Bringing a PS3 Slim PSU Unit Back To Life

AKA, just another regular Saturday. With a pinch of electrocution.

Lately we'd been deprived of our regular dose of Sony. Not that it was that shocking or painful or even mildly upseting. But looking at what few Blueray disks and PS3 games we had kind of pressed the issue that we might have to fork out some €300 for a new shiny brick.

The problem with it was, and I'm sure it's widespread, after a few seconds of being turned on it would inexplicably turn off. And not gently. Instead of just turning it's shy green light to a shy red light it would completely forfeit any semblance of effort and turn everything off, system, fan, light, pathos. Once this happened nothing would turn it back on except unplugging the power cord and plugging it back in. It only managed to stay on for such short periods of time that it couldn't possibly be overheating. I mean, I know overheating. I once had a competer that reached 90ºC and started blaring a siren. I needed a toddler-sized fan pointed at it the few times I dared to turn it on. Also, I own two 360s, and boy can those guys heat up a place. My point being, I know overheating and this wasn't it.

I looked at it pensively, stroking my chin with my index finger. Out of my lips came those famous last words: 'You know,' I sang, a smile peering through my pressed lips, my eyes glistening with curiosity. 'We could try opening it up. I mean, it can't get any worse.' So, after we came home from shopping and I retreated to the kitchen to concoct a chocolate mousse and fruit salad (my Mother's Day gift for tomorrow) Mike set about dismantling the beast.

It was apparent even for me that we were dealing with a PSU problem (PSU standing for Power Supply Unit). Luckily, the PSU is the most easily accessible part of the machine. That said, it must be noted that, although he is a brilliant software developer he is not as well versed in electronics. And the most I ever did was fix VCRs that had tapes stuck in their heads. We opened, blew on it (obviously), tapped it, reversed it, pressed it, looked intently at it. But, try as we may, the thing would still turn off arbitrarily. At a point it was so upset with us that it shocked Mike into submission. He still claims his arm is numb.

Right when we were at the end of our rope (and patience) we found this video of this amazing guy that magically solved all our problems. Here, let me share it with you.

Now, I'll be as responsible as Lucas (who I'm sure is a wonderful man but whose pronunciation of "Slim" just drives me crazy) and say that there is no guarantee this will work for other people. In fact, messing with anything's power unit is a VERY VERY BERRYBIGBAAAAAD BADBAD IDEA. But hey, we're crazy people here. And the country's approaching bankrupcy. This is no time to be throwing away perfectly good bricks. So we followed Lucas' instructions to the letter and voilá.

It now stays on for periods of time longer than 7 seconds. Next step? Well, we had previously tried to "restore database" and it turned off mid restoring. This probably screwed something in the... uh... database. The whole system was fried. So we downloaded a system update from taht series of tubes known as the interwebs and formated a USB flash drive to install the update from there. We did what we were supposed to: format to FAT32, placed the update in the PS3/UPDATE folder but, lo and behold, another setback.

Data is corrupted. (80023121).

Huh. Well, having just overcome hardware DEATH, surely this wasn't so hard? Surely? .... Turns out, this is a widely spread problem that Sony has failed to solve. And can you blame them? they're too busy playing dare with hackers. In fact, people everywhere are chugging around €150 to replace their systems because this is something that cannot be overcome and they apparently cannot do an online update. But we could. Maker be praised!

It works now. It's siting there in the corner. We're exchanging timid but compromising glances. Too bad all my saves are gone. Saves from Valkyria Chronicles and... well... those are really the only ones I'll miss, to be honest. Good news is, I'll finally be able to try out Battlefield Bad Company 2. I'm a little late, I know but you have to give me points for cheating hardware DEATH.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

The Phoenix Wright series is, as the name hints, about an attorney at law. You play the part of Phoenix himself and you accompany him from his first case as a defense attorney. The premise of every case is always that your client is innocent. From here you get to investigate crime scenes, present items to witnesses and police detectives to try and gather information to build your case.

The judicial system in the series is singular. Every trial must be wrapped up in three days from its beggining and only the prosecution can call forth any witnesses. Which means only you, as the defense, get to cross-examine witnesses. Most often than not one of the witnesses themselves is the killer (yes, you only deal in murder cases).



Oh yes, there will be boobs.
It is a japanese game afterall.



