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Games Entertainment

PSX2 Memory Card Recall Ordered 219

Posted by emmett from the uh-oh dept.
tlhIngan writes "Apparently, the PlayStation2 has shipped with several glaring bugs, that is prompting a recall of the 8 MB memory cards. News of the recall is here. It appears that there are problems with the DVD playback such as skipping video/sound, inability to recognize Japanese region DVDs, and dual layer/dual sided CDs take a while to recognize, if they recognize at all. For memory cards, playing Ridge Racer V will corrupt the 8 MB memory card, destroying the DVD driver (which will have to be reloaded from the utilities CD). Additional problems include overheating and freezing." Okay, it turns out that the cards aren't being recalled, but there's still come severe weird mojo going on here somewhere.
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PSX2 Memory Card Recall Ordered More

PSX2 Memory Card Recall Ordered

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  • HA! That's nothing! (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Bugs? Glitches? You ain't seen nothin' yet.
    Just wait till the X-Box is released!

  • Re:Freezing (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    >It gets annoying to watch Crash hang in midair for a half hour while the system sorts itself out.

    Is it any more annoying than watching those damn commercials for Crash?

  • Memory Recall (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    More information on Memory Recall [imdb.com].
  • Though 980,000 were actually ordered, a small fraction of that number ware actually delivered.
  • Yeah, I don't get it. My only guess is that some of the trolls managed to gain moderator access somehow.

    I don't mind people marking me down if it is deserved, but at least they could do it right - my post could have easily been 'Offtopic' (or, as a stretch, 'Flamebait' although I wouldn't agree with that) - but 'Troll'?

    I don't troll. I piss enough people off without even having to try. :>

    Anyhow, thanks for the support...

    - Jeff A. Campbell
    - VelociNews (http://www.velocinews.com [velocinews.com])
  • Parainoia talking. Eliminating the parallel port was a cost cutting measure, pure and simple. Note that the seperate a/v outs have gone as well.

  • It's almost good enough to erase the memories of how incredibly bad Umjammer Lammy was (I *loved* PaRappa, and was greatly let down by that sequel).

    Jet Set Radio definitely has the style and the concept (wait'll Congress finds out - a game where you paint graffiti and run from the cops!), can't wait to find out if it actually plays as well :)
  • Therefore, there are many advantages to getting a system compatible with old PSX games... Use the new PSX2 as the main machine. Then hook the old console up to the little TV in the basement, or keep it for the kids, or save it for a backup when somebody else is watching a DVD on the new one... There are tons of good reasons for com[patibility(?)]
    While having a "spare" PSX is nice, the demand for its use will be high only for a brief time during the transition phase - before the PSX2 gets more titles. The reason for compatibility is to ease the software dearth during that time. But even though the PSX2 can play PSX software, developers are going to want to use PSX2 features (to ease development) and gamers will want those features used (to improve their gaming experience). Thus, in a very short timespan the demand to play PSX titles will drop dramatically.

    Sony's move in this direction is noble and looks good to consumers, but I don't think it'll take long before this feature is largely forgotten in favor of new and fancy titles.

  • Saddened? Why? The original PSX had dreadful defects at launch - even in the US. I don't see why the PSX2 won't be any different. Sony's consumer division may have been a marvel of quality control at some point, but that point is long past.

    At present, the PSX2 faces an uphill battle against the less expensive Dreamcast (who already has a foothold in the US market). They'll need to deliver more "must have" games faster than the competition. My guess is that it'll be a "SNES/Genesis" war all over again.

  • Backwards compatibility has never sold consoles. The fact is, players buy new consoles to play new games. Having a two-in-one might save some shelf space, but it's not worth the extra ~$200.

    Oh, and technical specifications have never proven the deciding factor in a console's success. Great graphics always take a back seat to great games. The PSX2 might look wonderful, but it won't matter if the games aren't there. It needs to be easier to develop for than the Dreamcast in order to make any difference. If tech specs were all that mattered, we'd be playing Intellivisions, Jaguars and N64s right now - but it's the games that really matter to people.

    The Dreamcast game selection has made it a monster success so far. And compared to the Saturn, the PSX feels cheap - but nobody gives a rat's ass about such trivial details.

  • I have no particular problem with a new system keeping backwards compatibility, but I don't think it's a powerful feature that'll attract new users. Players who already have a PSX and like the games won't benefit (except for the "neato" factor and one less thing to hook up to the TV), and players who don't own a PSX will need to see significant price differences between PSX and PSX2 games to justify picking up old titles.

    In short, it's a nice thing to have when possible, but the console market moves so fast that keeping the backwards compatibility isn't a major selling point and may prove detrimental to maintain over many product cycles.


  • This mentality has been around for a lot longer than most people think. The micros that were around before the PC came out and crushed everyone often had buggy firmware. Minicomputers before that had more than their fair share of quirks. I bet if you go back to the mainframes around in the 50s, you'd find that inside they were a mess of patchwork.
  • Nah, the Dreamcast is gonna have a DVD addon soon.
  • You're right that the lack of backward compatibility hurt the Atari 5200, which was a shame because they could have easily made it compatible with/upgradable to the computer systems. (The Atari 7800 failed because the games were all five year old rehashes: Galaga and Robotron2084 were old news in 1988.) On the other hand, The ColecoVision offered a 2600 expansion module which was very popular and helped the platform. The moral is that compatibility matters.

    Even Sega understood this at one time -- with add-ons both the Genesis and GameGear could play old Master System games. Then they blew it with the whole Sega CD/32 versus Saturn thing, and lost lots of customer loyalty.

    I think that backward compatibility is a wonderful feature in a video game system, and something that will become mandatory sooner or later. You can no longer pretend that your audience are all 12 year olds that are going to forget about you and start chasing girls in a year or two. Especially as Internet-based communities start around these games, you have to be able to move the user base forward and stop starting from scratch every three years.
    --
  • All the more reason to stick with my PC! Maybe once these bugs get worked out I'll add one to my enternainment center. But until then, my PC-DVD works great, I can play all the games just as good if not better...



    This also makes me wonder what Nintendo is coming up with.... It might be worth while to wait a little and see before plunking down the $$'s.

  • If you don't test your equipment before launch, don't be surprised when it fails. The same thing happened with the Dreamcast on launch(in the US, anyway). Does this affect the old PSX Memory Cards too, or are they 'safe' from this virus^H^H^H^H^HGlitch?
  • Nintendo had it's day with the NES and the SNES with the introduction of the N64 we have a plethora of crappy cartoon oriented games that leave me with the chills. They have almost completely eliminated the concept of cheat codes and all their games require an additional "expansion pack" (well you don't need it but prepare for the characters to look the wooden dolls).

