Kludge alert: PS3 memory card adapter

by James Ransom-Wiley { Nov 28th 2006 at 4:55AM }

Wired's Game|Life scored a rare PlayStation 3 memory card adapter (for PS1 and PS2 game saves) and found the subsequent transfer process to be "kludgy" -- the adapter gets the job done, but clumsily.

Game|Life faults the device for its rather steep price ($14.99), given that the adapter could very well be used only once (if you possess just a single memory card). But even if you've amassed a collection of cards, you'll be frustrated by the adapter's insistence upon creating a new "Virtual Memory Card" directory on the PS3's hard drive for each card. That is, the system is not intuitive enough to combine and separate your PS1 and PS2 saves into two, easy to navigate categories. In addition, the entire contents of a card must first be copied to the HDD, and then users can single out specific game saves for permanent storage or deletion. Sounds like there's a new PS3 annoyance to add to the list...

Tags: adapter, memory card, MemoryCard, PS2, PS3, save, USB

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Andrew @ Nov 28th 2006 5:05AM

Pretty minor annoyance, if any.

punkuhr @ Nov 28th 2006 5:11AM

So the question is:

Can someone make a homemade cable that does this?

All it is is a USB to memory card plug right? That means, that you should be able to just gut a dead PS1/PS2 and make it....

or is there software/components needed?...

Zac @ Nov 28th 2006 5:15AM

Price seems fine..
Get a group of friends together, pitch in a couple bucks, and share it.
Hopefully the "kludgy" performance of it will be ironed out with an update.

Pulse @ Nov 28th 2006 5:46AM

Meh, it does the job, no ones complaining, if ppl think they can do better, go right ahead, theres always oppotunity.

Guy @ Nov 28th 2006 6:26AM

A new annoyance? Yes, how dare Sony offer everyone a way to use there old saves!

IslandLife @ Nov 28th 2006 6:58AM

@punkuhr

All you really need is software for the PS2 that recognizes pendrives plugged in to the usb port and allows you to transfer saves to it. e.g. codebreaker, action replay etc. Then you can transfer those saves right over to the PS3. It really is that simple.

bluto @ Nov 28th 2006 7:22AM

"Sounds like there's a new PS3 annoyance to add to the list..."

About time Dr.(dash)Wiley.

LordVierge @ Nov 28th 2006 8:18AM

This article couldn't be more wrong. I had no problems or complaints transferring my saves. At least they (SONY) gave you an option to keep your saves unlike other nameless companies who force you to abandon all your past game saves.

Akbar @ Nov 28th 2006 8:21AM

@6, IslandLife:

Which "any software?" I tried it with one of those maxdrive things or whatever they're called, and the BC on the PS3 wouldn't run the software. and since nobody has a standard file format for those saves, it's impossible to know how to convert the .xps files into something the PS3 might actually want.

As a PS3 owner who would like to move to the PS3 for every PS2 game {except} Guitar Hero and DDR (and I wouldn't mind a solution to do those, too...), I'm remarkably frustrated by this doo-dad. Not that it's kludgy, but that I can't get my bloody hands on one. How freaking useful is a memory card transfer thing if you can't get one until after you're done with games that you'd already started on the PS2? Argh.

Darien @ Nov 28th 2006 8:27AM

This is the final straw, at least I know I can easily transfer all my Xbox saves regardless of how big they are through the convenient... uh... hmmm...

AmgKmpsR @ Nov 28th 2006 9:14AM

"The entire thing must be transfered!" Dude it's 8 megabytes over USB 2.0, that'll take what 5 seconds?

King T @ Nov 28th 2006 9:42AM

This article was a waste of my life. If it works, it works shit!

bobeotm @ Nov 28th 2006 9:48AM

I dont see why this is such a gripe. I mean, as long as it gets the job done in a relatively painless amount of time, its fine. Afterall, most will only use it once or twice. At least they are giving you an means to transfer saves as opposed to just ignoring the issue (ala 360). It seems to be a mountain being made out of a mole-hill.

James @ Nov 28th 2006 10:25AM

This is cool and all but what really needs to happen is a controller addon so we can plug our old PS2, you know the ones that vibrate, controllers in the PS3 and play.

Blooye @ Nov 28th 2006 10:07AM

I agree with AmgKmpsR even if you have one of the 32 MB mad catz memory units it would still take under ten seconds. Why does everyone always make mountains out of molehills with ps3 issues?

devi8i @ Nov 28th 2006 10:22AM

At least with the PS3 consumers have the *CHOICE* to transfer their old game saves to their new gaming system......

Draco @ Nov 28th 2006 10:14AM

would be nice if Blockbuster rented them out for say 2$ a night or something.

LordVierge @ Nov 28th 2006 10:50AM

"This is cool and all but what really needs to happen is a controller addon so we can plug our old PS2, you know the ones that vibrate, controllers in the PS3 and play."

