Getting a third ps3

[Eidolon]

So i have two already, and a freind was going to stick his ps3 in his cellar as he's not longer using it. Considering thathis Laserdisc player that he'd put down there had gone rusty and packed up as a result, I suggested he pass the ps3 to me instead, as I can use it in another room as a bd/dvd/youtube machine, with a bit of gaming.

However, looking online, it looks as if that might be a bit tricky. There;s a lot of conflicting info out there on account of Sony chaging things at different points in time, and I'm a little lost on if I can log onto this third machine using my account?

I'd rather not have to keep deactivating and reactivating consoles, and I'm not sure if it auto-deletes downloaded games or something in these situations?
Sony don't seem to have any help email address for me to ask them.

So what is the situation for me here? I'm really not sure if I can use this for playing some of my games on as well, or if I will have to set up a different account?

[Dynamo of Eternia]

So here is my rough understanding of how things work with the PS3. I'm not sure if anything has changed over time, and if anyone else knows better, they can correct me.

You should have no problem signing into as many PS3's with your account as you want.

Downloading your games on multiple systems is where it gets a little tricky. Rather than working how Xbox has since the 360 and onward, or the PS4 and PS5... in which you can download your games to the main console and play them fully offline (assuming that are not online-only games) without an internet connection, but for any additional consoles needing to be online to play them, this is how it worked...

They allowed games that were purchased digitally (meaning the entire game, not just add-on dlc for a disc based game) to be fully downloaded to a limited number of systems, and can be played offline as a result. But there was no way to download them on any additional systems past that limit.

What is that limit, you may ask? Well here is where that gets interesting.

If I remember correctly, for any games that were purchased before a specific date in November 2011 (I forget the exact day), per the terms of service/EULA, they can be downloaded on up to 5 PS3 systems at the same time.

They had a policy change occur on that particular date in November 2011 in which any games purchased after that change occurred could only be downloaded on up to 2 PS3 systems at the same time.

From what I recall, this policy change did not effect games that you already bought before that date. Meaning that (unless something has since changed that I am not aware of), IF you bought any games prior to that date, even today, you should be able to download them on up to 5 PS3s at the same time.

BUT any games bought after that date would only be allowed on up to 2 PS3s, even today. And it is not dependent on which game it is, but rather when it was purchased. Meaning that if one person bought a game the day before that change went into effect, they should still download it on up to 5 PS3s now.... but if someone else bought that same game the day after it went into effect, they can only download it on up to 2 systems at the same time.



As far as disc based games go, it really shouldn't matter. You should be able to play those on as many PS3s as you want while logged into your account and it shouldn't matter.

I could be wrong about this (and I am less certain about this than I am everything I wrote above), but I don't think this should not effect add-on DLC if you have the disc based game. I think that add-on content can be downloaded to multiple systems, but you may need to try it to be sure.




If you have a lot of fully digital games, there is a theoretical work around for this that I've been meaning to try, but I never got around to...

I actually have 3 PS3s, but I never fully set up the 3rd one and I've been meaning to for years. With the first two, I upgraded the hard drives on both of them to 750GB at one point and downloaded all of my content to both. I bought the 3rd one after that had occurred. I never did get around to setting up the 3rd one (which is just a 4GB model which I've been meaning to get a hard drive for).

I have a mix of games bought both before and after that date in November 2011, meaning the games bought after that can technically only be downloaded to 2 active consoles at a time.


BUT here is a work-around that I think should work, but never tried. The last time I checked (which has been quite a while), it was possible to log into a Playstation account from a PC and deactivate consoles from there. While normally you would do this from the console itself, this is a way to do it in the even of a console being lost, stolen, or damaged to the point of not working, and then being able to activate another console instead. I also think there is a limit on how often this can be done... like once every so many months of even once a year or two (I forget exactly, but it's not something that you could do every day).

In theory, here is what I think would work, but keep in mind that after everything is fully downloaded, one of them would have to remain fully offline going forward (so no online multiplayer games with it, etc.)...

For any downloadable games, DLC, other content, etc. that you have purchased, make sure that all of it is fully downloaded to your 2 existing PS3 systems. Double and triple check that you have downloaded everything that yo want. Then choose one of them to completely disconnect from wifi and/or unplug the Ethernet cable from it.

Then, log into your Playstation account from your PC and deactivate your consoles (I forget if it automatically deactivates all of them or if you can pick and choose).

After deactivating them, you can connect your 3rd console online and activate it. If both of your other PS3s were deactivated in this process, you can reactivate one of them, but again, one must remain 100% fully offline (and must be fully disconnected from the internet BEFORE deactivating it... otherwise if you connect online, it will deactivate the games on it).

And then you should be able to download everything on that 3rd PS3.



So the one that you keep fully offline you can use for Blu-Rays, DVDs, and games that you purchased. You won't be able to use Youtube on it since that will require going online and would impact any downloaded games that you bought.

Also, if you ever had a PS+ on your PS3 and claimed any of the free games that you can continue to play as long as your PS+ account remains active, this work around won't work with that (at least not long term), because even if your PS+ account is active at the time of downloading the games and being online, once taken offline, at some point the system will think the PS+ account expired.

[Musashi]

A 3rd PS3?

Three PS3s - YouTube

[Eidolon]

I'm thinking it might be best just to forego the downloaded-gaming on it and use it just as a disc/streaming machine. Very frustrating all the same