PlayStation 3: Lost And Found
See Full ImageThose who have owned every PlayStation since the mid-'90s will probably agree that the PlayStation 3 represents the single biggest generational leap in terms of upgrades and changes. Many just accept them as a matter of course, but let's take a step back and see what the PlayStation console has lost...and what it has found. The question is, can every single one of these be considered "upgrades?"
Lost: Memory Cards, Found: Hard Drive
A fixture of the PS1 and PS2, the PS3 entered a new generation with a hard drive for saving games. Now, most will automatically call this a definite upgrade, and the reasons are obvious: you can fit far more data onto a hard drive (well, usually), and the addition of the hard drive allows the concept of "save points" to take a backseat to the new-age "save anywhere" system. However, I don't recall ever having a problem with any memory cards on the PS1 and PS2, except for one EB-branded card that corrupted 30 hours of Front Mission 3 data. Yeah, I wanted to scream. But in sticking with first-party Sony-branded cards, they always worked. And to be honest, having them didn't pose a problem, and I have one last question: if I get a new PS3 at some point in the future, how do I go about transferring the save data? ...I get the feeling it's not quite as easy as just popping in one of those good ol' memory cards.
Lost: Backwards Compatibility, Found: ...
Let's face it- nothing can replace the loss of backwards compatibility. It was one of the biggest selling points of the PS2 and early on, it was a huge factor for me concerning the PS3. My PS2 library is actually larger than my PS1 collection, and this is why I love my original 60GB PS3 that's fully b/c. Of course, I knew this PS3 wouldn't last forever and any new system I get in the future won't support PS2 games, so I bought a nice silver Slim PS2. But see, I didn't have to buy a PS1 with the PS2. Not ever. Still, I suppose having a PS2 hooked up next to the PS3 isn't really a huge inconvenience, and the truth of the matter is, the further we get from previous generations, the less we pay them any attention. Well, for most of us (I still love to play the old-school stuff every now and then).
Lost: A crappy Network, Found: The awesome PSN
Yeah, see what I did there? It's to make up for the previous one. I don't think anyone is going to say going online with the PS2 was the same as going online with the Xbox; Live pretty much defined online console multiplayer last generation. And in all honesty, I never really thought the PSN could catch up - and in some ways, even surpass - Live as quickly as it has. The content continues to flow at a steady rate, the redesigned Store is excellent, the PSN-exclusive titles have become some of my favorite games, the online servers are remarkably reliable (yes, even more so than Live's, based on my personal experience), and oh yeah, it's free. Toss in the unbelievable potential of PlayStation Home, and the growth and expansion of the PSN may actually be the most important generational upgrade.
Lost: Third-party exclusives, Found: First-party superiority
While it's certainly true that Sony lost plenty of big exclusive franchises like Grand Theft Auto and Devil May Cry, we've seen the emergence of first-party title superiority. We don't believe anything on the 360 will be able to stand up to MGS4, the Uncharteds, Killzone 2, Gran Turismo 5, God of War III, and Heavy Rain, and in looking at the PS2 generation, this was only partly true. The third-party exclusives were arguably as good if not better than the first-party exclusives on that system, and that has changed in this era. At first, everyone whined bitterly that certain names had gone multiplatform, but if we remain up-to-date, we've seen a replacement in the form of first-party achievement. After all, these days, third-party exclusivity is going the way of the dodo, anyway.
Lost: Standard definition maximum, Found: High definition
It's almost too obvious to even mention, but as Blu-Ray is such a huge selling factor for the PS3, and given its potential for game development, it has to be in the "Found" category. Both the PS2 and Xbox were DVD players - and neither was all that great - but this time around, while both are capable of high-definition, only the PS3 has Blu-Ray, which is the only high-definition movie format available. There's a reason you hear rumors of Microsoft considering a Blu-Ray drive for the 360 (even though it won't happen), and as the new format continues to rise, it will continue be a large benefit for the PS3. I was never a graphics whore or resolution hound...but I realize now that's because I was stuck with standard definition. I can't go back to that, and I won't. Well...okay, I will, but only when I go to play the classics, which fit the old format.
