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Hey people. Lately I've been having trouble with my PlayStation 3 (slim). Whenever I turn it on I have ten seconds before it gives off 3 beeps, and the on/off light flashes red until I press the on/off button to turn it off. There's no picture onscreen, sometimes it barely gets to the wavy intro screen. Has anyone had this problem and does anyone know how to fix it? Is it as simple as a power shortage, do I just need a new cable or is it an internal problem?

It probably overheated at some point and the thermal paste has gone bad. That sort of thing can be fixed with relative ease (all it needs is new thermal paste) though it'll mean breaking the warranty to get into it. All the devices I've owned that have had that happen to them, PS3's, Xbox's of various types, have all been repaired locally. I don't know how much it'll be where you are, but it was usually about £15 - £30. Depending on how good a job they do, it might last years, or they might do a gakky job and it'll last weeks. It's potentially easier in the long term to just buy a new one.

Obviously I could be completely wrong, but that's what it sounds like.

You know, if the PS4 had backwards compatibility, this would be a great excuse to pick one up. Shame Sony completely dropped the ball with that one.

 Fafnir wrote:
You know, if the PS4 had backwards compatibility, this would be a great excuse to pick one up. Shame Sony completely dropped the ball with that one.

Again. After that the PS2-Ps3 thing, and they had it in fora while.....

Hell, at the very least, they could let you keep your old PSN titles, but not even that.

 Fafnir wrote:
You know, if the PS4 had backwards compatibility, this would be a great excuse to pick one up. Shame Sony completely dropped the ball with that one.

Sony are adding PS1 and 2 emulation software and a streaming service for PS3 games. I think they've got the ball firmly in hand. The PS3 had a disastrous launch, in large part because of its backwards compatibility, which relied on relatively expensive hardware inside every unit. Doing the same thing would have been frankly moronic.

 iproxtaco wrote:

 Fafnir wrote:
You know, if the PS4 had backwards compatibility, this would be a great excuse to pick one up. Shame Sony completely dropped the ball with that one.

Sony are adding PS1 and 2 emulation software and a streaming service for PS3 games. I think they've got the ball firmly in hand. The PS3 had a disastrous launch, in large part because of its backwards compatibility, which relied on relatively expensive hardware inside every unit. Doing the same thing would have been frankly moronic.

It's true that emulation software for the current generation of consoles would have been a pain in the ass, if not economically feasible. But that doesn't stop it from being a sore point.

That said, as I noted above, there's no reason for us to have to re-buy the licenses to our games on PSN. Come next generation, with everything going digital, that's something that will absolutely have to change.

So does anyone know how to fix it? If not, a comment above caught my eye. What do you guys think of games going fully digital? Personally, I like having a case and a disc.

Fafnir wrote:

 iproxtaco wrote:

 Fafnir wrote:
You know, if the PS4 had backwards compatibility, this would be a great excuse to pick one up. Shame Sony completely dropped the ball with that one.

Sony are adding PS1 and 2 emulation software and a streaming service for PS3 games. I think they've got the ball firmly in hand. The PS3 had a disastrous launch, in large part because of its backwards compatibility, which relied on relatively expensive hardware inside every unit. Doing the same thing would have been frankly moronic.

It's true that emulation software for the current generation of consoles would have been a pain in the ass, if not economically feasible. But that doesn't stop it from being a sore point.

Honestly, it should.

That said, as I noted above, there's no reason for us to have to re-buy the licenses to our games on PSN. Come next generation, with everything going digital, that's something that will absolutely have to change.

Hey, I completely support that. If someone's bought a game for the PS3 or Vita, I don't think they should have to pay again to play it. I think it would be a wise move on Sony's part no to do so, or at most simply charge a flat subscription fee, possibly tied into PS+. This, I admit, doesn't really affect me anymore because I haven't owned a PS3 for many years so I'd be fine purchasing all the games I want. For everyone else though, sure, tie games to an account and let people stream their whole library.

Da Ork Killa wrote:So does anyone know how to fix it? If not, a comment above caught my eye. What do you guys think of games going fully digital? Personally, I like having a case and a disc.

I enjoy the freedom and security of owning a disc. I know, that for many years, I will have the ability to play a game on any machine I want, wherever I want. I wont have to download it again, or buy it again, or rely on a decent internet connection to play it. I like having a physical library of games. It's why I still buy CD's and paper books whenever I can. All the games I've bought so far have been physical. That's largely personal preference. I'm not against it, and I can see myself playing more GoG or Steam games in the future once I buy a decent PC, but I will always prefer being able to look at my shelf and see all the boxes in a nice organised row.

For the industry at large, I don't think we'll see digital only on consoles for a long while. The two big reasons are the internet infrastructure of the western world and the value.

Currently, the internet speed in my home is about 6 mbps. That's atrocious. If it were me in control of the ISP, I'd switch to get fibre, because our current one doesn't offer it. That is barely conjunctive for one person using Netflix, let alone me potentially streaming The Last of Us whilst my parents watch Eastenders on iplayer through the Sky box and my sister browses YouTube upstairs. Most of the people I know are in a similar situation. It's getting better, but it's still not anywhere near good enough. The majority of users need a good connection to support digital downloads.

The more important issue, I think, is that it's overpriced. Just looking at the PS Store, every game is at least a couple of quid more expensive than the standard retail price, and much more expensive than just buying it from Amazon. For a service that is more convenient and less expensive for a publisher or developer to distribute, that is not good enough. I will never buy a digital game if its more expensive than a physical one. I'd rather wait a day for delivery. This point is also exasperated with the excellent state PC games are in at the moment. Not only are they cheaper new than console games, they also receive regular discounts, sales and deals.

The infrastructure problem I think will improve in the next few years to the point where at least people can actually use the service properly. The value of digital games on consoles is more part of the culture within publishers, who think they can swindle people out of money with the carrot on stick that is the slight convenience of people not having to wait a few days for FIFA to arrive. I don't know when or even if that'll ever change. I think it might begin to get better when the PC market reaches a certain level of popularity and threatens the console market enough.