Support NeoGAF

[PhaseJump]

I am using the PS3 and PS4 to play my old games. It has been nothing but a pain in the ass experience since Vita was new. PC stores, and Xbox has been doing things right for years.

The "fuck all digital" crew here need to loosen up the belts in those pants they have on their heads.

 

[Kuranghi]

They made the gamma problem in Control:UE worse with a patch, but its a digital version so I'm just fucked unless I want to go out and buy physical, it was the PS Plus free version AND I already played it with perfect gamma on PC so I'm not too bothered in this case, but thats a bleeding-edge reminder of how crap digital can be.

"We fixed it!"

Its crushed shadows and brightness at 40 for me now to make it not be so washed out on my FALD LCD, but I have to accept that it looks like a reshade-retard-party a lot of the time. PS5 + OLED owners must be pissed because the crushing will be worse and the black level is elevated even more now (Wioth PS5 set to SDR I mean, if you play in HDR is even shitter due to what the PS5 is doing to the SDR signal coming from the game).

edit - Poor PR people, I know its not their fault, but look how excited they were to tell us it was "fixed":




The screenshot they attached shows the problem wasn't looked at by the right people or there is no money to devote to fixing it. There was no such problem on PC (nor in XSX's version of Control:UE) and I don't know why they made this mistake/can't fix it. I think it has to do with the HDR on PS5, I know it sounds silly but I think they tested the game with the PS5 outputting HDR.

 

[Banjo64]

Uh, what the hell? So according to that tweet thread, if storefronts go down...

PS3: physical | digital – also blu-ray movies will stop working

PS4: physical | digital

XB1: physical | digital (no possibility for jailbreak workaround)

Is that PS4 stuff not planned obsolescence?

 

[Clear]

Might be worth waiting for an official announcement, seems like the site linked in the OP (which I've never heard of) is the only one running the story.

 

[sunnysideup]

Dd sucks ass.

 

[Noncanon Ship]

If the stores are closed can you still play the games?

For a while at least.

But the concern is that when your cmos battery dies, you have to sign in to reset the internal clock. If there are no servers, you can't sign in and the clock can't be reset. Apparently, you can't play your games without your clock working right.

So I think this means, if your cmos batt dies, you will always need to sign in to play digital games. If you replace the batt, you will still need to sign in at least once to play your digital games. Either way, you won't be able to play your digital games.

This is the info that is currently being discussed on twitter. There will probably be a hack workaround, so you'd have to mod your PS3.

 

[InDaGulag]

Uh, what the hell? So according to that tweet thread, if storefronts go down...

PS3: physical | digital – also blu-ray movies will stop working

PS4: physical | digital

XB1: physical | digital (no possibility for jailbreak workaround)

Thank goodness I'm a PC gamer.

 

[GametimeUK]

Can someone be kind enough to recommend me some must have games to download or buy physical in preparation for this closing? It will be much appreciated as I'm out of the loop with game collection. I want to preserve items that will skyrocket it price or that are digital only on PS3.

 

[Fake]

oof

sad

 

[Noncanon Ship]

One thing I don't understand - surely they will allow you to still download games you already own, and surely you will be able to do that from the console itself. So surely you'll still be able to sign in and there will still be servers dedicated?

So then why would it be a problem to reset the cmos battery and stay signed in when you play digital games?

 

[DeepEnigma]

One thing I don't understand - surely they will allow you to still download games you already own, and surely you will be able to do that from the console itself. So surely you'll still be able to sign in and there will still be servers dedicated?

So then why would it be a problem to reset the cmos battery and stay signed in when you play digital games?

Considering that the store is up and running perfectly fine now, why are they having issues when changing the battery?

The store isn't needed for it the check the game licenses, just signing into your PSN account does that. You select "renew licenses or initialize" if you have issues, neither of which are storefront options, but under account settings.

 

[Fake]

One thing I don't understand - surely they will allow you to still download games you already own, and surely you will be able to do that from the console itself. So surely you'll still be able to sign in and there will still be servers dedicated?

So then why would it be a problem to reset the cmos battery and stay signed in when you play digital games?

DRM?

 

[Hypereides]

Assuming all this is true, Wow, what the fuck. Thankfully, I got most of the games I wanted in the recent years.

Modern Sony must REALLY not care about its legacy unless you're willing to re-buy those older games over and over again repackged at a brand new price.

