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Sony PSP Defects Reported
Among many to report on this issue, OneHungLo writes "GamesAreFun.com is reporting that several defective PSP units have been shipped, suffering from problems such as dead pixels, broken UMD drives, air bubbles in the screens, dust in the screens, and the analog "nubs" not working, or actually falling off. They also have a video of a UMD popping out of the PSP as it's running, due to the unit being twisted/turned. I wonder how long it will be until Sony issues an official statement about this?"
Sony use to be known for the quality of their products. With mistakes like this and running to save costs will hurt them in the long run. After a while I will rather get my Sorney or a Genuine Penophonix version which has better quality.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Isn't buying a 1st gen. protable electronics device just begging for this kind of trouble?
Why poeple buy bleeding edge products is beyond me.
The playstation 2 costed, originally, what? $250, $300 dollars?
It was a piece of shit. They died on their owners left and right.
And now you expect that, a portable console, that costs just $200 dollars, be a reliable piece of hardware?
Sony is just reducing costs as much as posible. Idiots will stil buy the things, so who cares.
I've seen the video... and read the articles... but I still don't believe it that much. Dead Pixels I believe. Even the DS has this problem(as did the GBA and GBASP). But I have yet to see anyone report problems of the nubs not working or their psp not turning on except on this one small site linking to another small site.
If this is an issue, I put it in the barrel of consumers causing the problem, or just being a very small number of people, below 1%.
The UMD popping out, seems a little odd. Twisting the unit, I can understand, I mean, it's a small portable device, I could do the same with my old walkman. But during normal play? I doubt it.
Sony used to have a good reputation in the electronics business. They built their business on quality.
Now, like many businesses, they are in it for the short term profits. They build for the latest fads, with the latest dumbass useless 'features' the 'bling bling' crowd is looking for. They now build hardware aiming for people who are attracted to flashy shiny things rather than people who want qualty.
Mod me down, but for their consumer grade stuff, it's true.
Mod down people who tell people how to mod in their sigs
Company B releases a sweet little handheld gaming system in time for Christmas. The system isn't particularly revolutionary; its biggest selling point is that it features very powerful components for a handheld system. The system has a variety of issues, several of which should have been caught in the design/development phase.
Which of these systems would you rather own?
Obliteracy: Words with explosions
I'm amazed anyone actually has a Q/A dept anymore. Back in 2000, when axes started to fall, suits developed a new philosophy, around the world: Q/A Is Expendable -- let the customer test it and we'll just write off the bad units and dodge blame for any damage done.
Heck, we can _all_ think of one very large and successful company which does this.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
My GBA SP hasn't had any problems, is inexpensive, gets great battery life, is very small and portable, and has a huge library of fun games. Meanwhile the two new kids on the block (DS and PSP) have problems, are expensive, get crappy battery life, are large and don't easily fit in your pocket, and don't have very many games for them.
Especially when you consider a GBA SP plus a flash cart for storing multiple games, the portability of the GBA SP is above and beyond anything that the two new kids on the block can pretend to be.
Every product has defective units. It's nice the internet exists so people can hear about every single one of them and blow the whole thing out of proportion.
That sounds pretty lousy to me.
They should have shipped you a new one right away, and had you ship in your old one. They could even take a hold on your credit card for the new one until your old one was received.
To me, not being able to use a brand new item for weeks is totally unacceptable.
Seriously -- let's assume that this "toy" will win customers that will be at least "this short" to play -- 14 years and younger. 15 years and older have boobies and ding dongs to occupy them, along with weed, crack, and whatever else gets past government school teachers.
So -- we've narrowed the user base down to kids who may or may not lose interest in the PSP after about 2-3 weeks. Kids who might not necessarily know what a pixel is, let alone if it's dead. Kids who will toss it aside if it breaks, piss of their parents by wasting a Christmas gift, and go back to playing the full-size XBox or PS2 they already own.
Parents will give a crap, only because they'll be compelled to go back to Best Buyfriggin' go BACK 2-3 days AFTER Christmas, stand in line behind the smelly holiday drunk who's going to punch a customer service lackey in the face, and wait 1 hour for the mess to be cleaned up before they're informed of customer damage vs. manufacturer defect policies and 15% restocking fees by said customer service lackey's un-punched replacement.
My 2 cents. And neither of them would ever be spent on buying one of these for my kid. Build 'em a PC and teach 'em how to infect your home network with a Paris Hilton video worm or a backdoor hard-drive erasing trojan with a pop-up Pokemon mooning the screen, I say! That's certainly guaranteed to spur more conversation between a parent and child than a PSP beeping and blooping away in the backseat of the family minivan.
IronChefMorimoto
I agree that Sony products have declined in quality, but I don't think it completely has to do with short term profits. They have alot more competition than they did in the past. They have to cut costs to keep up with companies in China and Korea. American consumers tend to choose products based on cost. I know there are exceptions, but electronics like TVs and DVD players are commodity items now and competition is fierce.
I prefer Samsumg stuff myself.
Slashdot links to article from GamesAreFun. Who took the article from: Joystiq.com who says
"Unconfirmed reports are already bombarding the airwaves! It seems that the 'Dead Pixel Syndrome' that has plagued the DS launch is also ruffling Sony consumers' feathers. Some reports cite as many as three dead pixels on a single LCD. Other malfunctions include: broken UMD mechanisms, loose analogue controls & stuck buttons. We'll be sure to update you with Sony's response..."
http://www.joystiq.com/entry/1234000210023539/
Now, joystiq.com got this from another newsblog called Spong where they said this:
"As with the launch of any new console (particularly from Sony, a company which has seen its credibility as a manufacturer take some serious knocks in recent times) early adopters have been quick to lodge build-quality complaints with the media.
Of these, the PSP has been on the receiving end of a considerable number of dead pixel moans, akin to those accompanying the Nintendo DS. The worst complaints are of three pixel outs on a single unit, though most report solo duds.
Other complaints stem from basic build-quality issues that inevitably impact on small lead-time new technology releases. Of these, stuck buttons, fragile analogue controllers and faulty UMD mechanisms have flared up most often, though in the main - and compared to the launches of the PlayStation and Xbox - the PSP seems to have been put together rather well. If SCEI reacts to the dead pixel issue, we'll let you know."
http://news.spong.com/detail/news.asp?prid=8101
Now they link back to slashdot. Unknowingly that they started the whole mess(I'm sure they recieved this article from rumors being spread around on a forum somewhere god knows).
So far, people have already become aware that yes, an lcd can have dead pixels, almost every mass produced lcd does get these.
The umd shooting, has already been proven false. As well as the nubs that fell off. How these were believed in the first place I have no idea. The videos looked neat, but have been proven to be trickery. I hope this doesn't happen again.
Nintendo has made crap in the past. GBA with no light. GBA SP with no headphone jack. Design decisions or just being stupid?
Blatant decisions to get the early adopters to buy the next generation GBA and an overpriced adaptor (or a built-in excuse to buy the *next* GBA) respectively.
Nintendo *knew* that the lack of a light in the GBA would be an issue. There is *no* way on this earth they couldn't have, given how ubiquitous clip-on lights were for the original GameBoy. This was a blatant and cynical marketing decision, and although I'm less convinced of the evil genius of the GBA-SP's stupid headphone socket, I have to conclude that it follows the same logic.
Nintendo are *not* that damn stupid.