Slashdot Mirror
Demo PS3 Units freeze on Purpose
AbsoluteZero writes "A Sony rep has claimed to Destructoid that demo PS3 units in kiosks across the country were built to freeze up on purpose. From the article: "We do that so that people won't play it all day long," he explained. "Specifically during Motorstorm, we made it freeze up a lot.""
No, no I infact won't. Changed my mind.
That's what the short 5 minute demos are for. Actually making the console freeze up is just stupid, it screams unstable. This sounds more like backpedaling to cover up design flaws.
34486853790
Connection too slow for X forwarding? Try "ssh -CX user@host"
"It's not a bug, it's a feature!" Where have I heard that before
Guy asked me for a quarter for a cup of coffee. So I bit him.
You don't have to make Motorstorm freeze to stop me from playing it all day.
That game was boring.
You don't go fast enough, and the nitro blows up the truck!
I'm a big retard who forgot to log out of Slashdot on Mike's computer! LOOK AT ME.
Couldn't they just uh, like make a popup that says it is the person-behind-you's tutrn to play?
I don't doubt that they might be speaking the truth, but they could've just put in a five minute reset timer or something. having the unit freeze up is just tacky.
You constantly struggle for self improvement - and it shows.
Hooray for bad Engrish on fortune cookies
Sony's batting 1000 this year. Going for MVP it looks like.
Sure, just like Microsoft made Windows crash so we would be able to take a break from using the PC...
Not that anybody will use it...
r eezing-up-on-purpose--28860.phtml
http://www.destructoid.com/playstation-3-kiosks-f
nope!
It was a joke! When you give me that look it was a joke.
bull$h!t
It's a rep that visits game stores. Bottom of the food chain. One rep saying something stupid in the heat of christmas shopping with a shopper pestering him for conversation while he's trying to set up a demo kiosk isn't really that big a deal.
20 minutes of Playstation 3 should be enough for anybody!
All signs point to bullshit.
Microsoft reports that the BSOD is actually a hacker prevention tool.
Why is my spidey-sense going crazy? Oh wait, that's actually my BS detector.
Oh! Eureka!
As a comparison: Windows crashes on us all the time as to not let us be too productive! I get it now! What the hell do I need a *nix clone for!
</sarcasm>
Natch. Sounds more like a save-my-ass excuse. Way to go Sony!
Of course... rebooting Windows twice a day and reinstalling it every few months was intended to prevent repetitive strain injuries.
i think this is rather stupid. not that i was in the market for one, but i tried playing one at BB at it locked up on me. i then went with the notion if i was in the market to buy a game system - i would not purchase a PS3
What is so funny about the paid for FUD campaign here on Slashdot is...it is making absolutely no difference. The only thing it has done has been to give the tiny but foaming at the mouth Sony haters a place to hang out and chat with each other.
Kind of like a digital gay bath house...
"I meant to do that"
Technoli
The first one to be fifth.
I asked a Best Buy sales rep how he like the PS3. He said "well I wouldn't buy one just yet, the demo unit freezes up all the time..." Needless to say he didn't sell me a unit that day. Maybe Sony should send a memo to their retailers explaining this "feature" if they want to sell it
Man, when slashdot turns, they just don't let up do they.
"better ways of doing things eventually just replace the inferior things" - Linus Torvalds 09-08-07
They're just pathetic and desperate now. It's kind of sad to watch.
My brother had two new toys over Christmas. The first was a PS3 which he bought so he could resell it on eBay, with a couple of rented games. The second was one of those $5 Burger King games for the original XBox. Guess which one we played all weekend? It's hard to exaggerate just how much Sony is screwed.
it could be that the booth is a PS3 in a nearly airtight clear plastic box...
I assumed it was a case of overheat
Also this weekend, I brought my Wii to my brother's place to show it off, only to discover he'd just scored a PS3
After a couple of hours of side by side comparison, his wife asked him why he didn't get a Wii instead.
Ouch.
