Masahiro Sakurai's PS3 crashes, costing him nearly two decades' worth of save data

Masahiro Sakurai, best known as the creator of Kirby and the director of the 3DS's Kid Icarus: Uprising, is facing disaster.

The sordid details were laid out in the column he wrote this week for Japan's Famitsu magazine. What happened? "The hard disk on my PlayStation 3 has completely died," he said. "It's a full crash. The end. Goodbye, Planet Earth."

[XabiDaChosenOne]

He should have gotten PSPlus

[NeverEnding1989]

But why would I pay to save? Isn't that a service that everyone else offers for free?

[turgore]

You also get a lot of other goodies. The saves are just icing on the cake.

[Army_of_Darkness]

I'm just curious?

[ziggurcat]

normal game saving? obviously, yes.

cloud saving? no.

[Phoenix-Ho-Yoku]

lol dude if u think thats the only thing ps+ is doing...

you get free exclusives avatars
Animated themes
Beta's Early acces
Full games for free
the best games out there half the price

more and more....the saving thing is just a little bonus

[aquamala]

def free on Steam and Origin

[Eyeco]

Yeah I spent £10 for PS+ and on top of of cloud saves I got an ass load of free games Red Dead Redemption, Bulletstorm, Dead Space 2, Little Big Planet 2, Borderlands, Infamous 2, Resident Evil 5 Gold Edition(already played it but lost the disc) Double Dragon Neo, as well as exclusive trials, demo's, betas, free dynamic screen savers, discount on games, cloud saves, so what is that like £300-400 worth of content all for £10-30 if that's not a robbery I don't know what is, it's essentially the closest thing console gaming is gonna get to Steam.

[turnerdc]

@ Army_of_Darkness

Free on OnLive.

[Ben_Grimm]

@Never

I totally see what you did there.

[GarandShooter]

Do you ask the same question about playing online?

[oricon]

You do not get full games for free you get rentals of pre determined games.

[Tonester925]

Never put 100% trust in technology

[Elwenil]

I find it odd that a software programmer doesn't back everything up regularly out of habit. Every programmer I have known did it like it was their religion.

[kneon]

For important stuff I have a raid array plus at least 2 other back ups on non-raid storage.

I do a full back up of my PS3s every 2-3 weeks, back up stuff to PSN and for non-locked game saves I also save a copy to a flash drive.

If it's important to you then back it up or don't come crying when your drive inevitably fails.

[GraveLord]

How convenient. He is known for making Nintendo games. He just HAD to let people know. It's not like he has any hidden agenda here.....

EDIT: Like other people are saying, if you were smart you would have gotten Playstation Plus to back up all your saves to the cloud. It's weird how you can play so many Playstation games and not be subscribed to Playstation Plus....

[aquamala]

why do Sony fanboys need to be so defensive, don't be so surprised when hard drives fail.

[HammadTheBeast]

Why is Sony even mentioned then? He could've just said "Hard Drive Failure".

[beerkeg]

Did you even read it Gravelord? No you didn't, that would be too much hard work aye?

'Sakurai took the rest of his column to discuss the online-backup features of the PlayStation Plus service, as well as similar backup tools on the Xbox 360 and other systems. "Going through this, I wanted to take this column to nag at all of you a little," he closed. "If you don't want to come face-to-face with this depressing turn of events, then it's best if you back up your game save data as much as you can. Right now! Immediately!"'

So obviously after he talked about what happened to him I imagine he spoke about the virtues of the backup tools on PlayStation Plus.

But hey ho, lets turn it into a fanboi fest about hidden agendas.

[glennco]

judging by his agrees there are a bunch of readers who don't read anything but the heading

[violents]

The article was really about reminding people to back up their saves, he's a develper and he forgot. All he's trying to do is give you a word for the wiser. It's just too bad he had to screw up to realize it.

"remember to back up info you want to save"

[TheLyonKing]

Silly man, that happened to me once when I was coding and now I am extra careful.
I have two external Hardrives plus i regularly back everything up.

