Love-Hate Relationships With Your PS3

[lilfaye]

So... I am having serious frustrations with my PS3. Just wondering if there are others who have a love-hate relationship.

For instance, I love fighting games. More importantly, I love fighting games that were made for previous versions of the console. Currently there is an issue with the Guilty Gear game that I'm playing, Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus. Its a PS2 game. Its one of my favorite fighting games. It does this thing where the majority of times it will not load. So I have to continually reset the game once it hangs. I feel like I'm playing Russian Roulette every time I attempt to play this game on PS3. Mind you, my PS3 is the MGS4 special edition one. I hear there are other types of PS3s out there that will play it just fine. All in all though, I love my PS3. There are just minor situations here and there that completely irk me.

Anyone else have any stories of frustrations?

[NicMcD]

We rarely use our PS3 for gaming anymore and instead have kept it as a Blu-Ray player. But a few months ago it started refusing to play the newer movies. We tried to update it and it says it cannot connect to any networks even though our xbox 360 has no problems with that. That's just the most recent problems. This thing has been a headache since the day we got it. So we are giving up and are passing off the PS3 and all the games to a family member. I'm definitely disappointed with it overall. I'll stick the xbox and wii until the new PS comes out.

[ElPresidente]

Since most of my PS2 games collection is from Japan I kept my old Swap Disc modded PS2 when I picked up the PS3 as I wouldn't be able to play those old favourites on the new console.

As a result. No, I've had no issues like that. :P

[lilfaye]

I have to get my PS2 shipped from the other side of the country unfortunately. Totally worth it though.

[Antagonist.01]

Am i the only one who loves his PS3?
60 GBs and seven CPU's of pure badassness. It got overheated and badly damages a year ago, but i've got back my hands on my SixAxis just 3 weeks after (A good time, if you consider that Acer kidnapped my laptop 3 months ago).

There aren't many games i like yet, but many are going to come out in the next weeks/months/during this year, so i'm an happy PS3 user.

[Synthesis]

I live in constant fear that mine is going to die.

That's right, laugh, but I do. I bought it used, for $310, after my third PS2 died and I threw up my hands in despair. I own a 80GB model--I had to buy it used, because BC was a huge factor in my purchase. I only own one PS3 game, to this day, but still enjoy several of my PS2 games.

So far, it's worked fine. I even own a pair of Blu-Ray films to enjoy. But I'm still afraid I'm going to get that yellow light of doom or an optical drive failure...I guess I'm overdue, since I'm still on my launch Xbox 360.

[ElPresidente]

Your 360 will go first... trust me. :D

[Nada_Nada]

I recently got a PS3 because , honestly, I like JRPGS and Nippon Ichi is gonna start crankin' them out for that much abused piece of hardware and I don't want to miss out on it. Also, I got a good deal @ 150$ with all the trimmings I'd be crazy not to grab it up.

Sadly, the only games we've really played is Infamous and Disgaea(?) ( I've been playing Cross Edge) and I haven't really seen anything else that interests me as far as games go. The 360 and Wii still gets the most use at my house, but maybe its just because we aren't aware of ps3 game awesomeness? Does anyone have any suggestions that aren't Call of Duty or MGS4?

[Synthesis]

Your 360 will go first... trust me. :D

Oh, you say that, but I have three dead PS2s under my belt which might beg to differ. :lol:

In retrospect, I wonder if there's a way I can check the date of manufacture on my PS3. It's probably more than a year old. If both of my consoles failed tomorrow, that means the Xbox 360 lasted longer by more than two years.

[ElPresidente]

PS3 getting a lot of love now I bought BlazBlue for it.

Unfortunately the 360 version was region locked. Was going to wait for a PAL release but got impatient. Now I just have to wait for my HRAP 3 joystick to arrive from PlayAsia.

So much fun though.

Oh and Nada similarities in our game tastes are scary. Also a Nippon Ichi fan here, loved D3 but would love to see some more PS3 NIS games.

