The Tech Fixes the PS3 Still Needs, Eight Years On 99
An anonymous reader writes "The PlayStation 4 has well and truly arrived, but Sony's still selling its last-gen console by the pallet-load, eight years after first going on sale. Of course, as a new article points out, that's nothing compared to the PS2's astonishing 13 year manufacturing run. To help achieve that, the author outlines some tech fixes the PS3 could still do with, even after all this time, from tighter PS Vita integration, to yes, cross game chat. Can it make it past a decade, too?"
If they brought back OtherOS (Score:3)
Maybe they could keep selling them 20 years from now.
HTPC (Score:3, Informative)
Re: (Score:3)
It doesn't have a CBE.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
You can't get a PC that can dedicate ~2TFLOPS of processing power to a task, and the state of home PC GPU accelerated stuff is rather poor right now in comparison.
Re: (Score:1)
You can't get a PC that can dedicate ~2TFLOPS of processing power to a task
The Cell CPU in the PS3 came in at a whopping 230GFLOPS, so I'm not sure why you're using 2TFLOPS as a point of comparison. The GPU was not accessible except as a frame buffer in OtherOS mode, and even if it was fully accessible it would not contribute 1.8TFLOPS on its own.
the state of home PC GPU accelerated stuff is rather poor right now in comparison.
In comparison to what? The wide world of homebrew Cell-accelerated software? Hint: Software that actually took advantage of the Cell is virtually non-existent outside of PS3 games and HPC.
You seem to have a remarkably optimistic view of w
Re: (Score:2)
"The Cell CPU in the PS3 came in at a whopping 230GFLOPS, so I'm not sure why you're using 2TFLOPS as a point of comparison."
The overall performance of the PS3 architecture. Are you that brain-dead?
Re: (Score:2)
Citation? Uh, Sony marketing, IBM notes, wikipedia, and anyone that actually bothered hacking the system!
Re: (Score:2)
Uh, yea, I just listed the sources. If you're too stupid to do the searching for yourself and read that the RSX alone had 1.8 TFLOPS to go with the ~250GFLOPS of the Cell processors, I can't help you.
Re: (Score:2)
Did your brain fail? It would appear so, since you can't follow the conversation.
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)
Real tech fixes (Score:1)
How about making better Blu Ray drives to combat YLODs?
I have had 4 since launch.
Re:Real tech fixes (Score:4, Informative)
The Blu Ray drive has nothing to do with the YLOD. Yes the laser can burn out, and I've had to do a single replacement.
YLOD is caused by micro fractures in solder eventually leading to connections failing. This is because the PS3 came out in 2006, which is the same time PC video cards were also combating the move away from lead based solder (thanks California, do you have that sign up that the state of California contains things known to cause cancer so anyone visiting or living there is aware?).
The YLOD and RROD caused both Sony and Microsoft to be very conservative with power and heat in the new console.
Re: Real tech fixes (Score:2, Informative)
Ylod on ps3 is for more than one error. It can be for a bad CPU, or GPU connection, it can also be a drive read error.
3D Blu-Ray Player (Score:5, Interesting)
The killer app for me was when 3D Blu-Ray capability was added. For me, the PS3 will continue to have it's honorary position in my entertainment scenario, so long as it can play Blu-Ray movies and allow me to play Symphony of the Night on the big screen.
If my PS3 breaks while they're still making them? I'm not sure I'd buy another. I'd just get a cheap 3D-capable Blu-Ray player and play SotN by other means.
Re: (Score:2)
1) The old games were very much about head-to-head action, but many PS3 games have poor support for multiple players on one console, and instead focus on networked play
2) The updates. The god-damned updates. The PS3 is switched on only every now and then for a few quick games, only to find that both conso
PC couch multiplayer is a thing now (Score:2)
I play most games on my PC as well, but sometimes it is just nice to boot up a quick game on the console and have at it with some friends.