I know his pain but maybe nOt to a great as extent as him.

[hill71]

and

[modesign]

what a moron, always back up your data with multiple technologies.

[GameLord08]

One of the most renowned Nintendo video-game designers is a "moron" now, because he was succeptible to a hardware failure?

Well, it looks like we have two now, don't we?

[JAMurida]

I wouldn't call him a moron, but I do agree that is really is almost common practice that you should ALWAYS back up your data, despite what platform you play on.

[GameLord08]

Oh, I do agree it was a bit silly of him to not back up his files, especially with the unexpected unstability HDD drives are still succeptible to nowadays.

But to call him a moron? How immature.

[r21]

Yikes, thats very unlucky. I wonder how this came to be? Did he possibly play his ps3 too long or was it mechanical error? Either way, let this be a lesson to all gamers....back up your stuff before its too late!

[Wintersun616]

Protip: Backup everything you can via multiple different methods.

[blackbirdi]

use usb key as backup !!

[ProGrasTiNation]

I guess he doesn't know the ps3 hdd encryption was broke 2 years ago & his data can be recovered from a pc

[dumahim]

You can't recover what isn't there anymore.

[Dark_Overlord]

Does that work? I thought the PS3 required the param files for the saves to be recognised from an external source? Care to provide a link please :)

[adorie]

He went to a data recovery firm, they couldn't help him. I believe the abbreviation goes something like "S.O.L"

[glennco]

read the damn article

[elbeasto86]

This happened to me before I could back up my PS2 and PS1 saves. My 200+ hour FF 7, 8, 9, 10 and 12 saves were all gone. It's one of my biggest fears of going all digital.

[TheGamingArt]

1st ---- HDDs crash
2nd---- We have a feature in this day and age called BACKING UP.
3rd ---- time to get PS+

[telekineticmantis]

that doesnt know to back up his HDD. Hmm, guess he's not that modern after all. Get with the times...

[jay2]

Wow, it's callled Backing up, PS + as well will auto save, you're a games dev, backing up should be second nature.

[dumahim]

I wonder why he didn't keep his original memory cards. Did he never think he might want to fire up a game on the original PS1/2?
I also wonder what their lifespan is. I had no problems with my old PS1 saves (even off of as 32X aftermarket card), but you'd think the data can only be stored for so long.

[OC_MurphysLaw]

I find it ridiculous that there was no back up. I mean utterly ridiculous.

[synce]

I don't think anyone's dumb enough to have just 1 copy of so much savedata. I have some PS1 saves mirrored on 4 memory cards. This is an ad for Sony's cloud storage or whatever

[AIndoria]

Err, thanks for the article. Now I need to figure out a way to save my PS3 saves. My PS3 was awkwardly slow today. HAd to reboot it thrice to play BF3 -.-

[Dark_Overlord]

What p*sses me off the most are locked saves, they can only be backed up 1 of 2 ways.

1. The PS+ cloud (I have no intention of using +, no value in it for me personally)

2. Full system backup (takes hours as you can't select certain items, and a restore erases all new stuff)

Why can't they just unlock them :/

[Dark_Overlord]

Obviously some people don't want unlocked saves :/

[MightyPatapon]

Sakurai was about to start playing PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale beta.

[jd666]

Resistance 3 corrupted my hard drive losing years worth of stuff!!

[KwietStorm_BLM]

Are you talking about the fans data utility? Because it mysteriously made a corrupted file for me too. Didn't crash my whole drive though.

[jd666]

The game kept freezing my PS3 on 1st level and I lost patience with it after several hard resets, then the R3 file got stuck on 'counting', left it for nearly 5 hrs but when I went back to it it was still counting so I had no choice but to unplug it which corrupted my whole drive! Looked online and same thing happened to others too

[KwietStorm_BLM]

Ok that's not what happened to me, but why would you unplug it? Why wouldn't you hit the power button?