[CuddlesdaTeddlyBear]

Oh, don't get me started on my P.O.S. system. I bought mine two years ago on vacation in Canada and brought it back home. It played like a dream and I enjoyed both PS3 and PS2 games in my library because it was backwards compatible and both my PS2 and PS2 slim had bit the dust. Almost a year later (late October to be precise) I bought this game called Disgaea 3 that installed an update. The next morning I played the game and it crashed; tried to boot it up again and, to my horror, found that the system would not read the discs. PS3, PS2 nor audio CDs.

I checked online and found I wasn't alone in this but soon learned that I had become victim to SONY's evil conspiracy. They were intentionally damaging the firmware with this 'update' (I think it was 1.4 or something... may have had a 7. I can't remember) so that when you send your system to them for repair they take out the backwards compatibility. Well, I refuse to send them my PS3, mainly because I don't live in the U.S. and have to pay to ship it. Did they not think that people outside America would buy the system?

Now it's just an expensive paperweight and something I can pass onto my grandchildren when they're playing their disposable videogames. Yeah, use once and throw away, that's what gaming's going to be all about in next decade or so.

Sorry, just wanted to vent. Anywho, I bought an XBox 360 the next Christmas (went to Canada again) against my better judgement and, eight months later, so far; so good.

[dundoniandood]

I just get annoyed with missing out out on DLC and game because of
exclusivity (<--spleling) I'm only going to by gta4 if ps3 gets the Dlc because i've playd it to death at my friends house. And some of the best games (oblivion,bioshock) only
came to the ps3 a year after xbox

[ElPresidente]

Unfortunately for PS3 & PC owners, GTA IV DLC is not coming to any platform outside of the 360. Definitely one of the best moves Peter Moore made during his tenure at Microsoft before moving to EA Sports.

Oh, don't get me started on my P.O.S. system. I bought mine two years ago on vacation in Canada and brought it back home. It played like a dream and I enjoyed both PS3 and PS2 games in my library because it was backwards compatible and both my PS2 and PS2 slim had bit the dust. Almost a year later (late October to be precise) I bought this game called Disgaea 3 that installed an update. The next morning I played the game and it crashed; tried to boot it up again and, to my horror, found that the system would not read the discs. PS3, PS2 nor audio CDs.

I checked online and found I wasn't alone in this but soon learned that I had become victim to SONY's evil conspiracy. They were intentionally damaging the firmware with this 'update' (I think it was 1.4 or something... may have had a 7. I can't remember) so that when you send your system to them for repair they take out the backwards compatibility. Well, I refuse to send them my PS3, mainly because I don't live in the U.S. and have to pay to ship it. Did they not think that people outside America would buy the system?

Go find whoever told you this balony and smack them upside the head. Hard. With a club.

Not only is the above 100% wrong it almost virges on being libelous.

Here is the real situation;

The PS3 has the lowest failure rate of the two true next gen consoles (The Wii has the absolute lowest failure rate but how a Wii would ever get enough play time to actually break is beyond me - yes I own a Wii).

Furthermore NO firmware is designed to break hardware. Yes, there have been incidences where firmware has caused problems but it is not designed to do that and the hardware companies move as fast as they can to address any problems.

Also Sony will not remove your backwards compatability. The only time you will lose that functionality is when your system is beyond repair in which case you are provided with a new one. As Sony removed backwards compatability from the PS3 a couple of years back now (first it was hardware, second it was sogftware, now its nothing) if you are required to be furbished with a brand new system then you are right, you will lose your backwards compatability. But this is not some part of some conspiracy, it is a last resort situation. Sony would rather fix a console than give you a brand new one; it is a cost thing.

As for the issue of purchasing it outside of the country in which you reside you will find that with all products of this type the companies actually do not intend their product for purchase outside of their respective regions. You will note that the boxes and the like will say "Intended for purchase & use inside North America" or something to that effect.

No, hardware importers are a big exception and not the rule. You should only ever buy hardware outside of your region if you are confident you are not going to need support or you are happy to bare the extra costs utilising such support will incur.

Sorry Cuddles, didn't mean to come down hard on you but the entire content of your post is wrong (outside of your disappointment of course, obviously that's real).