(I also regret not having videotaped our gaming session, as my bro's wife lost her balance and dove headfirst during a bowling throw, almost going through the widescreen tv)
As anyone who went to Toys R Us back in the "World of Nintendo" NES/SNES days knows, that's why they make displays that simply reset themselves every so often, via a timer switch on the power outlet. My friends and I used to hang out in the store, annoy the staff, play the demo consoles, and base Tetris/Sonic/Mario/whatever battles on how far one could get before the automatic reset. Why would they suddenly build specially-crippled consoles now? It doesn't really make much sense fom any standpoint I can see.
Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
... as it might elicit some sympathy every time your box does a BSOD
This is my opinion. To make sure you don't steal it, it's covered by the DMCA.
I distinctly recall demo SNES and N64 units having the same behavior "back in the day" --you'd play for about five-ten minutes and the thing would reset on you.
I had always figured that there was an extra mechanism built into the demo console for just that purpose: keeping someone from monopolizing the thing. Doesn't seem like THAT much of a stretch that the PS3s would perhaps do the same?
If you can't see the value in jet powered ants you should turn in your nerd card. - Dunbal (464142)
What a load of crap.
It's a matter of time before there is a tech note, and a kiosk upgrade kit designed to ventilate the kiosk.
One of the Best Buys in town has not had their PS3 kiosk (According to a friend that works at that location) freeze at all, and he was told the other location froze randomly from 6 to 12 times a day. That isn't a designed in effect. A designed in effect occurs every x minutes, and does not require employee intervention.
A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.
Actually at one local Game Stop, the clerk would come over every 10 minutes or so and turn the unit off to "keep it from overheating." In reality he was just trying to disperse the crowd of drooling ten-to-thirty year olds crowded around Motorstorm or whatever it is. I doubt seriously the device overheats that much, if at all. The heat sink is as big as a frying pan.
PS3 eats babies
Considering how small the space is in the demo units enclosures (using bestbuy as an example) I'm pretty sure it's because of overheating. The first thing my friend said about the PS3 was the heat it created when it was on (significantly hotter than my xbox360).. So yea, purposely freezing demos? That's complete bullshit, and if it's true that's a terribly bad practice and doesn't make the customer feel as though they're buying a quality product.
..
My PS3 froze during the system setup phase (kinda scared the shit out of me). But it hasn't froze since (even with yellow dog linux 5.0 on it)
MrJynx
Maybe the ps3 costs more than the rest of the consoles, and maybe Sony has sold less than its competitors, and maybe alot of game developers aren't producing games for the system... But just because the demo model ps3's are crashing doesn't mean that this isn't part of Sony's long term strategy. When they say "next generation" console. They really mean it.
So how is the average consumer supposed to know that it's a feature when they demo it at the store and know the one they purchased is supposed to perform any different? ... maybe because there is no difference...it's like sony wants to fail.
In a world of acronyms, the words are the real victims.
Seriously. Don't these companies do any testing? Don't they at least pay a teenager minimum wage to play the game for a few hours and tell them, "Dude, the game like locks up ever five minutes." Any software team I was ever involved with had at least one person whose full time job was to do QA.
One rep tells one lie to two people and two different times. The two people converse to confirm. The lie has "validity".
If an officer ever threatens to taze you, say you have a pacemaker.
Actually, I remember way back when that the SNES Kiosk in Babbages (anyone remember that store) would simply reset after 5 minutes of game play. I remember they had a bug in which you could still save games so I ended up speed playing to the save points, but after a while it was just too far in between.
There were plenty of other kiosks that did similar things or had similar features to get the next in line a chance.
"I am the king of the Romans, and am superior to rules of grammar!"
-Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (1368-1437)
I do the same thing with my, uh... unit.
There are 01 kinds of cars in the world. The General Lee, and everything else.
I asked this question on Digg and I am the one with the -22 Diggs. That's Digg for you. Well, here's my question:
Who is the guy that wrote this piece? Is it even true? The story just sounds made up.
Or is it just that people want to justify their hate for the PS3 so much that facts and logic goes out the window?
Seriously, who is Mr. Nick Brutal?
(deep breath) HaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHa...AHAHAHAHAHA !!!
...but seriously, folks, bull-farking-shiat.
