued a terse warning over the usage of unlicensed or counterfeit PS3 wireless controllers, bringing into question the “quality, reliability and safety” of these devices. Unspecified variants of third-party controllers may not function at all, damage your PS3, or worse — explode.

SCEA advises consumers to be cautious when buying PlayStation®3 Wireless Controllers from uncertain sources as the quality, reliability and safety of counterfeit products is uncertain, and in some cases, may be dangerous. It is possible that some counterfeit product may ignite or explode, resulting in injury or damage to the user, your PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, or other property.

Further to this, a group of users over at the official PlayStation forums report that a range of external USB devices have been rendered inoperable with the advent of firmware 3.50. The bulk of third-party devices from mass market manufactures remain compatible, it seems. Whether this was intentional is currently unknown. The compatibility issues could be a casualty of Sony’s recent efforts to block the USB-activated PSJailbreak hack, but that’s pure conjecture for now.

News : Consumer Alerts [SCEA]

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