PlayStation®3 Support

[BMoshier]

Hello,

System: PS3 (Big) 80GB w/PS2 support

System software:  4.21

To organize the XMB game menu, I've been using the following instructions:

1. Select a game icon.
2. Press triangle.
3. Select and click on Info.
4. Select and click on Album.
5. Enter a name, this will be the folder name, by pressing start.
6. Press O to go back.
7. Press triangle again.
8. Select and click on Group Content and select By Album.
9. Voila, your games are now neat and tidy.

Unfortunately, these instructions aren't working for some of the "games" showing up on my menu. I say "games," as the majority of these types of files are install files downloaded from the PSN.  I do NOT want to delete them in case I need to reinstall the game (and say the PSN is down or in case there is a limit on how many times or a time limit on downloading games I bought).  NOTE:  This is one reason I'm not thrilled with downloaded games -- some sites limit how many times or for how long you can download a product, even if you bought it.  Having it on physical media can insure your invest lasts longer (OK, not always, but generally).

When I use the triangle, select Information, the display doesn't include an input text field for the Album.  The only information I see is:  Title & Size , while other games include Title, Album, Parental Control, Created, Szie, Owner, Starts, Expires, and Remaining Time.

This is becoming a problem because I'm seeing more and more of these, as I get games from the Playstation Network.  IN FACT, I find sometimes I'm starting the install file instead of the game because they are side by side on the menu and I'm in a rush, etc.

What I'd like to do is have an album or folder or some place where these "games" / install programs can reside.  Actually, I wouldn't mind off loading them onto a network drive, USB flash drive, etc.

Is there a way to stop "install file" creap and still be able to protect your invest in games?  (e.g. if the PSN is down again for weeks on end, limits (existing or future put on download), etc?

Thanks! :-)

Bert.

[gkpama00]

The short answer is no.  It is not intended that you archive the install packages that are downloaded for Playstation Store games.  In the case of games that only run on the PS3, these are deleted automatically when the game is installed. You can't keep them, unless you don't install the game. For PS1 Classics, and Minis, the install package is retained in case you want to transfer them to Playstation Portable or Playstation Vita consoles.  The PS3 System has no way of knowing whether you have those, or how many, so you are left to delete those objects manually when you have installed them on all of the eligible consoles that you own.  They are not intended to be off-line backups in case PSN is down.  While that does happen, Sony didn't design any provisions to mitigate that situation. You can't copy them to external drives or other media, and they don't have the necessary attributes to be sorted to any folder.  They have to remain where they are, until you delete them; which you were expected to do by now.  Using the PS3 Backup Utility will back up all of your installed or downloaded Playstation Store games and licenses, but they will only restore to the same console that they were backed up from.  This will help you if your hard drive fails; but if your PS3 is lost, stolen, destroyed, or has a system failure that isn't cost effective to repair; the backup won't protect any of your game purchases.  You would have to download them from the Playstation Store again anyway.

Sony does not limit the number of times that you can download games or add-ons from the Playstation Store.  The way that Sony controls content is to limit the number of PS3 consoles that any of your Playstation Store purchases can be downloaded to.  The current limit is two consoles.  Unlike with PCs, Sony can positively identify each individual PS3 console manufactured.  Sony doesn't need download limits to prevent widespread copying, and it never will.  The game will only run if there is a license file for it installed on the PS3, and the Playstation Store will only generate license files that will work on the two PS3 consoles that are "activated" under the PSN account that purchased the content. This has worked effectively for six years, and Sony has no reason to change it.

It is in the nature of digital game purchases that you won't have access to the game forever.  In fact, Sony makes no guarantee as to how long that will be.  While you can download the game an unlimited number of times as long as it is available in the Playstation Store, Sony makes no guarantee as to how long that game will be available in the Playstation Store.  Technically, buying a game in the Playstation Store is really an indefinite-term rental, and not a purchase at all.  You never own the game content when you buy video games; but with physical media at least you own the media, and the copy of the data that is on it. With digital downloads you don't own anything.  You can only use it for as long as the content owner chooses to allow you to use it.