    Hmm, Goldeneye & Zelda are two of the best games released on any platform. They don't require the expansion pack, Neither are very 'cartoony' and I doubt there are two games on the playstation that are close in playability.
    Anyhow, it's only games written to take advantage of the expansion pack can utilise it. There are perhaps 10 games that can use it, and 1 game that requires it.
    having the evil elves kill me without warning are all symptoms of this problem.

    and this is different from the wumpus how exactly?
  • Interesting theory, but it doesn't make any real sense.

    Here's a theory for you - Sony wants to stop exports of the PS2, right?

    Yep, they don't really like exports. That doesn't make sense either, but that's another discussion.

    So, they release PS2's with memory cards that have a known problem - for all of the Japanese consumers, it's an easy fix - go down to the nearest store (which will have the "fixed" cards already, manufactured before the launch) and trade in your old card for the new one.

    I'm afraid Sony doesn't dislike exports that badly. Thinks about how much money it would cost to make that many memory cards! Beside that, Sony would loose face to it's Japanese customers if it made them all stand in another huge line-up.

    For import users though, you're pretty much stuck - it says on the box that you can't export them, so how do you think they'll treat someone from the US looking for an upgrade?

    First off, you must not have read the article. It says:

    "As such, any PS2 units that NCS imports this week will contain a defective PS2 memory card that will need to be returned to our vendors."

    People don't import the hardware, companies send them to other companies. So Sony would never see "someone from the US" returning the console, they'd only see the companies they sold the console to in the first place.

    I estimate four rounds of "buggy" memory cards to shake out most of the import market, staggered every few weeks.

    That's just plain illogical. Imagine the memory cards cost $20, if Sony were to give returns on four more rounds, they'd be throwing away $100 worth of sellable merchandise! I guarentee they wouldn't waste that much money on something that's going to happen anyway, like exporting.
  • Looks like Sony is taking a page from Microsoft's marketing playbook. Pretty box, but..no thanks. Time to buy a Dreamcast. :)

    Bowie J. Poag
    Project Founder, PROPAGANDA For Linux (http://propaganda.themes.org [themes.org])
  • Agree with you about the CD pressing problem. Have never heard of the defective unit problem from China. Don't suppose you have a URL or something I could read up on that, do you?

    Bryan R.
  • Actually, the problems related to the Dreamcast were due to faulty CDs, not the hardware being defective. And then, it was only in two or three titles, many Midway games.

    Bryan R.
  • I always thought that Sega would drop the ball with DreamCast. I had (have) Zero expectations and confidence in it's longevity as a Console. It's headed right in that corner where all my friends keep their Saturns' but never play them.


    Hey, i wouldn't mind a PS2, but i love my DC, already have a dvd player, and for christs sake i wouldn't want to use a game controller as a remote for my dvd player :)


    I've already got a DVD Drive/Mpeg board, too (Buggy Piece of shit) What's wrong with using a console controller for a DVD player? I haven't had any other CD player in my room other than my PSX/TV and I've never minded the User Interface (although I wish I had better low-end sounds)- hell, *I can't wait to play DVD's on my PSX2.*

    That's something no DC owner can say about their console.

    Kagenin
  • This is par for Sony products in the last few years. From my Diskman's broken battery cover, to my DVD player with burned out lights, to my 1 year old TV thats been in the shop twice... They used to be the #1 brand for quality consumer electronics but now, sadly, I think of them along with Goldstar or HiVal. .02
  • Glitches? those are feat' ah say features boy!
  • I've been playing console systems since the days of the atari and I can't ever recall a public recall of a component on one of these systems much less bugs that were this disastrous to the stabiloty of the console. Is this from rushed deployment you think or is it the pressure of bigger better graphics and sound?
    I forsee more of these bugs to be found though I think Sony will be quick to stomp them out. Its still really scary to think this is happening to the machines designed for one purpose only.

    Orac
  • I had a DC that I picked up on 9/9/99 and never had a problem with it until Worms Armageddon. It was my only WinCE game, and the only one that wouldn't load properly. I went back to the store a few weeks ago, swapped DC units, and havn't had any problems since. I can't find a listing of any bugs specific to WinCE, but apparently I had one.

    -B
  • It was explained to me that the most of the problems with skipping audio/video and unrecognized disks is not due to bad engineering or poor QC, but due to the fact that nobody follows the actual DVD specs to the letter. Usually things work fine, but every once in a while a particular DVD will not play nice with a particular model DVD player and you're generally screwed. I believe that the players are getting much better, though. My 8 month old Samsung player absolutely will not play The Matrix. The Matrix DVD was rushed to market and there are about a dozen players that just won't recognize it as a valid DVD.

    -B
  • There was no recall. Dailyradar contacted Sony -- it's just a hoax.

    http://www.dailyradar.com/news/game_news_2163.ht ml
  • I guess that's why they release these things in Japan first... they use Japan as a guinea (sp?) pig so that when they get to the US it actually works :-)

    "Software is like sex- the best is for free"
    -Linus Torvalds
  • Ahh, but it is logical - if you take a long term, 100 year view as a Japanese company would. It's more valuable to be able to completely segment markets now and be able to drive up costs over the long term than it is to save a bit per unit in manufacturing costs for extra memory cards. They can always recycle them later as "fixed" cards after they have deactived each layer of trouble programmed in.

    Plus, I was talking about individual exports - like the people who flew to Japan, and brought a few back. Obviously (acording to the theory) Sony would support some exports through a handful of companies that Sony controlled behind the scenes. You can't block a river, but you can channel it to do what you wish...

    As for annoying Japanese consumers - that doesn't matter at all, because (as I said) it's but a slight inconvience to them easily overcome by Sony. For some poor person who bought a PS2 from Ebay - well, good luck!

    Why apply logic to a conspiracy theory anyway? They aren't supposed to be logical, that's the whole point!
  • To whomever programmed the AI of the auto-insult responder - you forgot to include the humor discrimination routine again. Back to the 'ol drawing board, I'd say!