The first Phoenix Wright was originally for the GBA and they ported it to the DS. As a special treat, they added a brand new case to play after the credits. This case is easily as long as the rest of the game with all its cases put together. They also present some new investigation tools which I thoroughly enjoyed like luminol and testing for fingerprints. They did this to show ways the touch screen could make the game more interesting and immersive and they did that. They accomplished it brilliantly. Too bad they forgot about it for all the rest of the series. It's like he suddenly forgets he can test for prints. Ok, so he gots bonked in the head in the first case of the second game but his memory returns eventually. And the first case is actually the second case! Oh nevermind.

The game does a real good job at making you relate to Nick. He's more than the sprite that plays out your actions. Since your first case you get the feeling that this guy has feelings, has friends, had a life before you showed up, has secrets, has quirks. The game was beautifully adapted and translated into English. Considering it's a game that depends solely on text to get you through it, a bad translation could've broken it for all of us but they took special care with it, one can tell.

Yes the game is super immersive, imho, and I can get lost playing it for hours on end and, yes, you can relate to Nick, the nervous attourney but at times you really wonder: what in the Maker's name is going on in Phoenix's head?

Most of the times one of two things happens: you've figured everything out and Phoenix is bluffing his way through the trial, Objecting to everything just because he can, reassuring you at every turn that he has no idea why he's doing the things he's doing. OR, Phoenix gets a sly grin splattered across his face and announces he's figured everything out while you still have no idea how or who did what when. Still, things usually end up ok and if they don't, well, the game let's you save at any time.

The world in general liked Phoenix Wright, as did I, and the Tubes is full of parodies and spoofs and homages and yaoi fan fiction. (Just search for Phoenix Wrong to get a few thousand resutls.) This, however, is the one I always liked the most.

Oh and they're apparently making a Phoenix Wright vs Professor Layton game. How awesome/weird is that?

It's Not Just You

So, during our vacation we were discussing the course of videogaming. Where we see it heading and if we like it or not.

It was a conversation that triggered pretty strong views or maybe it was just the smell of the ocean that riled us up. We, as a whole, are quite discontent with games and it's not just us. It's not just us that's tired of games. Games, apparently, are also tired of us. They're trying to reach a new audience, encompass the world. ore shum thinke...



View during said conversation

The point came up that being a gamer is fashionable nowadays. Not as mainstream as, say, having a Facebook account, but closer to... say... having read a book in the last year. "Why did everyone start playing WoW? Because all their friends were doing it." I'm not going to say I agree fully with this statement but it raises a valid point. Did a lot of people become gamers just because everyone else was doing it? Is it like smoking? Or complaining about the government? Or jumping off a bridge?
Another factor that might have helped gaming become more mainstream were tutorials. there was a time when you were dumped in a game with very little knowledge of the workings of the game. You'd first experiment all the buttons, finding the one that brings up the menu, tweaking any settings the game has and then reverting them to default just in case... It was a journey of discovery, it added to the mistique of the game, being uncharted territory that you had to brave and tame. It made it, for me at least, more enjoyable. There was a learning curve that began with remastering the controller and not just having your charaxcter(s) apply different skills/abilities at different times to achieve a purpose.

Nowadays you'll not only be presented with a picture of your controller with arrows and a description of what every button does but you'll probably won't get to dive in the game proper before you conquer one or three hundred tutorials. It's like you're a toddler and the game really doesn't want you to get hurt. Where were they when I first played Mario?

The point was then raised that we are, in fact, living a vicious cycle. Developers notice that other developers are lowering their standards (or broadening their sights, trying to lure in new players) so they, in turn, lower theirs to try and lure in more people by helping them every step of the way until they feel safe and confortable wrapped in the blanket of assisted playing. Players, having been dumbed down, now expect new releases to guide them through their first steps.

So where does that leave me and others like me? I don't mind dying a few times if it means you'll stop calling me dumb. I don't mind a bit of an initial challenge. Its not like we were spewed out of our mothers' bowels knowing how to walk and talk and wipe our own asses but nobody took me aside for the first months of my life to tell me what my legs were for or what this communication gig was all about. I experimented, tried and failed and, in the end, I think I did alright. It took a fucking long time and I'm not done learning yet but the ride was worth it. It was a challenge.

We didn't come to any real conclusion. It was just a state of the nation kind of thing. We can't expect the gaming industry to alienate new prospective players just because we know what an analog stick is for but it doesn't mean we like being reminded of it every single game. It makes the brain lazy and pretty soon we'll have to go back to Brain Age.

I'm going through the Phoenix Wright series again on my DS. I'm completely hooked. In fact, I'm gonna play some right now while I sigh of relief that I don't have a credit card registered in the PSN.