Is Folding@home on the PS3 a good thing? Sure, if it gets more people to join the project. Will it prompt headlines like: "PS3 cures cancer"? Yes. Will it make people view the Sony corporation more favorably? Yes. Do they deserve it? That's up to you really.

Everything is about money in the end. A cure for cancer will be found, at the expense of everyone who runs the Folding@Home project. Sony will "look good" and people might buy more of their product. Plus, this cure wont be free. But recognize the spin that everyone will put on things. Stay informed, not influenced by the media and how they portray everything.

But the important item here is that a cure for cancer may be found. Will it put some money into the pockets of a corporation with its plethora of flaws and strengths, a corporation that you may indeed dislike? Absolutely. But you must remember the spin! A cancer survivor can murder your family.

Will you blame Sony?

Danj3ris

mandrake3k

Lyme

Everything in this world is about copying and changing for better. And everything about money. So luck out that thing don't goes your way. Nothing is free and nothing will fulfill all your selfishness.

zutto

I cannot believe the spin being put on this to make it a bad thing. There's a fine line between fanboy and douche..
I remember reading about this a LONG time ago, way before the ps3 was even in production... I'm glad to see it finally done. Even if it doesn't, I'd like to think that every little bit will help.

darkslide

You are a large, multinational corporation that produces hardware that MAY be used for charitable purposes. A university approaches you with a program that would enable your machine to perform such "charitable calculations."

Find a way to implement such a program with your device, without having snahfu freak out about marketing ploys and accusations of amoral and unethical business practices.

Hint: Quietly including it with your hardware and issuing a small press release has already been demonstrated to be (apparently) UNSATISFACTORY.

Given the difficulty of the question, this is a Masters project. Good luck.

Tikirific

I would hope no such thing. Those diseases are horrible, wretched ways to go. Wouldn't wish that upon anyone, even Jack Thompson himself.

PapaBear

Hitokiri151

I love my 360, but it is basically an off the shelf PC. It has plenty of limitations as well.

The truth is that people are all a little self-conscious of their purchases and putting down the other consoles is a defense mechanism.

this consol war is nowhere near over. The Ps3 and the greatest potential out of all of the systems. When the games start rolling in, flaming will be very difficult. so wave your wands hard now people.

Skripontoast

I'm only kidding, but it is funny, the other day I heard they were phasing out regular light bulbs because they use so much electricity, yet now we're going to leave our consoles and PCs on 24/7. Haha.

provoko

ytdb

I personally don't like Sony at all, in anyway. But, This is a good cause they have started and shouldn't be looked at as o will Xbox/Wii do this and copy. It should be more supported that they will enter this and help the cause. I did a few of these idle processing causes in my past, they get annoying after a while though.

thestarofdeath

What this does is give a huge influx of nodes into the folding network - and that's great! Imagine if microsoft included a folding screen saver into every copy of windows and had it enabled by default ..would you call them out on that ?

Will this generate free media coverage? maybe ..like when they announced it was going to do this ..about a year ago... did it woo ovr customers ? Sony has other ways of getting media attention (opening their mouths + they own record labels and movie studios)

Also i think you need to learn about "greater good".

bah whatever you have your little mind made up anyway so go ahead.

RAMX

"..they'd be better served just donating money to cancer research."

That's if they only intended on using the PS3 for the folding@home program. But if you intend on getting a PS3 anyway, then you can have your cake and donate the frosting to charity too.

Or something like that.

Oh, and the PS3 really doesn't run much hotter than your average PC. The difference is because the PS3 housing is so much smaller, the heat is a lot more concentrated. It has to be pumped out in a jet because of the confined space making it very dangerous to keep inside.

I'd rather it keep jetting it out than not. Something about the idea of it melting the little foil letters off the front that freaks me out.

PapaBear

Worthless

Its just the way the machine is.....

Now if the PS3 could do all these calculations in the same way the WiiConnect24 works....that'd be different.

