Demo PS3 Units freeze on Purpose 363
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.""
right... I'll buy that bridge... (Score:5, Insightful)
That's what the short 5 minute demos are for. Actually making the console freeze up is just stupid, it screams unstable. This sounds more like backpedaling to cover up design flaws.
Of course... (Score:5, Insightful)
FUD (Score:5, Insightful)
Ah, good explanation for the BSOD as well (Score:4, Insightful)
As a comparison: Windows crashes on us all the time as to not let us be too productive! I get it now! What the hell do I need a *nix clone for!
</sarcasm>
Natch. Sounds more like a save-my-ass excuse. Way to go Sony!
Re:credibility (Score:5, Insightful)
You don't doubt that they might be speaking the truth? Are you serious?
What in heavens name has Sony done to instill such deep trust in you?
There's exactly NO chance that they made their demo product unstable and prone to crashing to keep people from playing it for too long.
Re:right... I'll buy that bridge... (Score:5, Insightful)
A kiosk is supposed to be hands-off for employees. Requiring a employee-managed kiosk is a bad idea.
Re:This isn't some high up exec... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Hasn't this been done before? (Score:3, Insightful)
Auto rebooting after 5 mins is an ok idea. Ok, not great.
Locking up so that a clerk has to come over, unlock the disply, reset it, and fire it up for the next customer, is bloody stupid.
An actual idea?
DEMOS!
You want to showcase your nifty new games on your nifty new console? Have one of your pogramers make you a friken demo, containing one level (or what ever, we KNOW how to make demos now, don't we?) of the actual retail game.
Re:This isn't some high up exec... (Score:5, Insightful)
So far, I have been to three different stores and seen the demo console frozen at each one of those stores with nobody bothering to reset them. (Meanwhile, I was able to try out the Wii at my local EB with them letting customers check out the Wiimote with their driver's license.)
What if it was the same rep? (Score:3, Insightful)
The Future (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Maybe someone can tell me.... (Score:5, Insightful)
A retail level representative is essentially just a sales person with little or no technical understanding of what they're selling. When a representative is asked a question they're always supposed to spout the company line when they can, and always make every answer positive for Sony. Being that Sony probably hasn't come up with a company line for why the PS3 keeps freezing a (dumb) representative spouted that "They were designed to do that."
Developer/Publisher level representatives are (usually) far better informed and far more honest.
I call BS. (Score:2, Insightful)
You think that a Sony Representative is going to go to your local EB store and vacuum your local kiosk? Don't make me laugh!
This is rabid fanboyism, and a further proof of Slashdot's slant.
News for nerds? BS too. This is news reporting on par with Fox's.
Re:right... I'll buy that bridge... (Score:4, Insightful)
Using a PS3 Shouldn't Stop You From Wanting One (Score:2, Insightful)
Sony Lies (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:This isn't some high up exec... (Score:3, Insightful)
Plus, let's be honest - most people who aren't knowledgeable in a certain area do believe everything they're told. You think your average mom in an EB Games location would question this logic at all? How many things in life are designed to fail or cause problems as part of their schematics? Your power is designed to fail in case of a problem (circuit breakers), your brakes are designed to make noises when the pads are running low, and your average ATM is designed to shut down if it thinks its being hacked. That a console would "lock up" on purpose isn't the most far fetched thing Joe Public's been handed to swallow.
Re:right... I'll buy that bridge... (Score:3, Insightful)
If they truly wanted it to freeze they would have a reset button outside of the case. I believe the Xbox 360 kiosks came with that.
I have no doubt the PS3s freeze. To date, there are only two unfrozen units that I've seen since launch, out of maybe 20 total. One has actually had the same screen for over two weeks.