Games have been withdrawn from sale in the Playstation Store a number of times.  Usually the game is still available for past-purchasers to download, but in a few cases that hasn't been possible for legal reasons. In the case of demos for games that are only available on Blu-ray, it is common for the content to be removed from the store entirely after a year or two.  Once the game is no longer being manufactured, the publisher has no incentive to continue to make the demo available; which costs the publisher money each time someone downloads it.  Someday Sony will shut down the PS3 Playstation Store, and then you won't be able to play your Playstation Store games on any consoles that you haven't already install the games on.  If you are going to buy games in the Playstation Store, you need to understand that you probably aren't going to be able to go back and play them again in 15 years; as you can with physical media.  That's one of the trade-offs that comes with whatever benefits people think that they receive by buying games digitally.  Others include the inability to sell, or lend, your games to others.

Personally, the only games I buy in the Playstation Store are ones that aren't available on physical media (or are too expensive on disk, like FInal Fantasy VII).  The choice is yours, but there is no practical way around the drawbacks if you choose to buy games digitally.

[BMoshier]

Thank you for helping me understand and see yet more reason I dislike digital downloads.  While I'm a computer professional (programming since 1974) and a gamer from the 1960s (pinball, then pong, etc, finally programming my own games in colllege) I'm not a supporter of digital downloads for the consumer for many of the reasons you provided.

QUESTION:  On the two PS3 limit for a digital download, is that two active PS3 or two PS3 total for the entire life of the download?  I'm asking as one might end up going through several PS3 systems, given Sony (and other extended warrany companies) can provide replacement / refurbished unit, which would (of course) have different serial / identification numbers.  (Side note:  My PS3 system is one of the 80GB (now 750GB) PS2 backward compatibles, which I'd spend a fortune fixing as I love my PS2 games, espeically "Final Fantasy XI." Fortunately, I got the unit with an extended warranty that is still good (ends in 2013), but the day will come, I'm sure.)

A thought for the day:

A college friend of mine (now on the Federal bench) told me during his law school days, a lawyer can write up anything, but only a court can decide if it legal.  Has the issue of "purchase going away" ever gone to court?

I'm asking as when you look at the Sony Store stuff is clearly shown as "Rental" and "Purchase," which gives kids, parents, and others an impression of ownership and not "indefinite rental."  The word purchase and how Sony displays it does leave one with the impression the person owns access to the game forever.  Yeah, everyone would agree the company own the rights to the game, but they are selling you access on a purchase basis and the dictionary defines purchase as ownership.  (Yeah, courts really do use the dictionary, BTW.)

OK, OK.  I know you don't know .... OR  I suspect you'll be saying something about their lawyers being smart, etc .. but so are IBM lawyers and they got caugth with their pants down in the 1990s (or was it 80s) with "full time" contractors.  IBM was using contractors and having them work 40 hour plus per week and some had worked at IBM their entire lives (20, 25, even 30 years) as a contractor.  Finally, some of them sued IBM saying they were by defacto IBM employees even though IBM never hired them and they had employment contracts with a different firm.  In the end (I think it ended up at the US Supreme Court), IBM lost and had to provide all of those people with full IBM employee benefits - medical, retirement, 401K, etc and also do it backwards from the date they showed up at IBM.

I learned about this happening at IBM for three reasons:  1) I was an IBM employee (am now reitred from IBM) and our department had rules about using contractors and 2) My wife was a contractor at IBM and every so often she had to leave for say 3 to 6 months and then they'd hire her back.  3) I met over the years more than a couple of these former contractors through my wife.

Anyway, my point is ... lawyer are human and only give an opinion based upon the law (written and case).  Where there is not yet case law, well, they can try the best they can in writing a contract but only case law will show how well the contract stands the test of time.

Again thank you so very much for the information on the XMB organization and state of digital downloads (and when / why to avoid them).

Bert.