While the idea is commendable....No one in their right mind (especially given Sony's past with 1st versions of hardware) would leave their PS3 on just to run this.....they'd be better served just donating money to cancer research.

GoonieGooGoo

gigadigit

TheNthDegree

Walshicus

Did I make that unclear? I would LOVE for MS and Nintendo to do it. Give gamers a good name.

I guess I am trying to make the point, through all most posts on almost every thread I come on, that I believe gamers to be gamers, despite the platform.

And for all the companies to do this... It would not only be a big boon to the research being done, but also to the reputation of gaming as a whole.

And maybe if we focus on that one objective (stopping Jack Thompson and his friends in Congress's mad rush to ban gaming altogether) we can do away with these imaginary battle lines and just enjoy our damn games.

PapaBear

I would definately run it on my Wii.

jcpanda

Barbara

Personally, I would love it if Microsoft and Nintendo did something like this. Cycles are cycles, and it would help in the long run. Plus, if you include it on all systems, it would make it a lot harder for the likes of Jack Thompson and Co. to claim that gamers don't care about anything but killing and bloodshed.

PapaBear

Does The PS3 Cure ALL the dieases in the world?Can It Protect Me From The Bird Flu....I don't think so....I'd love someone to prove me wrong.Just saying that you disagree with sonmething auto makes your a sony hater,MS or Nintendo fanboy and a console basher.Stop it with the agrueing,I'm so sick of it.If you think I'm a fanboy still then get off your PC and do something constructive...

JunjiHiroma2k7

See...you think you know me because I don't swallow every shovel full of shit that's fed to me like some people do.

My father died from lung cancer thirteen years ago on March 10th. Which has approximately fuck-all to do with this thread.

I'm talking about Sony using an underhanded tactic to sell consoles. It doesn't matter who made it, or who approached who. Rest assured, it will be on the news and it will sell consoles.

So YOU need to try this whole "thinking" thing. I didn't start with the name calling. Nor was I trying to be a "repugant little troll".

It's a different fuckin' opinion.

What's next? No one has said,

"He's probably mad because his mom didn't buy more pizza pockets and he has to leave the basement and go buy them himself."

...but I wouldn't be surprised if that's next.

nerfgun, you have NO fuckin' clue who I am or what I'm about. You don't know what I do on my off time, nor do you know what charities I donate too, but I can assure you it's not done to be a tax write off.

See, you want to talk about me because you can't talk about the issue at hand because I'm right.

This will get media coverage and it will sell PS3s. Selling PS3s on that premise is wrong.

Incase I didn't make it more clear...

nerfgun, go fuck yourself.

snahfu

jcpanda

But look around, guy. They aren't saying "Wow, I'm going to go and get a PS3 right now!"

They are saying "When I get one, I'll do it..." This implies they have intent to buy one already.

Or

They are saying "I'll do this with my PS3 when I'm not using it." Implying they already own one.

Or

They are saying "I don't plan on getting a PS3, but that is a great thing they are doing." Implying that even though they don't like Sony and/or their product, they still can set that aside and admit this is a good thing they are doing.

By this logic, your hypothesis fails since it centers around people being fooled into buying a system they wouldn't otherwise have wanted.

PapaBear

Stop. Just stop. You are making a huge fool out of yourself.

The Folding@Home client for PS2 was DEVELOPED by Stanford. As in, the University. They came to SONY and said, can we put this on the PS Network, we get great results from the Cell? And Sony simply QA'd the product and agreed. No money. And certainly no fucking spin, you repugnant little troll. Its a purely philanthropic effort and the fact that the likes of you are so eager to shit all over it shows what kind of person you really are.

I mean christ dude, did you ever think that maybe someone in the thread had a relative that died of cancer? Get a grip and learn to think before you open your ignorant yap over and over and over again.

nerfgun

The ends do not justify the means in most cases - $50 Million for orphans? Wonderful! Oh, you stole the money from hard working middle class people who are now in dire financial straits (read ENRON)? Bad Bad.