    (To silly responder: of course I don't believe it. Note that it's marked as "Humor". I'd normally ignore posts so far off the mark, but I decided to respond just in case there was more than one person on earth silly enough to believe I might actually really believe this theory - and of course in a hope to stop the Sony Yakusa (sp?) from coming into my house and killing me silently while I sleep!)
  • It goes back much further. I remember installing a new OS in the 1970s with assorted bugs. Fortunately, the manufacturer of that mainframe supplied source code and a BBS for customers to share notes and patches...
  • ...like Black Matrix Advanced... Ok I have to admit that the Saturn version is better for cool factor, but hey! :-) <p>
    And Sentimental Graffiti 2 is one of the most eagerly awaited sequels ever... I have the first game on Saturn and it is great! And the second one even better! I just wish Konami would port Tokimeki Memorial 2 for the Dreamcast (the PSX system limits simultaneous EVS usage to one character at a time... I want *ALL* the chars to be able to say my name, dammit!) <p>
    Grandia 2 is coming! Grandia 2! And it looks INCREDIBLE! :-) <p>
    ..and while I agree that the early-release titles weren't really inspiring, there were still some goodies. I *LOVE* Kita e: White Illumination! It suffers from poor performance thanks to being a WinCE game, but it has great designs and the Communications Break System is nice, since it lets you interject comments instead of just waiting for a chance to speak! :-) I just wish the game was a little harder. :-) <p>
    Anyway, there are tons of great DC games both out and in the pipeline to be released... Maybe not as many cool ones as the Saturn but certainly many are coming out.. Especially the great NEC Interchannel releases, and hopefully more input from Konami (TokiMemo 2!!! Please!! The PSX is just too limited for such a game!) :-)
  • human generation.

    Backwards compatibility is why I didn't get a 5200 and eventually Atari lost the crown. The things (consoles 15-20 ago) were hugely un-popular (IMHO) because the they sucked. The games sucked, the graphics sucked, the sound sucked. That's not to say they weren't fun. but comparing the simple experience of Combat or Robotron with Falcon 4.0, Twisted Metal, or Quake is a joke. The realism has improved on every level and for an entertainment medium that purports to create a *"virtual"* reality is very important. Remember 1st and 10 the football game? Vs. Madden 2000?!?!

    Anyway, gaming is finally becoming mainstream and the quality and number of the games and machines is a big part of that. Atari could have 20 years of faithful customers had they bent over backwards to keep them, but the industry moves fast and they tripped. No doubt Sony will stumble at some point, but after you reach a certain size I don't know if you can fall, or just kind of teeter (IBM).

    It's also fun to see games created by people who have been playing quality games since birth, as opposed to those who had to define a whole new artform.

    Think about *starting* gaming on a Dreamcast, PS2 vs an old "Pong, Pong, and more Pong" box. *sigh*


    --
  • ....at least Sony is recalling some of the defective stuff. Some companies enjoy selling defective products, then making you buy them all over again for a less defective version. Any come to mind?
  • Though this may seem like a biased report [ign.com] seeing as how it's a Nintendo related site, it's also IGN and they usually report accurate legit stuff. It would seem that if you look past the fill-rate capabilities of the PSX2, you run into some hardware limitations of a different kind.
  • Hee-hee...boy, I hope this doesn't mean Connectix Virtual GameStation2 v1.0 will be full of bugs as well!

    Yeah, I mean what are the chances v1.0 software will be full of bugs?

  • (at least here in the U.S., where I am)

    Sony will get the bugs worked out before they do a world-wide release. We will get thoroughly tested boxes this fall. I'm just glad I wasn't one of the ~1,000,000 first weekend purchasers!

    One more reason for the limited release, I guess ;)
  • Well at least Sony will have all those bugs worked out by the time it is open to the US market. You can think of Japan as beta testing ground for the rest of the world, Pokemon (a success), and the PSX2 (still working the bugs out). Gotta love those japanise.
  • You really love the PSX don't you? You've posted comments both about hwo all the DC games suck and are just "eye-candy" and now it's Nintendo's "cartoony" games.

    introduction of the N64 we have a plethora of crappy cartoon oriented games that leave me with the chills

    It seems to me you're implying that JUST because it has cartoony graphics it's automatically crap. Perhaps you should try playing some of those "cartoony" games and actually form a real opinion of them. Some of those cartoony games are my favorite games, and the fact they are cartoony has nothing to do with that, nor detracts from that.

    almost completely eliminated the concept of cheat codes

    Hardly any games have straight cheat codes anymore, N64, PSX, or DC. Most of the time it's "easter eggs". But if you really want them, just look at Game Sages [ign.com]. under the Nintendo section (god I hate frames!)

    require an additional "expansion pack"

    Very very few games require it, actually, only DK64 at the moment requires it, and it comes with the game. And there isn't too many titles that even support it. And I"ve seen some really good graphics even without it.

    I would rather not spend all my time trying to beat one of those games that Nintendo makes falling in lava, getting shot from 10 directions at once or having the evil elves kill me without warning are all symptoms of this problem.

    Seems you can do all the same things (or at least comparable things) on the PSX too. Seems to me you just hate Nintendo, because you love Sony and don't have the capacity to handle two systems at once.
  • *SHMACK* thats 75 million no-frills polygons. Flat lighting, to gourad chading, no bezier curves, no anti-aliasing.
  • I have a 3rd edition PSX, released in 1997. Never had a problem with it. But i do know people who have had many problems with their earlier generation PSX's. It's amazing that it took Sony 3 times to get it right. Sony is generally known for their supperior quality.

    One interesting upgrade Sony decided to also include with each upgrade to the PSX hardware was a major upgrade in the copy protection. Each edition made it more and more difficult to play import games on them. If I want to play an import on mine using a disc swap, I need to have reflexes of steel. But no matter how many editions the made, it was STILL possible to do a disc swap. That's one bug they just couldn't work out :)

    Well, I thought it was an interesting corelation

  • >Remember the problems we used to have with the >old videogame systems (Atari VCS, Intellivision, >Colecovision? Joysticks that had crappy ergonomics or worn out too quickly, having to clean the electrical contacts with a pencil eraser , crappy picture because of the old $2.50 switchboxes...wasn't so bad after all!

    The only two that stick out in my mind were the Atari 5200 joysticks. They broke all the time. I think the remaining 5200 joysticks that never broke are in the Smithsonian.

    And we all remember the days of getting garbage on the TV when we tried to play out favorite 8-bit Nintendo cartridges for the umpteenth time(accompanied by the blinking red light). We always blew in the cartridges(even though we weren't supposed to) and tried it again and again. Ahh those were the days.

    In terms of personal experiences, the stands for the Nintendo Virtual Boy were flimsy(at least the plastic sections), and broke way too easily under the stress of the unit itself.
  • I'm also not surpised that the PS2 has problems with DVDs. I've been looking at DVD players and found a page that listed all models; and encouraged you to write about the DVD player that you own. Almost EVERYONE had some sort of problem, that that's just with the DVD playersl. You also get movie studios putting out low quality DVDs that most players have problems with.

