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Playstation Holiday Demo May Erase Memory Cards

Audigy writes "The 2004 Playstation Underground demo disc (that includes a playable demo of Viewtiful Joe 2) apparently may contain a fatal bug that destroys all data on the memory card inserted into the system when the first save point is passed."

55 comments

  1. One word... by over_exposed · · Score: 1

    woops.

    I don't know HOW you code something to do that, but someone dropped the ball.

    --
    "The object of war is not to die for your country, but to make the other bastard die for his." - Patton
    1. Re:One word... by ricotest · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      woops.

      Why, you racist bastard!

    2. Re:One word... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Its easier then you think. They must have had some code that messed up the master file allocation table. The card would then be unreadable even though all the data would techinically be intact.

    3. Re:One word... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      WTF? Who modded this comment as 'offtopic'

      This was one of the wittier things I've seen here for a while.

  2. ctrl-select-delete by August_zero · · Score: 1

    Awaiting the conspiracy theories... oh right, that would only be if that happened on the x-box or gamecube right?

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    On Wall Street they say "buy low, sell high" On the pad we say, "buy high, sell high" Isn't that somehow better?
    1. Re:ctrl-select-delete by media_Assassin · · Score: 1
      Of course, if you has RTFA, you would have seen plenty of conspiracy theories:
      OMG MIKAMI HAD HIS FRIENDS AT CAPCOM SNUCK EVIL CODE INTO TEH VIEWTIFUL JOE 2 DEMO!
      I wouldn't be surprised if Mikami actually was behind this
      It's Capcom's subtle way of saying "Should have supported us on GCN sucka"
      ... etc
  3. Probably just the individual game itself... so... by Audigy · · Score: 2, Interesting

    ...I wonder how many other forthcoming demo discs will have playable copies of Viewtiful Joe 2 on them that do the same thing.

    Egad that would piss me off... 80 hours on FFX and 35+ so far on Star Ocean 3, plus months on other various games... yeah, I don't like to think about memory cards being erased; it gives me the willies.

    Thanks, Slashdot, for posting this story and helping make others aware. :)

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  4. OOOOOOPS! by Jeffery · · Score: 1

    a "fatal bug"..... riiiiiiiiight...

    --
    President Bush Supporter
  5. New Feature by BigumD · · Score: 3, Funny

    Wonder if that'll make it into the final game. I guess it's a good thing the PS2 VJ2 got delayed, huh?

    I can see the back of the box now.... "New Viewtiful Format Power! Keeps you playing over and over again!"

    People who have the HDD can back up memory cards to that... sounds like a good reason to do so.

    --
    --The space between my ears was intentionally left blank--
  6. Re:Hmmm by Gunsmithy · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    That's a picture of his girlfriend. :P

    --
    Kids these days. They don't know the difference between classic, and just plain old.
  7. Class Action? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Can we sue for destruction of property?

    1. Re:Class Action? by Gunsmithy · · Score: 3, Informative

      Every PS Underground disk I've seen has a disclaimer that it's not final code, and may not work correctly...so you may have a little trouble getting it to work in court.

      --
      Kids these days. They don't know the difference between classic, and just plain old.
    2. Re:Class Action? by Tofino · · Score: 3, Funny

      Though I would financially support this class action just to get the court records, which would include testimony from countless geeks screaming about their deleted Kingdom Hearts save files, you know where they had the UBER gummi ship...

  8. Thank you Slashdot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I just got this demo in the mail. I'm very thankfull that I read this before I put it in.

  9. Pffft by PhotoBoy · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Vice City has had this feature for years now, stick more than two cars in a garage and bye-bye save game.

    Of course this new, improved Demo Disc feature does do your whole memory card... I guess I'm out of touch with the modern gamer, in my day we wanted to keep our save games....

    1. Re:Pffft by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Vice City has had this feature for years now, stick more than two cars in a garage and bye-bye save game.

      What? I've done that loads and not lost a saved game.

    2. Re:Pffft by PhotoBoy · · Score: 1

      I depends on the version, they very quickly released a "fixed" version where saving at Cherry Poppers killed your save instead.

    3. Re:Pffft by Jim+Hall · · Score: 1

      I call bullshit on this thread. (1) I've typically saved more than 2 cars in a garage in 'Vice City', and (2) I've saved my game at Cherry Poppers.

      I got my game 3 months after it was released on shelves, so either I have the (1) original version or (2) the "fixed" version you claim to describe. But in neither case have I had a problem with my save games.

    4. Re:Pffft by PhotoBoy · · Score: 1

      You can see a document on GameFAQs here which clearly describes the Cherry Poppers glitch.

      I can't find anyone mentioning the garage glitch (I should have added it's only the Vercetti Mansion garage which does it AFAIK) but my version of the game is 1.30, which you'll notice isn't listed in the different versions section in the doc above...

  10. Obviously. by Locky · · Score: 1

    This is obviously a fiendish plot from none other than Shinji Mikami, Capcom's resident Nintendo loyalist.