You have to be very careful when trying to find out information about console manufacturers. The games scene is unique in that it has hardware fanboys who will say anything to make the opposition look bad.

I can practically guarantee whoever started that rumour about Sony intentionally damaging hardware is a 360 owner.

There is a lot of FUD in the gaming community so you should ONLY ever believe news from reputable news sites like Kotaku, Eurogamer, WorthPlaying, Evil Avatar, IGN, Gamespot, etc or from reputable print magazines like PC Powerplay, Hyper, GamePro, etc. Your average punter is not going to know the full facts and due to the young average age of many game community sites there is going to be a lot of knee-jerk allegations that are completely misinformed. Stories about Sony intentionally damaging hardware via a patch simply so they can remove backwards compatability for instance.

For the record I'm not a PS3 fanboy. I love my PS3 but prefer my 360.

[CuddlesdaTeddlyBear]

Thanks for clearing that up for me, ElPresidente. To be honest, I'm a SONY fangirl (ever since Square started developing Final Fantasy for the Playstation) so I felt betrayed when I heard that and I let my emotions cloud my better judgment. My apologies. You're right, I am steamed my system 'broke' and, even though I've lost a PS one and two PS2's, losing my PS3 at barely a year old was disconcerting.

Yeah, Nintendo is notorious for building sturdy systems. Our N64 looks like hell but it still works.

I don't like the XBoX 360 as much, only because they don't cater to my favourite genre (mainly RPGs and adventures) but it's all I have right now. The Wii remains as elusive as a mythical pokemon and, everytime I travel in hopes of finding one, the stores are always sold out. (Here, they're rarer still and cost an arm and a leg).

I never noticed that 'Intended for use in North America' warning, but, then again, I'm too busy setting up and playing the darn things I never bother to read the manuals or anything in, or on, the box. Also, I don't use IGN as much as I check Gamefaqs since I moved and am now using dial-up (ugh!) and waiting for web pages to load is a test in patience. Also, I heard someone got fired for writing a negative review on Kane & Lynch (honesty what I played of the game so far wasn't that bad, just really difficult to get used to the slow targeting). I don't remember if he was employed at IGN though. I miss that site.

[ElPresidente]

Completely understandable Cuddles. It is always preferable to have a target for one's ire and the amount of FUD (sorry, I keep using this acronym - for those who don't know what FUD is it means Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt) on the net makes it very easy to fall victim to the misinformation of others.

On other points just to clarify; that was Gamespot, not IGN with the Kane & Lynch review.

The man in question was a guy by the name of Jeff Gerstmann who now runs the gaming site GiantBomb.com (great website by the way, worth a look if you like your games).

What had happened was he produced a relatively unflattering (but not exactly scathing either) review of Eidos' Kane & Lynch produced by Hitman creators IO.

You can watch the review here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBD0cUeeEQc). At the time this review appeared GameSpot was heavily featuring the Eidos title in their advertising. The site was even carrying a prominent Kane & Lynch theme at the time:

http://www.infendo.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/kane_lynch_gamespot.thumbnail.jpg

What brought about the PR nightmare that GameSpot had to endure was that soon after the review was published Gerstmann had his employment with GameSpot terminated.

Of course terminating an employee after they deliver a bad review of a game you're heavily advertising is going to raise some eyebrows and that is exactly what happened. Rumours spread like wildfire that Gerstmann was fired for his Kane & Lynch review after Eidos put pressure on the website for the poor review. GameSpot management & their publisher CNET sternly deny that the Kane & Lynch review had any role to play in Gerstmann's termination but have not offered up a counter reason.

If GameSpot & CNET did indeed fire Gerstman for the transgression of upsetting an advertiser it is unlikely they would make the same mistake again. Not only was the name of GameSpot irrevocably tarnished in the eyes of many readers (Gerstmann was a very popular writer there) but they also lost a number of other influential editors who did not want to work in an environment where it was percieved that their integrity was for sale.

I'd be very surprised if GameSpot would ever make such a blunder again.

