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PS3 Problems Cause Sony Stocks to Slide
eldavojohn writes "Gamespot has an article describing PS3s operating erratically at conference demonstrations.' In its defense, Sony said the PS3 failures were caused by unusually high temperatures created by having many of the next-gen consoles operating in close proximity to each other. 'It's not a problem with the PlayStation 3 unit itself,' Sony spokeswoman Nanako Kato told the AP. 'For a normal player at home, there shouldn't be any problem.' As a result, Sony's stock slid 2.75%. I guess they should have thought first before releasing five times the number of kiosks as they did with the PS2 — they're causing each other to overheat. There goes my PS3 beowulf cluster idea!" Update: 10/04 20:40 GMT by Z : anti-human 1 wrote in to mention a GamesIndustry.biz article, with a flat denial of overheating issues from Sony. "As could be seen on the TGS floor by the tens of thousands of media and public attendees, both the hardware and software worked flawlessly."
Geez, if these things are that heat senseitive they probbaly are not going to work in a closed-door stereo cabinet.
I currenrly have my DVR, my Xbox, and my reciever all in a stereo cabinet with a closed door. All work fine with no overheating. Is Sony trying to say that if I want to get a PS3 I need to buy a new stereo cabinet too?
Overheating demo game console units is no reason for stock of one of the largest electronics manufactures to slip. I'd bet it has more to do with exploding batteries.
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Something I've always wondered: How come people on Slashdot are normally of the mindset: I would never use a Micro$oft product ever unless I had to, my entire home setup is based around Linux even where that reduces convenience, if you help Micro$oft, you are a terrorist, Bill Gates is a cyborg , but then, no one bats an eyelid when someone castually mentions their Xbox -- a completely unnecessary Microsoft purchase?
Think about it.
Apology to Ubuntu forum.
If there weren't such a huge recall of Sony batteries over the last few months, then a news item like this probably wouldn't have affected Sony's stock all that much. But I imagine analysts are worried now about the general quality of Sony products.
-- jchenx
As long as you buy it, Sony doesn't give a shit whether it will overheat at your house or not.
Plus, if you leave it OFF, it won't overheat!
Also, if you are using it indoors, then you probably aren't providing proper ventillation.
Either way, it can't be Sony's fault because by definition the PS3 is perfect!
Avoid Missing Ball for High Score
The crashes weren't cuased by overheating... they were caused by a rootkit!
Part of my decision whether to purchase a PS3 will be based on the amount of heat produced by the console and the amount of power it drains per hour. If the PS3 does not cause a significant increase in my average monthly power bill and a noticeable increase of my living room's temperature, I will not buy one.
I need to know the PS3 has power. I need to be afraid that it might drain my bank account. Or set my room on fire. Or hurt me in other more subtle ways. Only then will I respect it.
http://nerdcartoons.com/
The Wii has never had this sort of problem and it costs less than half as much as the PlayStation 3 does.
Hey, I'm all for the Wii too, but isn't it a little silly to say that an unreleased product that has not been tested by the public has never had any one specific problem? (The hardware at E3, from what I recall was not necessarily the final hardware, nor was it actually packed in the Wii cases... which is a big deal when it comes to overheating issues.) I think we can guess that the Wii won't have those issues since it's not intended to be a super-ultra high-res mega-spec console. But it is in a tiny box, so we won't know until real people actually use it.
There goes my PS3 beowulf cluster idea!
Goodbye beowulf cluster, hello fusion reactor core!
Fortunately, most consumers are quite diligent when it comes to ensuring that their game consoles are properly positioned in a well-ventilated area with adequate clearance on all sides. I don't predict much trouble with people laying the damn thing on the carpet; butting the air vents up against the wall; setting it next to the radiator; cramming it into their entertainment center's shelf between the TiVo, XBox, and a bunch of DVDs; putting stuff on top of it; or anything else that your typical consumer would simply never dream of doing to a game console.
Big. Honkin'. Red. Flag.
Obliteracy: Words with explosions
The PS3 launch is looking more and more like the 360 launch. Horrible shortages, overheating problems, higher price than most gamers wanted to pay (remember a year ago when $400 for a console seemed like too much?). I was really pulling for Sony when all we had to look at was what Microsoft had done, but they've managed to take every oportunity to make their console less interesting. There's no way I'd buy one at launch now, I'm betting the hardware problems will be worse than the PS2 launch and 360 launch combined. I just hope Sony can bounce back and come up with a quality console, because the industry needs competition. God forbid Microsoft of all people runs the console market.
