Sat, Dec 20, 2008 | 13:17 GMT
PS3 Trophy error pops up, Sony to hammer it down – eventually
According to a CVG report, PS3 Trophies’ ability to, er, do nothing in particular has run into a potentially shelf-smashing error. Apparently, after PSN users alter their PSN ID or password, Trophy data can become “corrupt.”
Should that happen, certain games will then notify players that Trophy data has failed to sync – sometimes leading to a series of looping “quit and try again” messages.
Titles like Burnout Paradise, LittleBigPlanet, Pain, and WipEout HD have fallen victim to the Trophy-gobbling glitch since October, but the recently released 2.53 firmware update failed to sweep the bug under the rug.
Fortunately, Sony community guy “MusterBuster” claimed that, “A fix is on the way, but I don’t have an ETA yet”.
If your e-life absolutely depends on a healthy, bustling Trophy case, click through the link for a “quick” fix. (Hint: it’s not quick.)
Otherwise, just remember that waiting builds character or whatever. So don’t worry; Sony’s got your back.



28 comments
#1
Johnny Cullen
20/12/08, 2:20 pm
MusterBuster… what a ledge.
#2
Retroid
20/12/08, 3:02 pm
They’ve really done well integrating Trophies, haven’t they?
/Heavy sarcasm
#3
warlock7
20/12/08, 3:08 pm
I’ve got a couple that show up in my trophy list, but when I compare my trophies to others on my friends lists, they don’t show up as completed.
#4
Esha
20/12/08, 5:28 pm
“integrating Trophies”
If by that you mean implementing trophies, then yes, I agree. It is a bit of a botch job. The PS3 never really needed trophies, and the whole thing was a bit of a forced effort to try and draw in the XBox crowd. Entirely unnecessary.
I had hoped they’d pull the project, but it’s too late for that now, especially seeing as how they’re going to make trophies mandatory in January.
Trophies and achievements were always a cheap gimmick which detracted from the value of a game for the sole purpose of allowing loud kids to e-peen with their gamer-scores and whatnot. I can’t think of any game that had trophies or achievements that were as insane as Ratchet & Clank’s skill points (which actually required some semblance of skill and/or intelligence to acquire). Mostly it’s just “Hey, you did something in the game … something everyone is going to do (because it’s easy and part of the game-play), and you get a trophy for that!”, it was a bout of faux ego-massaging and a method to get people to buy games.
So I hate the damned things, and couldn’t care less if this particular bug never gets fixed. Sony would’ve had a better image amongst ha–err… non-casual gamers if they’d just left that idea on the drawing board, I’d say.
#5
David
20/12/08, 5:40 pm
I never play a game for achievements I just have fun. If I get any achievements by the end that’s good but
I never bother with achievement hunting.
#6
morriss
20/12/08, 5:55 pm
“and the whole thing was a bit of a forced effort to try and draw in the XBox crowd. ”
I don’t agree with that. I think it was a case of “that’s a good idea, let’s do our own take on it,” as MS did with Avatars etc.
Any business who doesn’t copy good ideas will soon no longer be a business.
#7
JesteR
20/12/08, 7:19 pm
What is that for a game on the picture?
#8
fearmonkey
20/12/08, 9:01 pm
I think achievements are great, but they arent a reason why I play games. What I like are the achievements for doing something different and special during a game, rather than just completing a quest.
I get more gameplay going back and getting those special achievements after Ive already beaten the game.
Im hoping we will see some Achievments that give you something special for your avatar some day. Like getting a special achievement in gears and getting a gears Logo T-shirt or a ripper gun.
#9
absolutezero
21/12/08, 1:27 am
Achievements are usually trumpeted as a means of getting people to play differently, or try something new. Which they sometimes do, only the person in question has read the description of the achievement and gone and done whats required to unlock it.
The internet has’nt helped at all either, it can be a nice surprise doing something silly and getting a reward for it out of no where because of a secret unlocking itself, internet loves listing every last exacting detail though just for people to rack up numbers.
#10
Retroid
21/12/08, 3:08 am
““integrating Trophies”
If by that you mean implementing trophies, then yes, I agree.”
I meant integrating Trophies; that’s why I wrote that
As in, into games (WHY ARE THERE GAMES STILL BEING RELEASED WITHOUT THEM) and into your PSN profile. If you format your drive and get your PSN nick back, they’re gone.
The whole thing just seems half-arsed.
#11
f1r3storm
21/12/08, 9:17 am
“What is that for a game on the picture?”
