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Sony Admits to PSP Button Flaws

Posted by Zonk on from the but-i-thought-it-was-a-feature? dept.

Apparently despite the original company line, there are indeed problems with the buttons on the PSP handheld. Sony has announced that they will repair the small number of units affected for free, and Tech Japan has the details. From the article: "The defect occurs in part of the initial shipment of PSP units and is caused by excess plastic not being completely removed during the molding and manufacturing process of the outer cabinet. As a result, when a button is pressed, it can become caught on the excess plastic and not return fully to its default position."

26 of 77 comments (clear)

  1. Nip it in the bud by boohiss · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's good to quash this kind of stuff as soon as possible. At the price they are selling, they need to take away any technical excuse to not buy a PSP in order to compete with Nintendo at the portable level.

    --
    Earn a free iRiver
    1. Re:Nip it in the bud by fwitness · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Yep. I own a DS, and I put a $10 deposit on a PSP on a 'what the hell' basis. However, the dead pixels and bad buttons make me uneasy.

      Luckily for Sony, the DS lineup isn't ramping up quite fast enough. As it gets closer to US launch, we'll see who has the stronger platform. This will be interesting. Perhaps it's time for the 'Portable Wars', something we haven't seen since Nintendo won the battle of the portable 8-bits and declared itself supreme ruler.

      --
      -- I have fans? Wow.
  2. missing part of the quote by Fr05t · · Score: 4, Funny

    "The defect occurs in part of the initial shipment of PSP units and is caused by excess plastic not being completely removed during the molding and manufacturing process of the outer cabinet. As a result, when a button is pressed, it can become caught on the excess plastic and not return fully to its default position."

    "This is intentional, and in our oppinion a good design feature."

  3. Sony get it right by superpulpsicle · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Sony has to get these little things right. The Nintendo handheld monopoly has got to go. It has had a firm hold in this market since the early 90s.

    It's funny that Nintendo released gameboy boy black and white lasting a decade, with zero motivation to improve. Then GB advanced, color and DS all launched in the span of 3 years under competition from Sony. It's not even real competition yet, just winding up.

    1. Re:Sony get it right by kryogen1x · · Score: 3, Informative

      There was competition. If I remember correctly, the GameGear/Nomad was around in the 90's. None of that was Sony's work. Yeah, yeah, there was also the Wonderswan, but I don't think it made as big a splash as the gamegear did.

    2. Re:Sony get it right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      Nintendo did not improve on the early gameboys because the technology either wasn't available or just cost prohibitive for the portable platform.(Remember the Gamegear? That was expensive and had horrible battery life.)

      Instead they made incremental improvements on the gameboy as new technologies became available.

      Also consider the fact that the console market was currently focused on the technological arms race of tv consoles. One would understand why a lack of innovation existed in the portable market.

    3. Re:Sony get it right by NanoGator · · Score: 5, Insightful

      "The Nintendo handheld monopoly has got to go."

      Why? It's there because the market decided it should be there, not because Nintendo has a gun put to everybody's head. Frankly, if Sony isn't getting things right, like YOU said, then why on Earth would you want THEM to be in a monopoly?

      "It's funny that Nintendo released gameboy boy black and white lasting a decade, with zero motivation to improve."

      0 motivation? I suppose you forgot Nintendo's innovation attempt called Virtual Boy. Tee hee giggle snort. Anyway, the main reason why Nintendo hasn't had a serious competitor is because the 'innovators' destroyed a key factor that made their units worth having. Usually it was battery life, although sometimes it was size. The Game Boy had the right balance to pleae a lot of customers, and the technology didn't allow much wiggle room here. It wasn't that Nintendo didn't have motivation to innovate, it was that Nintendo wasn't stupid enough to destroy the successful formula.

      "Then GB advanced, color and DS all launched in the span of 3 years under competition from Sony."

      The GB Advance (no d.) was out long before Sony was 'competition' in the handheld market. Additionally, it was in development long before Sony released the PS1. I don't think there's any doubt that Sony kicked Nintendo in the rear to innovate, and I agree that competition's good, but your impressions about Nintendo are a little skewed.

      --
      "Derp de derp."
    4. Re:Sony get it right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      Nintendo had a good solution for the time and they marketed it better than others. The Lynx, originally a creation of game publisher Epyx, came into Atari's hands when they ran out of money. Even though the Lynx debuted at almost the same time as the GB, and had great technology and decent battery life, Atari(once again) failed to market and distribute it successfully. Similarly, the Game Gear was good(not as good) tech but was marketed poorly, coming at the time when Sega was also dividing itself between the original Genesis/Megadrive, the 32x, the Sega CD, and finally the Saturn.