    1. Re:Obviously. by KDR_11k · · Score: 1

      As a reaction to the suits dishonouring him by announcing RE 4 for the PS2? After all, he swore he'd behead himself if RE4 was ported to another platform than the Cube.

      --
      Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
  11. Re:Probably just the individual game itself... so. by superpulpsicle · · Score: 1

    I got a cazillion franchises saved for all these ESPN sports games. If I lose even 1 season, I'll go ape shit. But on the other hand, I don't play demo disks ever. 8)

  12. Where'd my gamesaves a-go-go? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    [/lamejoke]

  13. Re:Probably just the individual game itself... so. by th3space · · Score: 2, Informative

    PS2 HDD = backup of all saves on mem-cards.

    It allowed me to dispose of several mem-cards and it's pretty easy to transfer back and forth...I also don't have to worry about demos causing problems w/ my saves on the HDD because none of them that I've played have the capability of writing to the HDD. Not yet, at least.

    --
    "How like you to drag your keyboard to a gun fight." - Aaron Bedard (BANE)
  14. Re:Hmmm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Uhh....no.

    Defensor always switches avatars to different actresses.

  15. Great Gift for Enemies by DarkGamer20X6 · · Score: 3, Funny

    "Hey, buddy...it's been a while. Don't worry about sleeping with my girlfriend; that's all in the past. Anyway, check out this awesome demo disc. Viewtiful Joe 2 is so awesome. Merry Christmas!"

    1. Re:Great Gift for Enemies by Paladin84 · · Score: 5, Funny

      "Hey, buddy...it's been a while. Don't worry about sleeping with my girlfriend; that's all in the past. Anyway, check out this awesome demo disc. Viewtiful Joe 2 is so awesome. Merry Christmas!"

      Wow, if your idea of revenge for someone sleeping with your girlfriend is erasing their playstation memory card would you care to pass her number along to me? For uh,... I need to tell her what a stand up kinda guy you are, yeah, that's it.

    2. Re:Great Gift for Enemies by satoshi1 · · Score: 1

      Hey, if he's a real video game freak then this will DEVESTATE him. If not make him smash a few things =P

    3. Re:Great Gift for Enemies by Forkenhoppen · · Score: 1

      Hey, if he's a real video game freak then this will DEVESTATE him. If not make him smash a few things =P

      Yeah.. like maybe a few boxes

    4. Re:Great Gift for Enemies by metricmusic · · Score: 1

      With X's on them? I can see more of these discs coming out in future. ;)

      --
      http://www.livejournal.com/users/metricmusic
  16. Re:Probably just the individual game itself... so. by satoshi1 · · Score: 1

    I lost my memory card to this demo, but I, too, had backed up most of my saves onto the harddrive. There was maybe one, two at most, saves that I hadn't backed up because I had just recently acquired the game (within the past month). This still pisses me off though, how the hell does something like this get past them???

  17. Re:Probably just the individual game itself... so. by chrish · · Score: 1

    Note that the PS2 HDD doesn't connect to the sexy, new, smaller, quieter, cooler PStwo hardware.

    --
    - chrish
  18. Re:Probably just the individual game itself... so. by th3space · · Score: 1

    I blame it on an ever-present sense of laziness that seems to permeate most demo-disc projects.

    --
    "How like you to drag your keyboard to a gun fight." - Aaron Bedard (BANE)
  19. I got this in an e-mail from them by jeremy_dot · · Score: 3, Informative

    This is an e-mail I just got from PlayStation Underground. (The removed stuff generally has e-mail and other things that I'd rather you didn't click on like "unsubscribe").
    Enjoy.

    Dear PlayStation(R) Underground Member,

    You are scheduled to receive the Holiday 2004 Demo Disc
    including the playable Viewtiful Joe 2 - please take note.
    It has just been brought to our attention that there is a
    glitch in this demo which will erase all of your saved files
    from your Memory Card(s). If you have not yet played the
    Viewtiful Joe 2 demo, please remove your Memory Card(s)
    from your PlayStation(R) 2 computer entertainment system
    before you load the Holiday 2004 Demo Disc.

    Sony Computer Entertainment America would like to express
    our sincerest apologies for any inconvenience this may have
    caused you.

    http://playstation.mx0.net/r?[removed]

    "PlayStation" and the "PS" Family logo are
    registered trademarks
    of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. The Sony Computer
    Entertainment logo is a registered trademark of Sony Corporation.

    Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc.
    919 East Hillsdale Boulevard, Foster City CA 94404

    ---
    [unsubscribe information]

  20. Sony test procedure by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Best guess as to how it happened: The 1st party testers aren't responsible for testing memory card issues, that would fall to Compliance/TRC testers. Then it all depends on whether they actually have saves from other games on their cards, but they might not, since testers are encouraged to format their cards repeatedly "to keep previous build saves from corrupting the function of the new build" A tester that doesn't have old saves wouldn't have encountered this bug. Doesn't mean they shouldn't have thought of it though. From my exp. the Demos are very low priority and often release with issues.