That's the best one I've heard in awhile...
http://www.bynarystudio.com
To quote our good friends at Blizzard, "Working as intended" ..you mean blink is supposed to teleport me backwards?
This idea isn't new. Trojan designed a condom in the 90's that broke on purpose so people wouldn't have sex all day.
HRESULT WinAPIGetSystemProcessThreadMetricsMenu...
LibraryVolumeModuleHandlePtrEx(PHSPTMMLVM PHndl);
I'm glimpsing into the future and seeing Sony finally collapsing under the weight of hubris and abysmal business decisions, probably before the price ever gets down to the $200 mark and I become moderately interested.
The other thing that I noticed is that there doesn't seem to be an exterior reset button. The PS3 was frozen the only time that I actually went up to the thing and said, "Hmmm, let's give this thing a shot." Most of the kiosks that I've seen in the last few years had a reset button so I looked around and didn't find one. That seems like a good way to alleviate some of the freezing issues.
And I wonder just how hard it was to implement this feature on first production run units. I really do wonder...
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
From TFA: ...and in the middle of it all I spotted a Sony PlayStation retail rep frantically cleaning off the very same kiosk...
You think that a Sony Representative is going to go to your local EB store and vacuum your local kiosk? Don't make me laugh!
This is rabid fanboyism, and a further proof of Slashdot's slant.
News for nerds? BS too. This is news reporting on par with Fox's.
Actually, I remember way back when that the SNES Kiosk in Babbages (anyone remember that store) would simply reset after 5 minutes of game play
Yeah, pretty much all game system in-store demos have done this. I think the difference here is that the PS3's are actually freezing up, not resetting, requiring an employee to wander over and reset the system. Too bad they don't just have a little push button connected to the reset button, like the old NES in-store demos had...
ZuluPad, the wiki notepad on crack
Heh, I remember Babbages. all too well.
I was just there last week and the Babbages sign is *still* up. I guess the manager either is having a hard time getting ahold of an actual GameStop sign, or feels nostalgic about the name and thus has never touched it.
This is the same store I bought my very first CD-ROM drive in back in 1994. Oddly enough, they had the best price on the Creative Labs OmniCD kit. 2X speed baby!
-Zorin, done reminiscing
I was caught up in the hype and would have bought a PS3 at launch if I could have. Then I played one at Target for about 10 minutes and it reset twice so I figured it was unstable and if was going to get one I should wait a good long while. Then the lack of games for the PS3 struck me, then I went home and watched a DVD and realized that it looks good enough so why am I excited about BluRay? I fell out of love with the PS3 really fast. I think Sony is going to cause a lot of people to buy Wiis.
I can't vouch for that store in particular, as it seems like a LOT of time has passed... but when a store takes out a lease in a mall, they have to remain operating under the same name for the life of the lease. If they change names, they could get fined a big amount. Perhaps they just had a REALLY long lease at that particular mall? (:
Whoever stated that signature sizes should be limited to one hundred and twenty characters can just go ahead and kiss my
If that is indeed the case, perhaps it would be a better idea to program the game to pop up a box saying "Thank you for playing. Please allow the next person in the line/queue to play."
I used to be on the Sony Bandwagon. I loved my PS2. I liked what they where saying about the PS3 with free multiplayer etc. Then this whole rootkit crap happened. Sony refused to respond to consumers and only caved once the lawsuits flooded in. Then Sony pushed back the PS3 launch and pushed up the price. Then Sony pushed a company out of business just because they sold games and hardware out of region. What a racket that is anyways. Now Sony has reliability problems and they just lie some more to cover themselves. All of this pushed me to buy an XBox 360. I really didn't want to but I'm glad I did. So what if I have to pay to play online? At least my console works. At least it was hundreds of dollars less expensive. I'm tired of Sony's crap. Even if it means I have to buy MS crap; I'm never buying Sony crap again. Death to Sony!
I was a one-time store rep for the 360 during it's launch night. (helping out a friend)
I had to answer questions, give away the freebies, help set up, etc.
Towards the end of the night I just started making things up.
About the cost of the system, limited availability, graphics, etc.
I made people believe I was actually involved in the design and programming of the games and system themselves.
I was so bored.