That being said, I'm probably going to get a Wii at laucnh (Wii + Zelda + Red Steel is still cheaper than a 360). I just hope they make the wiimote very configurable. The hardcore gamer in me still wants the Next Gen HD hotness though, so I'm hoping for a price drop from at least one of them within a year.
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Nonsense. This is just a feature - buy a PS3 - it will play your Blu Ray movies, surf the web, play your music, study protein folding, and now warm your house too! Forget paying your heating bill - its the perfect Christmas present! Rumour has it that it can even play games.
A great present to send to any of your loved ones in the army serving abroad - hours of entertainment and when in a spot of bother the troops can combine 5 or more PS3s and a few Sony batterys to create a high power IED!
Reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled.
You are all noobs, everyone knows this is happening because Sony is keeping the George Foreman grill addon for later. Just spend another $300 for the Blu George Foreman grill ray in January and all your overheating problems will be over... As long as you are using it with Sony brand eggs and bacon. Just remember though that the Sony brand food will only work with Sony brand hardware!
I don't understand why people keep echoing the statement, "Well, the PS3 doesn't look nearly as good as the PS2, but hey it's a Sony and that will make it the market leader."
It literally took Nintendo one generation to go from an "invincible" first to second, and a further generation from second to third. Branding doesn't mean a thing in this industry; it's all about the games.
Then explain to me why Madden continuously outsold NFL 2KX. The truth is that branding doesn't mean a thing to real gamers. To fanboys and casual players -- the one whose friend has a PS2, but he's never owned one himself -- branding is everything.
It's like sex, except I'm having it!
You're actually trying to claim that the Sony stock slips 2.75% because a PS3 demo unit overheated? You don't think it might be because oh.... EVERY BATTERY EVER MADE BY SONY IS BEING RECALLED? Do you have your Wii pre-order from EB framed in a shrine?
Bah, why would they need to dig? They could just drill a few holes and toss in some of their laptop batteries!
"[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz
They made it "fanless", right? Fanless electronic devices with significant heat loads are inherently vulnerable; if the external environment is worse than the design spec, they die. Hot weather or tight shelf space, and you're dead.
Worse, if some systems are failing early in life due to cooling problems, more are very likely to fail later. ICs that run hot has a reduced lifespan; there's a well-understood relationship for this. So if demo units are failing when new, this is serious.
Somewhere at Sony, I suspect that engineers are frantically trying to tweak the heatsink, airflow, and case hole design before shipping. It's very late for that.
There will probably be aftermarket fan kits. Liquid cooling would be overdoing it.
Glitching because of overheating would be interesting, if true.
The PlayStation 2 cluster that we built at NCSA had 65 machines in a rack, tightly packed, with the fans of the machines at the front and the back of the shelves pointing at each other. They ran like that for on the order of 15 months, and I'm not aware of any heat related issues.
Craig Steffen
http://www.craigsteffen.net
Disclaimer: although I work for Sony, this isn't official.
They weren't overheating. Some pre-release software was crashing. Imagine that! The shock, the horror...
Game dev and music blog
I can't speak for the pro-Sony lunatics, but I happen to be a different kind of lunatic - a Metal Gear addict. As far as anybody's heard, the next one is PS3-only, just as the last one was PS2-only. Once the price sees a drastic drop or two and the hardware is revised enough that it won't burn my house down or have its precious stupid blu-ray laser fail, by then maybe the inevitable super-edition of Metal Gear Solid 4 will be out and I'll finally cave and get one of these damn things.
...I'm sorry Slashdot, you just caught me in a Sony-inspired grumpy mood.
But at launch? Oh hell no. And for love of Sony? Pff. I could try and say something like "at least they're not as evil as Microsoft", but that's saying so little as to be meaningless. I just don't want to miss out on tasty gaming simply because the console manufacturer pisses me off.
Fucking hell, those I-am-not-a-robot images are hard to read! How the hell much interest is there in spambotting slashdot anyway?
The Nyko Intercooler is not a good idea.
It does bad things.
"You know your god is man-made when he hates all the same people you do."
Sony is being given the Green Award from Al Gore for merging Entertainment and Heating into one household system. This will help ease the crunch on heating oil needed this winter and should help U.S. households save money on there monthly Natural Gas Heating bills as well. Way to go Sony, the PS3 really does do it all.