You're in luck. PC supports couch multiplayer now, and not just with emulators. Install a game on one of these lists [google.com], grab a few Xbox 360 controllers and a wireless transceiver, and have at it.
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
You ever watch Mean Girls, where Regina George tells Gretchen Weiner to stop trying to make "fetch" happen?
Stop trying to make couch multiplayer on the PC happen, it's not going to happen.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Gamers aren't stupid, Tepples. People know about Big Picture mode.....it's just that most don't really care. Your average PC gamer doesn't care because he's a PC gamer and believes that a desk is better for his keyboard and mouse.
Console gamers aren't going to switch to Steam, because they have had "Big Picture mode" for decades and already can play the games they want to play that way.
Re: (Score:2)
Console gamers aren't going to switch to Steam, because they have had "Big Picture mode" for decades and already can play the games they want to play that way.
Until they learn they can actually get 1080p on the Steam version of a game when they can't on the version of the same game for a major console. Didn't someone sue Sony about a game not actually being in 1080p? And not everybody has the same set of "games they want to play".
Re: (Score:2)
Until they learn they can actually get 1080p on the Steam version of a game when they can't on the version of the same game for a major console.
yeah right? has that actually happened? Do you really think that's going to happen? I don't think so.
Didn't someone sue Sony about a game not actually being in 1080p?
And the consensus was that guy was a frivolous overly entitled jerk.
Re: (Score:2)
has [players choosing one platform over another on the basis of graphical detail] actually happened?
I imagine that a lot of hardcore gamers chose PS3 over Wii and PS4 over Wii U for just this reason: graphical detail.
Do you really think it's going to happen [with Steam Machine]? I don't think so.
I must respectfully disagree on this point. A Steam Machine would have the extra detail plus Steam sales, which I'll grant decrease revenue per copy but often dramatically increase the publisher's continuing revenue from a title long after launch [gamasutra.com]. And though the reviewed machine [wccftech.com] is set to cost $100 more than the PS4, I imagine Steam games are less likely to need the recurring fee of a subscri
Re: (Score:2)
I imagine that a lot of hardcore gamers chose PS3 over Wii and PS4 over Wii U for just this reason: graphical detail.
More likely it was because there were good games other than Dance game-foo, or party-game foo, or cute mii-sports pack-in-foo. Sure there's Zelda and Mario....but that's not enough.
And until the supposed steam machines reach the shelves, their vaporware. And besides, PS+ has benefits besides online play.
Re: (Score:2)
And until the supposed steam machines reach the shelves, their vaporware.
So is every PS4 or Vita game that hasn't reached shelves.
Besides, now that I think about it, you might have missed my "Alienware" allusion. Alienware is among PC makers that have begun selling set-top gaming PCs with Windows [slashdot.org] ahead of Steam Machine's release date. Fetch is happening.
So again, you have to choose your platform around the games you desire to play. If they're PC-only or PC-first, you might choose PC. This goes double if you like to play mods, as PC versions of games tend to have more thorou
Re: (Score:2)
you might have missed my "Alienware" allusion. Alienware is among PC makers that have begun selling set-top gaming PCs with Windows ahead of Steam Machine's release date. Fetch is happening.
But how many are they actually selling?
So again, you have to choose your platform around the games you desire to play. If they're PC-only or PC-first, you might choose PC. This goes double if you like to play mods, as PC versions of games tend to have more thorough community modding tools than console versions of the same game. Or if you can cover more of the multi-platform games with a PC than with a PS4 alone or an Xbox One alone, you might choose PC.
The only reason you're so gung ho on the PC now is because you can't get a console dev kit, and the bar for entry is lower on the PC. But that doesn't mean that people are going to buy the same-screen after-school multiplayer games you want them to buy...for the PC. Pc gamers don't want them and console gamers are happy with what they have.
Case in point: AOL (Score:2)
But how many are they actually selling?
Ahead of the big marketing push? Not many, I'll admit.