Pretend for a minute that this is true, and they really modified these to be unstable.
What happens when demo units end up getting sold to customers? It happens eventually.
Then all those defective units will be out there, and customers will want support for them.
I can't imagine pushing a firmware fix if the unit is unstable through the fault of software, either. It might freeze during load, and brick.
Really, though, I think the guy just lied or was being sarcastic.
Bet the Sony rep was Jamil Hussein, famous source for the AP.
Never answer an anonymous letter. - Yogi Berra
Coming from a guy who spent all weekend playing a Burger King game, I'm not sure how much that means to me :p
The article on Tomshardware on the other hand..
No wonder Uncle Sam periodically screws up ballot calculations: so people will just go home. Disaffected majorities are your plaything.
They intended for it to freeze, just like Hirohito intended to get nuked.
You would have thought that they'd make it reset instead of freeze (so people would think "oh the kiosk resets so I don't play all day" instead of "this *$?! PS3 sucks because it freezes a lot for no reason"), but what do I care if Sony continues to make themselves look stupid...
So this explains why I've yet to see a working PS3 demo unit. All the ones I've seen were turned off, as well.
Actually, this could make a lot of sense. Think about the prices these things sell for on eBay... then consider that store managers are only human. If the demand were enough, you don't think stores would consider selling the demo units?
Still stupid, though. More (well-deserved) bad PR for Sony. I'm almost feeling bad for them. Almost.
That "Gaming Journalism" is as much an oxymoron as "Jumbo Shrimp".
...to play clown music in my mind. It all makes sense then.
What's a condom?
(And not because they dig bareback.)
Sony's own store at the Metreon in SF just power cycles all the demo machines every half hour, all at the same time.
I think Microsoft already patented that technique. They'll be hearing from MS lawyers.
[alk]
eggs? The kiosk I tried to play last week was SO hot it could have been used as a griddle at the iHop next door!
If nothing else, George Foreman might have a problem if Sony repackages this thing as a kitchen appliance!
Either it is what many here have already suggested, that the PS3 freezes because of some instability.
The other is that it is actually freezing on purpose.
In the first case, it's a major blunder in the technical department. In the latter, it's a major blunder in the marketing department. Let's put in dubio pro reo to work and let's assume it is as it is claimed to be. Now, Sony doesn't have the best rep in the business. After trojans, shady deals and some hard to understand lawsuits, their rep is on some people's scales lower than that of MS, on some even lower than SCO. So whatever they spin isn't automatically believed.
And in such a situation, they come up with a solution to console-hogging that looks like a technical flaw to the 'untrained' eye of Joe Everyday console player. Let's for a moment even assume that Joe Everyday reads this (which is doubtful in the first place) and doesn't just go with the information he got first hand, i.e. that the console is either freezing or not turned on in the first place because it is freezing constantly.
He will not buy that story. Especially with 600 bucks are at stake. And thus he won't buy the console.
If this is supposedly a feature, it will certainly make it onto the list of the worst blunders of the computer world. Because it certainly won't create trust in a console, especially in a world where faulty, unfinished hardware is becoming the rule, not the exception.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Reading digg comments makes my brain hurt. And their comment implementation is braindead.
I do try to skim through digg headlines, and maybe 5% of the stories are clickable. Even at that, the top users that push stories on the front page are known shills. Of course,
I like the idea of user driven content, and I think
"someone give this guy some sarcasm goggles! i guess i did a pretty good job of hiding my dislike of sony reps. next time i'll tag it"
There's a fine line in sarcasm. As it becomes more and more subtle it becomes better and better... until it reaches a point where suddenly it become undistinguishable from the mindset that it is intended to mock, at which point it fails.
I consider myself educated with a Masters in Sarcasm, and I must admit I missed it in your post.
Most Sony and Microsoft store reps aren't actually hired by those companies. They hire separate companies to do the work for them, and these people rarely know anything more than what we know about the products. The only store reps that are reputable are the Nintendo people, who actually work out of Nintendo of America in Seattle.
If a Sony store rep is spouting bullshit, I'm sure Sony would like to know.
D'ah! It's NOT crashing, it's taking a snapshot of the fully featured graphics. It's just that the rep doesn't know of this feature yet.
