Sony has introduced a fix for a loophole that allowed users to run pirated games on the Playstation 3 console. The update prohibits the use of the PSJailbreak and PSGroove hacks.

In an interview with BBC News, Mathieu Hervais, a developer for PSGroove, said that it would be "safer not to update" if users wanted to continue using the hacks. Early this month, Sony won a court order to ban the distribution of the PSJailbreak dongle.

The update is Sony's latest salvo in its ongoing skirmish against the PS Jailbreak commercial dongle. The company is also taking aim against the PSGroove open source code, which runs homemade games on the Playstation 3 console. The PSGroove hack was not originally meant to allow users to play pirated games, however, hackers have modified the software to do so.

Sony has also filed a case in the US against Zoomba, a firm that operates a Web site that sells the PSJailbreak. A BBC reports also says that distributors in the Netherlands have been issued court documents to ban the sale of the dongles.

The gaming community has different reactions to the release of the update; some users praised the company for the move, while others were critical. "Every time there is an update, it's a security patch I don't care about," said one user.

"Give me something that will keep me occupied like more visuals on the music player, a way to delete trophies for a game I don't have anymore, backward compatibility for PS2 games, better video chat... You guys don't take to many suggestions from your players. If you listen, I mean really listen, to the ideas you will be top," said another user.

Sony declined to comment on the specifics of the update, but a spokesman told BBC News: "Since this is an overall security related issue, we will not be providing further commentary to this case... But as we always have, we will continue to take necessary actions to both hardware and software to protect the intellectual content provided on the PlayStation 3," said a Sony spokesman.