PS3 Q&A Thread

[Yegolev]

My setup can't do 720, so I'm just looking to get what I can get.

[ahoythematey]

Question about folding@home: are we able to run it in the background while playing a game or watching a movie?  I ask because the PS3 gets awfully warm when left on for extended periods, and I can't see myself just leaving my ps3 on at all hours.

[stray]

Don't think you can. Background running (or screensaver mode) would be a nice feature to add though.

In other news, the PS3 is a beast.

[Trippy]

And the client isn't even publically available yet.

[stray]

Oh? Not available for who? I'm confused.

[Trippy]

Oh? Not available for who? I'm confused.

The PS3 client(s). If you go to the Folding@Home Web site they say it'll be available at the end of the month and it's not listed on their download page.

[Roac]

Oh? Not available for who? I'm confused.

The PS3 client(s). If you go to the Folding@Home Web site they say it'll be available at the end of the month and it's not listed on their download page.

Hmm?  PS3 people have been downloading it and returning packets.  What're you talking about?

[Trippy]

Oh? Not available for who? I'm confused.

The PS3 client(s). If you go to the Folding@Home Web site they say it'll be available at the end of the month and it's not listed on their download page.

Hmm?  PS3 people have been downloading it and returning packets.  What're you talking about?

My bad, the client was made available on March 22 through the PS3 1.6 firmware update. I assumed it was going to be something you could download off the main Folding@Home Web site.

[stray]

Yeah, it's downloadable through the XMB, starting with the patch from last week. I've had it since then. That pic above is the number of normal PS3 users who were running Folding@Home when I made that post. Just a modest number of clients, and they're already nearing a petaflop on their own. Pretty neat.

It's probably not listed as downloadable from a website because the distribution is wacky for that format or something. But it is downloadable through the PS3 itself.

[schild]

Huh. So, all those jokes about the PS3 not having games but being able to cure cancer (or someshit) might turn out to be right. Between SETI@Home, Folding@Home and that other one, has Anything good come out of these distributed projects?

[stray]

Folding@Home, relatively speaking, hasn't been out that long.

As for anything good coming out of them, I don't know... Probably not. But I think it's Seti@Home that gives distributing projects an air of futility. Folding@Home might be reaching for the impossible as well, but the goal is more down to earth than searching for ET through radiowaves.

[EDIT] Ok, here are some results they've had with it:

http://folding.stanford.edu/results.html

It's greek to me, but at least they learn things incrementally. Whether they're "curing" cancer or not, it aids in research. SETI, on the other hand, is not for research. I imagine that there isn't much to learn at all. You only have two possible answers: Yes, aliens exist. Or, no, they don't exist.

[Yegolev]

I submit that SETI actually gives you "Yes, aliens exist" or "Not sure".

In regard to PS3 and heat, I leave mine on for days at a time.  If I'm not near a save point in FFXII, I just pause it and leave... in fact it is paused right now.  I did enlarge the hole in the back of my cabinet to make sure the fans could expel the hot air; with just a hand test, it seems to have decent airflow.  The PS3 makes much less heat than some of the Power4 machines at work, but it is some magnitude smaller.

[Sairon]

Huh. So, all those jokes about the PS3 not having games but being able to cure cancer (or someshit) might turn out to be right. Between SETI@Home, Folding@Home and that other one, has Anything good come out of these distributed projects?

Of course there has! Just read this and you'll see it clearly!

[Trippy]

Folding@Home, relatively speaking, hasn't been out that long.

As for anything good coming out of them, I don't know... Probably not. But I think it's Seti@Home that gives distributing projects an air of futility. Folding@Home might be reaching for the impossible as well, but the goal is more down to earth than searching for ET through radiowaves.

[EDIT] Ok, here are some results they've had with it:

http://folding.stanford.edu/results.html

This is the better page for what F@H has contributed so far:

http://folding.stanford.edu/FAQ-diseases.html

[Trippy]

Huh. So, all those jokes about the PS3 not having games but being able to cure cancer (or someshit) might turn out to be right. Between SETI@Home, Folding@Home and that other one, has Anything good come out of these distributed projects?

Folding@Home is doing very useful stuff (see above link). Some of the other distributed projects like distributed.net are helping test the strength of cryptographic systems that a lot things depend on now. And then there are the just for fun projects (well fun to math geeks) like the search for Mersenne primes.

[Velorath]

Thought this sounded a bit interesting:

PS3 Gets Pixel Junk
New casual game download service from the maker of Star Fox.

March 28, 2007 - PlayStation 3 downloadable content has been a bit slow off the start following the system's launch late last year, but Sony at last seems to be kicking things into high gear. The Game Developers Conference brought about first details on Home and Little Big Planet. And now, the latest issue of Famitsu has revealed first details on an original Japanese production, Pixel Junk.

Pixel Junk is a game distribution service by Kyoto-based Q-Games (not to be confused with Tokyo-based Q Entertainment, maker of Lumines). While the magazine only managed to get the vaguest of details, the service promises to feature unique, casual game experiences delivered to PS3 owners via the PlayStation Network.