Sony is simply "enabling" you, dear user, to chip in some unused cycles to do research. Guess what - if you don't want your PS3 to fold protiens, YOU DON'T HAVE TO LET YOUR PS3 DO IT!

The ONLY bad outcome I can see is if the CPU is maxed and it causes heat problems.

It would be nice for Sony to practice a little FULL DISCLOSURE on how it works and what potential risks the user is subjecting themselves:
1) possible heat problem
2) most CPUs (even quad cores) are not made to be run at 100% all the time - is there a link to high duty cycles and premature chip failure?
3) what mechanisms have been built in to limit the CPU if it DOES start to run hot - for $600 you think they could build in some overtemp protection
4) you may spend endless hours watching the display as it folds and docks structures - is there a "folders anonymous" support group?

Sony is using this as a PR boost for the PS3 - so what? If you think doing beneficial research is worth going out and spending $600, might I make a suggestion? Give to the Red Cross, American Cancer Society (or your local chapter of the ACS if you are International), heck - I bet you have local charities with local impact that would worship the ground you walk on if you dumped $600 in their purse!
If you bought a PS3 already, put it to good use and click the icon, and bask in the warm glow of doing something good.

[off soapbox]

jcpanda

Have you read some of the posts here? Some people are touting this as well...something fantastic that rivals all other things fantastic in the history of things fantastic.

<--- is paraphrasing

It's not a conspiracy. It's just how stupid shit snowballs this day and age. It's completely capable of becoming a "big deal" it just hasn't been "news" long enough.

I like videogames. I really don't care what company's console I'm playing it on. I just want to play good games. I don't have an axe to grind with Sony although they seem to spectacular fuck ups of late.

Talking shit about Sony doesn't make an individual a Sony hater. And I'll be sure to keep my splurging mind-bile in check next time I dare to go against the majority of the sheep on this thread that can't see the forest for the trees.

snahfu

lol. Seriously, I'm happy to see that Sony doesn't have their heads COMPLETELY up their assess.

Just partly...

blazio

You snahfu, act as if they are going to show a kid with MS and have a voice over going "PS3: Play Beyond, and save him from The Great Beyond" followed by a violin tugging all the while on people's heart strings.

Most likely, the average consumer will not hear anything about this until they buy, take home, and turn on their PS3 to find this option sitting next to their Home icon. They'll go "Huh, that's kinda cool..." and decide whether or not they want to contribute.

You want to see some vast and last ditch conspiracy to exploit dying souls to sell consoles. But you splurging your mind bile all over this board just makes you look like an unwitting tool for Sony's competitors.

...Wait... Maybe that was their plan ALL ALONG! Oh, that Sony... They are smart ones. Making all their detractors look like shills for Nintendo and Microsoft. So sneaky of them.

Please. You're talking about a company couldn't even pull off background downloading or a decent PR meeting for the first four months of their release. They aren't up to a conspiracy of this degree.

PapaBear

If you have nothing good to contribute to this conversation, dont post. no one wants to hear about how sony is the devil. they were at the forefront in gaming for years, and now they make some mistakes and all of the sudden they get devoured.

A lot of people talk shit because they dont own won. its sad really.

I give props to SONY on this one. it may have been "done" before. But on the console front, its a first.

aphexacid

Schabrak

After reading what people here are thinking and saying, and despite the fact that I've been referred to as a retarded prick and a tard-bomber...whatever that is, I still believe the people here are relatively more intelligent than the average consumer.

Where my problem starts is that this shit is gonna be in newspapers or CNN. You know what the tag line is going to be?

"PS3 helps cure disease."

And people will buy the console.

Sony can sell a million consoles tomorrow, or go bankrupt tomorrow. I don't care.