    Quality-wise, Toshiba is doing great, I'm planning on getting the next Toshiba DVD player with progressive scan that comes into my price range.

    Later
    Erik Z
  • What can we say? Motors are EVIL.

    Kinda like the tags...

    "Out, out, you demons of stupidity!"
    -Dogbert, partron saint of technology
  • Erk... meant the <BLINK> tag.
    (Gotta think about the drop-down box)
  • "Yet RMBS is over $300"

    Yep, much like every Linux related stock out there... little revenue, poor business models, yet astronomical market caps.

    Go Figure.
  • "Anyone got better uptime?"

    My Magnavox Oddossey has been up since '74.

    Why leave it on, and who cares about uptime on a console game system? You serving web pages from it or something?

  • Sending out 1st generation buggy products is standard for Sony - I saw a TV documentary which followed the rise and rise of Sony. The same thing happened with the Trinitron TV way back, where there was a fault on the tubes which meant the picture brightness would reduce after a few months.

    What was interesting was the founders of the company are genuniely enthralled by technology.
  • That may be, but I have a bunch of fun playing Super Smash Brothers on my N64! I just wish I could get 4 people together on my PSX and beat the sh&t out of them! :)

    Later...
  • Sony has a good reason why this happened. See, due to the amount of brain-power needed on the PS2's development, Sony had to contract some of the work out to Boeing. However, Boeing misplaced some of the design specs for stuff like DVD Playback, and the functionality was lost until everyone found out at launch time. :)

    But, seriously... how does a Japanese firm forget to put in hardware that recognizes region 2 DVDs!?
  • hmm
    I seem to remember similar problems with the CD-ROM drive on the PSX that took Sony months to sort out.

  • I'm seing various reports around the net suggesting that another problem the PS2 has is that the 4Mb of video RAM is holding it back.

    The thing has a fill rate second to none, but when 4Mb has to hold the framebuffer *and* textures, at 640x480x32bit, texture RAM is in *very* short supply.

    Dreamcast has 8Mb video RAM, FWIW.

    In the long term, Sony expect developers to begin streaming textures from DVD to alleviate the problem.

    Also, it seems that Dreamcast and N64 have "free" (i.e. no performance hit) anti-aliasing in hardware. PS2 has antialiasing routines, but there is a performance hit. This explains the jaggies in some of the launch titles.
    --
  • Until Dreamcast has anything but games that seem to be like crappy copies of their earlier titles with better graphics rendering I won't care.

    At present, Power Stone and Crazy Taxi are both Dreamcast games which break the mould and have no obvious forerunner. Innovative Dreamcast games yet to come (to the West) include Chu Chu Rocket, Space Channel 5, Jet Set Radio, and probably others I can't at the moment remember.

    The mix is pretty similar on PS2 -- lots of sequels and prettied-up rehashes (Tekken Tag Tournament, Ridge Racer 5, Street Fighter Ex, etc.), along with several innovative titles such as Fantavision (which looks fantastic).
    --
  • Another good reason is that Sony's graphics system has proven to kick Dreamcast's not-all-that-impressive ass.

    "Has proven"? When, where?

    Make no mistake, the PS2 is massively more powerful than the DC (since it's more than a year newer) -- but in terms of actual games, no PS2 games look significantly nicer than the sublime Soul Calibur. From the footage I've seen of Ridge Racer V (MPEGs off the web), it seems a lot less impressive than Crazy Taxi, which is bustling with details and runs at a nice smooth 60FPS.

    I have no doubt that the real graphical power of PS2 will get utilised in some future game, but for now, since coders have had time to get to grips with Dreamcast, the games themselves have the edge.

    --
  • Overheating I can understand. The cards are electronic, and the chips just plain run too hot for the cards.

    But freezing? How did they manage that? Do the two memory card slots act like some sort of Peltier or something? And if so, when will we see the Web pages where someone hacks his PSX2 to cool his processor?
  • Heh. IIRC, the Mac originally shipped in '84 without even the ability to create a new directory. You had to keep an empty one around and duplicate it.

    Makes you long for the good old days before microcomputers when _some_ thought went into these things. Not to say they were bug-free, but they were probably somewhat better than the 'if it compiles ship it' mentality we're seeing now.

  • Some anonymous coward dun said:

    >It gets annoying to watch Crash hang in midair for a half hour while the system sorts itself out. Is it any more annoying than watching those damn commercials for Crash?

    Heh. :)

    I'd venture that if you were Japanese, the hangs would be FAR less annoying than the Crash adverts. :) (I've seen the Japanese Crash adverts on fansubs of anime before, and believe me when I say that the Japanese adverts make the US ones seem sane and tolerable by comparison...you really shouldn't watch the Japanese versions if you're pregnant. No telling what it'd do to the fetus :)

    Then again, Japanese adverts and non-anime TV shows in general tend to be on complete and utter crack (cough cough ahem Iron Chef cough ahem)...


  • Jesus, you are such a dork.

    I work for a Japanese company, and believe me, most of the time they're not thinking any more than six months ahead. Your so-called "conspiracy theory" is nothing more than a rehashing of the Japan Inc. crap that was so popular in the 80s.

    Get your head out of your ass and wake up.

  • MSony (Score:2)

    by Cycon ( 11899 )
    <i>Apparently, the PlayStation2 has shipped, with several glaring bugs ...</i>

    ...hmmm... bad drivers for the DVD, failure to recognize certain "standard" DVD's, crashing, freezing, overheating... etc.

    ...sounds like Sony really is going after the PC/Windows gamer crowd.... by giving them what they've come to expect from their hardware... (c:
  • I find it a bit poetic that a system with so much hype turned out to be a bit of a fiasco. The PS2 seems to me a bit doomed from the start, I haven't seen anything for it that impressed me and they have a fight with Sega with the Dreamcast. I'll end up having to buy a PS2 so I can get FF10 and 11, I'm sick like that. Other than Final Fantasy I can't think of any other reasons why I would actually want a PS2, to me it is just more of the same. In another 2 years I'll put together a PC (or equivilent) that will be as or more powerful than the PS2. The same thing happened with the PSX, when it was released it beat the crap out of the PC gaming makret, people were still running around in Doom on the PC. Now the average PC whoops on the PSX's ass. It would be impressive to me if it had some sort of 3D projector aparatus so Squall and Rinoa were 3 feet tall and had a 120 degree viewing angle or something, that would have been really spectacular.

  • The first batch of PSXs that came out had a lot of problems with heat, reading certain games, and skipping during FMV. I preordered mine and was one of the lucky few to not have a problem with the first batch (still have it) but most people had to wait a week or two for a new, working batch to be sent out. I hope the same happens again...
  • First off, i dunno why your moderated down to a troll, sounds like some Sony employees got moderator access for the day.

