Tag: PS3

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The holiday will be a failure

I had mentioned to WW that I really wanted some time playing GT5 this holiday with the steering wheel. I may have said:

If I don’t get to play GT5 this holiday it will have been a failure!

This means no kids or anyone for about 2 hours. The time was set. Monday afternoon. Number one son would be in nursery and WW and son #2 would be seeing friends so I had about 4 hours when I could play uninterrupted!
I needed to complete around 10 online races to get the money and just because they are there to complete. The four hours would be pushing it but I reckoned that without lunch I could have done it.
So I set up the PS3 with steering wheel and pressed play.

GT server down for routine maintenance 12 to 4pm

Arrgggghhh. The only races I could do offline was a World Championship and I didn’t want to spend the time and effort and have to save mid-championship.
I shut down GT5 and played Rock Band. The original save file is copy protected and so I had to start from scratch. Definitely didn’t do the easy or medium – straight to hard.
So far the holiday has been a failure. Going to try tonight.

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Death of the PS3

So it happened again. My re-conditioned 60Gb PS3 from Sony has died. We were watching Wall-E on blu-ray and we got about 2 minutes into the film when:
Pvvvvvvvvvvvvv
The Ps3 turned off and the red light just flashed. The unit is still under warranty and so will be replaced with another re-conditioned 60Gb model, which is good because that is a classic model.
WW agreed I can suggested that I buy a brand new PS3 as well. So Amazon had a great deal on a 320Gb version bundled with a game and blu-ray movie. So until it arrives I am in limbo.
I managed to get the GT5 game save file copied when I tried turning on the PS3 to check it was FUBAR.
Updates later.

Tues 3 Oct
New 320Gb PS3 arrived with Resistance 3 and a blu-ray film. Plugged in and now vertical next to AV amp. Looks very nice. I have noticed though that the disc grabbing motor is much noisier than the old version, the disc reader motor makes a bit of noise and the buttons are real buttons rather than touch sensitive. However, the fan noise is much quieter and so much preferable.
Firmware update completed and GT5 save file copied after a bit of hassle. I’d been saving game files on a SD card because the 60Gb has lots of lovely memory card slots. Had to transfer the files to a USB memory stick using my PC before I could get them onto the new PS3.

Weds 4 Oct
Installed lots of the extra GT5 files onto the PS3 to reduce load times. That took about 40 minutes. Planing to install every game I’ve bought from the store over next few weeks as I now have the space for them. Also looking forward to DLC for GT5 by end of October.
PS3 stand arrived so I don’t have to worry about it falling over. It’s much thinner than the old version and so less stable. Now have a few more USB ports and some snazzy blue LED lights if I want to impress WW.
Old reconditioned 60Gb now taken and on its way to console heaven. Just waiting for the return of the next one.

Fri 7 Oct
New old PS3 delivered. Sony have kindly replaced my recondition PS3 with another (although it was within warranty). I have not yet checked it works as I need to be free of children to do it. New PS3 is wired in so this 60Gb will have to wait until half term.

Tues 11 Oct
GT5 version 2 download released and so very excited. Just waiting for DLC.

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PS3 Insurance no more

The other day I got a letter from Domestic and General who are the people who underwrite my PS3 insurance. My payments are to increase from £4.99 to £7.99! That’s a 75% increase! Now even given the ironic situation of times past I have phoned D&G and cancelled my policy. Somehow £60 a year seemed ok but nearly £96 is ridiculous. I’ve also cancelled my Sky+HD insurance as I’ve just had a new box.
Now, if the PS3 dies I’ll buy another. They are cheap enough. Then I’ll do my best to fix my classic 60 Gb model. It’s lovely! Lots of USB ports, PS2 backwards compatibility (suck on that you later model users), multimedia card slots and SACD playback because, yes, I bought some of those!
Now I just need to remember to back up my game saves regularly.

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PS3

This is probably the definition of irony.
Decided to cancel my Continuous Play PS3 insurance policy. Although it was only £5 a month I had been paying it for a few years and could have bought another PS3 with that amount of money in that time. The issue is that I have a 60Gb Fat PS3 and the specification is so good I don’t want to lose it. I bought a few SACDs when they were released and the PS3 is the only thing that will play them since I upgraded my amplifier. So, 11am I phoned the insurance company and cancelled my policy with them.
I started playing on the PS3 and actually had it doing some GT5 B-Spec races while I was watching TV. Later on while my baby son was sleeping I thought I would have a go at a Japanese GT race at the Nurburgring  Grand Prix circuit. I was doing really well and catching first place at about 3 seconds a lap with 2 laps to go and a gap of 4 seconds. This was going to be a fun last lap.
BLANK. The TV picture died, I could hear the HDD and fan of the PS3 running down and playing the sounds of death. Suddenly there’s a red light flashing on the PS3. I google, as is the modern way, and it turns out to be bad.  OK, no panic. Surely everything will be ok.
Phoned the insurance company: Yes, my cover is still valid and yes they will stop my cancellation order.
Phoned PlayStation support: Yes, you are covered and we’ll send a reconditioned unit to you tomorrow.
Result: I am now playing GT5 (managed to get the save file) and loving it still. Won the GT race and now, as I type the PS3 is racing a B-Spec race for me but rather badly.
Hopefully, that is the end of the story.

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