Can you believe these people who waited all night in line? What a crappy release. They loved getting photographed though.
Anyone with half a brain can tell that this is obviously being said to cover design flaws! Does Sony think we are all Idiots?
Since so few here seem to actually *own* a PS3 though, I thought I'd chime in. I actually did get a 60GB model (at cost, because my brother worked a holiday retail job and got first pick when some units came in the door). So far, mine hasn't frozen/locked up once, but it does create a fair amount of heat. I can't see how anyone could think such a device would be "ok" sealed inside some non ventilated container and left on all day long in a store?
In a typical home environment though? It should work ok, as far as I can tell.
And as far as all the general PS3 bashing is concerned? My impression is, this isn't such a bad value after all (if you're paying the listed price and not some eBay inflated price). In my own case, I used to own a PS2 but sold it a couple years ago because I needed the money. This gives me back about 98% of what I had back then, for starters. Factor in the ability to play HD BlueRay movie discs, the fact it can do video slideshows of photos right off your camera's memory cards, and the fact that it will play the latest PS titles in all their graphically-improved glory, plus no more need for separate memory cards and 3rd. party controllers to get wireless versions - and I'm satisfied for my $599.
Windows crashes out of solidarity to give hard working employees a well earned break while rebooting.
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
The console is designed to freeze, because some of our "finest gameplayers" would steal it, if it worked properly!
This sounds like something I've done so many times. When put on the spot, and not in a position of importance at , I've pulled crap out of my ass that sounded logical, and well thought out at the moment. Of course, if anyone did any real research, they'd realize the statement(s) made had no real merit at all. The fact that this happened with a sony rep just adds to the /. appeal, because it's been at least 2 hours without a post praising or degrading one of the big three.
Don't worry if you're a kleptomaniac, you can always take something for it.
I've seen 2 PS3's in the flesh. One was at a local Target with NBA 2k7, no problems. Then the other was a Circuit City, completely frozen. I instead played around on the XBOX 360 right next to it, played Madden and walked out the door with the 360.
Kiosks that shut off or lock up after a few minutes are stupid. They need to make it more entertaining for the people that are watching when someone is hogging the machine. I say after 20 minutes the machine shoots 50,000 volts throught the controller but it keeps on going. Then it increases 1,000 volts per second as long as the person keeps playing. So you want that high score, well your only 200,000 volts away.
Now that's entertainment.
Supporting World Peace Through Nuclear Pacification
Good thing the last console I bought was an Atari 2600! Although for the first time since the original Nintendo (which I never did purchase) I'm tempted by a console - the Wii.
Nobody can honestly believe a consolut maker would make units that freeze for time limits on use.
If they wanted to do that they would just do it in the code and have a nice message popup tellingthe peoplet heir time had expired.
The fact of the matter is that Sony kiosks are hot, and the PS3s are overheating and freezzing up. Especially durring high usage, e.g. Motorstorm.
Imagine if MS said they made Windows 98 crash on purpose... to stop trojen software from having uninterupted control over a users machine.
Because if there is one thing that's bad for sales of your toy, it's a crowd of people hanging around looking at how neat it is, waiting for their turn to try playing with it.
"Who is the Journal of Quantum Physics going to believe?" --Stephen Hawking
Sony reps get projectors, laptops for presentations, Freebies like PS2, Ps3, PSP, games at Sony cost, benefits for part timers and they even get paid more than Microsoft reps who really are lower on the totem pole than Sony reps are at least in relation to thier company especially since they don't even work for Microsoft directly unlike the Sony reps who stay with Sony for 5 plus years. Talk to your reps more often though. They often have more insights on whats going on with company products than the people in corporate do as they see it every day in retail and constantly get updates from managers and sales people from multiple sources. I swear if I ever want to know anything about Microsoft. My Microsoft rep is usually happy to oblige and he's got really good insights especially when it comes to marketing in relation to retail.
Just got one of the retro Atari 2600 consoles at Wal Mart & no problem with freezing up on this one.;)
Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia. - Charles M. Schulz
Wow, way to make this "story" lose even more creditablity.