Re:right... I'll buy that bridge... (Score:5, Insightful)
I used to work at EB. We had display kiosks of all the major consoles. The various vendors each had their own method to keep people from playing on the kiosks all day... I remember the XBox demo discs we ran in the kiosk all re-set back to the main menu every 10 minutes or so. The PlayStation 2 kiosk had some sort of timer that would interrupt the power and force the console to hard reset every 20 minutes or so. The GameCube demo discs generally just had very small snippets of gameplay...less than a single full level... The GameCube kiosk never forced a re-set of any kind, but there just wasn't that much to occupy your time on it.
If Sony was, in fact, concerned about people playing on the kiosk all day long there are plenty of ways they could have re-set or rebooted the system that didn't require employee intervention. These machines aren't rebooting, they're locking up, and it requires an employee to physically re-set the system. That, to me, screams of poor design. Either it's a poorly designed re-set system that doesn't work as it should...or it's broken software that isn't actually supposed to be locking up. It isn't terribly encouraging either way.
Re:Maybe someone can tell me.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Now, as for why this is on Slashdot
The fact is that over the past 18 months Sony has alienated a large portion of their loyal userbase and their potential userbase; personally, Sony lost me before that but that is another story. A year and a half ago the PS3 was the system everyone wanted, the XBox 360 was an overly expensive console produced by an evil coporation, and the Revolution was exciting to Nintendo fans with massive disinterest for everyone else; today the PS3 is an overly expensive console produced by an evil coporation, the XBox 360 is exciting to XBox fans with massive disinterest for everyone else, and the Wii is the system everyone wants.
Basically, Sony burned a lot of bridges and people want to hear negative stories about the PS3 because they hate Sony.
Re:Maybe someone can tell me.... (Score:5, Insightful)
It would be like me talking to a clerk at the Best Buy who says he's pretty sure Sony is going to ship a million PS3s on New Years day. Then I go ahead and write a story saying that "Best Buy says" a million units will show up and people should start camping out in line.
Why would this guy know? Why should I trust him? Why don't I confirm with a more authoritative source? Why on earth would I report it as the position of the company rather than random gossip from "some dude".
HELLO, he's just a sales rep! He's not a spokesman, an engineer, and he doesn't work in shipping. At best, he heard something from someone else and at worst he's making it up. If you believe the latter is not the case, then you should at least have the sense to check with the guy he heard if from before reporting it as the actual policy of the company.
TW
Oh, BTW, some guy who was giving away free Linux disks told me that Linux doesn't have good open source ATI drivers on purpose, because they want people writing code instead of playing video games. Do you think I should submit that to
Re:Sony Lies (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:right... I'll buy that bridge... (Score:3, Insightful)
The worst part is that retail security has arguably the most 'power' over other, legally. Otherwise there isn't anything that a security guard can really do unless you've got disclaimers up the wazoo. Like driving into the Menards lumber yard. Generally you have to sign a slip that says your vehicle is subject to invasive search to exit the yard.
Re:right... I'll buy that bridge... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:right... I'll buy that bridge... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Maybe someone can tell me.... (Score:1, Insightful)
The PS3 has a launch line-up of 16 games of which 7 are sports games (Fight Night Round 3, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07, NHL 2K7, NBA 2K7, Madden NFL 07, NBA 07, Tony Hawk's Project 8) and 2 were FPS (Resistance: Fall of Man,Call of Duty 3)
The Wii had a line-up of 24 titles of which 4 are sports games (Madden NFL 07, Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam, Wii Sports, Super Swing Golf) and 3 are FPS (Call of Duty 3, Red Steel,Far Cry Vengeance)
And you think the Wii has too many Sports games and too few FPS compared to the PS3?
The PS3's line-up is barren of most genres yet has an abundance of Sports games and Racers
Re:right... I'll buy that bridge... (Score:4, Insightful)
The poster I was replying to said someone was going to get fired over this "decision", so I was pointing out that if they actually thought the console was freezing by design, he was being fooled. That is, after all, why this story made it to Slashdot. It is a ridiculous claim, and it was posted for us to laugh at how stupid this Sony rep is. The very idea that Sony would have designed the demo kiosks to freeze up in order to limit play-time is silly.
Are we on the same page here?