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Sony To Offer Partial Refunds For PS Vita
mpicpp sends this report from the Houston Chronicle:
"Hundreds of thousands of people who bought the handheld gaming console PlayStation Vita are in line for a partial refund from Sony because of questionable claims in its advertising. The Federal Trade Commission said Tuesday it had reached a settlement with Sony Computer Entertainment America, the U.S.-based arm of the PlayStation business, over advertising claims that the government contended were misleading.
As part of the proposed settlement, Sony will provide refunds to those who bought the PS Vita console before June 1, 2012. They'll be eligible for either a $25 cash or credit refund — or a $50 merchandise voucher from Sony. ... Among the claims challenged by the FTC: That the pocket-sized console would revolutionize gaming mobility by allowing consumers to play their PlayStation 3 games via "remote play" on the console anywhere with a Wi-Fi connection, [and] that people could engage in "cross-platform" play by starting a game on a PlayStation 3, pausing it, and continuing the game with the PS Vita from where they left off. Not really true, the FTC said.
As part of the proposed settlement, Sony will provide refunds to those who bought the PS Vita console before June 1, 2012. They'll be eligible for either a $25 cash or credit refund — or a $50 merchandise voucher from Sony. ... Among the claims challenged by the FTC: That the pocket-sized console would revolutionize gaming mobility by allowing consumers to play their PlayStation 3 games via "remote play" on the console anywhere with a Wi-Fi connection, [and] that people could engage in "cross-platform" play by starting a game on a PlayStation 3, pausing it, and continuing the game with the PS Vita from where they left off. Not really true, the FTC said.
I wonder what would happen if citizens could sue the government for "questionable claims during campaign".
First Beta. Then Dice shilling. Now they're becoming a third rate discount provider?
Good God, this place really has gone down the crapper.
From TFA
The FTC also alleged that Deutsch LA misled consumers by asking employees to post positive tweets about the console on their personal Twitter accounts — without disclosing their connection to the ad agency or Sony.
There is no such thing as a personal twitter account.
There are only corporate twitter accounts and anonymous twitter accounts which your employer does not know about.
Slashdot social media options: AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, Jabber and Mobile Text. Why no MySpace?
What about those two claims was specifically not followed through on from a technical perspective? I saw the commercials that claimed it did both of those and they were pretty black and white. All the article says was that less than all games supported pausing and resuming on the Vita. There has to be more to it.
This scene takes place in the office of an advertising company:
Marketing guy: "How many Mac users clicked on that don't show again button?"
Assistant: "15%, including the 6% that later clicked on the picture of the girl with big tits. Here is the drill-down link."
Advertised with sleep/wake functionality to go straight back into whatever you were doing. One year later, no sign of it despite running FreeBSD on generic Intel hardware.
...Buy Sony.
A nut, you can play, outside?
"Sorry our computers are down at the moment"
Coder's Stone: The programming language quick ref for iPad
I hope it's not like the PSN compromise apology. "$50 merchandise voucher from Sony", pick from your choice of three pre-selected crappy download games that you would never buy anyway!