[jd666]

I held the power button down 1st but it didn't do anything, didn't beep or flash, it was frozen. Had no choice but to unplug it. I still want to play through R3 but I'm not chancing it!!

[MySwordIsHeavenly]

If you don't want to pay for Plus, just save them all on a flash drive.

Idiot.

[sdplisken]

if you seriously value your data then back it up
im not gonna lose sleep over my data though

[Silly gameAr]

That sucks big time. An external hd would have been a good idea to back up all that data incase something like this happened.

[Cam977]

That's why GameFaqs is your friend!

[KillerPwned]

That sucks and all but why is this even news?

[SpinalRemains138]

What kind of professional has 20 years worht of eggs in one basket?

Amateur. Not SONY's fault that he was careless. We live in a digital age, and backing things up is as important and common sense as looking before you cross the street.

[Pana]

One trying to subtly make Sony look bad without explicitly saying so.

[deafdani]

Here you have it, folks. Masahiro Sakurai, one of Nintendo's most prominent figures, is a confessed Playstation fan, one that, going by the article, immensely enjoys playing PS1, PS2 and PS3 games. And one that feels incredibly sad because he lost all that data for his PS3 HDD dying.

So, tell me. If such a important Nintendo figure can publicly aknowledge that he loves and enjoys something else besides Nintendo, what excuse do we have, as gamers, to keep on with these stupid fanboy wars? Let's learn from this man, and respect and enjoy what the big three companies have to offer us, appreciating their strenghts while also being aware of their weaknesses.

[pupa]

Maybe he knows which is the better console (wink) One for work and one for real play.

[miDnIghtEr20C_SfF]

Uhmmmm.. usually from the way this generation has gone, you shouldn't be surprised by a Nintendo guy playing his Playstations.

From what I've seen this gen, most people who have a 360 and a Wii also have a PS3. Seems most people who have a PS3... that's all they have.

I'm not surprised at all that a person who loves video games, has been playing on all consoles and enjoying them.

[tiffac008]

Sakurai said in the column that he replaced the PS3 HD before it died on him. So I want to know which brand of HD he was using because I had a friend who used a Hitachi HD to replace his PS3 HD and that went kaput too.

[Neko_Mega]

So is PS3 didn't crash, it was is hard drive. Got to love how they title things -_-

[SnakeCQC]

I've lost my ps3 save data at least 3 times absolutely horrible when it happens

[DivineAssault]

damn.. I backed up all my data a few times in the past 6 yrs.. Why didnt he do that? Well, @ least he openly admits that hes a PS fan... Gotta give him credit for admitting that he supported it for 20+ years lol

[josephayal]

What? two decades? I never heard something like that

[Crazay]

I still have 3 Original PS3s with full hardware backward compatibility and even I know to back my shit up. I replaced the drive with a 500GB that I remove twice a year and copy a back up of to another drive in my Desktop. I'd be pissed if I were him too but he should have known better.

[Karum]

A game developer that didn't have his data backed up.

What a noob.

[SuperStrokey1123]

How the hell is this the PS3s fault at all? He changed the drive once before it mentions and...

[mochachino]

It's called a backup. PS3 is awesome that way, I can't back up my 360 but my PS3 is.

[Rykoshet]

That's what he gets for cheating on nintendo. Hussy.

[Daves]

Somethings wrong here, when developing on the PS3, the data is stored on the PC HD.

Edit, ahh he's lost his saves, not code.

[Roper316]

that sucks and I feel bad for him, but all HDD's have a life span of so many hours or use before they die. My laptop just suffered the same fate about a month ago.

Moral of the story is all users need to back up their important data just in case something like this happens.

[OooHJohnny]

Goodbye Mr Masahiro Sakurai.

[kma2k]

Thats why i backup all my game saves every month!

[Mister_G]

My PS3 YLOD'd but I had a backup so I thought I was okay.

Turns out copy protected saves (Dark Souls) won't restore onto my new PS3 slim, so lost all my progress.