      Because cheap and small technology for portable devices didn't really advance until the late 90s(remember that's when cell phones took off), the Game Boy didn't. They did the Super Game Boy for the SNES but that was different. When portable tech finally improved, they opted first to slim it down with the GB Pocket. Then they made a few incremental steps in technology for processing power and graphics. But none of this was really provoked by competition.

      As soon as "real" competition appeared from the likes of Sony, they broke the mold of technological improvement and moved to the DS which is definitely very unique. They probably plan the same thing for the Revolution.

    5. Re:Sony get it right by NanoGator · · Score: 2, Insightful
      "Incidentally, the NeoGeo pocket is notable for having the best handheld controller ever, a reflective color screen that you could actually see, and battery life that rivals the GBA, all in a similar form factor."

      Not really an argument, but something to point out: The Neo Geo Pocket had inferior processing capaibilities to the GBA. SIGNIFICANTLY inferior. (Both audio and graphics.)

      "You're just plain wrong to assert that they push their technology to the limits without the pressure of competition though."

      I didn't say they did. Here's what I did say, though:

      " I don't think there's any doubt that Sony kicked Nintendo in the rear to innovate"


      What I 'asserted' was tha destroying Nintendo's monopoly is not necessarily a good move. Competition's fine, but when the market says "we like this", then taking it down just because of the big M word is not always the right approach. Nintendo's monopoly isn't due to lack of competition. It's due to making the best handheld. Bad bad bad?
      --
      "Derp de derp."
    6. Re:Sony get it right by aeoo · · Score: 2, Insightful
      "The Nintendo handheld monopoly has got to go."

      Why? It's there because the market decided it should be there, not because Nintendo has a gun put to everybody's head. Frankly, if Sony isn't getting things right, like YOU said, then why on Earth would you want THEM to be in a monopoly?


      The poster is simply asking the market to change its decision. From where I sit, the poster is free to ask, even 1000000 times, if the poster feels like it. Your kind of reply is not any more valid, or legitimate, or desirable, or anything like that.

      Just because someone expresses a desire for change doesn't mean they express a sense of entitlement, tyrany, communism, or anything like that. It doesn't mean the person is speaking out against the "free market". The market is made of people, and the poster is free to try to get these people to change their minds, by any means deemed appropriate (and we're free to respond in kind).
    7. Re:Sony get it right by cgenman · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Don't forget, the Game Boy focused on Cheap, Rugged, Lasting. The Lynx was more expensive than the game boy, and the battery life was pretty poor. The Game Gear had a color screen with about 1 degree of LCD visibility, and it ate batteries like nobody's business. The Turbo Express Portable was great, but also sucked down batteries and cost a mint.

      The Nomad was quietly released post Genesis. I was always sad that system didn't make more of a splash. Now you can emulate a Genesis pretty easily on a GBA.

      After the Game Boy, and several years of cheaper-cheaper-cheaper, Nintendo released the Game Boy Pocket, then the Game Boy Pocket Color, and finally the GBA. The Game Boy Pocket Color was not supposed to be a full Game Boy, but rather a stopgap between the GB and the GBA. In the same way Nintendo claims that the DS is not a GBDS, but rather a stopgap between the last official Game Boy and the next. Or something.

      In the interem, there has been the Neo Geo Pocket, the Neo Geo Pocket Color, the Wonderswan (which scored a Coup landing Square), the Game.com (chuckle), and a whole host of other lesser immitators. Nintendo just knows their market pretty well, always releasing somewhat underpowered Game Boys with excellent battery life and a rugged housing.

      --
      The ______ Agenda
    8. Re:Sony get it right by Doomstalk · · Score: 2, Interesting

      The, gamers dont want graphics or plot stance.

      Uh, if you compare the Gamecube and the Playstation 2 in graphical capabilities, the GC beats the pants off of it. Sony is the one lagging on the power front of the current generation. As for plot, I for one am growing weary of your typical over-wrought video game plot. My friends and I have been having a lot of discussions lately of how sick of the "These X (where X is a number of 3 or greater) people are the only ones capable of saving the world/universe/creation at large" plot structure we've become. I'm not saying that a good game plot isn't possible, just that a bad one can be a significant impediment to enjoyment. If you don't have a grandiose plot in mind, and your game doesn't need it, don't try and shoehorn one in.

      The lack of voice acting.

      With the low quality typical of today's video game voiceovers, I personally take this as a blessing. Even some of my absolute favorite games ever have problems with voice acting quality (some of the NPCs in Deus Ex... *shudder*). If they can afford quality voice talent and direction, I'm all for it. But if they can't, I'm more than happy to let my imagination do the job.

    9. Re:Sony get it right by NeMon'ess · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Aside from the fact that the CEO of Sega America made some incredibly retarded decisions, by far the biggest mistake Sega made was releasing the 32X. Support for the Sega CD declined. Then a few games that used the Sega CD and 32X came out. Then only a year after the 32X came out, the Saturn was released. Gamers and publishers got burned all around. The Saturn was hard to program, but potentially more powerful than the Playstation. If gamers and publishers hadn't sworn off Sega, the console would have had higher sales and games available.

