Sony’s got your saved games covered
As you’ll see below, today’s theme is stuff going wrong with console systems. I’ve been through the replacement process with Microsoft’s Xboxes more than 12 times. That’s right: more than 12 times. I’ve been through the process with Sony and Nintendo exactly zero times. Although I once replaced the little laser eye thingie in a Playstation 1 by cannibalizing another Playstation 1, but that didn’t involve several exasperating exchanges with a borderline incompetent customer service department.
However, I’m slightly terrified that something (pictured?) could go wrong with my PS3, which has been a little under the weather since I first got it. The HDMI connection has been broken from day one. Also, the system periodically forgets what kind of connection it’s using, so it reverts to 480p resolution, which requires slogging through the display set up process again (I can do it blindfolded by now). And as you’ll see in the next entry, now it’s having problems with Killzone 3. But for the most part, my PS3 is well behaved and does what it was built to do.
Which is good, because getting a Playstation 3 fixed can be an utter disaster for your saved games. There’s apparently no provision for removing the hard drive or guaranteeing that your saved games will be intact after the repair process. Even after all those Xbox 360 exchanges, and even a hard drive upgrade, I’ve still got my saved games for Kameo, Amped 3, and Perfect Dark Zero. In case I ever want to go back and play those. Because you never know.
Now Sony is offering a solution:
PlayStation Plus subscribers can store up to 150MB of PS3 game save data and a maximum of 1000 data files per PlayStation Network account. “Copy-prohibited save data” is also supported, and all previously backed-up save data may be restored once per 24-hour period. When the new feature launches, most PS3 titles will be compatible with online storage for game saves, and moving forward new titles will have the capability to offer the storage option.
Whew. But only for subscribers, huh? Like Xbox Live, Playstation Plus is basically $50 a year. Which is $50 more than Steam charges. I’m just sayin’.
The new feature goes live with tomorrow’s update.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at http://www.quartertothree.com/fp/2011/03/09/sonys-got-your-saved-games-covered/