Naturally Sony’s not saying why - but they definitely have screwed SOMETHING up with the fat end of the PSN.
So that PlayStation Network problem that hit late last night is apparently a serious disaster now. Sony is now saying that you shouldn’t use “fat” PS3 models at all, since a clock-related bug might cause some data loss.
Surprise surprise! Sony can’t get it’s FLAGSHIP games to work 3+ years later. And yes, I said WORK. It’s not a publishing issue, it’s not a “we want to add xxx car to the roster” issue, it’s not even a “how can we microtransaction end users to death” issue. They can’t seem to make it work with their own machine. Awesome.
TOKYO Jan 13 Reuters - Sony Corp 6758.T said it will postpone the launch of the latest version of its blockbuster racing game series “Gran Turismo” citing production-related matters in a potential blow to its videogame operations. “Gran Turismo 5″ designed for Sony s PlayStation 3 PS3 game console was due to be launched in March the final month of the current financial year. A new launch date has not been set.
Sony Qualia-017 MiniDisc Player
Say you’re Sony. What do you do when the iPod has been beating your ass for three years and your weird little proprietary disc format is swiftly losing the hearts and minds of the American digital music enthusiast? You introduce a $1900 solid brass MiniDisc player, that’s what! I guess it’s better than hitting consumers over the head repeatedly with a soiled diaper, but not by much.
Sony Clié PEG-NZ90
The Clié was a “Personal Entertainment Organizer,” which is a fancy way of saying that it was a multimedia PDA. An $800 multimedia PDA. What’s the point of being the most advanced Palm OS PDA at a time when no one really wanted PDAs? Its death in 2005 was a harbinger of the demise of the personal digital assistant age.
#25
Sony VN-CX1A Mouse/VoIP Phone
Just because you can shove two functions into one device doesn’t mean you should. In fact, you generally shouldn’t! It’s also a little screwy that this was marketed to business people, since they’re the ones most likely to need to talk and use their computer at the same time.
#17
Universal Media Disc
I understand Sony wanting to give the PSP its own special proprietary data format, I really do. But did they really expect me to buy movies on UMD? Limited storage meant that bonus footage had to largely be stripped from UMD releases, and exclusive PSP compatibility meant no one developed content for UMD anyway. Even Sony’s giving up on the technology, opting instead for flash memory in the PSPGo.
#33
PlayStation EyeToy
There were never more than eight PS2 games a year designed for the EyeToy, and the majority of those ended up being hugely unpopular. Whatever functionality it had was either limited or unappealing or both, and now the only new titles EyeToy owners are left with have names like EyeToy Play: PomPom Party. So maybe it’s not all bad.
Memory Stick:
A bit of a cheat here, since it debuted in 1998, but Sonys been torturing us with variations of its “why wont it just die already??” flash-memory format throughout the decade, so we call it fair game. Lets run down every iteration: Memory Stick, Memory Stick Select, Memory Stick Pro, Memory Stick Duo, Memory Stick Pro Duo, Memory Stick Pro-HG Duo, Memory Stick Micro, Memory Stick XC. Whew Exhausting, confusing and redundant. The real question is, how many of those formats exist because the engineers screwed up on the older formats? Im sure some of you card-carrying IEEE members can figure it out.
This photo says everything that needs to be said about Sony and their ongoing handling of PS3 marketing. A guy in a suit, looking bored and unprepared staring down at a script that describes what it is to be “really exciting”.
Do notice that he says that the motion controller LAUNCH is going to be exciting. Not the controller itself or it’s games. That’s probably accurate given Sony’s launch history: because it’s not the quality of the products that brings in the cash, it’s the hype machine that beats into people’s heads that the product is a have-to-have that brings in the cash. Right? RIGHT?!?! /rant off
Sony’s John Koller:
“[They] are going to be the areas that will really define success, because they’re areas that quite honestly, I think Project Natal and the Wii are going to have trouble matching, from a differentiation standpoint. We look at motion control as being that much more than what exists on the market. The Holy Grail of gaming is placing you as a consumer into the game physically. When we provide further details, people will see exactly where we’re going, not only from a technological standpoint on the hardware, but also where the gameplay is transitioning. It’s going to be a really exciting launch.”
Here we go again with Sony’s infamous bait-and-switch mess. This time, I’m going to let the quotes speak for themselves, complete with unspoken, but yet included truths. **truths are demarcated with 2 stars**
…In an interview with Nikkei Japan Sony Computer Entertainment executive vice president and chief technology officer Masayuki Chatani was asked how Sony was managing the high costs associated with running a service such as the PlayStation Network. “We would face difficulties if our business depended solely on the sell-and-forget model. After we sell the hardware **that we’re still taking a significant loss per console on** though we continue to sell **by sell I mean ‘push onto comsumers as if they have to have it to breathe’** products such as content and services ” he said. “We can **and soon WILL** also accept payment in a growing number of ways ” he added. “In addition to single-payment packaged software there are also schemes like monthly fees **like the ones we said we’d never charge you, but this statement is vague enough that we can deny anything you throw at us** or per-item charges.” Although there was little context to his answer it may be that in terms of monthly fees Chatani was only speaking in reference to specific titles such as massively multiplayer online games. However there have been persistent rumours that Sony may be considering an Xbox Live style subscription model **since Sony has no original ideas in it’s collective head** for the PlayStation Network a whole. Last month Kaz Hirari stated categorically that current services would continue to be offered free of charge although the company may begin to charge for unspecified new premium content and services - some using a subscription model.
Thank you. That will be all.