I'm sure there are more, so come up with your own if you like. :)
2/20/2009 Ben Dutka
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Comments (80 posts)
Arvis
Friday, February 20, 2009 @ 1:08:46 PM
Kidding, kidding...
-Arvis
0 up, 0 down
coverton341
Friday, February 20, 2009 @ 1:11:33 PM
3 up, 0 down
PS3addict
Friday, February 20, 2009 @ 1:11:40 PM
Last edited by PS3addict on 2/20/2009 1:17:07 PM
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photo K
Friday, February 20, 2009 @ 1:12:44 PM
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NiteKrawler
Friday, February 20, 2009 @ 3:03:23 PM
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www
Friday, February 20, 2009 @ 4:13:45 PM
My 60GB already had it,i cracked it open and the dust in it was a whole chunk load than my 360.The ps3 is indeed a dust collector.
Parts of the motherboard was brownish,i used alcohol to clean it up,opened the blu-ray drive got my cod4 out,smacked the sh** outta the power supply,removed the fan and cleaned all the dust round it,formatted the HDD on a laptop, and still the bi**h won't turn on.Am yet to apply thermal paste or glue to the chips n heat sinks,then maybe heat gunning.
More reason why i hate the ps3 lately,cause u should see how i bragged to my peeps that,it was a beast and could NEVER EVER die.They were all around that day when i got YLOD and my face turned to shame.
My dear old 60GB let me down,i was embarrassed,humiliated.
Last edited by www on 2/20/2009 4:15:47 PM
0 up, 3 down
Cpt_Geez
Friday, February 20, 2009 @ 4:25:15 PM
0 up, 0 down
apofisboricua
Friday, February 20, 2009 @ 8:03:36 PM
I have a 20 gigs that broke in the first week of January. It was out of warranty so I called SONY to see what they can do. They told me that they would fix it or exchange it for another PS3. I paid $149.00, I believe its not that expensive considering I live in Puerto Rico and the Shiping of a box to put the console in and send them to SONY was worth I paid.
Anyway, I feared that I needed to bougth a PS2 to play my collection of more than 100 PS2 games. That because they told me they would replace my console if they cant fix it. To my surprice my PS3 arrived in 2 weeks and when I opened the box it was a COMPLETELY NEW 20 GIGS console. I was amazed the they still had the model and Im very happy with their customer service...damn they even have the service in spanish. After all my headaches with the 360 and the RROD I feared the worst for the PS3. Fortunately the service was amazing!!
2 up, 0 down
gumbi
Friday, February 20, 2009 @ 9:20:30 PM
sigh...
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Qubex
Friday, February 20, 2009 @ 11:18:40 PM
Q!
"i aM hOMe"
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PSNclaw18
Saturday, February 21, 2009 @ 6:53:49 AM
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Zorigo
Saturday, February 21, 2009 @ 8:20:07 AM
my 40gb packed up. i have to use my warranty.
on another note, nice work, hmm, what else was lost...
exit DVD
enter Bluray
Last edited by Zorigo on 2/21/2009 8:21:00 AM
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Tatsujin
Sunday, February 22, 2009 @ 12:50:31 AM
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PS3addict
Friday, February 20, 2009 @ 1:09:54 PM
Reply
I can not agree with you more on all points, Especially the HD one. I was stuck with a 12 year old 32" tube tv that did the trick for My PS2.
Lucky for me, my 6 year old son discovered that magnets make "Pretty Rainbows" on the TV screen. Needless to say, they did not go away, and it was enough to get the wife to finally agree to a new TV.
In comes the 50" 1080P beast. My god! I can not explain what happened to me when I plugged in the HDMI cable and started up Uncharted on the jet ski river level!! Wow, wow and wow!!
I have now started the slow migration of movies to Bluray. Yeah the upscale DVD looks good, but nothing compares to Blu ray.
Funny thing is that the movie that made up my mind to do it was Wall-E. That film sure looks great on Bluray.
My kid loves it and now understands that magnets and TV's don't mix.
Have a great weekend!