The only reason you're so gung ho on the PC now is because you can't get a console dev kit
In part. But I can see which way things are going. People currently buy consoles because they're easy despite the lack of flexibility, and I understand this [pineight.com]. People used to want America Online service for the same reason. But eventually, commodity Internet service won out. And with current-generation "hardcore" consoles switching to what's essentially laptop PC hardware and operating systems derived from PC operating systems (*BSD and Windows), it'll bec
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
2) The updates. The god-damned updates. The PS3 is switched on only every now
THAT is your problem, switch it on more often. PS+ helps because then you can have it automatically download updates at say 5 in the morning.
which sometimes takes over an hour to download and install.
slow internet and an older hard drive in that PS3?
Re: (Score:3)
Mandatory patches are ok if they are properly managed. Xbox does 2 per year and they generally add a bunch of useful features. Sony randomly releases mandatory patches a half dozen times or more a year, and once in a while even every few weeks...
Re: (Score:2)
I'm not going to start because Sony stupidly made patches mandatory, even if I just want to play a single player game.
Turn off it's internet connection, then it won't even check and you won't have to worry about updates at all.
And PS+ costs money that I should not have to waste to have something as rudimentary as auto-patching.
Yes, they shouldn't have kept that PS+ only for so long. You get some automatic updates if you're not PS+....now. But you have have it turned on, and many people...especially if they don't keep up with PS3 news, don't know it's available.
http://manuals.playstation.net... [playstation.net]
http://www.polygon.com/2013/10... [polygon.com]
If you have PS+ it keeps track of your disc based gameplay and automatically gets the updates for
Re: (Score:2)
You must be an American, or the the kind of globalization sympatizer that leaves their lights and TV on all day in an empty room.
Yes, I am an American, and I live in a state with 11 nuclear reactors (IIRC) and a ton of wind-farms, but I don't leave lights and TV on.
Everyone else agrees that power is expensive, bandwidth overages and caps are a thing, and wear and tear can kill your electronics.
what, over 6 - 8 years? Having the PS3 turn on at 5 to check for updates and then shut itself off is nothing. I've still got a fully functional CECHE model PS3, with it must be said, an upgraded hard drive.
The situation is better with the PS4, it can do that in standby without turning on fully.
I have a few game DVDs I bought for the PS2 starting just 7 years ago. Scratches or some laser problem I can't pinpoint started to become a problem. Load times for random battles or even unplayability of some parts of the game are sure a thing showing the console's age.
DRE's. Not likely scratches, PS2 DVD's are resistant to scratches,PS3 Blu-ra
Re: (Score:2)
You'd get better quality using a cheap 3D blu-ray these days - the PS3's HDMI output means it only supports half-resolution 3D, and in doing so, lossy audio, making it one of the most undesirable 3D players out there.
3D over HDMI comes in 4 formats - side-by-side (SBS), Top-and-bottom, line-interleaved, and frame-packed. The latter format involves fittin
Change PSN account anyone? (Score:1)
It can be done but throws all your game saves into disarray.
Wet Dream (Score:3)
That's a fanboy wishlist, not a well thought out, profit-oriented list of reasonable items that have any hope of getting added to a down-market, end of life console that's in cost-cutting, discount sales mode.
The only one of those that seems halfway reasonable would be upgrading the WiFi & that's only because it might be easier/cheaper to source modern WiFi chips during the extended production run.
Re:Wet Dream (Score:4, Interesting)
When you say "fanboy", I think you meant, "customer".
I know consumers are only supposed to accept what the corporation deigns to give them nowadays, but there was a time when companies used to say, "the customer is always right" and actually try to give them products that they wanted.
Today, it's "The customer needs to just STFU, accept the EULA and use our product the way we want them to use our product, until we decide to take that away too and force them to buy our next product, because corporations are people, my friend. People who happen to be your goddamn overlords. Now bow before, me, worm".
Re: (Score:1)
A customer would be someone who buys a PS4. A former customer would be someone who bought a PS3, back in the day.
Re: (Score:3)
...or a customer who, say, buys a brand new PS3 from Sony's online store. [sony.com].
