Doug Jacobs

So Kotaku has an article about an upcoming feature for PSN+ which will
allow users to store their game save data "in the cloud".

http://kotaku.com/5746393/save-your-...es-in-thin-air

Oooh. This would allow users to save local diskspace, as well as resume
your place in games on any PS3 console that's connected to the internet.

Ok...how much diskspace do game saves take up? Note, they aren't talking
about actual games, or even DLC here. Just the savegame files, and your
user profile (which is already stored "in the cloud".)

Most games' don't use more than a megabyte for saves, and with most PS3s
having hard drives that are 100+GB in size, I can't ever see save games
being enough of a problem.

As for being able to take my saves with me, what's wrong with just buying
a thumbdrive?

--
It's not broken. It's...advanced.

-= timm3r =-

"Doug Jacobs" <djacobs@rawbw.com> wrote in message
news:KIudneKISIXcWNTQnZ2dnUVZ_t-dnZ2d@posted.rawbandwidth...
> So Kotaku has an article about an upcoming feature for PSN+ which will
> allow users to store their game save data "in the cloud".
>
> http://kotaku.com/5746393/save-your-...es-in-thin-air
>
> Oooh. This would allow users to save local diskspace, as well as resume
> your place in games on any PS3 console that's connected to the internet.
>
> Ok...how much diskspace do game saves take up? Note, they aren't talking
> about actual games, or even DLC here. Just the savegame files, and your
> user profile (which is already stored "in the cloud".)
>
> Most games' don't use more than a megabyte for saves, and with most PS3s
> having hard drives that are 100+GB in size, I can't ever see save games
> being enough of a problem.
>
> As for being able to take my saves with me, what's wrong with just buying
> a thumbdrive?
>
> --
> It's not broken. It's...advanced.


Wow, lord knows I need to free up about 2.5 megs of space on my 60GB HDD.
*sarcasm*

Sounds like they want to try to prevent save game tampering like what has
happened with Live's Castlevania: HD. By combing through the original save
games prior to the DLC, people were able to figure out how many extra
characters were coming along with new items and chapters. They were also
able to save the newbs some grind time by tranferring character equipment
data to those just starting out granting them statistical levels of someone
who had put in 40+ hours of gameplay.

There is probably a more feasable explanation but if you tampered with your
system at all, it would likely show in your save data.

Doug Jacobs

-= timm3r =- <timm.3r.webmail@gmail.com> wrote:

> Wow, lord knows I need to free up about 2.5 megs of space on my 60GB HDD.
> *sarcasm*
>
> Sounds like they want to try to prevent save game tampering like what has
> happened with Live's Castlevania: HD. By combing through the original save
> games prior to the DLC, people were able to figure out how many extra
> characters were coming along with new items and chapters. They were also
> able to save the newbs some grind time by tranferring character equipment
> data to those just starting out granting them statistical levels of someone
> who had put in 40+ hours of gameplay.

Well, that would be another benefit, but then would require everyone to
use this feature and have internet connectivity.

Besides, can't Sony figure out when people have been cheating and crack
down on them by deleting their account or something? Microsoft seems
pretty good at detecting cheaters and modders and deleting them.



--
It's not broken. It's...advanced.

-= timm3r =-

"Doug Jacobs" <djacobs@rawbw.com> wrote in message
news:2budnd2TYo9LetTQnZ2dnUVZ_omdnZ2d@posted.rawba ndwidth...
> -= timm3r =- <timm.3r.webmail@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Wow, lord knows I need to free up about 2.5 megs of space on my 60GB HDD.
>> *sarcasm*
>>
>> Sounds like they want to try to prevent save game tampering like what has
>> happened with Live's Castlevania: HD. By combing through the original
>> save
>> games prior to the DLC, people were able to figure out how many extra
>> characters were coming along with new items and chapters. They were also
>> able to save the newbs some grind time by tranferring character equipment
>> data to those just starting out granting them statistical levels of
>> someone
>> who had put in 40+ hours of gameplay.
>
> Well, that would be another benefit, but then would require everyone to
> use this feature and have internet connectivity.
>
> Besides, can't Sony figure out when people have been cheating and crack
> down on them by deleting their account or something? Microsoft seems
> pretty good at detecting cheaters and modders and deleting them.
>
>
>
> --
> It's not broken. It's...advanced.