What I care about is that uninformed consumers are going to slap down $600 for a console because they think they're being civic minded. They think if they have their PS3 turned on, maybe their uncle or cousin won't die from disease X in a few years. Don't say it won't happen.

It's sneaky and dirty on Sony's part no matter what kind of perceived "good" will come out of it.

snahfu

Of course my answer would be "no". HOWEVER, the ads on t.v. might get a bit annoying.

I'm glad to see that much. I'm not asking anyone to bow down and love Sony over this. I just think its a great idea, and a fantastic use of technology no matter who implements it. You've got your take on it, I have mine, and I'm content to leave it at that.

TitillatedOcelot

cowbell

Don't mind the humbugs on soapboxes (corporate = only out to make money, got it). Go read about Huntington's Disease, and then you'll know: spare us the populism and download the update.

ed.sherry

When you get paid five million dollars to do a movie, I should fuckin' hope that they can afford to donate to a charity.

Some info to you. The majority of those marvelous famous people are making donations as tax write offs, or encouraging the greater unwashed to come watch their next movie because they donated to charity X. Kinda like what Sony's doing.

@joelface: "theres no longical reason to see this news as ANYTHING but great for the state of the world."

Sony loves you for saying this. Expect chocolates in the mail.

snahfu

its interesting to see that the same anti-sony comments can pop up in the comments of an announcement like this.

i mean, if your going to bash sony for this, than go ahead and bash every famous person who has ever donated money to charity. ESPECIALLY bill gates. :p

theres no longical reason to see this news as ANYTHING but great for the state of the world. the more reasearch we can do on these diseases THE BETTER...

joelface

Of course my answer would be "no". HOWEVER, the ads on t.v. might get a bit annoying.

"This cure for cancer brought to you by the PS3. If we can pwn canc3r, we can definitely pwn Microsoftxx0rz!"

snahfu

Yeah, you got me there. I honestly don't know what kind of setup this will have and if it will run in a similar fashion. I hope it does what it sets out to do without maxing out power consumption and bricking consoles. Guess it's a "wait and see" kinda thing.

TitillatedOcelot

If you set this up to run on your PS3 it will pretty much be at 100% CPU until you turn it off. So if you leave it on overnight, on vacation... whatever... it will be working on data packets until you tell it to stop.

Once it gets through with one it sends the packet back and downloads another to work on.

This is absolutely a cool thing and if you don't mind the power consumption it goes to a good cause... assuming the hardware can handle the heat.

Jabbertrack

Obviously you don't so that's good for Sony.

@Lachoy: "Cripes people, If I decided to give 50 million to orphanages around the country just for the free press or a tax write-off, who the hell cares?!?!? The orphanages still get the 50 million and are better off for it!!!!"

A little thing called altruism. Look it up.

@Lachoy:"Look at the end results you low-life tard-bombers. (That only applies to the few morons that actually posted something negative about this. The rest of you I applaud and I for one, will be doing this.)"

I know what the end results will be, however you can get together with all the other sheep that you're applauding and sing songs and mark today on your calendar as the day that Sony made a big difference.

My advice; don't drink the kool aid.

snahfu

If you had a cure for cancer, right now, in your hands, and a note that said "courtesy of Folding@home" on it, would you smash it on the ground? I'm really hoping the answer would be "no", because if it isn't, you've put your personal prejudices ahead of human lives, and should be deeply ashamed of yourself.

TitillatedOcelot

Jabbertrack

jErrt

Look at the end results you low-life tard-bombers. (That only applies to the few morons that actually posted something negative about this. The rest of you I applaud and I for one, will be doing this.)

Lachoy

I would expect Microsoft to do something like what Sony has as well, save for the fact that they don't have the market share problem that Sony has with it's next gen console.

Sony is doing a spectacular job of blurring the lines. It's something they absolutely need to do because they botched the launch of their next gen console so badly.

"While you're waiting for a game to come out that you can play, you can cure cancer!"