Last edited by PS3addict on 2/20/2009 1:13:03 PM
3 up, 0 down
keaton
Friday, February 20, 2009 @ 4:54:55 PM
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King James
Friday, February 20, 2009 @ 9:00:36 PM
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Zorigo
Saturday, February 21, 2009 @ 8:22:04 AM
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GuernicaReborn
Friday, February 20, 2009 @ 1:21:09 PM
Reply
Found: Wireless, rechargable tilt-sensing controllers.
And ben, backing up your saved data is as easy as plugging in a flash drive, going to the save data, hitting triangle, and then selecting copy.
1 up, 0 down
JasperLoons
Friday, February 20, 2009 @ 8:32:57 PM
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King James
Friday, February 20, 2009 @ 9:01:38 PM
Last edited by King James on 2/20/2009 9:01:56 PM
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Axe99
Friday, February 20, 2009 @ 1:22:40 PM
Reply
Also, if you're worried about your hard drive tanking (and like cars, all hard drives break sooner or later), pick up a USB hard drive (or, if your filthy rich, a ridiculously large capacity USB key) and do a backup (from the system menu - I think it's towards the bottom of system settings).
The only downside is....
... you have to transfer them all one at a time. I hope this is fixed in future firmware updates as if you play a lot of games, this can be a bit tedious to copy them all across individually - although this is no better than the old memory cards.
0 up, 0 down
PS3addict
Friday, February 20, 2009 @ 1:34:20 PM
Last edited by PS3addict on 2/20/2009 1:34:31 PM
1 up, 0 down
Random_Steve
Friday, February 20, 2009 @ 1:31:01 PM
Reply
5 up, 0 down
www
Friday, February 20, 2009 @ 1:31:37 PM
Reply
-Anyway ps3 has the biggest leap,yes.
-I believe saved games can be transferred using usb storage devices or am i wrong?
-Blu-ray is good but what's the point when most of these devs aren't making use of it to the fullest!I read sfiv also has mandatory install.
One BIG PLUS about blu-ray is it doesn't scratch easily,don't know if u guys noticed,my 360 dvd's scratch quicker.
-Graphics & performance wise it seems multi-plat games are still doin' better on 360,that ps3 ram problem is a minus.Even with sfiv.
Eurogamer have once again done the comparison and ever since my OWN Fifa 09 comparison,indeed i believe Eurogamer now.
The days of porting may be over but ps3 isn't still showing good results,am disappointed honestly.
This year,i think am gettin' all multi-plats on 360 and exclusives on ps3 period.
Last edited by www on 2/20/2009 1:35:13 PM
0 up, 1 down
mastiffchild
Saturday, February 21, 2009 @ 7:21:39 AM
Ebviously, an arcade stick is always the way to with SF but short of that the sixaxis is the best "normal" controller you can use.
My 60gig(touch wood, plastic, anything close by) is still going ok but as the warranty is out I've decided to sign up to Continuous play-the Sony console insurance. That way you get a console to play within 48 hours while they sort your's out/offer you a refurb of the same model.£4.99 for some piece of mind as it covers me even if the little lad is sick on it(happened to a 360 I once owned!)!
This gen I'd say while we've lost PS dominance in numbers and overall we've gained in general quality of games due to the competition between the consoles esp with exclusives. Would GG have pushed KZ2 so far without Gears to try and trump etc, etc.
0 up, 0 down
Zorigo
Sunday, February 22, 2009 @ 8:19:42 AM
multis on 360, ur choice but not many agree.
Last edited by Zorigo on 2/22/2009 8:20:59 AM
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Im The Man
Friday, February 20, 2009 @ 2:01:02 PM
Reply
0 up, 2 down
Frenchy17
Friday, February 20, 2009 @ 2:12:26 PM
Reply
Found: powering up or down with a remote.
:)
5 up, 0 down
keaton
Friday, February 20, 2009 @ 4:57:17 PM
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Random_Steve
Saturday, February 21, 2009 @ 3:28:30 AM
0 up, 0 down
Gone
Friday, February 20, 2009 @ 2:30:27 PM
Reply
Found: $599 starting price for console, $59 games and $55 controllers
3 up, 0 down
somethingrandom
Sunday, February 22, 2009 @ 11:13:12 PM
0 up, 0 down
www
Friday, February 20, 2009 @ 2:55:41 PM
Reply
Lost:wired
Found:wireless
Lost:disc tray cumin' out like a d**k
Found:Blu-ray drive gets d**ks/discs inserted like a pu**y!
lmao!