I'm now a PS+ subscriber and it auto uploads saves to the cloud so I'll never loose anything ever again.

[kingPoS]

I'm just glad I can completely back up my hard drive. (takes forever though)

So a person has stock in a Nokia profile, ZOMG!!! he's using a Samsung!

Who gives a ****!

stealth edit: going to upload all my saves & backup my psn videos.... just in case.

[Max-Zorin]

All bad

[Raoh]

So if your pc hard drive dies your supposed to cry and moan to microsoft? Dell? HP? Apple?

Or your own dumb azz for not backing up?

I don't even do file copies on my ps3, I back up the entire system, there is a back up feature included, you can attach an external drive and backup and restore at anytime.

[byeGollum]

I've been self-conscious of this for a while now, and he's a scape goat, lesson learned!

I can't imagine all the hours I spent playing a particular game, especially a RPG game, gone! There's no way I'd feel like playing the games again.

I guess he'll have to pick and choose which of the games he'd like to play again :/ That really sucks.. I wish my ps3 was backward compatible.. I think those ps3s weren't built to last? argh..

[Goozex]

Typiical M$ and nin. holiday propaganda. *Rolls eyes and goes back to playing ps all stars via remote play*

[baldulf]

He should haved done back ups of those savegames, it's not like they weight much. And one would say that a man who earns his living by working with electronics should now that every HDD has a limited life span.

[Sheikh Yerbouti]

Lost all my GTAV...*sniff*...still pisses me off.

I learned my lesson and make frequent back-ups. The cloud is great, but nothing's guarantee. Your back-up needs a back-up.

[Savader]

Lol, I already DO back up my save data. Update my external hard drive every week. But that seriously sucks, man... I feel for the poor bastard.

[MasterD919]

My PS2 crashed way back when...nothing works forever.

[frankiebeans]

I had the same problem with my HDD dying on my 60gig except what i lost was more important than any game save I lost photos and video take of family and my mother and dog and cat who have passed away and I will never be able to get them back they mean more than any stupid game save.

[sarshelyam]

I will never understand why people give computers/consoles the power to ruin their invested time. I religiously backup all save files each time I complete a play session, and if it's a protected save file, PlayStation Plus takes care of the rest.

Seriously people....electronics are stupid, but that doesn't mean you have to be stupid too! Backup your saves manually. Hardware failure can and will happen someday, might as well CYA and take care of things as best you can while the option is there.

[WiiLovePS360]

Forgive me if I'm missing something here, but how exactly has he lost "nearly two decades worth of save data"? The PS3 has only been out since 2006, and as far as I know doesn't feature any way of transferring PS or PS2 save files over to its HDD. Correct? So he has only lost save data for PS/PS2 games that he has started from scratch again on his PS3.

So in reality he has lost 6 years at most worth of game saves, not "nearly two decades" worth.

[Drainage]

hax

[cee773]

You can migrate saves from ps1 and PS2 to ps3 with the USB to memory card adapter

[WiiLovePS360]

ah OK thanks cee773, I completely forgot about that.

Although if you have that, surely you would keep the original PS/PS2 memory cards, meaning you still have a 6 year old backup at least?

[Flewid638]

Electronics.....sh*t happens.

[vayacondiosamigo]

https://playstation.custhel...

"The following copy-protected content will not be transferable:

Digital Right Management (DRM)
PlayStation® format software game data
PlayStation®2 format software game data
PlayStation®3 format software Game Save Data flagged as unexportable
Trophy data, trophy data is saved onto your Sony Entertainment Network account

Please note that, with the exception of videos, content purchased from the PlayStation®Store can be redownloaded from the PlayStation®Network download list and does not need to be backed up. Click herefor instructions on how to access your previously purchased content."

"Copying PlayStation® and PlayStation®2 game saves

PlayStation and PlayStation 2 game saves on a PS3 can be saved onto a PlayStation and PlayStation 2 Memory Card through the use of the Memory Card Adaptor. For information on how to copy PlayStation and PlayStation 2 game saves."