I honestly don't get why they're doing this though. Sure, maintenance might have some expenses, but I can't imagine the shop would be THAT costly to run. They probably have a minor skeleton crew running it.

Gonna buy a PSN funbucks card next month to cover what I want the most just in case. Gotta grab what I can while it lasts.

Everything Sony Told Us About the Future of PlayStation

Ahead of E3 2017 next week

time.com

“When we’ve dabbled with backwards compatibility, I can say it is one of those features that is much requested, but not actually used much,” says Ryan. “That, and I was at a Gran Turismo event recently where they had PS1, PS2, PS3 and PS4 games, and the PS1 and the PS2 games, they looked ancient, like why would anybody play this?”

As always, Jim Ryan may kindly shove a knuckle up his own ass.

 

[bender]

If true, Microsoft should advertise this as a feather in their cap. It might help Sony come to their senses.

 

[Noncanon Ship]

Considering that the store is up and running perfectly fine now, why are they having issues when changing the battery?

The store isn't needed for it the check the game licenses, just signing into your PSN account does that. You select "renew licenses or initialize" if you have issues, neither of which are storefront options, but under account settings.

It's about what happens when your cmos battery dies in the future once the servers are down. Apparently, it needs to be reset from Sony's servers because digital games need it to be working properly to launch. So if the battery is dead, you need to sign in every time to play your digital games.

They're saying when the storefront goes down we won't be able to do that. What I'm wondering is, won't we still be able to sign in and access the server considering we're still going to be able to download the digital games we've already purchased? After all, how would they verify what games you've got unless you sign in, and how would you be able to download them unless there are still servers dedicated to PS3 users.

 

[ksdixon]

Wanna play PS3 titles? use PsNow. It is a Dick move. No wonder they were offering 15 euros if you brought a PSnow sub.
At least we are complaining...

I would have zero issue with this, so long as Sony beefed up the games on offer from past generations, and they were all available to download and play instead of streaming.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

They made the gamma problem in Control:UE worse with a patch, but its a digital version so I'm just fucked unless I want to go out and buy physical, it was the PS Plus free version AND I already played it with perfect gamma on PC so I'm not too bothered in this case, but thats a bleeding-edge reminder of how crap digital can be.

"We fixed it!"

Its crushed shadows and brightness at 40 for me now to make it not be so washed out on my FALD LCD, but I have to accept that it looks like a reshade-retard-party a lot of the time. PS5 + OLED owners must be pissed because the crushing will be worse and the black level is elevated even more now (Wioth PS5 set to SDR I mean, if you play in HDR is even shitter due to what the PS5 is doing to the SDR signal coming from the game).

edit - Poor PR people, I know its not their fault, but look how excited they were to tell us it was "fixed":




The screenshot they attached shows the problem wasn't looked at by the right people or there is no money to devote to fixing it. There was no such problem on PC (nor in XSX's version of Control:UE) and I don't know why they made this mistake/can't fix it. I think it has to do with the HDR on PS5, I know it sounds silly but I think they tested the game with the PS5 outputting HDR.

?

So they fixed crushed blacks in Control, yet the pic they show is 98% pitch black?

 

[DenchDeckard]

I hope not, I love my PS VIta and just set my old PS3 up in my daughters bedroom.

 

[DeepEnigma]

It's about what happens when your cmos battery dies in the future once the servers are down. Apparently, it needs to be reset from Sony's servers because digital games need it to be working properly to launch. So if the battery is dead, you need to sign in every time to play your digital games.

They're saying when the storefront goes down we won't be able to do that. What I'm wondering is, won't we still be able to sign in and access the server considering we're still going to be able to download the digital games we've already purchased? After all, how would they verify what games you've got unless you sign in, and how would you be able to download them unless there are still servers dedicated to PS3 users.

That storefront part makes no sense. The CMOS checks with your account licenses, it does not need the storefront. Your account still contains the licenses outside of the storefront. You sign into PSN and you can manually reinitialize the licenses if it doesn't sync it automatically.

Store going down does not remove your licenses. Hence the master download list that harbors them all from PSP to PS5 contained within your account itself. In which you can still download PSP games and delisted digital games. Patches too.

So on vita there isn't s section for owned purchases? And or a way to download said owned titles?

There is, it is called 'Download List' in your account itself, outside of the store.

 

[Papacheeks]

how the fuck are you going to search games without the store front? Sony removed all your games from the web store which was the only way to search for shit on older systems, if they only retain the dowload lists for the old systems it's gonna be almost imposible to look for anything in your libraries unless you only own a couple of games.