Fun.

People need to get a grip. is it nice that the PS3 can or will be able to do this? Sure.

Should Sony be commended for it?

Commended for putting in an application that helps scientists anlyze strings of proteins on their gaming console?

Negative.

It's propaganda and nothing more. If there are games worth owning and the price drops over the next two to three years. The "disease curing bonus feature" will be a nice thing to have should I buy a PS3.

Preying on mortality issues that society has in order to sell a videogame console. THAT is the sad thing.

More sad is that this will sell PS3's. Someone will go out and buy a PS3 because of this feature alone when they could do the same thing on their personal computer that they already own.

Sony is NOT being the "nice guy" about this.

snahfu

Concerning the hatred... people are just getting sick of all these non-gaming updates. Its making the PS3 look more like a business computer rather then a gaming console.

rayblasdel

I hope that these haters are not of the voting age. I'll definetely be running this program twice as long to make up for the naysayers.

Barbara

If it's pure corporate greed, I would think Microsoft would've done this first. Except, oops, the 360 cpu really isn't much better than the average gaming pc, and having hard comparision numbers would only serve to make the 360 look bad.

androvsky

You shouldn't be. Sony has been one helluva douchebag corporate entity for quite some time now.

Some strategically released "good press" isn't going to change that.

snahfu

Chill... the Cell was designed for scientific computing (including ray-tracing and other graphics functions). This is what it's meant for, let it be.

This reminds me of everyone dissing Sony for letting us install linux on the ps3 because it's just a ploy to get around taxes in Europe. Well, ya know, it's a lot better than not letting us install linux on the ps3, it's a rather nice addition.

androvsky

I'm not stunned at all. Saddened, yes. Stunned? Not so much.

TitillatedOcelot

A "retarded prick" right Lider?

I didn't say it's a bad thing. I said it's corporate spin that also happens to coincide with being a "good thing".

Surprise, surprise it will also sell PS3s.

:O

What a shocker.

Newsflash, brainiac. Sony didn't make the PS3 as a research tool for the scientific community.

Lider, sir. YOU have fun with your $600 PS3 GAMING CONSOLE. Now, not only can you watch Blu Ray on it, you'll be able to chat online with really cool avatars AND you can also SAVE LIVES!

Let me know if there's any games out there worth playing.

And I'm the retard...yeah.

snahfu

themunk

Lider

I need a new tag: "good thing"

Brian Crecente

Yes, a good point. But from what I understand, when you click the icon, you download one packet of simulated data. The PS3 crunches those numbers for roughly an hour and sends it back. I don't get the impression that this is the sort of thing you have to leave on for days on end.

Yes, if this were left running over night, she's a-gonna cook something.

TitillatedOcelot

Yeah I'd wish the comments system was a litle better myself.

Top of the list EDIT function plz.

Repsode

Secondly, I'd be surprised if you couldn't run this in the background, as that's a typical feature of Folding@Home -- run the program by using unused CPU cycles.

Thirdly, a PS3 doing this will do it quite a bit faster than just some PC doing it. Cell may not be automatically good for gaming, but for repetitive, easily-subdivided tasks like this, it's going to be faster than probably any CPU out there. So, this is more like have 4 PCs running F@H.

RedRedSuit

Kotaku-bosses. You can delete the first one.

:)

snahfu

Anything good for humans must be bad for me.

Anything good for Sony must also be bad for everyone.

But since I don't have any games to play, and I already watched the Casino Royale Blu-Ray I might as well do something with my PS3.

Zadaz

Either way its good for both sony, and the researchers.

Kyle81

EVERY coporation is ruthless.

That is why any corporation that does ANYTHING like this is to be commended

Don't worry we're not idiots so you don't have to post the obvious a third time

Repsode

Sad but true!

Anthropomancer

I mean, if people have any negetive feelings about this move I would like to hear those thoughts as well. But I do think it is a delicate balance. I'm not endorsing flaming, just other opinions.

giovonti

It's one more attempt to justify the PS3 price point and nothing more.