The name "Pixel Junk" may seem a bit odd for a Japanese studio operating out of Japan's historical capital, but Q Games is no ordinary Japanese studio. The studio was formed in 2001 by Dylan Cuthbert. Nintendo fans will recognize Cuthbert as the guy behind Star Fox (and its unreleased sequel, Star Fox II) on the SNES. Also a founding member of the studio is Kenkichi Shimooka, the creator of the original Ape Escape (hired by Sony on the strength of his work with the DIY "Game Yaroze" project on PS1.)

Cuthbert has worked on numerous projects with Sony in the past, including the famous duck tech demo from the PS2's launch as well as the impressive PSP demos from E3 2004. Every time you turn on your PS3, you're witness to a Q-developed product, as the studio worked on the PS3's operating system, notably the wavy pattern that appears in the background of the main menu. The team's most recent game productions were the mainstream DS title Star Fox Armada and the more esoteric GBA bit Generations game, Digidrive.

What kind of games can we expect to carry the name Pixel Junk? That's unknown at the moment, but Q-Games talked way back in 2004 about a "next-generation broadband online project" that it was developing technology for. The team estimated at the time that its work would take 3-4 years of development to achieve ... it looks like the wait is now over, and with so much time invested in the production (as well as the top-tier talent behind the project), Pixel Junk may be very exciting stuff for PS3.

While pricing and release plans were not revealed in Famitsu, given Q's pedigree, we can't wait to immerse ourselves in Pixel Junk

[stray]

Casual games that were 3-4 years in the making?

[Roac]

Casual development.

[Sky]

BluRay goes oldskool (not PS3, but hey):

http://www.dailytech.com/Dragons+Lair+Bringing+Bluray+Java+Gaming+to+Bluray+Players/article6789.htm

[Yegolev]

Fuck Dragon's Lair.

[stray]

Does anyone remember this one Dragon's Lair type game that was more anime based, and contained a story with helicopters in it?

I stumbled across it once when I was a kid, but never knew the name. I've been trying to figure out that one for a long ass time.


In other news, some new Heavenly Sword pics (GamePro are bitches for making them so small though). Looks like they got rid of the bloom.






(love the asscheek)

[SnakeCharmer]

Nice ass.

[Miasma]

I guess they are axing the basic model.

[Yegolev]

That can only be good, if you ask me.

[Velorath]

That can only be good, if you ask me.

I'm not sure how you figure that.

[Yegolev]

I will pretend I am a math professor and ask you to demonstrate how it will be bad.

[Miasma]

It's probably good, they won't have to waste their expensive and difficult to produce components on the crappy version no one wants.

[Driakos]

Does anyone remember this one Dragon's Lair type game that was more anime based, and contained a story with helicopters in it?

I think it was called Cliff Hanger.

They had one at the Showbiz Pizza Place by my childhood home.  Happy birthday boy or girl.

Brief review and some tiny tiny pictures.

IMDB

[Velorath]

I will pretend I am a math professor and ask you to demonstrate how it will be bad.

For those not interested in Wi-Fi, the 20GB was the better deal as you can get a new HDD (one bigger than 60GB if you want) for less than the $100 extra you'd pay for the 60GB model.  As long as they kept a $100 between the two models when they did price drops, the 20B is the model I would have gone for.

[Sky]

Too much HDD. Does anyone really need that kind of storage in a console?

[Velorath]

Too much HDD. Does anyone really need that kind of storage in a console?

DVR use among other things.

[Yegolev]

I will pretend I am a math professor and ask you to demonstrate how it will be bad.

For those not interested in Wi-Fi, the 20GB was the better deal as you can get a new HDD (one bigger than 60GB if you want) for less than the $100 extra you'd pay for the 60GB model.  As long as they kept a $100 between the two models when they did price drops, the 20B is the model I would have gone for.

Sound reasoning.  In my case, I have found that my future self never worries about that Franklin I once had more than the wi-fi I don't have.  My shining example is how I passed on seeing Bowie at Chastain Ampitheatre because I felt bad for wasting the money on frivolous things.  Which one do you think I would miss more today, that lousy $100 or seeing the Reality tour in a non-stadium venue?  Sometimes logic bites you in the nutsack.

Also, Sky, are you being serious?

[Sky]

my future self never worries about that Franklin I once had

And yeah, I was genuinely curious. I never used my xbox hd for anything except a few save games.

Also, I've never regretted spending money to see an artist I admire. I get to see Buddy Guy twice this year!

[Murgos]

I absolutely need more than 20 gigs (err 15) on my 360.  I'm already finding myself deleting things that I would rather save to make space for new things.

I'm presuming you will be able to put the Elite's 120 gig'er onto the regular 360.

[Velorath]

I absolutely need more than 20 gigs (err 15) on my 360.  I'm already finding myself deleting things that I would rather save to make space for new things.

I'm presuming you will be able to put the Elite's 120 gig'er onto the regular 360.

Yeah, but I think the 120GB is going to cost around $180 iif you buy it separately.  I'm hoping that once MS gets the 360 to recognize a HDD bigger than 20GB, someone will figure out how to get other HDD's to work in there.