This is fucking bullshit, they are doing it step by step to reduce the outrage so when they finally phase it out it doesn't come as big news.

So on vita there isn't s section for owned purchases? And or a way to download said owned titles?

 

[CamHostage]

Nintendo shut down the Wii Shop Channel a few years ago.

Microsoft also shut down downloadable games on the original Xbox system about a decade ago, and also closed their "indie games" shop on Xbox 360.

It's more understandable, I think, with the Wii Shop (and to a degree the Xbox Indies system,) because it was a self-contained shopping system. Sony's PlayStation store was always one store, though. You went to PSN and got everything in one place, and when a new console or handheld came out, they just added a tab for that platform. PS3, PS4, PSP, PS Vita, PSVR - one shop for all PlayStation devices. (And couldn't you even buy or see games in the PS3/Vita interfaces that you could pay for despite them not working on your device? I know I have a lot of Vita games that are loaded on my PS3 but I can't remember if I bought them on PS3's store or the webstore.) You log in, put in your payment system, and buy whatever you want wherever you can access PSN.

Even the PS Store interface got very basic and standardized; at first, it was a custom Shop app interface on each console, but later they just made it an HTML5 browser that you navigated with your controller. The actual maintenance of a bunch of web pages and some file servers should be almost invisibly easy for Sony to maintain, and the web-based Shop that works now on PS4 and PS5 and the PS App will work on PS6 and PS7 and PSVR2 and whatever comes. For each platform, they can change the visual style skin, they can change the location of core modules or metadata, they can change a few things about the look and feel and as long as they have supported core material in the API, they can propagate the type of PSN they want on a new device from the PSN that already exists.

...So that gave the impression that running a game store was "easy". Do it once and you have an open shop that can just point to files to sell, forever.

(And while can think up some reasons why it is genuinely harder than consumers give credit for to maintain/update/migrate a web storage system and product library, as well as to keep up on legal matters and contractual relations and publisher/developer payment structures and even outreach to defunct or acquired devs/pubs, I still don't really get this other than that Sony doesn't see value in it and so called it quits right off.)

 

[Noncanon Ship]

That storefront part makes no sense. The CMOS checks with your account licenses, it does not need the storefront. Your account still contains the licenses outside of the storefront. You sign into PSN and you can manually reinitialize the licenses if it doesn't sync it automatically.

Store going down does not remove your licenses. Hence the master download list that harbors them all from PSP to PS5 contained within your account itself. In which you can still download PSP games and delisted digital games. Patches too.

Yes I guess the crux of this is whether we'll still be able to sign into our accounts. On twitter, they're working on the assumption that we won't be able to after the storefront server support goes down. If we can still sign in, there are no problems.

I'm not sure if there's precedent to know how this goes. On the Wii, you can still access the Wii Shop Channel to download your games I believe, but I don't remember anything about specific accounts like PSN has.

 

[Burythelight]

Still a shitty source, but it would be disastrous and i would lose trust in this sony.

 

[playXray]

That's the digital way. Move people to new platforms.

Funny thing is digital was promoted as the "infinite" storefront where games (like oldies on GOG) can sit there forever for sale.

Who knew used discs being sold person to person would outlast them.

Who ever promoted it as an infinite storefront?

 

[hemo memo]

I have zero problem since I buy all my games physical.

 

[Zambatoh]

Oh ffs. My 8GB memory card can't hold all the Vita/PSP games I own. They're just gonna force me to use the pirate store aren't they? Bastards.

 

[Northeastmonk]

The news is still bugging me. That would mean that copy of Suikoden II and Tron Bonne are going to go up in price. Parasite Eve and so many more. Suikoden II was a huge deal when they released it on PSN. It doesn’t sound like they care at all about their legacy. Why even bother selling 20th Anniversary anything or a PS Classic? You’re hurting your audience who knew those games were available digitally. The original Silent Hill and MGS. They’re making their brand a single lineage by doing this.

Even Nintendo can hold onto their legacy titles. Microsoft as well. Is there anyone at Sony who plays Xenogears or Chrono Cross digitally?

 

[theHFIC]

This is real, unfortunately. Colin mentioned on his Sacred Symbols podcast that a new Vita game is coming out soon, Scourgebringer, and it's probably going to be the last one released. Here's the dev's tweets:




Their official twitter account is here, which retweets these.