As for your 360 and RPGs I'm glad to say that while the JRPG lineup is not as strong as it is on the PS3 (mind you they are pretty close though the PS2 is still the console of choice for JRPGs) there are plenty of high quality ones.

Lost Odyssey
Created by Hinorobu Sakaguchi (creator of the Final Fantasy series) and scored by Nobuo Uematsu (main composer of the Final Fantasy series) this is one of the best traditional JRPGs doing the rounds. An absolute highlight is the inclusion of what are dubbed Thousand Year Dreams. These are multimedia text presentations sprinkled throughout the gam that reveal more about the backstory of the game's hero Kaim. They were penned by award-winning short story author Kiyoshi Shigematsu and have moved numerous people I know (myself included) to tears.

Blue Dragon
Not as good as Lost Odyssey this is a much more light hearted JRPG with solid mechanics and some stunning graphics from the same team behind Lost Odyssey; Mystwalker. The Akira Toriyama (Character designer for the anime Dragon Ball Z, the Dragons Quest games and Chrono Trigger amongst others) artwork is going to either annoy or enchant but the Nobuo Uematsu soundtrack compells.

Eternal Sonata
A gorgeous cell shaded tale that takes the life of real world composer Chopin and intertwines it with traditional anime and JRPG sensibilities. Great soundtrack, amazing graphics and a touching story.

There are just three you may not have given a shot but there are many more. Feel free to pm me if you want further advice.

Of course the above is only logical if by RPG you mean JRPG (which is actually a completely seperate style of game, not a subset like many would believe). If you mean RPG in the traditional sense of the term then the 360 is actually the only console that has a large number of RPGs.

Mass Effect
Fallout 3
Fable 2
Two Worlds
Oblvion

And so on...

Explore the 360 library, it is much bigger than many people believe.

[CuddlesdaTeddlyBear]

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU! I've been dying for more information on that fiasco. I am also glad something like this happened and I am hoping it changes the way things are done in, not only the gaming industry, but others as well. Fans and uninformed consumers are lied to for the sake of concreting a sale and the risk of losing that sale from an honest, yet unflattering review, is what should be encouraging them to make better products.

EA really needs to come under that scrutiny but I'm not going to open that can of worms.

I'm definitely going to give Gertsmann's site a visit when I get the chance. It will be refreshing to see what this brave lone ranger will accomplish now that he's freelance. I hope he becomes an inspiration to many others who will follow his lead and stand up for the sake of their art instead of selling out for a quick buck. I'll see how this plays out.

Oh, I love both JRPGs and traditional RPGs. Dungeons & Dragons wasn't sold in my country during its prime so we could only get Final Fantasy and the like when I was younger, but, now that I'm more mature I can really appreciate games of its kind. I mentioned this in another thread but I played Exile: Escape from the Pit when I was very young and, even though I couldn't grasp the concept of a 'table-top RPG', I was drawn to it. I'm playing its remake 'Avernum' now and, I have to wonder, why companies are so lax to make other games of its ilk. Have they stopped catering to us because most gamers evolved beyond fantasy type roleplaying?

I love Elder Scrolls: Oblivion! I haven't finished it yet but the sheer magnitude of that world leaves me breathless at times. It's nice to walk from one town to the next without being stopped to battle every five seconds but I'm not too keen on the levelling process. I miss getting experience from killing enemies, running errands and completing quests. However, I've always preferred skill increases as you use them, as in FF2. I've always hoped someone would develop a game where it combined those two aspects. I really think it could work.

Two Worlds, I haven't managed to play because I need an HD Tv. The... thing keeps blocking my view. 'Press < to see more info' or something like that. I'm still on the tutorial quest and so far it seems nice.