  21. death by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    somebody would die if i lost my ffx gamesaves ;(
    thanks for the warning

  22. Re: PSTwo lack of hard drive support by Audigy · · Score: 1

    I'm still holding out hope for some type of USB hard drive enclosure... but I guess I shouldn't hold my breath.

    When the PS2 with the HDD started dying (disc read blahblah), we just bought one of the PSTwos and converted the old one to a dedicated HDLoader machine. All 3 US mixes of DDR run on it with hardly any loading time. It's great.

    We're all set until it stops being able to boot the HDLoader disc. Oops. (yes, I am aware of the hacked version, but have been too lazy to stick it on a memory card (the PS2 in my room is modded, so I could do this.)

    --
    [an error occured while processing this directive]
  23. OT.... but at 80h by 0racle · · Score: 1

    At 80 hours of FFX, just go do the last boss. I played it for 80h, had my characters all over that sphere grid and it only took Yuna 2 physical attacks to dispatch the final boss, there was no challange at all. Unfortunatly the enemies don't level up with you.

    --
    "I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
    1. Re:OT.... but at 80h by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The enemies levelled up with you in FF8, made levelling completely pointless. You do 10% more damage, the enemy has 10% more health, etc.

    2. Re:OT.... but at 80h by 0racle · · Score: 1

      They leveled up in Tactics as well, it made both 8 and Tactics a lot more challenging. The leveling system wasn't quite as linear as you make it out, while they did get more HP it wasnt an equal increase to your strength, agility, luck, etc.

      --
      "I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
  24. Re: PSTwo lack of hard drive support by th3space · · Score: 1

    Has Sony officially dubbed the baby PS2, PStwo yet? They ought to if they haven't.

    --
    "How like you to drag your keyboard to a gun fight." - Aaron Bedard (BANE)
  25. Penny Arcade by mollyhackit · · Score: 1

    I guess <URL:http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=20 03-07-07&res=l>that letter</URL> really pissed them off so they decided no one deserved save points.<P>Seriously, I'm on the last mission of San Andreas, I probably would gone on a killing spree if my game had been deleated.

    1. Re:Penny Arcade by mollyhackit · · Score: 1

      Wow, I really screwed up that post.

      that letter

    2. Re:Penny Arcade by scoutsatan · · Score: 1

      I Beat GTA:SA 77% completed But i saw the closing credits and i didnt see the warning untill after i played the Demo Disk And Yes it did ERASE every thing on my memory card AND I AM SO PISSED OFF

  26. Re:Probably just the individual game itself... so. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yeah- putting a HDD on a console system is absolutely ingenious. Thank god for Sony to be a forward-looking company, and coming out with this capability.

    Ha- memory cards are for chumps, and Playstation is the king of the memory cards.

    Buy an Xbox, fool.

  27. Re:Probably just the individual game itself... so. by th3space · · Score: 1

    I have one, thanks. But this wasn't about Xbox, was it? Had it been about a problem w/ the Xbox, I wouldn't have brought up the PS2.

    I'm so glad that this site is populated by the likes of you, lest we all feel as though everything smarmy in life had dried up and blown away.

    --
    "How like you to drag your keyboard to a gun fight." - Aaron Bedard (BANE)
  28. Re: PSTwo lack of hard drive support by suyashs · · Score: 1

    Its easier than saying Playstation 2 Model 70000.

    --
    http://chrono.posterous.com/
  29. This has to be said... by CashCarSTAR · · Score: 2, Funny

    ... ...

    HENSHIN A BYE-BYE!!

  30. Banjo-Kazooie? by Luigi30 · · Score: 1

    Anyone reminded of Banjo-Kazooie's cheat protection? If you entered in two of the major cheats (there were lots, but only some were considered cheats by the game) then Gruntilda would say something to the effect of "do that again and I'll erase your games." The player of course, not taking her seriously would enter another code, and lo and behold! Grunty would say "I warned ya!" and erase your games. Also, Animal Crossing would pretend to do that if you reset during the game enough. Resetti would say he's erasing your games, the game would pretend to reset, and would go back to the screen it left off, games luckily intact.

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  31. Re: PSTwo lack of hard drive support by zerman · · Score: 1

    Yes, they have, AFAIK.

  32. Re: PSTwo lack of hard drive support by KDR_11k · · Score: 1

    A friend of mine claims there are large PS2s with 70k model numbers (more exactly, that he has one).

    --
    Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
  33. That's ok.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Because nobody will ever get to the first save point.

  34. Re: PSTwo lack of hard drive support by suyashs · · Score: 1

    He may have a v7 PS2 which isn't Model 70000. Model 50000 was the last "large" PS2 made. There are no Model 70000 Large PS2 but there are PS2s commonly referred to as v7, which are model no. SCPH-39000, 39001, 39002, 39003, 39004 or 37000.

    --
    http://chrono.posterous.com/
  35. Re:Probably just the individual game itself... so. by Lehk228 · · Score: 1

    how does it get past the BIOS, no game should be able to do any more than Read any other games save slots. only the Game that owns the file and the BIOS menu should have the ability to mess with a file.

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