No, they're not suggesting that Sony upgrade everyone's WiFi for free. They are saying that if you buy a new PS3, it would be great if it came with support for more modern WiFi implementations.
Re: Wet Dream (Score:1)
A customer would also be someone who buys PS3 games, Pays for PS3 DLC, and has a PlayStation account.
Re: (Score:3)
This is in like somebody demanding a $12k Kia have premium sound system, leather seats & a V-8 under the hood.
Re: (Score:3)
So, you think wanting a feature that was in the product when you bought it and then taken away is the same as demanding a premium stereo, leather seats and a V8?
You think wanting a feature as easy to include as in-game chat is going to double the cost of the PS3 to Sony?
Wait a minute, we're talking about Sony here. I don't have to argue a case proving that they are hostile to their customers. They're behavior over the past few decades is proof enough that they think you are stupid enough to buy their prod
Re: (Score:2)
It's not about just the feature, but Sony's willingness to degrade the value and capability of the products it sells you after you've already bought them.
This is the main problem with consoles: When you buy one, and you buy a bunch of games, you don't own squat. You're completely at the mercy of Sony. They can take back what you've paid for without your permission.
Sony counts on people not reading or not understanding their EULA. If people knew what they were actually agreeing to, I'm not sure there wou
Re: (Score:3)
This is the main problem with consoles: When you buy one, and you buy a bunch of games, you don't own squat
Oh, you own it, and you own it completely. After all, no one HAD to upgrade the system BIOS to the version that disabled OtherOS. What people need to know if they can only count on being able to do what they can do NOW. They can not count that future games will be playable, at least not without a lot of nasty strings attached.
counts on people not reading or not understanding their EULA. If people knew what they were actually agreeing to, I'm not sure there would be nearly as many consoles sold. But clearly people don't care, until they do
They usually don't care because it doesn't affect them. Weird, short-lived reports from Sony that researchers were using them in clusters did not affect the average gamer. Those resear
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
As tiny as the effect of piracy is on games, it's shocking how badly the games industry has reacted.
But I guess it's the same thing with movies and TV and music. The industry has over-reacted to the detriment of their paying customers.
Re: (Score:2)
So, you're saying that as long as they screw a few people, but not the average gamer, then it's all OK.
Uh-huh...
With Sony, it's about a body of work.
You're making my point. Sony treats their customers with hostility. Does anyone really believe a homebrew culture would compete with AAA games? And down at the bottom, thi
Re: (Score:2)
So, you're saying that as long as they screw a few people, but not the average gamer, then it's all OK.
Well you were sortof wondering (I think) why no one cared. Because for the vast majority of people, the feature was pointless, and those who used the feature in the first place felt suckered already that they had bought into the hype of OtherOS in the first place. The removal of OtherOS was the twist of the knife that had lodged there for a year already.
And down at the bottom, this is the very reason why it should be illegal for one company to provide both hardware and software. Because they will inevitably act in an anti-competitive manner.
Maybe, but it came about because Nintendo learned from Atari how not controlling the platform led to the short-lived death of the games industry. That's why
Re: (Score:2)
It led to the death of one platform, not the entire industry.
Re: (Score:2)
What people need to know if they can only count on being able to do what they can do NOW.
I don't know if I'm misunderstanding what you're trying to say, but it sounds to me like one should expect to wait until all desirable games for a given console have been released before buying the console because otherwise, one runs the risk of having the ability to run games released after the purchase of the console taken away. If this is the case, then even "count[ing] on being able to do what they can do NOW" isn't guaranteed because console makers have a history of permanently shutting down matchmakin
Re: (Score:2)
I don't know if I'm misunderstanding what you're trying to say, but it sounds to me like one should expect to wait until all desirable games for a given console have been released before buying the console because otherwise, one runs the risk of having the ability to run games released after the purchase of the console taken away.