Thanks for the additional info. I am still going to hold out for an official statement from Sony on everything and hope for change. I remember a long time ago in the lord's year of 2020 there was a brief period where Microsoft themselves thought making Xbox Live 120$ a year was a smart move and then recanted. Holding out some hope for Sony to give them benefit of doubt.

 

[Calverz]

#4theplayers

 

[DeepEnigma]

The news is still bugging me. That would mean that copy of Suikoden II and Tron Bonne are going to go up in price. Parasite Eve and so many more. Suikoden II was a huge deal when they released it on PSN. It doesn’t sound like they care at all about their legacy. Why even bother selling 20th Anniversary anything or a PS Classic? You’re hurting your audience who knew those games were available digitally. The original Silent Hill and MGS. They’re making their brand a single lineage by doing this.

Even Nintendo can hold onto their legacy titles. Microsoft as well. Is there anyone at Sony who plays Xenogears or Chrono Cross digitally?

PSP store has been closed for years and you can still DL those games. I DL'ed Silent Hill recently on my PS3, along with other PSOne classics I own.

 

[Calverz]

The news is still bugging me. That would mean that copy of Suikoden II and Tron Bonne are going to go up in price. Parasite Eve and so many more. Suikoden II was a huge deal when they released it on PSN. It doesn’t sound like they care at all about their legacy. Why even bother selling 20th Anniversary anything or a PS Classic? You’re hurting your audience who knew those games were available digitally. The original Silent Hill and MGS. They’re making their brand a single lineage by doing this.

Even Nintendo can hold onto their legacy titles. Microsoft as well. Is there anyone at Sony who plays Xenogears or Chrono Cross digitally?

Im surprised its taken you long to realise this. But i am glad that you have as this is a real shitty move. I have loads of digital ps1 and ps2 games forever locked to my ps3. Which im sure will die

 

[Andodalf]

Does it still take an eternity to load areas?

Nah! Cant go make dinner anymore

 

[Agent X]

This is real, unfortunately. Colin mentioned on his Sacred Symbols podcast that a new Vita game is coming out soon, Scourgebringer, and it's probably going to be the last one released. Here's the dev's tweets:




Their official twitter account is here, which retweets these.

Well, there it is.

If you enjoy the PS3, PSP, or Vita (as I do), then you should be highly concerned.

The "best" case scenario ("best" is relatively speaking to the closure) would be that this is like the PS Store on PSP--you can't purchase anything new on the PSP, but you can still download all of your previously purchased content. That's essentially the situation with Wii, also.

There are two other big problems that this ushers in

1. A lot of great games will no longer be obtainable, at least by legal means.
2. If Sony fans just willingly roll over and accept this with no resistance, then this potentially opens the door for future consumer-unfriendly "closures" of services.

I really hope that consumers express their discontent, and that the media gives a lot of coverage to this. Perhaps it will cause Sony to reconsider these plans and/or devise a much more consumer-friendly method of preserving these games.

It's more understandable, I think, with the Wii Shop (and to a degree the Xbox Indies system,) because it was a self-contained shopping system. Sony's PlayStation store was always one store, though. You went to PSN and got everything in one place, and when a new console or handheld came out, they just added a tab for that platform. PS3, PS4, PSP, PS Vita, PSVR - one shop for all PlayStation devices. (And couldn't you even buy or see games in the PS3/Vita interfaces that you could pay for despite them not working on your device? I know I have a lot of Vita games that are loaded on my PS3 but I can't remember if I bought them on PS3's store or the webstore.) You log in, put in your payment system, and buy whatever you want wherever you can access PSN.

That's true.

In Sony's case, it really doesn't matter how "easy" it is for them. We've seen many other marketplaces for digital media (not just games, but also music, movies, and books) that have been able to continue to adapt and evolve with the times.

We're not asking Sony to make a bunch of new games for these systems. We just want them to continue to make these games available.

One of the touted advantages of digital distribution was that these games could continue to be bought and sold for years and decades to come, without regard for availability of resources to manufacture physical materials. I know that other niche game marketplaces have closed previously (as I said in my earlier post in this thread--also PS Mobile from Sony as another example), but this market has matured now compared to where it was several years ago. If Sony isn't willing to keep these games available while their current competitors are able to do so, then it will reflect poorly on their company, and cause consumers to distrust them for future digital software purchases.