    Back to your post :) Isn't it funny how Japan's news coverage was showing an awesome game playing on the monitors which turned out to be Shenmue for the DC. I guess it helps if the demo screens they show are for the console they're trying to demo!

  • 1) Well, I mean they've only been developing this thing for what, 2 years now? What do you expect :)

    2) At least the bugs will be worked out presumedly before it launches here in the States.

  • It's always great to hear that something you *really* want but can't have (yet) is really not that good anyhow!

    I wonder if they missed this in their beta testing, and if so how... and if not, why they decided to ship anyhow? Normally the console market has been able to avoid the "release buggy stuff and patch it" mentality that Netscape started. Oh well, I just hope they fix all the bugs in time for the North American launch.

  • Ok, ok, ok...

    I know Netscape wasn't the first company to release buggy software and then to release a patch for it. What I'm saying is that Netscape was the first major company to distribute the majority of its product over the Internet, and because of that the first to let some really buggy stuff out the door because they knew they could just put tomorrow's build up on the FTP server.

    Someone else may have started the process but Netscape did the whole Embrace and Extend thing.

  • Backwards compatibility has never sold consoles.

    You're forgetting what a young market this is. Or should I say, "older" market. Home video-game machines have been out for barely a generation. It makes sense to me for a "really good" system to maintain backwards compatibility and build long-term customer relationships. Sony is using the PS2 to muscle in on the desktop, providing this capability is a move in that direction (you don't want a main machines that needs totally new software every 2 years.)

    And plentiful good games are very important. I've got a great box at home, but it sucks for gaming. As much as I'd like to use it all the time, that limitation holds me back. So I dual-boot :(

    --
  • dual layer/dual sided CDs take a while to recognize

    I'm sure you meant DVDs... but it would be a grave bug if the PSX could recognise stuff that doesn't exist ;)
  • Yeah, but my Nokia 21 inch smacks your tv. Also, the ps2 does not have a 3600 Hz refresh rate. It has a 60 Hz interlaced refresh rate (duh). This is equivalent to a fuzzy 30 Hz monitor.

    With only 40 columns a tv's text capabilities suck, to say nothing of real graphics.

    Ryan
  • 1) Get one of those 14" X 14" Rubbermaid sink tubs
    2) Fill it with ice cubes and cold water...

    Waitaminnut - at what point do you overclock the CPU? I missed that part.

    Whoa - Parrapa on crank!
  • Very little "technical muscle" is necessary to play DVDs from a particular region. The region ID is just stored in the clear on the DVD, it's up to players to enforce it. If the PS2 can play any encrypted DVDs (which presumably it can,) then its inability to play region 2 DVDs is just a simple (alarmingly stupid) bug.

    What I wonder is, if it can't play region 2 DVDs, what can it play? There are region-free DVDs, but not many. I wonder if the current PS2 plays region 1 (American) DVDs? If so, that would be a much more serious issue for the DVD CCA than DeCSS...
  • Ah, but:
    Its still really scary to think this is happening to the machines designed for one purpose only.
    Isn't really true anymore, is it?

    The PSX2 is a Thneed. It's a DVD player, an Internet appliance, a game machine... it's a lot of stuff in that little box. It's Sony's next step to total household domination.

    These kinds of problems show up with my Genesis/SegaCD combination unit a lot. I'm guessing for similar reasons, the hardware just doesn't quite mesh as well as they'd hoped. (This is one of the stated reasons, on some emulation pages, why SegaCD emulation isn't a reality yet.)

    Unfortunately, in the PSX2, it's all integrated into a single unit. I think the PSX2 is mainly a marketing thing to get the first Digital Versatile Disk machines into as many homes as possible, rather than make the best possible game machine. Well, of course, I could be wrong about that, of course, but I'm pretty sure that neither Dreamcast nor Dolphin are going to include out of the box DVD playback.

    Is PSX2 really a game machine, or is it a new kind of PC "optimized" for gaming?

  • Another thing about backward compatibility, now that Bleem! [207.71.8.31] and Virtual Game Station [virtualgamestation.com] are "in the clear" how big a feature can it be? It's not really a reason to buy a console if you have a PC or Mac that can play the same games, and while I'll admit compatibility is an issue, I expect eventually (especially after PSX is moribund) these two programs will reach an acceptably high level of compatibility.

    Sony can basically only use Nintendo style intimidation tactics on vendors to keep them from developing for the Dreamcast, if the Dreamcast is a success. Which is something I certainly expect them to do, if they think they can get away with it. I don't know if they can, smart developers will develop for as many platforms as possible to keep conditions attractive for themselves. Otherwise, a hardware vendor can dictate terms to the third parties and no one wants that (except the dominant hardware vendor).

    Feels Cheap? My brother's Gameboy looks, feels and is cheap compared to my Handy^H^H^H^HLynx, but the Lynx is no more and the Gameboy rules the handheld market, "handely."

  • I think you are absolutely right. Sony has been coming up with more and more Draconian ways to enforce regional coding on it's disks, including eliminating the port in the back and adding mod-chip detection code to the newer games.

    Sony is probably willing to release a buggy product if it means in the long term that no one will be able to region jump... with DVDs or games. ('Course, someone may come up with a mod, but that's another story...)

  • hee-hee...boy, I hope this doesn't mean Connectix Virtual GameStation2 v1.0 will be full of bugs as well!

  • It is a shame that Sony would do such a second rate job. This is not typically like them. I assume that many top execs are considering seppuku at this point. (The "Sony" culture in Japan is incredible. Almost any university-bound youngster has his/her sights set on working for Sony, it's like an icon!)

    I wonder what their rationale is for this seeming rush job. Dreamcast has been on the market long enough in Japan to get its piece of the pie, and it's not likely that Sony would have lost much market share by waiting a few more months for better debugging. Nintendo, their real competitor, doesn't have anything on the horizon, either, deepening my puzzlement at the move.

    Fortunately, the bugs will probably be worked out by the time the PSII crosses the Pacific.

    Does anyone have ideas/links for possible reasons why Sony would commit such a blooper?
  • No, you're right - in the past, people just sat back and took it when buggy consoles were released. I mean, the first wave of PSX were just awful.

    On the other hand, systems have become incredibly more durable. I can count on one finger the number of post-NES console systems that I have seen with problems caused by wear. Pretty good compared to the old "Jiggle the power cable, it'll come on eventually" days. Or the "Yeah, it's like that - blow on the cartridge and stick it back in. Oh, yeah, there's a trick to getting the cartridge slot to stay down. Let me get that..." days.