Maybe, the point I was trying to make was that PSN didn't just immediately shut off OtherOS, it came through an agreement that the end user had to agree to. If they didn't do THAT, I think they would have been quite open to legal liability. As it played out, making it user choice (OtherOS + current games vs no OtherOS + current/future games) made Sony a lot safer in the courts. There's still a class action suit around, but the courts have weighed in Sony's favor in other cases.
Re: (Score:2)
but Sony's willingness
Sony wasn't willing. They believed that had no choice other than do what they did. At least give them some credit for supporting it in the first place. No other console maker has had official support for Linux in one console, let alone two of them.
Re: (Score:2)
Oh, BS. Sony had lots of other choices. They've had choices every step of the way in their miserable history of hostility toward customers.
Do you need me to recount some of their...um...exploits?
Re: (Score:2)
You don't need to, I'm well aware of the incidents, and the non-proportional Slashdot bias. I'm also aware that the Sony BMG rootkit was done by an outside contractor, not Sony themselves. And I'm aware that Sony sued the rootkit company.
And I'm also aware that Sony divisions are very independent of each other and don't entirely get along. Sometimes Sony's hardware brances win and get to make decisions, sometimes sony's media branches do.
I am also aware that some think that Sony should split itself up i
Re: (Score:2)
Five, at very least.
So, it's those people with no money in the Third World that are the threat to Sony. How big do you really believe the threat of Playstation piracy could be? Haven't we been over the actual statistics about piracy in the entertainment industry to be able to drop this notion that piracy is some "existential threat" to the
Re: (Score:2)
Five, at very least.
Sounds about right.
So, it's those people with no money in the Third World that are the threat to Sony. How big do you really believe the threat of Playstation piracy could be?
Serious. Think about all the second/third worlders supporting piracy on Slashdot. The hungarians/romanians/russians saying they pirated everything and then complaining about how no one wants to pay for their own software they make so they're thinking about emigrating...but that everyone should pirate Game of Thrones because media companies who want to make a profit are evil.
Or the swedish game designers who admit to pirating games themselves, and tell everyone else to pirate theirs. Le
Re: (Score:2)
Forget about their reasons. Is it a problem that would make Sony unprofitable?
We've had the music industry give up on DRM over a decade ago, a
Re: (Score:2)
All in all, the entertainment industry in the US made $632billion in 2013. So somebody is paying. Piracy my ass.
Yes, somebody is paying....Americans . American's are subsidizing entertainment for the rest of the planet. And I don't think a bunch of eastern european freeloaders and a few American cheapskates on Slashdot should be convincing Americans to stop paying too, because somebody has to pay.
The various industries are profitable and still exist, but I don't think people should use that as a justification to continue piracy. It's still wrong.
I remember when people used DRM as an excuse to pirate music. Som
Re: (Score:2)
So, it's about "fairness", is it? Well, that's a completely different discussion then.
As I've shown, there's plenty of profit to be made from DRM-free media. And there's no question that DRM is only a hassle for the paying customers. So you punish the ones who pay to get back at the ones who don't.
The question is, does Sony (and does Microsoft) actually need to be hassling their customers? Does th
Re: (Score:3)
Backwards compatibility was taken away, in conjunction with a price drop because eliminating those chips significantly lowered the cost to build the machine. I'm more than happy to have saved $100 on my PS3 to lose that.
Cross-game chat (which is what's really being asked for; plenty of games have implemented their own in-game chat), while trivial from a technical perspective, has the issue of Sony not being able to increase the memory or CPU footprint of the OS while a game is running, lest they break one o
Re:Wet Dream (Score:5, Informative)
So, you think wanting a feature that was in the product when you bought it and then taken away
I own a CECHE model PS3 that at one time had a YDL install on it. I was even a moderator over at the Yellow Dog Forum. I have said the following many many times.
The thing is, you have to agree to have the feature taken away, it won't be taken away without you agreeing to do so....twice.
The choice is yours, keep Linux and lose access to PSN because your PSN isn't "trusted" or keep access to PSN and lose Linux. Your choice.