It's one more way that they're trying to claw back market share.

THIS bullshit will sell consoles. The fact that it might actually help people is just a beneficial side effect.

Things of this nature have been available on PCs for probably close to a decade but Sony has done it, coupled with the HOME news byte at GDC and now Sony is "teh 4w350m3" again.

Now, when little Timmy wants a PS3, he can have this conversation with his mom.

"I know it's 'spensive mom, but it's a sooopar compooootar yanno! They're using it to cure the cancers in people. Maybe gramma would be still alive if the PS3 came out last year."

*sniffle*

Give kudos to Sony for being a ruthless corporate entity as that's what corporate entities do. They're ruthless. They are there to make a profit.

Rest assured, if they didn't have the market share problem with the PS3 that they currently have, "fighting disease" with the PS3 would have been far lower on their priority list.

It helps, and that's nice but please don't make Sony out to be this great humanitarian entity because quite frankly, they're not.

snahfu

Rectangle

Dude slowly put down your bottle of PS3 hater-ade and take a step back. Are you serious? Some folded first so the Ps3 shouldn't. Your logic is so flawed and in so many ways it's amazing.

There are gamers and there are fanboys and you sir are a fanboy. I may be insulting fanboys actually calling you a fanboy. The PS3 is expensive. It's packed full of expensive hardware and is very well built. Just wait till you can afford one and shut your hole. :)

cowbell

The fact is every little helps. It doesn't matter which platform it is on. Why do we need to drag console wars into something positive like this?

JonC

I find it difficult how you can not praise it. Sure Sony's going to get a lot of good PR and the press release aims to get people to buy the system but you'd have to be a stonehearted cynic to weigh Sony's corporate agenda more heavily against the benefits of PS3 (or any gaming console) actually having the potential to help benefit the world if it all goes to plan.

Repsode

internetnerd

@RodmanSan:
Way to be a prick in a thread about something good being done.

Torgo

Of course it's good PR. To believe otherwise would be silly. But this time, good PR and good charity meet.

Just because it's PR doesn't invalidate the fact it's having a good effect.

PapaBear

Know that before you do this.

Now, additionally, I'm going to start rant mode.

When Universities make new drug developments, they patent them and make huge wads of cash off them. Why would I give my money to help research a drug that Stanford will use to line their coffers? Let them make a promise that will return some value to the public for any drugs developed (through folding) by the public.

@NinjaBall:
The PS3 has a good cooling system, but it doesn't use significantly less power at idle than at full bore. I have a power measuring device myself, and unless you turn it off, it only varies between 160W and 185W. That's only 10% difference. If you put it in an enclosed space, you'll hit "hair dryer heat levels" in almost the same time at idle as running a game.

br549

I'm not saying this thing Sony is doing is bad to any degree, it's great. I just don't think it's fair to limit this forum to only praise by basically saying if it's not praise than your just a blindly-hating-on-Sony fool.

giovonti

Anything to help subtantiate the price tag and whitewash their ridiculous media bytes over the last fifteen months.

Now...when little Timmy wants his mom to buy a PS3, he can say.

"Sure mom, it's 'spensive but it's a soooper compooootar! They use it to cure the cancers in people. If it had come out a year earlier maybe gramma would be alive."

*sniffle*

It's been going on, on the PCs for years now. It's nice that Sony has worked that function into their architecture but they're not doing it be good citizens.

It's corporate spin and nothing more.

Anything for marketshare.

snahfu

Errrr.....which millions of users.....those 10 people who bought the console already in the US...????

RodmanSan

I wish you were right. No straw man needed, since GoonieGooGoo and MrXBob have put themselves up on that stick.

PapaBear

JunjiHiroma2k7

Kastef

Just for kicks, remove the idea that you don't like Sony's game system. Look at it as purely a philanthropic effort. Isn't it a nice thing to do?