1 up, 2 down
Naga
Friday, February 20, 2009 @ 2:56:42 PM
Reply
Found: Dualshock 3
RUMBLE ON LBP & Warhawk awesome
1 up, 0 down
Ultimadream
Friday, February 20, 2009 @ 3:11:51 PM
Reply
As for the Loss on 3rd party companies, i dont think thats wounds been recovered.... Tekken is not a 360 game.... it just isnt end of!
1 up, 0 down
Naga
Friday, February 20, 2009 @ 5:32:57 PM
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tlpn99
Friday, February 20, 2009 @ 6:04:06 PM
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infekt
Friday, February 20, 2009 @ 3:14:43 PM
Reply
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Randomhero1
Friday, February 20, 2009 @ 3:17:16 PM
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ps92117
Friday, February 20, 2009 @ 3:27:57 PM
Reply
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mastiffchild
Saturday, February 21, 2009 @ 7:32:57 AM
R&D isn't cheap but they manage to put games on every console except Sony's flagship(no matter how upset they make Sony lover Nomura in the process-what will he do wheh they want to make KH and versus multi plats, eh?)even when less than 12 months back they promised us the earth.
As I say, I dunno where you got that from but I hope you're right even if I can't see how it would happen.
0 up, 0 down
LimitedVertigo
Friday, February 20, 2009 @ 3:52:13 PM
Reply
Oh and on topic:
Lost: Completed games
Found: DLC that gives developers an excuse to rush products and make extra cash on later downloads.
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Renck
Friday, February 20, 2009 @ 4:53:20 PM
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daus26
Friday, February 20, 2009 @ 8:05:24 PM
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SerichA
Friday, February 20, 2009 @ 4:36:58 PM
Reply
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HANZ64
Friday, February 20, 2009 @ 5:16:33 PM
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I'm sure you know that you can use a normal USB flash drive to store your saves in. From there you can transfer your saves to any other PS3's or back them up on your computer. So how is the old memory card better?
0 up, 0 down
Totalz
Friday, February 20, 2009 @ 6:54:03 PM
Reply
Found: Xbox 360 fanboys going on and on about how great their new, but equally sh*ty little console is...
lol
1 up, 0 down
daus26
Friday, February 20, 2009 @ 7:41:50 PM
Reply
Found: PS button in center of controller to turn it on/off.
------------------------------------------
Lost: Jumping to games when turned on.
Found: When turned on, XMB appears with customizable background/themes, personal avatar, home, life with playstation, folding @ home, photo gallery, psn, friends list,video chat, media server, internet browser with flash player 9 cababilities.
------------------------------------------
Lost:Dualshock Controllers
Found: Dualshock Controller with motion sensing
------------------------------------------
Lost: Finalize Games/System
Found: Possible Updates and Patches in future
------------------------------------------
Lost: Multitaps and two controller support
Found: Up to seven blu-tooth device connected at one time
------------------------------------------
Lost: Demo Discs
Found: Free downloadable demos from PSN store
------------------------------------------
Lost: Inability for psp support
Found: PSP support - Remote Play
------------------------------------------
Lost: Buttons on system
Found: Touch Sensitive buttons
------------------------------------------
Lost: Inability to sleep automatically
Found: Ability to sleep automatically in a set time or after finish downloads
------------------------------------------
Lost: Region Locks
Found: Possible region free abilities such as psn account and online play
------------------------------------------
Lost: Being closely matched by Nintendo/Xbox in terms of power
Found: The most powerful system to date - thnks to the cell processor
Last edited by daus26 on 2/20/2009 7:58:31 PM
5 up, 0 down
migabyte
Friday, February 20, 2009 @ 8:26:34 PM
Reply
3 up, 0 down
JofaMang
Friday, February 20, 2009 @ 8:58:22 PM
The 80gb is 399, the elite is 399, afaik.