There actually is a point of diminishing returns. For example, my Father can't tell the difference between an HD movie going into my Plasma TV, or an Upsampled DVD (with a good DVD transfer). Really. No perceivable difference. So why buy the more expensive option?
Your father may not be able to, but I certain can. As do most of the people on the AV forums. I've upgraded all my current DVDs with their respective Blu-Ray versions, and all look better to me than an upconverted DVD. Even with a crappy video transfer. Not only that, but no DVD will ever give you uncompressed sound for 8 channels.
It's past due time for Sony to stop copying Microsoft.
"We do that so that people won't play it all day long"
:p.
Yeah so people will play/buy some other console instead
Right, and there is a reason why I upgraded to an HDTV Plasma to begin with myself, but there are some people who have hit the point already in either Audio or Video that that they either can't see or hear a difference.
That's all I'm saying.
You're right, that's why we've, at least, have upgraded.
PS3 shines for me, because I take full advantage of it.
And even if you can't, it's still a great machine.
The best reason to wait on purchasing it is for when there are more quality games available, but not because you feel Blu-Ray is pointless.
I have noted that everytime I go to any store (Target, Meijer, Gamestop, etc., and I go a lot) the PS3 kiosk has been broken every single time. I have never seen anyone actually playing it, people seem to flock to the 360 and the wii and even handhelds, both the DS and PSP. But never the PS3. I guess it seems that I am not going insane, but that there really is a major issue in order for there to be this level of a coverup.
Look... when you're at a store-even if you're at a Sony Playstation Store-and a clerk tells you some technical detail that sounds absurd? Ignore it.
This is a story about a dumb retail clerk spouting off garbage to sound smart. If I had a nickel for every time this happened to me, I'd be wearing an italian-designed suit made of Euros anddriving a SUV made from US dollars.
The PS3 has some manufacturing defects. Holy crap, shock, and fear. New hardware has defects. This has happened before, it has happened again. If you're concerned about the PS3's future stability, look to updated and replaced Xbox 360s, which are now quite stable.
One thing I have noticed though. Lots of people tell me their PS3 "locks up a lot". But examining the physical location of their unit, it's in an entertainment center with no airflow. Both the PS3 manual and the Xbox 360 manual clearly said you needed some space around the machines and to make sure there is airflow. The machine heats up, it breaks. Same as any other computer. Once they move it out, they generally experience fewer problems. I'm 3/3 on this. Not that it's an excuse or something you can generally extrapolate from, but it's something to consider.
Slashdot. It's Not For Common Sense
As a law student, I'll certify to the limits of my knowledge of the issues that wikipedia is a good source for getting "a sense" of the law. Here's a good example. The shopkeeper's privlege is NOT statutory, it is part of the common-law tradition which is used in almost the entire United States (I believe Louisiana is on purely statutory system, but I'm not stopping to check, so don't quote me on that).
From the Article:
A store owner holds the common law shopkeeper's privilege, under which he is allowed to detain a suspected shoplifter on store property for a reasonable period of time, with cause to believe that the person detained in fact committed, or attempted to commit theft of store property. The shopkeeper's privilege, although recognized in most jurisdictions, is not as broad a privilege as that of a police officer's, and therefore one must pay special attention to the temporal element -- that is, the shopkeep may only detain the suspected criminal for a relatively short period of time. So, to sumarize - most store owners and employees granted the task (ie managers and security guards) can require that you stop and allow them to examine your person for goods when there is a reason to do so. This has been upheld even in cases involving "general" suspicion, where a guard checks every person or random persons on their way out.Since the guard would have the legal right to retain your presence under reasonable circumstances (can't gang tackle you on your way out) if you respond by threatening violence, you are subject to a suit for: (dun dun duh dun!) Common Assault.
A quick guide to tortious assualt can be found - Here
As a note to the officer above, these are both tortious acts, not criminal - hence no requirement for a statute. They can be governed by common law which is more permissive and allows (broad brush stroke here) only cash damages.
-GiH
The previous statements are nuance deprived - see your lawyer for details.