I’d like to know that, too.
#12
Dean
21/12/08, 9:58 am
@Retroid
I believe that if you format the drive, next time you acquire a trophy the data will resynchronise. And you’ll have all of your trophies back on your PS3.
#13
Robo_1
21/12/08, 10:29 am
I’ve always given credit of the achievements system to Insomniac. The PS2 R&C games used to feature skill points, where you’d earn extra little unlocks and recognition for completing specific tasks.
Full credit to MS for building such a feature into each game though. Chasing achievements or trophy’s is a great excuse to go for that second play through.
There’s been many rumours that Sony were going to start offering real world rewards for Trophies. Personally I think that would be a master stroke. They’d have to re-double their efforts to close any loop holes which could lead people to cheating trophies out of games, but I imagine that if the rewards weren’t completely meaningless, it could have an impact on people choosing which multi platform game to buy.
#14
Syrok
21/12/08, 10:37 am
@firestorm et al.:
That’s just the prototype of the trophy system, not a game.
#15
el Croux
21/12/08, 11:30 pm
Is there a way to turn off Trophy and Achievement notifications on the PS3 and Xbox? If so I’d like to do so when I eventually get either console.
The whole idea of scrambling, wide-eyed and frothing at the mouth after utterly irrelevant ‘e-points’ pointlessly shoe-horned into perfectly fine single player games just puts me off completely.
Also, can you turn off those mood-breaking notifications you get which tell you which annoying prick has signed into Xbox Live/PSN or worst of all, which one has collected their OWN boring ‘e-point-credit-BADGE/e-Rep-enhancment-TOKEN’, which to ‘acheive’ they’ve simply had to kill 10,000 of the same enemy in a certain way along with trading in their dignity?
CAN YOU?!
#16
absolutezero
22/12/08, 12:01 am
No.
#17
Psychotext
22/12/08, 1:28 am
Yeah, you can turn them off on the 360.
#18
Michael O'Connor
22/12/08, 6:55 am
“The whole idea of scrambling, wide-eyed and frothing at the mouth after utterly irrelevant ‘e-points’ pointlessly shoe-horned into perfectly fine single player games just puts me off completely.”
Nobody’s FORCING you to get them.
For the record, no, you can’t turn them off, but you can turn off the notifications of getting them.
#19
Blerk
22/12/08, 8:15 am
Achievements are great! I love them! And I thought I wouldn’t. But I do. So give them a chance if you haven’t already – they’ll hook you without you even noticing.
#20
LeD
22/12/08, 8:40 am
Blerk is such a 360 fanboy!
#21
G1GAHURTZ
22/12/08, 9:07 am
“Also, can you turn off those mood-breaking notifications you get which tell you which annoying prick has signed into Xbox Live/PSN or worst of all, which one has collected their OWN boring ‘e-point-credit-BADGE/e-Rep-enhancment-TOKEN’, which to ‘acheive’ they’ve simply had to kill 10,000 of the same enemy in a certain way along with trading in their dignity?”
Why do you even bother playing games!?
You sound like you’d be better off sticking to books.
#22
G1GAHURTZ
22/12/08, 9:10 am
Achievements are brilliant.
Just ask anyone who’s got the Mile High achievement on COD4 (ahem… me!) just what it meant when they unlocked it and you’ll see what I mean.
#23
Michael O'Connor
22/12/08, 9:35 am
“You sound like you’d be better off sticking to books.”
What’s wrong with books?
#24
Blerk
22/12/08, 9:40 am
Books are awesome!
“Achievement Unlocked: Book Read.”
#25
G1GAHURTZ
22/12/08, 9:41 am
There’s nothing wrong with books.
Books are 10/10, no doubt.
I just meant that he dosn’t need to worry about really ‘offensive’ things like points, achievements and pop-up messages telling him that he did something right in a book.
#26
Blerk
22/12/08, 9:43 am
Unless it’s a pop-up book.
#27
G1GAHURTZ
22/12/08, 9:48 am
Or a Fighting Fantasy book.
Obviously, he should steer well clear of those.
#28
el Croux
22/12/08, 10:21 pm
“For the record, no, you can’t turn them off, but you can turn off the notifications of getting them.”
Excellent.
I really don’t like all that notification stuff, because it breaks immersion. Even a simple thing like the font being completely different to what the designers have decided the game should use annoys me.
It’s the gaming equivelant of one of those annoying stickers you get on a CD cover or the huge garish MTV graphics covering the edges of an otherwise brilliant Chemical Brothers video.