Sounds like you're breaking even when you factor in the cost of XBL, fanboy!

I have a question. I bought a second 360 and I save and keep my profile on a memory card. I also back up the saves that can be copied to both 360s just in case my memory card gets lost or something. I can play games on both systems and I have no issues with saves since they are locked to my profile and I can use my profile on any 360.

Isn't it the same thing with the PS3? I have all of my saves that I can backed up so if my PS3 dies and I use the same PSN account my saves should work right? I have one of these 3+ year old PS3s and paying the money to fix it would suck, but not as much as losing the ability to use all the saves I have backed up to a flash card.

yes, but some games (like Rock Band), lock save data so you can't copy it. But as long as you can copy it to a USB drive, you're fine.

Is there a list of these "locked" games somewhere?

Just curious...my 60GB is still running strong. If it ever DOES die, I have a few questions? How would I deactivate games from the console? I'm in a Gameshare group currently, so I would lose all that.

Also, if it does die, do I have to send my HDD in also? I have a 320GB in there, and my 60GB resides elsewhere now. Just curious what Sony would do with my HDD if I sent it in. If I'm paying $150 for a refurb one, I would want my HDD and the 120GB or whatever is in the PS3 now.

I'm not sure but I have noticed that recently there are more games that have locked saves.

ROFL... didn't think of that

OK. Yeah, my Rock Band save is toast, but at least the rest will be ok.

That’s what pisses me off as well. I have a launch unit 60GB as well and sold off my perfectly good PS2 since it was backwards compatible. So now when it fails, I’m going to either bite the bullet and pay for the repairs or get the slim and have to buy a new PS2.

From PS3Blog.net

Assassins Creed II
Band Hero
Bomberman Ultra
Brain Challenge
Call of Duty: World at War
Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood
C&C Red Alert 3
Crash Commando
Dark Mist
Demons Souls
Devil May Cry 4 (Only the online file is locked)
DJ Hero
Dragon Age Origins
Dragon Ball Raging Blast
Dragonball Z Burst Limit
The Eye Of Judgment
Fat Princess
Fight Night Round 4
Godfather 2
Guitar Hero World Tour
High Velocity Bowling
Killzone 2
Lego Rock Band
LocoRoco Cocoreccho!
Lost Planet: Extreme Condition
Marvel vs. Capcom 2
Mega Man 9
Mercenaries 2: World In Flames
Mortal Kombat 2
Namco Museum Essentials
NCAA Football 10
Need For Speed: Carbon
Need For Speed: Pro Street
Need For Speed: Shift
Rock Band
Rock Band 2
Singstar
Skate 2
Soul Calibur IV
Star Ocean Last Hope International
Street Fighter IV
Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix
Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix
Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection Online (Your online stats won't transfer)
Tomb Raider: Anniversary
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas 2
UFC: Undisputed
Uno
Wolfenstein

Games saves patched to remove copy protection:

Batman: Arkham Asylum (Said to not have copy protection)
MotorStorm: Pacfic Rift
Resident Evil 5
Resistance 2 (Been told it isn't copy protected)
Valkyria Chronicles

Thank you

I don't have save files for any of those games.

I never realized you could play Devil May Cry 4 online. I'm gonna load it up to see what's there.

The Nintendo Wii also have locked saved files. I was unable to re-store all of my game saves when the Wii died last month.

Bummer.

At the risk of sounding redundant, my advice again...based solely on anecdotal experience:

If you have a PS3 fat, sell it and get a slim.
If your fat dies, replace it with a slim rather than a refurb fat (Sony will offer this for 60GB models).
If you're not going to do one of the above, backup often and take out the disk every time you turn it off.

I'm convinced that the system runs too hot and seems to run progressively hotter over time. My slim, by contrast seems to run very cool. I don't think I've heard the fan come on yet.

I lost most of my holiday game saves (7-8 games) and Rock Band 2 was locked.

PS2s go for $30-40 on Craigslist. I've been thinking about getting a spare PS2 slim...just in case. Shouldn't be too tough to store since it's smaller than a season of TV on DVD.

I'm taking your advice and going to go for a Slim to replace my 60GB. I grabbed a PS2 off Amazon for $99 just in case my 80GB decides to kick the bucket one of these days too. I almost always play PS3 and PSN games over PS2, but I'd like to have one for the cheap PS2 games I've picked up.

I think I put three PS2 disks in my 60GB the whole time I had it (Okami, Half-Life and Shadow of the Colossus). It was nice knowing that the option was there, but the reality is that for the most part I simply didn't use it.

I'm looking at my PS2 disks now, and the only ones I'm likely to want to play going forward are the Ratchet and Clank games (which I'm hoping will get the God of War treatment) and the Sly Cooper games...maybe some of the more artsy games like Okami, Shadow of the Colossus, and Psychonauts. Otherwise, my PS2 collection is full of driving games, shooters and other games that have already been done better on PS3 (Guitar Hero, GTA etc.)

Anyway, hopefully you'll like the slim. I'm mostly just enjoying the not walking on eggshells every time I turn the damn thing on. Hell, I got one for the bedroom too!

Hopefully Chew is feeling pretty smart right now...and less like knifing me in Warhawk!

Yeah, same here. But I do have Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3 that I've never played, as well as Shadow of the Colossus and some Final Fantasy titles I'd like to get to one day.

With more and more people having the YLOD I am tempted by this. I still have a PS2 that I could drag out and use. I just liked having the convenience of the BC. The biggest loss for me would be the SACD support. The PS3 was the only SACD device I had after selling my Denon DVD player.

My 40 GB PS3 that I use most often is starting to act weird. It is taking a couple of minutes or more to load Uncharted 2 and the fan is running louder than I have ever heard it. It literally overpowers the game soundtrack and I am running in a dedicated theater with 7.1 surround and volume turned up pretty loud.

Think I am going to trade in the 40 GB and get a slim. I used the data transfer process today to transfer all of the data from my 40 GB to my 60 GB unit. This is a new option with firmware 3.15. It worked great. It transferred everything including locked game saves and movie and game content purchased from the Playstation store.

Although it won't help for the people with dead PS3s, anyone that is thinking of upgrading could by the new console and use the data transfer option prior to trading or selling the old unit.

My new Slim arrives today. I expect to have the Fat on ebay this weekend.

Don't hold your breath on that second part.

I have a bunch of PS2 titles that I still want to play, Mostly RPGs. I really don't want a separate PS2 as my EC is already full, so I hope my software BC 80GB unit never dies, because I'm one of the few that actually uses it. I don't want to be forced to take someone's shitty refurb, and the slim just won't cut it for me.

I thought I would use mine more than I have since I never owned a PS1 or PS2. I've only put in a few discs myself. I do have two games that are still high on my unplayed pile though that I wouldn't want to buy a PS2 for, both Kingdom Hearts games.

Maybe I should put them next in the queue. What kind of time sink am I looking at for each of those two games, assuming they hook me in?

I'm not worried about saves since the PS3 is my secondary (third?) console of choice, but I am curious about leaving discs in. Is there no pin hole to manually eject the disc if it gets stuck? I leave discs in ALL the time, mainly DVDs and BDs. What happens to those when you send your system in for repairs?