[vayacondiosamigo]

fyi this is from the playstation website

[vayacondiosamigo]

even if he did backup all data to HDD ps and ps2 games would not transfer

[Legion]

Just because your HDD goes down doesn't mean you lost all your data. I semi-competent data retrieval service can grab the data off the HDD and I myself could put it back onto a new HDD for him to be able to use most of his saves still.

Isn't he a computer guy? What is he going on about?

[OneAboveAll]

2 decades worth of saved games data. And just how often would he have played all the games that he had saves for?

It's not a big deal and he should get over it. Just play the game again.

[PSK22]

Who????!!!

[PSK22]

Ok never mind ummmmm ok?

[plexdk]

Oh well, i guess its back to real life for him. When he gets out, he'll see alot of things have happened the last two decades ;)

* no pun intended

[ninjahunter]

PS3 Fails: "Its ok ps3, it happens to the best of us"
Xbox Fails: "OMG, what a piece of trash"
Wii Fails: "NIIIINNNNNTTTTTEEEEENNNN NDDDOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!"
PC Fails: "Needed an excuse to upgrade anyway"

[sjaakiejj]

This crash had nothing to do with the Ps3 though... Hard Drives are considered disposable, like batteries, and have an explicit life span attached to them. For Hard Drives, it's not a matter of if they crash, it's a matter of when they crash.

And, if you read the article, you'll see he replaced the hard drive with a new one which then crashed.

[ninjahunter]

ok, take that stick out your ass i was poking fun not raping and pillaging, and the ps3's dependency on hard drives apposed to the competition(IE- games that require streaming) is plenty reason for it to be the PS3's fault.

[sjaakiejj]

A PC depends on a hard drive. Do you blame the motherboard for the hard drive crash? Do you blame the Xbox for your broken controller? Do you blame the car for a flat tire?

Regardless of dependency, if a third party piece of hardware fails it's hardly the console's fault. I could buy a shitty hard drive that's guaranteed to last no longer then a week, put it in my Playstation and wait for it to crash. Would you still blame the console?

Poking fun only works when your argument actually makes any sense. In your case, it doesn't. In fact, I'm more under the impression that you were playing victim.

(It's "opposed" by the way, not "apposed").

[ninjahunter]

Did your Gf (Or bf) break up with you or something? there are about 60 better arguments to start on this one article than with my one humerus and stereo typically accurate post. Did i call the PS3 a Piece of shit or something? I mean, i dissed on every platform yet you come bull rushing me like we have some personal vendetta. Im sorry your too sensitive for the internet, but dont come in here and expect me to fight a crusade over a quip i made. Also, if i cared about the spelling/grammar i did in a 30 second response i would have made sure to do it KUREKTLIE. Herv a nurs dey.

[sjaakiejj]

"Did i call the PS3 a Piece of shit or something? I mean, i dissed on every platform yet you come bull rushing me like we have some personal vendetta."

No where did I imply any of that. You may want to check your reading comprehension skills. I merely stated your "humorous" post didn't make any sense due to factual information, and after your second reply corrected your spelling such that you could learn to do it right (I have lived in multiple countries, and I see it as a positive thing if someone corrected my spelling, as that's the only way to learn).

I'm not mad at you or what you said, I merely corrected you. These types of posts can be funny, though you need to be very careful with their context.

[cheapness1]

Dunno why this is a PS3 thing, clearly the man picks some terrible HDDs up :p what make was it so as one may avoid buying one, and losing all those mega important game saves!

[kasasensei]

Happened to me too. Lost all my ps2 games saves. VP/FF10/10-2/12,All my Persona...Never restarted those games since. Big Loss. FUCK YLOD.

[WetN00dle69]

Ahhhhhhhh.....so sad.

[Sakkaku]

So you lost all your save data?

You should have back it up in any number of ways.

Don't know how? Get a PC and figure it out.

Nuff said.