How To Backup PS3 Games – Some Current Options

Hi,

If you’re into gaming across a few of the more popular formats (PS3, Wii, XBox 360 etc) and you’ve done any sort of ressearch in this area: you will have noticed that backing up PS3 games is much less straightforward proposition than it is for either its Microsoft or Nintendo counterparts.

Installing mod chips and/or using a DVD-R Burner with ImgBurn and some appropriate backup software are two ways that you can go about backing up either Wii or XBox 360 games – but this is not so easy when it comes to PS3.

Let’s look at the situation as it stands in repect to doing backups up PS3:

PS3 Mod Chips?

Modding a PS3 can best be described as a work in progress. Whilst there are several outlets that offer mod chips for XBox 360 and Wii consoles there are only two that I could find that offer a mod-chip for PS3 consoles (and one of these is in the “coming soon” bracket)

If you don’t know what a mod chip (short for “modification chip”) is, it is basically an electronic device that once installed can be used to modify or disable built-in restrictions that you’ll find in video game consoles. The promise is that  once a mod chip has been installed a Playstation user will be able to play backups or copies of their PS3 games, as well as other apps.

There’s a European company called Infectus that has developed a mod chip with a re-programmable core which they sell for around $50 – and which they claim can be adpated to work across several platforms incuding PS3 – although they had none-in-stock when I last checked. There’s also an outfit called Belzar who are claiming that they’re working on developing a PS3 mod chip – but thus far all they’ve generated is rumours within some of your gaming forums.

But even if we assume that PS3 mod chips are readily available, there’s still the fact that their installation  requires a fair degree of technical expertise . The mod chip needs to be connected to the circuitry of a PS3 console’s motherboard – which involves soldering – so unless your skilled up in this area, this is not something that you’d want to be attempting yourself.

There’s also the issue that installing a mod chip involved you breaking the Playstation casing open and thus voiding your warranty.

Burning Blu-Ray Discs?

The PS3 console actually allows users to rip games and Blu-ray movies directly onto the hard drive, but then decoding these files is not an  easy undertaking for most gamers. The console isn’t designed to burn PS3 games, so you can copy and backup PS3 games, but executing the files usually still requires a genuine game disc.

The problem then comes down to the media. The advanced Blu-Ray discs that PS3 uses disqualifies the use of a lot of your standard CD/DVD Burning Programs.

What is really required in this instance is specialised game copying software.

Copying PS3 Games? The search continues