1 up, 0 down
Ben Dutka PSXE [Administrator]
Friday, February 20, 2009 @ 8:44:34 PM
Reply
0 up, 0 down
FreQaZoiD
Friday, February 20, 2009 @ 9:02:18 PM
Reply
Found: Watching BluRay's on my first BD Player and upscaling my old DVD's on the PS3.
0 up, 0 down
King James
Friday, February 20, 2009 @ 9:07:14 PM
Reply
Found: Folding@Home/Life with Playstation
My PS3 does its part, what about yours?
1 up, 0 down
FreQaZoiD
Friday, February 20, 2009 @ 9:09:30 PM
Reply
Last edited by FreQaZoiD on 2/20/2009 9:10:41 PM
0 up, 0 down
Fane1024
Saturday, February 21, 2009 @ 6:20:29 PM
Ben, you missed the biggest downside to PROPRIETARY memory cards: the outrageous prices. Sony 8MB memory cards cost ~$30 each (though you can find them and third-party ones for cheaper), even today when you can get 8GB sticks for not much more. Plus, they don't hold that many saves (PS1 cards were even worse), so you have to keep buying them or delete your old saves to make room for new ones(or do what I did and buy a PS2 HDD). Add all that money to the price of the console and how much cheaper was the PS2, really?
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shaydey77
Friday, February 20, 2009 @ 9:30:26 PM
Reply
1 up, 0 down
Aftab
Saturday, February 21, 2009 @ 3:11:20 AM
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daus26
Saturday, February 21, 2009 @ 2:24:47 PM
The introduction to the xmb opened up almost infinite possiblities. We now have access to a load of features like internet browser, videos, music, photo gallery...well actually, I don't think I'm going to repeat myself after the long post I posted before this.
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nath08
Saturday, February 21, 2009 @ 5:10:36 AM
Reply
exit: Dualshock 2
enter: Dualshock 3
also, i can think of 1 from the same gen!
exit: SIXAXIS
enter: Dualshock 3.... woooooohhhhooooo!
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HANZ64
Saturday, February 21, 2009 @ 6:18:07 AM
Reply
Exit: ...
Enter Dualshock3 AND Sixaxis.
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LunaticFringe
Saturday, February 21, 2009 @ 4:11:16 PM
Reply
Enter: PSN videos
Exit:hooking my laptop up to my TV.
Enter: streaming Netflix with media server
Exit: swapping out multiple discs
Enter: amazing blu-ray
Exit: I beat it, now what?
Enter: DLC, trophies
Exit: what's a beta?
Enter: cool I'm in a beta!
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Tatsujin
Sunday, February 22, 2009 @ 12:56:43 AM
Reply
Gained: Far Superior Technology
Lost:DVD 2 CD games...
Gained: MGS4 50gb one CD game.
Lost:DVD
Gained:Blu-Ray
Lost:Rumble...
Gained:Sixaxis...
Gained:Rumble and Sixaxis...
Lost:Square Enix
Gained:Level 5
Lost:Big Hefty Microphone...
Gained:Blue-tooth device
Lost:Good Looks...
Gained:Better Looks
0 up, 0 down
danr
Monday, February 23, 2009 @ 12:15:13 PM
Reply
If you have ps2 games, then hey heyy, you have a ps2.
Dipshits
0 up, 2 down
cj_pray95
Monday, February 23, 2009 @ 8:11:06 PM
Reply
0 up, 0 down
PeepBoy3000
Monday, February 23, 2009 @ 9:01:35 PM
Reply
0 up, 0 down
PeepBoy3000
Monday, February 23, 2009 @ 9:03:23 PM
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0 up, 0 down
shootu
Tuesday, February 24, 2009 @ 12:07:02 AM
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I looked through the comments and I couldnt beleive no one said "Lost controller configuration" So my question is Why in PS2 YOU can set up the controller the way YOU want and PS3 YOU CANT? What happened to freedom moving forward?
Thanks Matt
1 up, 0 down
BTNwarrior
Reply
Friday, February 20, 2009 @ 1:04:44 PM