That's where I'm confused. Other than games dl'ed from PSN, why would I save
any commercial game to a place that isn't accessable while offline?
Borderlands? Maybe,? God of War, absolutely not. With as efficient as my ISP
(comcast) is, I would be getting booted off at least once every other night
for connectivity issues. That would really be aggravating.

Could this be the consoles taking a hint from Steam and trying to use our
saves as a form of DRM?

Jim

When your PS3 dies you lose your saves (I lost a FF13 save to YLOD) so think
of as a backup solution.

Doug Jacobs

-= timm3r =- <timm.3r.webmail@gmail.com> wrote:

> That's where I'm confused. Other than games dl'ed from PSN, why would I save
> any commercial game to a place that isn't accessable while offline?
> Borderlands? Maybe,? God of War, absolutely not. With as efficient as my ISP
> (comcast) is, I would be getting booted off at least once every other night
> for connectivity issues. That would really be aggravating.
>
> Could this be the consoles taking a hint from Steam and trying to use our
> saves as a form of DRM?

Ah. This feature of Sony's isn't for the game itself, but for your save
files - your progress, stats, records, etc.

If I was playing, say, Uncharted on my PS3, I could put my save file onto
Sony's servers, then go next door and IF my friend also had Uncharted (or I
brought my disc) I could resume my game on his PS3, upload again to Sony's
servers, and not lose my progress.

You can do this exact same thing now by using a thumbdrive to copy your
game save(s) then go next door and copy them to your friend's PS3. The
idea is you can play on any PS3 so long as you have the game disc, and you
won't lose your progress. Copying them to Sony's servers also allows for
offsite backup. Because, god forbid, if your house burned down, it's good
to know that at least your lifetime deathmatch stats in COD are safe and
sound.

So yes, for $50/year or whatever PSN+ charges, you too can have Sony
backup all ~10MB (if that) of your precious data for you as well as take
advantage of all the other useless features PSN+ offers.

--
It's not broken. It's...advanced.

Doug Jacobs

Jim <jim@wtf.invalid> wrote:
> When your PS3 dies you lose your saves (I lost a FF13 save to YLOD) so think
> of as a backup solution.

$50/year for a few MB? I think I'll just buy a thumbdrive for $10 and
back it up myself. Yeah, I know you get more than just save file backups
with PSN+.

Honestly though, this is probably the best feature of PSN+ so far, but even
then it can be handled with an inexpensive thumbdrive. Heck, most people
probably have a few spares lying around the house already.

And honestly I can only think of a few games where losing the save would
really suck.

--
It's not broken. It's...advanced.

Jim

"Doug Jacobs" <djacobs@rawbw.com> wrote in message
news:iMqdnQsbnKwINtHQnZ2dnUVZ_o6dnZ2d@posted.rawba ndwidth...
> $50/year for a few MB? I think I'll just buy a thumbdrive for $10 and
> back it up myself. Yeah, I know you get more than just save file backups
> with PSN+.
>
> Honestly though, this is probably the best feature of PSN+ so far, but
> even
> then it can be handled with an inexpensive thumbdrive. Heck, most people
> probably have a few spares lying around the house already.
>
> And honestly I can only think of a few games where losing the save would
> really suck.
Fully agree with you but playing devils advocate.
I expect to this to transparent to the user like Steam Cloud does it.
Backup to thumb drives can only be done one at a time and if it is copy
protected you have to a full system backup. Could be easily remedied with
some sort of synch option but that would be asking for too much.
As for PSN+ Penny Arcade sums it up pretty good.
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2010/6/30/