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I’ve been wanting to do this post for a long time. It’s something that has always bugged me. There are certain game saves that are locked to the console itself. Now this isn’t an issue as long as your PS3 doesn’t break. But what if you want to “upgrade” to the PS3 Slim? Or if your PS3 breaks down, and you get a different PS3 back from Sony?

Even if you do a full back-up to a external hard drive. It won’t restore the locked save data to a different PS3. But if you restore it to the same PS3 you did the back-up on, your fine. For example if you upgrade your hard drive.

Most of the PS3 games are NOT locked, so this may not even be an issue for some.

I can understand locking save data. But don’t lock it to a specific PS3. Lock it to a PSN ID instead. That way if you move to a different system you won’t lose all the hard work you’ve done. You could lock copyright-protected movies and music to a PSN ID as well.

[tab:Locked Games List]

I’ve found a list of game saves that are locked to the system:

Army of Two: The 40th Day

Assassins Creed II

Bakugan Battle Brawlers

Band Hero

Bayonetta

Bomberman Ultra

Brain Challenge

Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood

C&C Red Alert 3

Cloudy With A Chance With Meatballs

Crash Commando

Dante’s Inferno

Dark Mist

Dead Nation

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

Earthworm Jim HD

Eye Of Judgment

Fat Princess

Fight Night Round 4

Funky Lab Rat

Get Fit With Mel B

Godfather 2

Guitar Hero Greatest Hits

Guitar Hero Metallica

Guitar Hero World Tour

Heavy Rain

High Velocity Bowling

Janline R Mahjongg

Killzone 2

Lara Croft & The Guardian Of Light

Lego Rock Band

LocoRoco Cocoreccho!

Lost Planet: Extreme Condition

Mainichi Issho

Marvel vs. Capcom 2

Mega Man 9

Mega Man 10

Mercenaries 2: World In Flames

Mortal Kombat 2

Nail’d

Namco Museum Essentials

NCAA Football 10

Need For Speed: Carbon

Need For Speed: Pro Street

Need For Speed: Shift

Rock Band

Rock Band 2

Sam & Max: The Devil’s Playhouse

Shank

Simple 500 Vol 1 The Mahjongg

Singstar

Skate 2

Skate 3

Sonic The Hedgehog 4: Episode 1

Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing

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)

The Saboteur

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas 2

Tom Clancy’s HAWX

UFC: Undisputed

Uno

Vanquish

Wolfenstein

WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2010

LittleBigPlanet is kinda unique, see below. Thanks go to Andrew for this.

I believe the game save data is now locked, but all game progress and created levels are now actually stored as game data rather than as a game save. From in game you can export your profile, which generates a file in the save data folder, which can be copied around, and imported on another system. This file appears to contain everything you would have expected to be in the save file (character customization, single player progress & created levels). You need to export your profile each time before you are able to save it to an external device.

Profile Locking

Red Faction Guerrila – copy locks your personal profile and settings, but not your game saves.

Mass Effect 2 Profile (Game progress/Settings) is locked. Actual game save file for ME2 is not locked.

Games saves patched to remove copy protection:

Batman: Arkham Asylum (Said to not have copy protection)

Gran Turismo 5

MotorStorm: Pacfic Rift

Resident Evil 5

Resistance 2 (Been told it isn’t copy protected)

Valkyria Chronicles [System Data (settings) file is locked, but the Play Data file is not]

Let me know if you find any more and I’ll add it to the list.

[tab:PlayStation:Blog Share]

Vote Yes for these ideas!

Remove Copy Protection From Game Save Files

Storage of Game Saves Online – Cloud Saving has arrived!

[tab:What can be transferred]

Here is what data can be transferred to a new PS3:

Saved data from PLAYSTATION®3 format software *1

Image files under (Photo)

Music files under (Music) *2

Video files under (Video) *2

Bookmarks added under (Internet Browser)

Terms that were added using (Settings) > (System Settings) > [Add/Edit Term], or predictive terms that were “learned” by the on-screen keyboard

*1 Copy-protected data cannot be restored. Also, saved data that has been restored may not be usable in some games.

*2 Does not include copyright-protected data.

# In some cases, you may not be able to use the Backup Utility feature to back up or restore the system correctly. It is recommended that you always copy or move important data to storage media in order to independently back up your data.

[tab:Important Info]

*** If you are replacing your PS3 for another one. Don’t forget to DEACTIVATE your Games and Videos on that PS3! Here is a walk though on how to do it.

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