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Sony PSP Defects Reported

Posted by Zonk on from the psp-means-please-send-parts? dept.

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?"

11 of 439 comments (clear)

  1. Playstation 2 by damicatz · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Didn't the new Playstation 2 also have defects?

    1. Re:Playstation 2 by BigDogCH · · Score: 2, Interesting

      The first wave of the Original Playstations (now PSone), a long long long time ago, were very defective as well. I was one of the idiots who rushed out and spend $300 on one, just to find out it failed after only an hour of use. I was told that the entire first batch from one of the plants was bad. Whatever that means. Sony was great about it though! They had a courrier drop a LOANER off the next day, and pick up my old one (it actually said LOANER on the reciept he gave me, and I was told it was temporary, which didn't make sence). A month later I was supposed to call them to find out when I would be getting MY system back. They said they were sorry, they could not find it. So, I still have the loaner, years later. And when it breaks, I will be contacting Sony to see if they have found mine yet. I have had this one since the week they were released though, without problems.

    2. Re:Playstation 2 by upsidedown_duck · · Score: 2, Interesting

      To me, not being able to use a brand new item for weeks is totally unacceptable.

      The worst part about waiting for an entertainment item is that the customer's enthusiasm is easily defeated. Imagine being all hyped up about a console, spending several hundred dollars on the console, games, and accessories, only to be left embarrased having to go to a friends house. Entertainment is such a fickle industry that either Sony doesn't care (what's a few lost customers) or they don't understand.

      --
      -- "Makes Little Debbie look like a pile of puke!" - Moe Szyslak
    3. Re:Playstation 2 by Jimmy+The+Leper · · Score: 3, Interesting

      You shouldn't give sony credit for that... A good response for sony would have been to over-night you a box to ship it back in. Then, as soon as they get word of it hitting the tracking system, over-night you a new replacement.

      That's what apple did when my iPod died. What you describe is barely acceptable support.

      --
      -You're only as clean as your towel.
    4. Re:Playstation 2 by SetupWeasel · · Score: 3, Interesting

      A DS was fixed in 4 days.

      Nintendo payed for shipping, and the man sent it out on November 29, just 8 days after release.

      This kind of service you get with Nintendo for one dead pixel.

    5. Re:Playstation 2 by Dogtanian · · Score: 2, Interesting

      The worst part about waiting for an entertainment item is that the customer's enthusiasm is easily defeated. Imagine being all hyped up about a console, spending several hundred dollars on the console, games, and accessories, only to be left embarrased having to go to a friends house.

      See; the let-down occurs *after* Sony get your hard-earned cash. So unless someone makes a stink, why should Sony care?

      They won't lose customers unless the disgruntled purchasers complain loudly enough in the right places.

      --
      "Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
  2. its simple by asv108 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    If you choose to buy the first release of any consumer electronic, you are playing Russian roulette, especially with portable electronics such as (game handhelds and mp3 players). Not that a stern warning will deter the mindless herds from waiting outside of electronic retail conglomerates in the cold, in order to buy a product at the highest possible retail price.

  3. Got to be careful with some of these reports... by iapetus · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Some of them have already been debunked as fakes. Others are real enough, including the flying UMDs and dead pixels (though that seems to be an issue on just about any similar device - DS suffered from these as well, for example).

    --
    ++ Say to Elrond "Hello.".
    Elrond says "No.". Elrond gives you some lunch.
  4. Limited release / Beta testing by tji · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Isn't this basically what many Japanese companies do? They get the product to beta quality, then do a limited release in the Japanese market. They work out the bugs there, then have a much better quality product for the international release.

    The only difference here is that the PSP is so well known that they can't keep the status quiet. People here find out about it, and write comments as if the PSP was a product they could go purchase at Best Buy. It's not... and by the time it is, the PSP will be very high quality.

  5. Re:Aren't most 1st gen portable products similar? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    without wanting to sound like a troll, Americans are generally a lot more childish than Japanese. Japan has a culture based on honour and respect, America is based on arrogance and violence.

  6. Switch pattern offset by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Hi, I'm one of Japanese sony-heckler. Among all trouble reports, what most frightened (er, in reality, amused) us is that the "strange offset" discovered between "square" button and its switch pattern below the button. Obviously it connotes some unusual things had happen in their development or production process. For instance, see pics below:

    http://sylphys.ddo.jp/upld2nd/game/img-box/img20 04 1213143737.jpg
    http://cgi.members.interq.or.jp/hi phop/youhama/up/ source/yaguyasu0427.jpg

    Many users already report that square button doesn't be pushed and returned as smoothly as other buttons do (that's natural cuz the button doesn't placed in the right position which the membrane switch pattern), and often make a creaking noise.