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Sony to PSP Owners: Just Adapt

Cymoro writes "In an article Gamespot posted recently Ken Kutaragi, Sony Computer Entertainment president, was quoted in a japanese business magazine about the PSP square button defect as saying "There may be people that complain about its usability, but that's something which users and game software developers will have to adapt to." Apparently, flaws are a feature."

13 of 142 comments (clear)

  1. Quote... by mooniejohnson · · Score: 5, Insightful
    From the article: "I believe we made the most beautiful thing in the world. Nobody would criticize a renowned architect's blueprint that the position of a gate is wrong. It's the same as that."

    If the gate refused to open sometimes, killed a couple people, or was in an area where someone couldn't enter the gate, they sure would. And they'd have the gate fixed. Why shouldn't they fix a gaming handheld, for crying out loud?

    --

    Elmo knows where you live!

  2. Lift Up Ye Mighty Gates by AtariAmarok · · Score: 4, Funny
    "If the gate refused to open sometimes, killed a couple people"

    I only approach these kind of gates with a tranq gun in hand. You never know when they might chomp you.

    --
    Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
  3. Weaslease to English translation: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Weaslease to English translation:

    "We screwed up the design, but we can't figure out how to fix it, so live with it, you ungrateful fuckers."

  4. Who appointed you Netcraft? by AtariAmarok · · Score: 4, Funny
    Mmmm coffee confirms...

    I know BSD rhymes with PSP, but who died (heh) and appointed you Netcraft?

    --
    Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
  5. Re:"Flaws are a feature" by Black+Pete · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'll sacrifice my mod points because I just had to respond to this...

    It's one thing to admit that there's a problem. It's another thing to refuse to fix the problem.

  6. adapt this Sony by fearanddread · · Score: 5, Insightful

    People not buying Sony's flawed product is something Sony will just have to adapt to.

  7. Re:Good quote... by dmauro · · Score: 5, Funny

    When in L'Acadamie, I pointed out a small flaw in Michelangelo's David. The unimpressed guy next to me said "meh, what did you a expect, a mass produced consumer device made by Sony?"

  8. Off to the right? by Dr.+Mortimer · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If the button mechanism had to be placed further to the right than the button itself, why didn't they just make the PSP more wide by that small amount of distance? It probably wouldn't have increased the width by a noticable amount.

    If it was produced to specifications, then I have some questions for whomever forced those specifications all the way past the play-testing phase.

    1. Re:Off to the right? by Cthefuture · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I didn't want the PSP's LCD screen to become any smaller than this, nor did I want its machine body to become any larger.

      That's why. It sounds like one of those things that someone just gets "stuck" on. Like a broken record. "I will not compromise on that." To the exclusion of everything else, even usability. Pffft, that's how crappy products get made. We're probably talking about making the PSP 2mm wider or something.

      Sometimes we get so far down inside a project that we can't see what is going on. It's good to sometimes to step back and evaluate your position to make sure you don't have blinders on.

      --
      The ratio of people to cake is too big
  9. Re:Good quote... by ZephyrXero · · Score: 5, Informative

    This sounds like classic Sony to me. Do note, I say this as a fact and not an opinion... Look at the original PS1 design with the ventilation on the BOTTOM of the console...or the way 1 in 10 or the first edition of the PS2 accidentally bumpped the laser's lens and DVD/CD against each other, ruining both game and system..... They'll change it, it'll just take a few months. To call the PSP's design "perfect" is a fairly wrong use of that word too.

    --
    "A truly wise man realizes he knows nothing."
  10. Re:Good quote... by Black+Pete · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I passed this quote around the office, and one guy mentioned that it reminded him of the Falling Waters building, which is apparently the most gorgeous building in the world but has so many issues that pretty much nobody wants it.

  11. Re:Good quote... by Black+Pete · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Analogies apart... for god's sake, it's a BUTTON.

    Exactly. How else do you propose to play the game?

    If you KNOW the switch is not directly in the middle, just damn push the outer part of it, where you know the button's pressure sensor (switch) is !

    Which is quite easy to keep in mind while playing those fast 'n' furious button-mashing action games, no doubt.

    Or, if you're so unhappy, take it apart, move the "hole" in which the button is a few milimeters and be happy about it (and have a funny-looking handheld, but, hey, that's the trade).

    OK... that's taking the fanboy thing a bit too far... Sony should've been the one who did that (after all, the top guy himself agrees it is a design flaw), so it certainly shouldn't have to be up to me to fix their flaw.

    What's next? "The UMD drive isn't an issue, just duct tape it shut between game sessions, and don't whine about the sticky residue"? Or: "Just get a freaking hamster if you really care about batteries that much!"

  12. Re:Good quote... by tibike77 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    And another (small but vital) piece of information: you completely neglected the fact that the speaker is Japanese.
    I'm not aware of your personal experience with Japanese manufacturers, but I can tell you this (which is afaik "public knowledge"): a Japanese will always do whatever it takes to "save face".

    This means that yes, on some small degree they will admit that something is wrong, but will also try to explain to you that this is the best possible solution that he could come up with, and announce nothing will be done to change it. Soon after, a solution will appear, and be presented with as small "attention attracting" as possible. That's just the way it works - you will get a better product soon, just don't rub it in too much, it's offensive.

    Again, personally, I believe this to be (overall) a superior system to the "western" one, where sometimes blame is admitted but nothing gets done.

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