Now, let's get back to your shade of reality: This next patch is not only just this charity effort. It also adds background downloading, multiple downloads, all that fun stuff.

PapaBear

Where's E3-2005-KILLZONE!?!?!?!?

They said it was IN-GAME!!???!!??

WWWHHHHHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111

G1GAHURTZ

Nice straw man.

Anyway, you're wrong. Looks like people are giving Sony plenty of props for doing this.

Count me as one of them.

FlapjacksAreTasty

If that wasn't sarcasm, I don't even know where to begin on your apparent selfishness.

Repsode

Yes we know this has been around for a long time, but the whole point is that the more people that join, the better.

After all these years, there are only 180,000 Folding@Home PC clients. If the PS3 can reach anything close to the install base of the PS2, it will be the biggest Folding@Home platform in the world. Actually, with 1 million units already in homes, the moment this firmware update hits, it will already be the largest Folding platform in the world.

This is good for everyone...it's good for HUMANITY.

I wish Microsoft and even Nintendo would follow suit with folding clients of their own. This is one cause I think everyone can get behind.

topaz420

No one is forcing people to use the service. And if it's running in an idle state, there won't be any of these fabled "hair dryer heat levels" as a result.

TitillatedOcelot

Maybe it might have something to do with it involving disease research and that this hasn't been done by a games console before.

Are you that obsessed by gaming and the flamewars that you would overlook the benefits of Sony helping out just because they're copying other initiatives? Any extra processing avenues for things like this can only be a good thing.

Repsode

The question will be how long most households use it. Especially after a couple of months worth of power bills, since I hear the PS3 likes electricity.

Kudos again to Sony for taking a step in the right direction.

Route66er

you can't get your Online Network to have a Unified friends list or real background downloading or download more than 1 thing at a time or have a steady stream of games worth the 600$ purchase (sorry Motorstorm doesn't cut it)...but you want us to leave our Hair Dryer heat level PS3s on for this???

C'mon......I know its desperate times but.....seriously.

GoonieGooGoo

FreeSquares

photoboy

And you consider yourself a gamer, eh? Irrational hate, even in the face of something really good for the world community.

Get over it, and give props where props are due. Who cares if someone else did it before? It's still good that they are doing it now.

PapaBear

Wow, that was quick.

mikemil828

penhalion

@Dudes_McGee:

Never mind, then, people have already proven me full of shit. :P

PapaBear

Any other time Sony get shit for copying - so why the big change? Oh that's right, everyone sees a clumsy 3D Live rip-off and suddenly Sony are teh aw3s0me again. Give me a break.

MrXBob

jackal888

Good work, Sony.

Risky+Safety

I was wondering this myself, as I still like to play games on my game system. I can't imagine it wouldn't allow background operation, as the major update in this download is the activation of background operation of downloads, music (in game music, finally) and other X-Box influenced activities.

To make it background enabled would see it get very little use. But considering the miscalculations and missteps and mishaps on the part of Sony this launch cycle, I can't put it past them.

PapaBear

From what I can tell from the articles I've read, no. You can let the system crunch the numbers from an idle state though. The process use about a tenth of the processor's power. You can also halt the process (like to play a game) without destroying the progress made so far. Estimates suggest that one simulation can be completed in about an hour.

I'll be signing up for sure.

TitillatedOcelot

DigitalHero

jasongw

no, you can't play a game. it'll just have to be that process running

dh4645

dh4645

I can't see running my PS3 just for this purpose, but I'd definitely run it in the background.

Dudes_McGee

wisebug

I'll do it for a little while. Why not?

PapaBear

mikemil828

i am now seriously considering getting a PS3 as soon as the price is cut (given the recent announcement by IBM that they are making 65mm Cell cores, it's inevitable)

BigChiefSmokem

gjm

theboyfrombrasil

ach77

FreeSquares