Sony Sued Over Bricked PS3s

Zarrot writes "If Sony's recent 3.00 PS3 firmware update bricked your console, you may now have legal recourse thanks to a class action suit against Sony. The complaint alleges that thousands of users (PDF) were affected by the update, and in some cases the PS3 hardware itself was damaged. It continues, 'For owners who sustained hardware damage from the Sony-required update, Sony is charging a $150 repair fee per unit. Sony, responding to the numerous complaints about the unacceptable effects of the defective update, released a further, optional update that it claimed "improves system stability" — yet performance problems continued, and the new update did nothing to remedy the systems of users who sustained hardware damage."'"

Re:XCP on steroids!

[Garridan]

I'm wondering why this isn't a criminal case. They broke your shit, and now they're charging you to fix it? Sounds like a clear case of extortion to me. Screw the lawsuit, let's put some people in jail -- oh wait -- prison, because they did it across state lines.

PC

[Dyinobal]

This is why I continue to buy PCs I like to have a lot of control over my gaming system. That and Consoles are simply trying to play catch up with PCs still. Seriously only this generation has just now gotten 'online' support. The fact you have to pay for online capability on some systems is ridiculous too. It now seems that Sony is far from it's glory days of the PS1 and Nintendo far from theirs with the Super Nintendo.

Re:When are people going to learn to NOT buy Sony?

[tepples]

The only thing that surprises me is that out of the seven billion people on this planet, there are enough of them dumb enough to buy ANYTHING from a company like this for it to stay in business.

It takes a while. Nintendo is slowly increasing its lead in market capitalization over the entire Sony empire.

• Sony market cap, including at least Sony Pictures, Sony Music, Sony Electronics, Sony Online Entertainment, and Sony Computer Entertainment: $28.0 billion
• Nintendo market cap: $34.5 billion

Re:So glad...

[Skuld-Chan]

At least Microsoft fixes them for free.

Re:When are people going to learn to NOT buy Sony?

[WCMI92]

The only thing that surprises me is that out of the seven billion people on this planet, there are enough of them dumb enough to buy ANYTHING from a company like this for it to stay in business.

Well, I have LONG ago ceased to buy Sony, and I did it because of the Star Wars Galaxies NGE. Indeed, I've used my position as head of IT at my company, which is one of the larger businesses in it's industry in the Eastern USA, to make sure that Sony isn't even CONSIDERED for purchases. I cost them $50K worth of plasma displays, for example, when we rolled out a videoconferencing system simply by taking Sony off the bid specs as a valid provider when we bid it out.

Sony is not a reputable company, and they do not make better products than alternate vendors. Sad thing about that is that 20 years ago no one had a better reputation than Sony and their products were ALWAYS a cut above anything similar. It's taken them this long to live off the capital of their once great name to reach the point of near bankruptcy.

Re:Sigh

[spire3661]

Exactly, I dont like Sony, but the PS3 is a unique experience, unavailable from any other vendor. Im probably not going to go out and buy a Sony TV, or cell phone or computer because there is ample competition and thre is nothing really unique about those items.

My 3.0-3.01 Firmware Story

[Plastic Pencil]

I can 100% attest to the fact that the PS3 update 3.0 and 3.01 did indeed disable my system. My system (a 60GB) worked flawlessly for 2 years until 3.0, which caused issues in regard to getting into games online. 3.01 broke dvd, and blu-ray playback, and caused freezing issues with the XMB which you couldn't exit while playing a game if accessed. I called Sony, they told me there was no troubleshooting for the issue and it would $150. I spoke to a supervisor, who in so many words said. 1) You can't prove it was the firmware. 2) Even if it was the firmware, we accept Sony takes no responsibility as per terms of the agreement when we download the firmware. Of course, we're force to agree to this 'agreement' when we're forced to download the firmware. Anyway, I consulted Sony's own forums which were ablaze with complaints. A user fix 'rebuild the database' fixed my system in less than 10 minutes. So here is my proof that the firmware did indeed disable at least some systems.

Re:When are people going to learn to NOT buy Sony?

[debrain]

The history of Sony's management is quite fascinating. I've lost the link, but I recall there being an article about Sony's decision over who to replace their then-CEO around 1999 (Norio Ohga), who had been CEO for ages and brought Sony to new economic heights. The choice of his successor was either the head of Sony Entertainment (i.e. the copyright/media side of Sony) or the head of Sony Computer (i.e. the head of the electronics side). They ended up choosing the head of the copyright/media side of Sony, Nobuyuki Idei.

Anecdotally, since that decision, I've noticed that Sony's technology shine has dropped completely off my radar (i.e. I don't even turn to them to find out what the latest and greatest tech is, whereas at one point they were certainly a contender for something that I'd consider cool), while their foray into rent-seeking for their copyright has also gone off the deep end.

I might be wrong about the details of the history - I'd be interested in finding the article again, or having the background.

If it's true, I believe the change in the "personality" or "culture" of Sony reflects the decision that they made to make the head of their copyright/media division the head of the company. I believe their shareholders have been paying for that decision ever since.

Re:Sony is no longer a reputable vendor

[Anonymous Coward]

This happened to me also, and also with a DPT raid controller...

I just asked for a firmware update to try to sort out some instabilities... and my surprise when they asked me my address to send them for free...

From US to Portugal!!! ;)

Re:XCP on steroids!

[_avs_007]

Maybe they also do what nintendo does, and include the firmware update on the Game disc itself... My Wii doesn't have a network connection, yet it installs updates all the time when I get new games.

Re:XCP on steroids!

[Anonymous Coward]

Well since Nintendo recently released firmware 4.2, whose sole purpose was to attempt to eradicate homebrew software and brick peoples' innocent Wii consoles in the process, I wouldn't trust them either. They seemed alright with the Wii until they started destroying consoles with their stupidly untested and dangerous updates, and then trying to cover it up and pretend it wasn't widespread. The only consoles I buy now are the ones that can run custom firmware and homebrew without soldering because I suck at soldering. That way I can choose to ONLY install the custom firmwares and homebrew and not the official updates. For example: Wii, PSP, original Xbox, and NDS (with flash cart). The user experience tends to be much better than the locked-down DRM consoles without proper hax.

Re:Bricked Consoles?

[Captain Chaos]

Microsoft was also being hit with lawsuits over the hardware failures of the 360, so don't go thinking they extended the warranty because of their benevolent nature. Not everyone with a broken 360 got a free fix, many died before the warranty extension. I knew someone who made a nice little side job of repairing 360s that were out of warranty for less than Microsoft was charging.