      The Game Gear was released in 1990. The Sega CD was 1991, but the 32X wasn't until 1993. The Game Gear failed because of poor battery life and a higher price. Solving those would have increased sales and publisher support, which would have raised sales. Also, I don't think the Game Gear was a failure. Games were made for it for at least three years. The Jungle Book and The Lion King were some of the last games for it in 1994. It didn't unseat the GameBoy, but I'm sure it made money for Sega and the publishers who released quality games.

  4. [] button? by redpawn · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This doesn't seem to affect the fact that the square button is not right over the sensor. Are gamers still expected to "have to deal with it" or is this being addressed as well?

    1. Re:[] button? by rhpot1991 · · Score: 4, Informative

      They are seperate problems. Sony has said that the sensor problem cannot be fixed w/o making the screen smaller or making the frame bigger. Apparently part of the screen is in the area where the sensor should be, so the quick fix was to just move the sensor over a bit.

    2. Re:[] button? by Toddarooski · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Is it possible that the "square button not over the sensor" thing is just a big red herring? As far as I understand it, the off-center sensor was being blamed for the button stickiness. If, in fact, that problem is due to extra plastic (or, more likely, can be fixed by altering the plastic without moving the sensor), then is there anything wrong with the off-center sensor?

      For five bonus points, say "off-center sensor" 10 times fast.

      --

      "Do you expect me to talk?" "No, Mr. Bond. I expect you to die!"

  5. If you'd read the previous articles... by neura · · Score: 3, Funny

    .. you'd know that was a design feature and you should never criticize a renowned architect when he puts a gate in the wrong place!

  6. Free repair by FidelCatsro · · Score: 2, Insightful

    " Sony has announced that they will repair the small number of units affected for free, "

    Reading that part of it , it seems to me sony are trying to dress this up as a small favour they are doing for the people who bought those units, Ive seen many companys using this aproch .Trying to make people Feel lucky because
    *Company* has said they are kind enough to repair a faulty product they sold you.
    Its a right in most countrys , i would have alot more respect for these companys if they just said "Sorry , we screwed up " and not a free repair program as really it dosnt need to exist .They have sold a product that is not fit for sale and by most civil commerce laws im aware of Repair these or reimburse the customer

    --
    The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though
    1. Re:Free repair by MaineCoon · · Score: 2, Informative

      I believe the "Shuriken drive" is a hoax. For one, the disc ACCELERATES in the video... and appears to be falling straight downwards. Second, my friend bought a PSP and brought it into work, and we examined it:

      1. Theres a bar in place to keep it from just popping out
      2. It has no spring mechanism to push the disc outwards; it has a spring to move the disc slot outwards from the unit (it doesnt insert into the top, it inserts into a slot which then pushes into the PSP)
      3. He couldn't get it to eject without pressing the eject button, even by applying as much twisting torque to the unit as he felt comfortable without risking breaking the thing.

      --
      Hunt your preferred prey at Aliens vs Predator MUD. Join the war at avpmud.com port 4000
  7. it's actually a big cover-up by drunken+dash · · Score: 2, Funny

    the actual reason the buttons stick is because of a sloppy worker at the assembly line working while eating fast food on his lunch...

    if you lick the buttons, you can almost take the burger king secret sauce

    --
    Enjoy an e-piphany
  8. Square Button by Elranzer · · Score: 2, Insightful

    So this has nothing to do with the Square button being too close to the LCD inside so that the pressure point it sort of off center? Hmmm. I think Sony (and president Ken in particular) are way too full of themselves with this one. They think they're going to take down Nintendo DS as well as the iPod, and in reality it's not even going to take down the Gameboy Advance.

  9. It's the end of the world. by r00td43m0n · · Score: 3, Funny

    Looks like the end of the world is coming. Sony ACTUALLY admitted to a design flaw before the US release and they will FIX the problem as opposed to releasing it anyway.

    1. Re:It's the end of the world. by Zigg · · Score: 2, Informative

      Read the links, not the incorrect slashdot summary. The design flaw part of it isn't a design flaw. They're offering to repair manufacturing defects.

  10. blame it on the controller by thebra · · Score: 2, Funny

    Finally when I mess I can say the button stuck and I won't be lying!

  11. No. It's not a red herring by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    http://www.gamesarefun.com/consoles/psp/square.jpg

    Just look how it all lines up.

    1. Re:No. It's not a red herring by SetupWeasel · · Score: 3, Informative

      Sony appears to have admitted that the square button even when not sticky is still less responsive than the other buttons.

      It says so here.

      The buttons that completely broke needed to be fixed. I had thought that Sony was fixing the buttons that jammed for free as that was a defect whether the misaligned sensor was or not.