 

[isual]

coming of the times.

1. does this site have credibility? if not, then why isn't there a rumor tag in the headline?

 

[DeepEnigma]

I really hope that consumers express their discontent, and that the media gives a lot of coverage to this. Perhaps it will cause Sony to reconsider these plans and/or devise a much more consumer-friendly method of preserving these games.

Agreed.

 

[93xfan]

Buying OG Xbox and 360 games on the current store.

This! Sony better let us redownload games. That’s all I care about.

 

[Miles708]

Uh, what the hell? So according to that tweet thread, if storefronts go down...

PS3: physical | digital – also blu-ray movies will stop working

PS4: physical | digital

XB1: physical | digital (no possibility for jailbreak workaround)

This deserves its own thread.

And a class action.

 

[GloriousEuropa]

I’m not buying this rumour. It includes PSP as part of the closure yet that has already been closed for years.

 

[Northeastmonk]

PSP store has been closed for years and you can still DL those games. I DL'ed Silent Hill recently on my PS3, along with other PSOne classics I own.

Im surprised its taken you long to realise this. But i am glad that you have as this is a real shitty move. I have loads of digital ps1 and ps2 games forever locked to my ps3. Which im sure will die

You have to download a couple of those titles onto your PS3 in order to get them transferred to your Vita. I wonder if your PS3 is going to recognize that you have two factor turned off. Wouldn’t it just say you couldn’t sign in? Two factor enabled will make transferring those PsP and Ps1 games not work. MGS, Silent Hill, and etc. Sega Genesis collection and the Capcom Collection have to be transferred too. It just takes some time and thinking about what you want. That two factor error with the Content Manager thing was a pain because you had to have app passwords for legacy devices. It didn’t have the tech to text your phone.

It might not be that bad, but it’s good to consider these things. It’s some work if you have to decide what to download in the event they mess things up.

 

[Fake]

I really hope that consumers express their discontent, and that the media gives a lot of coverage to this.

Hope they can put their fanboy boot licking aside and show their disagree with that Sony move.

 

[NullZ3r0]

"We believe in [handheld] generations."

 

[T8SC]

Lets all embrace the digital future.



I'll keep my physical media though if you don't mind. Thanks.

 

[Kerotan]

If you like arcadey racers, the Motorstorm games. The last one got good reviews.

No I was just asking is this the last chance to download games I own digitally on ps3 if true. I own motorstorm on disc. They need to remake that trilogy for Ps5.

 

[JLB]

This! Sony better let us redownload games. That’s all I care about.

well, redownload is the bare minimum. Being able to actually buy them would be logical request.

 

[Mokus]

Very annoying and disappointing! But the writing was on the wall. More and more games are removed or disabled form purchase. For me all this is coming too early. I still have a lot of unfinished digital games especially the ones that I received as PS Plus membre în the PS3 and PS Vita. The worst is that lot of games are removed even from the download section even if you bought the games (WTF Sony).

 

[DeepEnigma]

Very annoying and disappointing! But the writing was on the wall. More and more games are removed or disabled form purchase. For me all this is coming too early. I still have a lot of unfinished digital games especially the ones that I received as PS Plus membre în the PS3 and PS Vita. The worst is that lot of games are removed even from the download section even if you bought the games (WTF Sony).

What? What games are those? Is there a list?

 

[Northeastmonk]

What? What games are those? Is there a list?

That would mean games you can no longer download directly to your Vita. Sign into your Vita and look up your copy of Silent Hill. You can't download it to your Vita unless you download it onto your PS3. Silent Hill Origins is like that. Unless there's something I am missing. It is always good to check the download list on your PS3 and see if it can be downloaded from there (PSP, PS1).

 

[DeepEnigma]

That would mean games you can no longer download directly to your Vita. Sign into your Vita and look up your copy of Silent Hill. You can't download it to your Vita unless you download it onto your PS3. Silent Hill Origins is like that. Unless there's something I am missing. It is always good to check the download list on your PS3 and see if it can be downloaded from there (PSP, PS1).

I understand that, but they're not removed completely.

 

[Rubik8]

If the real life interest in these legacy services was 10% of what you people are projecting, Sony would have financial incentive to keep it going. Why do I get the impression these reactions are just an excuse to bitch?

 

[Calverz]

This might explain why i tried to buy the original ridge racer ps1 game and couldnt find it for love nor money. Or maybe its just not on the pal store lol