    Even the GameBoy is a lot better than when it first came out - I have one that's almost two years old, now, and every single pixel still works. Compare that to the old ones, where after you'd had it for a month, at least one column was guaranteed to go out.
  • All the more reason to stick with my PC! Maybe once these bugs get worked out I'll add one to my enternainment center. But until then, my PC-DVD works great, I can play all the games just as good if not better...

    I have always thought of a console system as a poor man's means of keeping up with gaming. For a little money you can buy the console and then get the game without the need for constant and costly upgrading. That and not all games are avaible for the PC that are on console systems.



    This also makes me wonder what Nintendo is coming up with.... It might be worth while to wait a little and see before plunking down the $$'s.

    Nintendo had it's day with the NES and the SNES with the introduction of the N64 we have a plethora of crappy cartoon oriented games that leave me with the chills. They have almost completely eliminated the concept of cheat codes and all their games require an additional "expansion pack" (well you don't need it but prepare for the characters to look the wooden dolls). Other console makers (namely with the Playstation have attracted more developers and have not had to as easily pander to the needs of children). Plus I would rather not spend all my time trying to beat one of those games that Nintendo makes falling in lava, getting shot from 10 directions at once or having the evil elves kill me without warning are all symptoms of this problem.
  • No, you're right - in the past, people just sat back and took it when buggy consoles were released. I mean, the first wave of PSX were just awful.

    That's why you try to get what is called a refund it works wonders and a nice little complaint letter is also good.

    On the other hand, systems have become incredibly more durable. I can count on one finger the number of post-NES console systems that I have seen with problems caused by wear. Pretty good compared to the old "Jiggle the power
    cable, it'll come on eventually" days. Or the "Yeah, it's like that - blow on the cartridge and stick it back in. Oh, yeah, there's a trick to getting the cartridge slot to stay down. Let me get that..." days.

    I don't know about that. Consider that apparently people don't like the concept of cartriges and that little various forms of disk like media are being more and more popular. Eventually the little spinning parts will break. I want you to try this little experiment for me. Take a computer anyone even an old one like a 386 or a 486 and set it to work doing something trivial or maybe boring like doing rc5 or seti@home. Now leave the thing on 24/7/365 until it dies. Eventually the first thing that will die is the little spinning fan on the back that is in the power supply. That will go because of all the constant spinning that goes on. Not a pretty picture and not something that I would especially like.

    Even the GameBoy is a lot better than when it first came out - I have one that's almost two years old, now, and every single pixel still works. Compare that to the old ones, where after you'd had it for a month, at least one column
    was guaranteed to go out.

    You actually have one? I really can't get worked up over a small hand held (read easily dropped and easily broken) device that has a very, very small screen and also would have a limited style of game due to hardware limitations. Even if they add color it dosn't do that much. I probably have more processing power in a 486 than that gameboy. Plus isn't it illegal to market a defective piece of machinery knowingly? Can you get a refund?
  • While I'm disappointed about the memory card recall (surely this problem was avoidable) I'm not at all surprised that the PS2 has trouble with DVD's. Here in the UK there have been a number of examples of DVD players (not necessarily Sony's) having similar problems (skipping sound/video, un- playable disks....). If they can't get it right for a box built solely to play DVDs I don't expect them to get it right for a box intended to be a web-browser, DVD-player, games machine etc.
  • The Dreamcast problems, IIRC, were a significant portion of game discs were glitched, however the system itself was fine. I bought on of the initial shipment to the base electronics store and have had no problems playing it. And even with the games glitched, I think it was something lik 10-20% of the discs for a couple of the games were bad, the vast majority were fine. The Dreamcast problems were nothing compared to this. At least the Dreamcast hardware was ok.
  • It's a shame that a system as hyped as the PSX2 fell flat on it's face, IMHO, but I can't see it really hurting the platform too much. The die-hard fans will stick it out, and the folks who were expecting it to fail probably would have found something even if Sony hadn't so willingly Obliged them :).

    This sort of public "testing" of the machine makes sense, in a way; an in-house QA team cannot anticipate every possible circumstance that might occur when the system is delivered to thousands of users. This is simply the "Worst Case Scenario", IMHO; that is, a large-scale test of the software/hardware not only revealed subtle problems, but a wide variety of glaring troubles that could have/should have been caught internally.

    Problems with "new" technology as it hits the shelves is hardly surprising; but how did these issues make it through Sony QA? As hard as it is to believe that they didn't see these problems internally, it's a little more believable than Sony releasing a product with such a wide variety of known issues. That's not necessarily true, though: All you Big Corporate types, what's better? Releasing a buggy product on the expected date, or delaying release until the product is *reasonably* issue free?

    I doubt we'll ever know the truth re: PSX2; I expect any and all official Sony releases will focus more on what they're doing about the problem rather than how the problem occured in the first place.
  • ....in the original PSX construction, I think they used the CD spindle from the same line as the low/mid range Discman. Discmans, of course, don't spin at multiple speeds, and don't have to deal with high temperatures. The spindle section was therefore made of thermoplastic, and seated in thermoplastic. Of course, spinning at high speed, and having to deal with the heat of the electronics caused the spindle section to behave erratically, and in extreme cases warp, if the PSX was left on for a long time. Hence the PSX revision 1 had the plastic spindle seated in metal. I think that's what happened, anyway.

    This is different, because while the previous fault surfaced only rarely, these errors occur in normal use, e.g, you can't save your Ridge Racer V game, because it will corrupt the memory card. That is a regular fundamental flaw that regular testing could have caught and solved before release.

  • "'release buggy stuff and patch it' mentality that Netscape startend What makes you think Netscape started this lovely little trend? I'll wager this sort of thing started on the first day an unreasonable marketing guy walked down the hall to engineering. "Unreasonable marketing guy" does sound a little redundant redunant. If our marketriods stick one more "e" in front of something, I'm going to start bringing a chainsaw to work.
  • With Sony this is not that common. Horibble PR to push it out before it was ready. All that memory encryption maybe? Serves 'em right to a degree, everything Sony puts out is on NDA. Open Source is an unmentioned term. If you want to work toward development on PS2, in general it'll cost you over 30K just to get going.

    I doubt if this will impact the US launch, I think it's slated for September?? The encryptioin issues and work arounds to make it "US-importable" will IMO be almost a different product. The PS2, US version will also be much more that a game console, its a vehicle to pump more up-sell product into the US/ More movies, CD's, Games, services etc..It's the basis for a long and drawn out marketing campaign.