Just out of curiosity, what other games have you played? There have been some real duds in the launch, but luckily I have a gamefly account and am able to try it out first. Currently I have 7 games (way more than I though I would at this point) and am curious to what else you've been sampling. Have you tried Rayman? It and WiiSports I would recommend to anyone.
There's a common law doctrine that allows them to detain you on reasonable suspicion. This has been repeatedly upheld to include "general" suspicion such as in the case of a door clerk checking every bag. Your right to privacy isn't pierced becahse there's nothing private in your bag - unless the material there is somehow mystically transformed between the check-out line and the door.
Wikipedia summary of law good general overview.
-GiH
Demo games, for as long as I can remember, were setup so that you got a taste of the game (one half in basketball, a few laps on a race game, etc...) and then it returned to a main menu. it didn't lock up the entire system.
I was Best Buy the other day and attempted to try out this $599.00 (US) piece of equipment and it the game was frozen! Dumb, dumb, dumb gutterslut cunts at Sony- ALL OF THEM.
Well technically it was a REAL bottom of the food chain Sony rep who said something this stupid, and not someone like Ken (who had some doozies anyway). To say this lockup may be 'intentional in any way' is simply a stupid assertion. I have been to 3 different stores running PS3s that are (on multiple visits) locked up and unable to play the same demo.
I see 4 possibilities here:
Either there is an issue with the Code of the game,
The (Sony supplied) Kiosks don't have proper ventilation to prevent the unit from over heating;
There is an issue with the code of the PS3 itself, or
There is a hardware defect present in each of these units.
Personally I think the first 2 are most likely, but all are possible explinations, and all should have been discovered with proper QA testing before these Kiosks hit retail.
Everything is Sony's fault.
Homeless people waiting in line? Sony's fault.
Guy earning minimum wage spouting crap? Sony's fault.
Muggings at a line-up? Sony's fault.
Drastic undersupplying? Sony screwed up.
Multiple counts of broken Wii straps? Clearly stupid game players.
Release a patch that bricked some Wiis? Well, these things happen.
Drastic undersupplying? Nintendo is doing fine.
Get with the program mister - we can't let things like common sense and proper placement of their console to get in the way of the truth. Well provided the truth is that it's Sony's fault.
"Holy crap, shock, and fear. New hardware has defects."
Haven't heard of one person having a defective Wii. I have atleast 10 friends with Wii's right now...not one defect.
Unstable Apps: Our Android Apps Don't Suck
My Wii has frozen twice and one of the remote controls has version 1 of the battery compartment which allows some AA batteries to break contact with the springs.
i get it... it's a joke...wiiiiiiiii right?!?!?!
my site of misleading and incorrect information!
"It's the person-behind-you's turn to look for the reset button/power cord."
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Err, lots of people have had Wii defects. Heck, someone here responded to you already.
And that's fine, new hardware has bugs. The Wii should be a bit more reliable, there is less new hardware in it. It is mostly a revised and clocked-up gamecube.
Slashdot. It's Not For Common Sense
Heh, it was a friend's wife who pointed out to me that they can't do anything to stop you. Ever since then, I've had great fun walking right by them saying something like:
"Sure! Thanks!"
"He's got it." (Point to random stranger behind you).
"Yep. Here it is."
"You, too!"
"I left it in the car."
"No thanks."
It doesn't really matter what you say. If you don't stop, they can't stop you. I've never had anyone try. Usually, they just smile and tell me to HaveANiceDay or ThankYouForShoppingAt as I go by.
If the masses can keep you down, you're not the Ubermensch.
So, you're saying you paid $599 for a PS3 at cost? Good thing you didn't pay some eBay-inflated price!
Remember when Sony said that the full potential could never be used???
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Seriously, linking to shitty blogs like that one just shows how desperate you are for any bad news. And don't get me started on how valid some guy's word of mouth is & how stupid these "a friend of my sister's gardener's cousin" etc "stories" are.....
Sooo... If I was at an Apple store with a unit demoing some beta application, and some representative said something similar to the "Sony representative," would that be the companies official stance on the matter & be big news?
Now if it was Microsoft and the first Xbox... Oh wait....
Ten of your friends have Nintendo Wiis?!?!? I don't even know one person let alone ten. You must be a psycho fanboi among psycho fanbois.
