But backups don't restore onto a different PS3! Had Deepbrown backup up everything onto an external HDD, when the replacement PS3 arrived he'd put it in and get almost nothing restored, and certainly none of his press-games. Sony provide no solution to this whatsoever. A backup is only good for upgrading your HDD, not restoring your PS3 you want/need a replacement. When PS3slim comes along, all those press games will have to go again. But from Sony's POV, that's fair. The press versions are for review. Once the game is out, if journo's want to play the game they ought to buy it, I guess. The only serious problem is if failure of the system prevents a review from being made, which Sony ought to deal with directly.
I think you are taking his situation and applying it to all PS3 users, which is a bit unfair.
With the XB360, you can detach your HDD, keep it, and play that content whenever you like. That is their fix to a failed console.
With the PS3, you can back up your data, or, conversely, re-download everything onto the new console.
For the average user, both situations are manageable, but not ideal. In his case, he cannot redownload the press builds of these games, but that situation does not transfer to all PS3 users. If they were standard builds of games that were purchased, a redownload would solve all of the problems (well, all except the save data issue, for which a backup utility is provided).
Honestly, if Sony provides standard users with all of the tools to ensure their data can be kept safe and up-to-date (via the backup feature) I fail to see what needs to be addressed, other than the management of press builds of games and the users who may have them.
That said, the backup is still usefull, as it will restore user data, save data, install data (meaning once you back up you will not have to reinstall data from disc based games). The only thing that cannot be restored from a backup save onto another PS3 are downloaded titles, which can be re-downloaded for normal users.