Can't you buy a PS2 to USB adapter for like five or ten bucks on ebay? If the Chillstream is recognized without drivers then a PS2 controller converted to a USB controller aught to work also.

Blooye @ Nov 28th 2006 11:07AM

yeah but if the game has no rumble function written in it then it won't work.

Keith @ Nov 28th 2006 11:08AM

Wait. I looked over your 360 annoyance list, and didn't see anything relating to the complete inability to transfer original xbox saves (even though it would be trivial to just hook them together with a crossover cable). And yet, you are basically complaining that even though Sony offers the service to gamers who want it, it just isn't good enough? Not to mention that they didn't include it in the console itself, so people who don't want it don't have to pay for it.

Joystiq, after that garbage R:FOM padding story, I'm really beginning to wonder about you guys.

Scott Krueger @ Nov 28th 2006 11:31AM

Yo Keith.

The Only XBox to 360 Gamesaves Solution is from Datel.
With an XBox Memory Card, an adapter, an XSata Hard Drive Interface and a PC or Laptop and Beta Software.

Then you get to use XPlorer360 (Beta Software).
Here is the Instructions;
When prompted, browse to the location where you extracted the Xbox 1 gamesave to. Click ONCE on the game folder (don’t double click or you'll open it). The save is inside the UDATA folder and called something like '4b4e0002'. Click 'OK' to ‘inject’ the gamesave into your Xbox1 gamesaves folder on your Xbox 360.
You have to Guess which Folder is for which game...

Trust me, I did it, and not all my saves could be transferred, and it cost over $100 to do it.

Sony's $15 memory card adapter that does not need a PC to use is WAY BETTER.

Scott Krueger @ Nov 28th 2006 11:35AM

LordVierge

Sony is releasing a PS3/PS2 Controller Adapter on 12/15.
Only costs $9.99

Rumble away!
At least on the games that put support in for it, and all your old PS2 games should be Rumblin On...

Brian @ Nov 29th 2006 12:45AM

They are way off! It was easy as hell! Now I just need to trade it in becasue it basically a one-time thing unless you are still playing GH II (like me) on your ps2.

White Rose Duelist @ Nov 28th 2006 12:27PM

Better than the Xbox 360, certainly, but not as good as the Wii. No transferring required there, you just put your Gamecube memory cards in the system.

Spartacus @ Nov 28th 2006 12:58PM

@ Scott Krueger

How in the world did transfering your XBOX saves to the 360 cost you $100? The kit from Datel costs $15 with all the software and adapters included...

That said, though it is no secret that the PS3 interface is "klunky", I'd have to agree that something is better than nothing. The only reason this might be an annoyance is because Sony toots the whole backwards compatability horn way too much, then offers only add on services which are less than user friendly to deliver on that promise. It's really a bait and switch tactic. MS, while not offering a 1st party solution, at least never promised 100% BC.

Keith @ Nov 28th 2006 5:00PM

Re #21 Scott Krueger

Yah, I agree the Sony way is much better.

Re #23 White Rose Duelist

I don't have any Gamecube memory cards. Why is Nintendo making people pay for a feature they will never use? That sounds almost like Sony...except I have yet to hear anyone complain about it. Double standards are great.

Dylan @ Nov 28th 2006 10:39PM

Really, once you use this thing on all your memory cards you dont need it anymore, give it to a friend, or if you have no friend with a PS3, then just find anybody with a PS3 and hand it to them, there doesnt need to be more than one of these things in the enture country if we all work together!

Matt Dusza @ Nov 28th 2006 7:43PM

Hey Joystiq. you know Target sells these for only $3 bucks right? not 15? I picked up 3 of em, despite not owning a PS3

Brandon @ Dec 12th 2006 1:27AM

While my problem is probably a minority amoung gamers, my biggest annoyance with the PS3 memory card reader is that you can't save PS2 game data from the PS3 hard drive back to a PS2 memory card. How Sony decided to overlook that is beyond me.

My friend and I have played Madden & NCAA seasons for years, trading the memory cards back and forth to get games played. Now that I have a PS3 and he won't for possibly 6 months, we can no longer play the games at our respective homes by taking home the memory cards.

I've tried codebreaker, gameshark, and Datel software to copy the saved PS2 files from the PS3 hard drive to a flash stick and back to the PS2 thru the USB ports. But, the PS3 internal memory saves are not in a format that is recognized by the PS2 or even by the software you are supposed to install on your PC.

It seems that if you now own a PS3 and tossed your PS2, you can no longer play your fav PS2 titles, save your progress and take your memory cards to your friends or family who still own PS2 systems.

Hopefully sony can make some sort of update for this.

NIVEUS @ Jan 17th 2007 6:46PM

my only issue with the Adapter is for the few games that actually used the Copy protection.

I have a game called Monster Hunter and if i want to play it on my Ps3 I have to start all over :(

I tried plugging the adapter into my PC to see if I could access it and although it detects the device It wont allow me to browse it asks me to use a CD to install stuff to use it.