Maybe that's why the Wii Remote contains capacitors inside, to counteract this problem.
A couple of large slow fans would be more than enough, wouldn't they?
Of course what we ought to see happening is consumers punishing Sony for their poor attitude.
What happens in practice is that people like me go out any buy Sony systems and games anyway because game content trumps loading delays. Which is a shame, because it's not like I really enjoy loading delays, but perhaps I only have myself to blame.
My most recent shift at one of the local Gamestops (just a couple days ago, really) saw our PS3 kiosk freeze up 3-4 times at completely random intervals. We eventually decided to just turn the system off, since the last time it froze, we couldn't actually hard-reset the machine; it kept freezing again at the menu screen, which for some reason turned pink. Now, I will admit that the space is pretty cramped, but the kiosk had fans (very loud fans), not to mention the massive 200mm fan in the system itself. Call me crazy, but I think opting for the internal power supply might have been a bad idea. Now, this freezing several times and us shutting off the kiosk thing happens regularly; any shift I work that it doesn't happen is special to me. During my entire term of employment, I've seen the 360 kiosk have a total of one error (a disc read error) which was remedied by pushing the reset button on the OUTSIDE (revolutionary!) of the plastic case. There's really no way to put it besides 'the PS3 has a problem.'
True. When you buy a game system, you do buy it for the games. Honestly I think the best reasons to own a PS3 aren't coming at least until Late 2007, and I have yet to see any actual gameplay footage from either FFXIII ot MGS4 which conserns me. FFVII for the PS1 had great pre-rendered videos, so I want to see someone playing a build of it before I get to hyped about its graphics.
Price is also a factor. Sony would have a lot more people interested in it if they had a $299-$399 version that used a DVD9. Despite the X-box losing the cost advantage if you buy the HD-DVD add on, the unit is modular and optional. Some people like convergence, others do not. Personally, I would rather buy a stand alone player, as they work better, and come with more features than an integrated solution.
Umm... yes. The list price for the PS3 60GB model is $599. If you're implying that I should have gotten it for the exact price the *store* paid for the unit from Sony, well ... no, I didn't get that pricing. But who would? Toys 'R Us won't even give employees their 10% employee discount on anything related to electronic gaming or baby diapers.
Yes, but if long load times don't hurt your sales you are less inclined to put more man hours into reducing them. The movies are no different, they make choices based on time, money, and limited resources. Watch Peter Jackson's Kong and tell me the 'Tender moments' with Kong, didn't look great. Now watch the fast moving action scenes with the Dinosaurs, and tell me they couldn't use more time in the render farm to clean them up. They put their attention to what they felt was more important. Same thing with game development. If they don't feel it detracts significantly to their product, they don't put put the extra time in. If it doesn't hurt their sales, there isn't a business reason for them to do so.
You do have a point, sales do give the directors/artists a clue as to what is popularly liked and disliked about their work, as do reviews. I used to not care about load times, but now I'm starting to realize that at a less conscious level, they're negetively effecting my experience as a whole. This is why there's not quite as much public outcry for better load times, most of the time people just don't notice, but it may give an overall less possitive feeling about the game. It's unfortunate, because it takes longer for game designers to come to the realization that it IS a pretty big issue. Graphics are right there in front of you. Since the beginning of video games, graphics have been one of the most closely scruitinized aspects of gaming, where waiting arond wasn't even an issue until the playstation, and for most of the early games of that generation, the content was simple enough that load times weren't that bad.
Now, they're bad. It sorta snuck up on us while we were busy counting polygons. I see more and more ingenious solutions to solving load time issues, and I hope that trend continues until we're back up to not having to wait between areas. Now you're starting to see more public awareness on the matter: recently a Tony Hawk TV commercial used "no load times" as one of the major selling points of the game. It showed a guy on a skateboard on a city block, and then he crashes into an invisible bearier, looks up, and watches a progress bar ticking off in the air... you may have seen it.
Hopefully this generation is more responsible with load time issues than the last.
Multiplayer Gaming (defined): Sitting around, discussing single-player games with my friends, at the bar.