  • I have one of the old 1001 playstation models, and always had problems with fmv skipping, but, after adjusting the fbias screw it works just fine. The one thing that ticks me off is the until I bought one of those fan stands for it, i damn near had to adjust it weekly. now I'm down to about once every 6 months. It still ticks me off though, I thought having to put in extra cooling was something for the pc when you are overclocking, not to run a standard game console. what next? will 3dfxcool be selling peltier units for the PS2? I hope the flaws are fixed before the US launch, but I just canceled my preorder. I'm not paying $300 for the same problems i have from a machine five years old.

    As for the DVD and memory card problems, hopefully a software update will help. Just wish you could update psx software. I love Gran Turisimo 2, but i would have gladly waited an extra month or two so I could get %100 complete, and not have all the collision detection issues.

  • Remember the Dreamcast Launch? (Score:3)

    by slim ( 1652 ) <john.hartnup@net> on Wednesday March 08, 2000 @07:57AM (#1217830) Homepage
    It'll be interesting to see how long these problems stay in people's memories. Sony's marketing, and the fawning Sony tends to get in the media, means that it's likely that in 6 months' time, all the PS2 launch problems will be forgotten.

    Compare this with Sega's lot. The Dreamcast is an excellent, solid machine although of course not as cutting-edge as it was at its Japanese launch, oh so long ago -- but the launch problems, which were similar to those Sony are experiencing now, are still dragged out whenever the Dreamcast is discussed.
    --

  • Re:Aaaah.... how nice! (Score:3)

    by Bad Mojo ( 12210 ) on Wednesday March 08, 2000 @08:59AM (#1217831)
    A nice touch would be to label the chainsaw. Maybe something nice like `e-chainsaw'. Then you can bust down the door to their offices and hack off their e-heads with the e-chainsaw. Might make an e-mess.

    Bad Mojo

  • If it sounds too good to be true (Score:3)

    by cybrthng ( 22291 ) on Wednesday March 08, 2000 @07:17AM (#1217832) Homepage Journal
    It probably is...

    Remember that when you think your getting a steal. DVD players are DVD players for a reason, as are consoles :)

    On the other hand, i've left my dreamcast on all night long, and got up in the morning and played a few more hours of crazy taxi with no problems

    Oh yeah, Chu Chu rocket is out, and online gaming is here with the DC. PLUS PlanetWeb announced V2.0 of the web browser that support jscript 2.0, MP3 Playback, and a bunch of other nifty features. You can read up more about it at http://dc.ign.com

    Hey, i wouldn't mind a PS2, but i love my DC, already have a dvd player, and for christs sake i wouldn't want to use a game controller as a remote for my dvd player :)

  • Solution to PSX2 Overheating (Score:3)

    by Ralph Wiggam ( 22354 ) on Wednesday March 08, 2000 @06:59AM (#1217833) Homepage
    Overheating is nothing new to the PSX world. I have a solution to share with my Japanese friends. I came up with this during a snow storm last year that caused our Playstation to be on for about 18 hours straight.

    1) Get one of those 14" X 14" Rubbermaid sink tubs
    2) Fill it with ice cubes and cold water
    3) Put a glass baking pan across the top so it sits inside the tub. The water should be just underneath the glass.
    4) Put your Playstation inside the baking pan
    5) Enjoy some icy cold Parrapa the Rapper

    Note: It is possible that this will only work while you are very, very high. It was not tested under sober conditions.

    -B

  • For the conspiracy theorists - Sony knew before... (Score:3)

    by SuperKendall ( 25149 ) on Wednesday March 08, 2000 @07:46AM (#1217834)
    Here's a theory for you - Sony wants to stop exports of the PS2, right? So, they release PS2's with memory cards that have a known problem - for all of the Japanese consumers, it's an easy fix - go down to the nearest store (which will have the "fixed" cards already, manufactured before the launch) and trade in your old card for the new one.

    For import users though, you're pretty much stuck - it says on the box that you can't export them, so how do you think they'll treat someone from the US looking for an upgrade?

    I estimate four rounds of "buggy" memory cards to shake out most of the import market, staggered every few weeks.

  • Before you cruxify Sony think about this... (Score:3)

    by be-fan ( 61476 ) on Wednesday March 08, 2000 @01:25PM (#1217835)
    The release of the PS2 is not a Microsoft-type, bug filled get it out the door now type thing. If that were they case, they would be doing a global launch. Instead, I think it is just some seriously powerful technology having some teething problems. Think about it, putting together a system with the power of some SGIs isn't an easy process. Neither is getting a 300MHz processor into a small box. I'm surprised that there haven't been more problems then there have. Sony makes quality products, and I've heard an interview with their CEO in the US, that their primary concern is quality. It may be later, may not be the fastest or best, but will be high quality. It does make sense, however. Even if you don't read the specs for something, if you just pick up a Sony anything, you'll usually be fine, be it a TV, a computer. They have an image to uphold, and I'm sure they'll get it worked out. Second, all you people saying that a console like this is not worth it, that eventually PCs will do it too, should buy a clue. Even taking into account the current massive growth in computer performance (doubling every year instead of every 18 months) a computer as powerful as the PS2 won't be out for another two years minimum, (if you go by theoretical polygon performance. You're talking 15M polys for a GeForce and 75M for a PS2. They're both grossly inflated, but still, the PS2 has a better chance of reaching its high because games can be programmed extremely close to the metal to take advantage of every naunce of the architecture.) And even then it won't cost the $150 that the PS2 will by then. Take a look at the N64. The thing is an obsene 5 years old, but is still chuging. It blew away the PCs of the time, and is still pretty impressive in terms of graphics, especially the new high-res games. And thats from a crappy console. Even PSX games (the PSX has a 33MHz proc) wouldn't look that bad if they only had texture filtering. There is a correct tool for everything, and if its ultimate gaming you're going after, look no farther than the PS2.

  • Re:Damn the bugs, full speed ahead.. (Score:3)

    by slashdot-terminal ( 83882 ) on Wednesday March 08, 2000 @07:00AM (#1217836) Homepage
    Looks like Sony is taking a page from Microsoft's marketing playbook. Pretty box, but..no thanks. Time to buy a Dreamcast. :)

    Well considering that even if I wanted to get a PS2 I couldn't because they only sell them in Japan and you cannot legally export them. Plus I would rather not have all the technical manuals writen in Japanese characters.

    On a related note I have looked at the selection of games for the Dreamcast and all I can say is it's mostly eye candy. I really don't care that I can see realistic interpretations of people kicking and punching the shit out of others. I like the fact that square is releasing at least 2 titles in the Final Fantasy series and other RPGs for the PS2. Until Dreamcast has anything but games that seem to be like crappy copies of their earlier titles with better graphics rendering I won't care. take it for what it's worth but I want a good and very viable reason to buy something (yes $200 is a big deal for me so I like to get all the facts you compare apples and oranges with an already existing product with a partially avaible one).