Now perhaps Sony shouldn't have required you to make that choice, but they believed that Geohot gave THEM no choice and the final choice is yours.
Games on disc; shared PS3 (Score:4, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
You mean the games people already owned and then couldn't play because of Sony's "update"? Gee, they should be grateful Sony is letting those people buy those games again...for cheap.
Re: (Score:3)
When you say "fanboy", I think you meant, "customer".
I know consumers are only supposed to accept what the corporation deigns to give them nowadays, but there was a time when companies used to say, "the customer is always right" and actually try to give them products that they wanted.
Today, it's "The customer needs to just STFU, accept the EULA and use our product the way we want them to use our product, until we decide to take that away too and force them to buy our next product, because corporations are people, my friend. People who happen to be your goddamn overlords. Now bow before, me, worm".
No, he means fanboy. Normal console customers will see that all of the new games are being released on the PS4 or Xbox One and move on. Also, it's unrealistic to expect a company that has the next gen product out to make any changes to the old product. The reason why is because they have put any new R&D into the new console and need to recover their investment.
Re: (Score:2)
The PS3's customers all bought one already over the past 8 years.
Re: (Score:2)
The stores are still selling brand new PS2s
Where? They aren't here.
PS2 is my favorite console, as it also plays all the PS1 games.
It actually doesn't play all PS1 games. A few games have issues or won't run at all. The PS3 has the same issue with those few PS1 games. X-Files graphical adventure game....I'm looking at you.
Re: (Score:2)
The stores are still selling brand new PS2s, I bought one in the beginning of 2014. I also have a modchip for it that I have not had time to install yet.
PS2 is my favorite console, as it also plays all the PS1 games.
Why a mod chip when you the MCBoot? http://bootleg.sksapps.com/tut... [sksapps.com]
did they even think when they made that list? (Score:1)
bring back backwards compatibility? from what i understand they took it out of the original PS3 because they were essentially putting most of a PS2 in there. if there was a way to do it with software and there was a big enough demand, it would have happened way back when everyone was bitching about them removing it.
new WiFi? hardware
update controller? hardware
bring back slot in drives. Hardware and there is a reason why everyone other then Apple has stopped using them, they break and are unreliable. I p
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Because it was a really complex architecture, which even todays PC can’t get right and accurate
Re: (Score:2)
PS3 emulates PS1 in software if I remember correctly. So why doesn't the PS4 emulate PS2, which is likewise two generations back?
Installed base, and the desire to sell new games. Anyone who really wants to play PS2 games can have one for next to nothing now to play their PS2 games on. Since it doesn't have HDMI, odds are good you'll have someplace appropriate to connect it. But the idea is to get more of your money.
Re: (Score:2)
The PS4 doesn't do PS1 at the moment either. But Sony is reportedly working local not PSNow, PS1 and PS2 emulation on the PS4. It's been rumored to all be disk based, but no confirmed information about how the backward compatibility will work has been released.
How about Bluetooth pairing fixes? (Score:2)
Every once in awhile, the PS3 will get in a state where it can't pair with the bluetooth devices it'd already paired with. No wireless dualshock controller, no blu-ray remote control. It just can't sense devices anymore. The only way around this is to power off the PS3. Not "system off" which puts the system into low-power mode, but to flip the power switch on the back. Turn it back on again, Bluetooth works.
Poking around online reveals many people with the same problem, and Sony's never put out a firmware
Re: (Score:2)
Won't someone think of the ... eject button? (Score:2)
It also means that the eject button on your remote control simply won’t work any more
What on earth does a slot loading drive have to do with an eject button on a remote?
Re: (Score:1)
Or else use fat32format.exe [demon.co.uk].
Re: (Score:2)
People have smart phones, tablets, and laptops. No one actually uses the PS3 browser seriously.
Except those tend not to be used with TVs. If people were willing to connect a laptop to a TV, then why would they need a PlayStation family console in the first place when they can just game on a laptop?
Re: (Score:2)