I think that the main problem with PS3 games and their preservation is the console hardware. They're not being made anymore and as years goes by, it's going to get harder and harder to find parts to fix a broken console. That's why the solution, to me, is definitely emulation. New PC parts are made everyday, so having a brand new PC should never be a problem. Sure, we may encounter some compatibility issues here and there, but nothing that stops somebody to play an old game. There's always a fan made patch or some kind of tweak to fix the problem. In my experience, I had some problems on how to configure an emulator properly, but I have to admit that I didn't search deeply enough on how to get it right.

Part of the reasons why I never got into consoles is because they are not modular to repair and the games are always more expensive there. Mind you games I bought in the 80's for my Amiga, I can still play today without issue.

You're going to have to keep them on your hard drive to preserve them if your PSN download list becomes unavailable one day. Backwards compatibility for PS3 is not gonna happen any time soon, as the console has a very unique architecture. The good news are that the physical games come on Blu Ray discs for PS3, which means they are not going to be too difficult to find in good condition as Blu Rays don't scratch.

Certainly, later editions of physical games should be a safer bet.

No authentication per se takes place on first install, i.e. you don't get redirected anywhere to register your copy with Sony or your PSN account. Physical games are not bound to a certain console, so it's kind of "free" to play on any other console. I don't know, though, if this fits the DRM-free term. I mean, something about Sony's ecosystem forbids me from getting that "100% free" feeling :)

Yeah, I know. Sony aren't exactly known for being champions of DRM-free. But then, if the physical games will work on a PC emulator without internet connection, I don't see where the DRM is there.

Perhaps Sony never considered people might successfully emulate the PS hardware, so they didn't bother building in the software DRM, the way devs do for PC games?

You can definitely make a case for PS3 games or at the very least Xbox 360 games having DRM, as many of them give you the option to install the game onto your hard drive in order to reduce noise from the drive reading the disc. That means, from a technical point of view, there is no reason why inserting the disc should be required from that point out apart from making sure you actually still own the disc, thus managing the digital rights.

Funny, the other day a friend offered me his old PS3 for free, but when I looked up what games it had, I found almost nothing I'm interested in that is not also in PC...

In the end, there are 3 games I want to play: TLoU, Metal Gear 4 and Demon Souls.

That's an interesting point. So, does each disc have a unique ID that is checked before the game will run? Surely it should still be possible though to make a cloned duplicate of the disc (in which case it can still be backed up effectively)? If that is the case, I would agree having to have the disc inserted to play the game is a nuisance, but it doesn't seem like a huge restriction.

Also, I haven't tried any but I wonder if the emulators would handle it differently. I'd be surprised if they kept the same requirement for the disc to be inserted that the hardware consoles have.

There is a PS3 emulator on pc now and with the progress it's been having, I can tell you that in a few years a modern pc will be able to play all the games at there respectable framerates.

I use the emulator to play some games like metal gear solid collection, I retired my ps3 as my pc can now play these games at ease, and I use a LG blu ray drive to play the games on it. Runs great I must say.

Here is a vid showing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oW8ue4Uy80s


I guess preservation will be done with PC and not the original console. I know how to rip the Disc but I get errors so I just use the physical to run my stuff but still works great!

As far as i know, PS3 games mention on the box that the disc has some sort of copy protection (i cannot tell how effective), but there is no such thing as a unique ID with PS3 & 360 games. I have installed many games on my PS3 when trying them out from a friend and there was no issue with continuing playing after buying the game myself. I don't consider it a huge restriction either, since i often times didn't even install games for my Xbox 360 (PS3 games sometimes have mandatory installing), so it was no different than playing a PS1 / PS2 or cartridge game in that regard.

With emulators i highly doubt they require an inserted disc. I have never tried emulating a PS3 game, but with PS1 games at least it is even advisible to just rip your PS1 disc and play the data directly, as the emulation tends to run smoother that way. I guess with PS3 it's probably a similar scenario.

Yes. There are plenty of places that attempt to do just that.

You can start from here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_preservation#Preservation_efforts

Obviously that is only a small fraction of efforts that are going on all around the world. Google "game preservation" to find many other projects like that.

Read what they are doing and what they want. Not all projects accept material from individual gamers, at least if you are just a gamer, and not working in the industry. Some projects do accept them, but are very selective on what they want, so it can be that you have games in a wrong format, in wrong language, as wrong versions, etc. But some projects undoubtedly are interested in the kind of stuff that you have, at least in theory. Contact them to see if they are looking for those kind of games, even if they are not, they can probably guide you to some other preservation projects that may be interested.

Wait... what?! Could you please elaborate a bit more about using physical PS3 games on a blu ray drive connected to a PC? So you can play some of your games directly from the disc using the emulator? I know that the emulator still need a ton of work to play some games, but... I never thought that this was possible.

worked for me like the gamecube emulator dolphine, I use my LG WH16NS60 and it does the job, I use all my gamecube games discs and emulate them on pc with the emulator in 5k with my pc and runs like a dream. Same with Wii and Wiiu games with the remote.

There is a lot of things that are still being worked on with that ps3 emulator, give it more time and you will see ;)

Daemon tools I use as well. I open it from within the emulator and it works. like gamecube.

Video showing what I do to get the disc to work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qc_Jrqqv47Q

But yeah, it's almost like the gamecube one just wait a few more years and this thing will be like a carbon copy of Dolphine emulator and be the next best thing for emulation. Of course you will need the hardware to push it. my 3950x and 2080ti does the job but man some games run BAD! but a lot run good. hit and miss. so maybe 3 or so generations of hardware and it will be a ball park to run like nothing.

Don't know where you got that notion, as they do indeed scratch. They may be a bit harder than a DVD to scratch, but they still do. And I know that for a fact, as my PS3 screwed my favorite concert blu-ray on insert ... we presume there must have been some dirt (even though I had just dusted the damn PS3) on the slot brushes. Not been brave enough to use any treasured discs in the PS3 since. In fact, if it don't have a drawer (tray) from now on I am not buying it, too damn risky and I always knew it was gonna lead to grief one day, and of course it had to be that disc didn't it ... lucky I'd backed it up to ISO, but that's beside the point, and it wasn't a cheap buy either, still isn't ... grumble grumble. I'd just bought a stand-alone blu-ray player too, but hadn't yet set it up with my system, and I was showing the concert off to a mate visiting from interstate ... or rather, tried to show it ... played some of the ISO before he had to leave ... ran out of time ... grrrrrr.

Anyway, I have seen plenty of scratched blu-rays, though I keep mine sealed and in pristine condition when not in a player. Before rental stores died, you could find plenty of blu-rays with scratches ... some people are selfish shits.

By the way, blu-rays need to be harder and more durable, because the readers have to be that much more perfect.

I got that notion from experience. I never really thought about the issue until my OCD once drove me to check my entire used game collection for scratches and i noticed all my PS3 discs were in perfect mint condition. So after looking for the reason on the internet i tested a Blu Ray (it wasn't a game but some movie my brother gave me as he had two copies) by using it for an extended round of frisbee on the outside, even throwing it against a wall. After washing off the dirt there were still zero scratches and it worked as intended. I ended up violently working it over with a screwdriver to check just how durable it is and it ended up completely damaged beyond repair. So in my personal experience, Blu Rays scratch only if you actively try to damage them. Keep in mind though that the protective layer wasn't added in the very early days of Blu Rays, so very old Blu Rays might scratch like CDs and tend to fail earlier from scratches as you already mentioned.