  • Netscape *started*? Shurely shome mishtake?! (Score:3)

    by TuRRIcaNEd ( 115141 ) on Wednesday March 08, 2000 @07:08AM (#1217837)
    "release buggy stuff and patch it" mentality that Netscape started.

    Just a sec, we can't really hold Netscape responsible... just think.....

    UNIX(tm)?.....AmigaDos?.....MS-DOS?....Windows?. ....These go back a lot further than Navigator, than the Web even, and they've all had numerous patch releases over time! It's just unfortunate that buggy first releases have become the de facto standard in the software industry.

    But that's off topic. How are Sony going to go about patching/fixing these problems? I guess you could flash the firmware, but that won't solve fundamental hardware defects (heat problems etc.) Are these problems limited to the memory cards, or do they affect the console as a whole? Is this the end for a console/software packege developed in tandem?

    As far as software/OS problems go, I suppose putting a well-known and tested OS on a console may have to become the future of console development if this keeps happening. Seems Sega may have got something right for once. (And before the flames start, I didn't say CE was any good..)

    It seems that fundamental console design issues may need a radical overhaul here, as this is precisely the sort of headache that most people buy consoles (as opposed to computers) to avoid.

  • Re:Netscape *started*? Shurely shome mishtake?! (Score:3)

    by Refrag ( 145266 ) on Wednesday March 08, 2000 @08:14AM (#1217838) Homepage
    Very few Dreamcast games actually use Windows CE. The only one I can think of is Chef's Love Shack. The rest of the games use Sega's proprietary Dreamcast OS.

  • Re:This is REALLY bad. (Score:4)

    by Lifewolf ( 41986 ) on Wednesday March 08, 2000 @08:51AM (#1217839)

    My wife is an avid console gamer, so we have several game systems and probably several hundred games. While I'm not familiar with recalls of any of the systems*, she's certainly run into stability problems.

    • N64: The N64 works well for the most part. I can only think of two problems:
      1. Her Killer Instinct Gold cart won't load if a rumble pack is installed in the controller.
      2. The cheap, Electronic Boutique-brand expansion RAM pack we bought randomly freezes games when used.
    • PlayStation: Early U.S. models of the PlayStation are known to overheat. While her's is a later, "fixed" model, it still suffers from overheating. It will only work when standing vertically on its side. We were quite amused when we saw that position is now normal for the PlayStation 2.
    • Saturn: Suffers from overheats after several hours use. Works well when two objects--such as books--are placed so the edges of the Saturn rest just on them providing increased air space below the game system.
    • Genesis, SegaCD, 32x: The Genesis by itself rarely suffers problems, but the SegaCD unit overheats very quickly. The same book trick used with the Saturn works on the SegaCD. Or, you can do what I did and purchase some large, adhesive rubber feet to attach to it. I'm sure this would work with the Saturn as well, but she doesn't use that system enough for me to bother.
    • Super NES: No problems of which I am aware.
    • NES, R.O.B: We actually have two Nintendo Entertainment Systems, one of which came in the deluxe pack with Duck Hunt, Gyromite, a light gun, and R.O.B. The other NES is newer, from the packaged-with-Super Mario Brothers era. It sometimes takes a few tries to get games to start up in the newer NES. The older NES, R.O.B., and the light gun still work beautifully.
    • Atari 2600: No problems at all. It's getting harder to find the RF converter at Radio Shacks though.
    • GameBoy Color: No problems of which I am aware.
    • GameBoy: I've read lots of complaints online about failing displays, but I've never actually seen a GameBoy with that problem. For a time, her GameBoy would only work when held absolutely horizontal, but I disassembled it and fixed that.

    From our experience, game systems seem to do okay unless compact discs are involved. Somehow basing a system around a CD drive leads to overheating problems. On the other hand, it allows for some visually stunning games.

    * From what I understand the early U.S. Dreamcasts had some problems, but I don't know too much about that. My wife mainly plays RPGs, and there aren't enough for the Dreamcast yet for her to buy it.

  • Know your role and shut your mouth: (Score:4)

    by Lord Omlette ( 124579 ) on Wednesday March 08, 2000 @06:52AM (#1217840) Homepage
    1. Dreamcast had a buttload of problems when it launched, both hardware & software. The US launch saw resolutions to problems on both sides. We got the goods good because we were patient.
    2. Anyone who owned a Playstation before model #(I forget, but I'm sure someone will help me out here) will remember all the problems the PSX had with overheating, scratching cds, and the laser breaking, etc. And look at it now: the very model of what a gaming console should be?

    Erf, I'll shut up now
    --
    Peace,
    Lord Omlette
    AOL IM: jeanlucpikachu

  • Not suprising. (Score:4)

    by Yaruar ( 125933 ) on Wednesday March 08, 2000 @06:52AM (#1217841)
    When the PSX first shipped in Japan and the States it was buggy until the delayed european release. THe CD didn't play half the time on the first release models and people discovered eventually they had to turn the box upside down or prop it at an angle to get it to work.

    This was quickly glossed over by the Sony marketing spinners.

    I was execting bugs with the PSX II for the same reason, they have rushed it out and will release an updated version for the European market as we are more likely to complain about the quality.

    Also at the price, even with them losing approx. 150 dollars per machine they will have to have had very tight development and production costs which is an indication of probably quality issues, ie. you pretty much get what you pay for. Especially with the unit coming in below cost compared to a lot of DVD players.......

  • Freezing and Overheating? (Score:4)

    by luckykaa ( 134517 ) on Wednesday March 08, 2000 @06:50AM (#1217842)
    Couldn't the tendency to overheat be used to thaw out the frozen games?

  • Anybody think it's funny (Score:5)

    by Wah ( 30840 ) on Wednesday March 08, 2000 @07:37AM (#1217843) Homepage Journal
    that the technology in DVDs used to keep people from watching them..is keeping people from watching them.

    First, the DVDs can't be played because of a technically unnecessary region coding scheme (read the article if you haven't). Second, the decrypt key is getting memory fscked and needs to be reloaded from scratch. Both these problems are the PS2 not having the technical muscle to jump through the content control hoops the DVD CCA has created. This situation will only get worse as more and more "features" and complexity are added to control your access to media. Get used to it, now you can take it for granted that the version1 of *anything* will suck (if only because of the legal limitations created by content control lobbyists)


    --

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