I have Lost Oddysey and it's amazing. The 'Thousand Year Dreams' short stories are touching and awe inspiring and I have found myself crying at a few of them as well. It's very convenient that they're saved so you can enjoy them later. My favourite of them all is 'Hang in There' (I think it's called that, I don't have my 360 at this house), only because I find racism and prejudice so fascinating. The fourth disc doesn't read very well and sometimes crashes on me, in the middle of battle, no less. I'm just dealing with it right now because I'm near the end. I had no idea that team was responsible for Blue Dragon as well. That gives me more incentive to pick it up. I was going to pass on it begause I played Dragon Quest 8 and it was hard. There was such a staggering difference in strength from the monsters in the next area I had to level up on weaker monsters if I wanted to survive. This usually isn't a bad thing but it did get monotonous.

Mass Effect and Fallout... I'm not too keen on the whole sci-fi genre. (Never seen a Star Wars film and don't really fancy Star Trek that much) so I passed on them. Oddly enough, I have both Fallout 1 and 2 from GOG.com and they're surprisingly entertaining. They feel more RPGish than sci-fi so I may give Fallout 3 a chance, but I heard it's 1st person and I don't really like the feel of 1st person shooters. I guess, like Oblivion, it's done to help you immerse yourself in the character and the environment but it looks too close to a shooter to me that I'm put off by it.

I heard Eternal Sonata wasn't that good but I'm interested just for the sake of the music. I love classical over everything else although I'm no connoisseur.

[ElPresidente]

Fallout 1 & 2 surprisingly entertaining. That's like saying to Willian Shakespear after a performance of Romeo and Juliet that you find his works suprisingly competant. :P

Fallout + Arcanum are the best examples of what traditional roleplaying is all about. :D

I say go for Eternal Sonata. It isn't too long, has great music, teaches you about Chopin, has a wonderfully unique battle system and has a wonderful story.

As for loving Oblivion... well, I can only mourn for you. Go play Morrowind instead. :P

[CuddlesdaTeddlyBear]

Sorry for the diluted appreciation for Fallout but I had very low expectations when I saw it was based in an apocalyptic future. I prefer a 'Lord of the Rings' type setting.

I've heard of Morrowind but have no idea what it is. (You must think I've been living under a rock) I'll see if I can get that with Eternal Sonata.

[ElPresidente]

Where Oblivion is Elder Scrolls IV, Morrowind is Elder Scrolls III.

It may not look as good but is a much better game.

[kustirider2]

I agree there. Morrowind, If you really get into it, Is quite possibly one of the best games you could ever play (I know it's one of mine!)

[Synthesis]

Love-Hate: my PS3 is apparently region free for PS3 games, however, unless Yakuza 3 is translated into Mandarin Chinese, I'm not playing it. :(

Well, I guess it's still more likely than an English release.

A little bit of hate: my PS3 doesn't play UK region DVDs, though my Xbox 360 does. Okay, maybe not so much hate as confusion.

[davious]

I have yet to own a PS3 to either love or hate, but it seems like it is completely hit or miss. Those that have problems have all kinds of problems, and those that don't, don't have any. I am highly considering getting a new PS3 slim when it comes out (the price drop to 299 has a lot to do with that) but, am going to wait until I start seeing some reviews. I have never had any issues at all with the PS2, so, perhaps its less the machine, and more the user. j/k

[Synthesis]

I have yet to own a PS3 to either love or hate, but it seems like it is completely hit or miss. Those that have problems have all kinds of problems, and those that don't, don't have any. I am highly considering getting a new PS3 slim when it comes out (the price drop to 299 has a lot to do with that) but, am going to wait until I start seeing some reviews. I have never had any issues at all with the PS2, so, perhaps its less the machine, and more the user. j/k

I would wave my fist angrily at you from my porch, davious, but I know so many people who've had PS2s effectively bricked (the big killer being the failed optical drive), I haven't the heart, nor a porch.

It'd be like me addressing the Xbox 360 failures as "less the machine, and more the user".

Though, in all fairness, let's not kid about something as tragic as expensive console failures.

[HaphazardSim]

Have a PS3 and love it, no problems so far then again my brother uses it more than I do.

[WC_EEND]

I have a PS3 and I love it in fact, the only thing that really annoys me is that it plays blu-ray movies in black and white (I have an SDTV that does not support 60 Hz). Which is why I bought a laptop with a blu-ray player