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Demo PS3 Units freeze on Purpose

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the stay-off-my-kiosks-kid dept.

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.""

7 of 363 comments (clear)

  1. Fixed link by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    Not that anybody will use it...

    http://www.destructoid.com/playstation-3-kiosks-fr eezing-up-on-purpose--28860.phtml

  2. Re:right... I'll buy that bridge... by garcia · · Score: 3, Informative

    For me it never froze (granted I didn't play it "all day long") but it took forever to load. I really wasn't interested in wasting my time standing at the machine waiting 5 minutes for a shitty demo to load.

    There were other game systems to play and my wife was tugging at my arm telling me to get going ;)

  3. thats not what best buy told me... by freg · · Score: 4, Informative

    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

  4. Zap! by Rob+T+Firefly · · Score: 4, Informative

    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
  5. Re:This isn't some high up exec... by Thansal · · Score: 3, Informative

    Thank you for pointing this out as no one is gona RTFA ;)

    Seriously, it was a random rep, in a random EB games. Reps lie, that is all they do. Anythign a rep says is a lie. Remember this and you will be much better off. (I will admit, this is all simply personal experiance in working in retail, and I am including sales staff ofr retail stores as reps. They all lie also.)

    --
    Do Or Do Not, There Is No Spoon, There Is Only Zuul. Everything in the above post is probably opinion.
  6. Re:Maybe someone can tell me.... by nicksthings · · Score: 3, Informative
    I wrote the story based on a conversation I had with a Sony PlayStation retail field rep. I have no reason to make up a story like this. I write content for Destructoid (mostly news related) and thought it was a) funny and b) informative enough to share.

    It's not a bash on Sony or their hardware. The crux of the story is: PS3 retail kiosks lock/freeze/whatever up, a Sony rep played it off as something that happens on purpose, it's been confirmed by a few people that they were told the same thing. That is fact. Question my credibility if you'd like, but I think you'll find Destructoid (as a whole) to be both informative and reliable -- I wouldn't intentionally write and post a tall tale for the sake of hits (or anything else for that matter).

  7. Shopkeeper's Privlege by GodInHell · · Score: 4, Informative
    Wikipedia article


    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.