Firmware Troubles For Old Xbox 360s, Possibly PS3s As Well 196
Several readers have tipped news of firmware updates causing problems for both Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. The Xbox issue was caused by a recent update thought to be preparing the platform for a new disc format that gives developers another 1GB or so of space to work with. As it turns out, the real purpose seems to be piracy countermeasures. Microsoft acknowledged the issue and promised that affected users would receive a new 360S console and a free year of Xbox Live to compensate. The PS3 problem was highlighted by reports of overheating consoles while playing L.A. Noire on the recently-released 3.61 firmware. Rockstar Games initially confirmed that the firmware was causing the overheating, but later backtracked. They issued a joint statement with Sony saying that neither the game nor the firmware was the culprit, leaving users wondering what else it could be.
This Is Indifference (Score:5, Insightful)
These required updates are ridiculous. We wouldn't put up with having to take our cars back to the dealer to have required maintenance done that would take away some feature or option we paid for, let alone having the maintenance leave the car in a troubled or non-working state.
There needs to be some sort of consumer protection to prevent these types of things. What's next, an update for our phones that prevents us from dialing 800 numbers because they are costing corporations too much money when we call?
Re:joint statement with Sony (Score:5, Insightful)
Sony would never be so evil as to threaten Rockstar Games with new firmware that prevents all Rockstar Games' games from working at all.
Even Sony wouldn't be that stupid.
Re:joint statement with Sony (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Say what you like about Microsoft... (Score:2, Insightful)
...but this is how you do customer service.
Microsoft acknowledged the issue and promised that affected users would receive a new 360S console and a free year of Xbox Live to compensate.
Acknowledge the problem, fix it (or replace it in this case with a superior model), and give compensation.
No nonsense customer service, and it gives gives them good PR.
Compare that to Sony...
You mean fry any old hackable consoles, say "whoops, sorry", replace with unhackable ones, and come out smelling like roses. Brilliant, sneeky, underhanded, but transparent.
Re:Say what you like about Microsoft... (Score:2, Insightful)
Microsoft: rich as hell company who uses terrible tactics to get where it is in the business world
The worst Microsoft does to their end-user customers is engineer lock-in or turn off DRM servers. They do some shady business dealings to keep themselves prominent, but that's not close to Sony:
Sony: not-so-rich company who uses slightly terrible tactics to get where it is in the business world.
Sony intentionally installs malware on computers via music CDs.
Sony shuts down MMORPG servers without notice.
Sony disables features you payed for (and sues you when you try to get them back).
Sony doesn't tell you when your CC# was stolen. Then they tell you it was, it wasn't, well it might have been...
Now they don't admit when their console overheats. Software shouldn't cause computers(consoles) to overheat unless the computers are poorly designed. What could L.A. Noire be doing that the U.S. Airforce isn't doing with their PS3 compute nodes? Sounds like it's the firmware...
Re:Say what you like about Microsoft... (Score:3, Insightful)
Acknowledge the problem, fix it (or replace it in this case with a superior model), and give compensation.
No nonsense customer service, and it gives gives them good PR.
They're not doing anything good. That's the minimum they can do for bricking their users' consoles. Hadn't they done that, they would get sued, lose, and then they'd have to pay both a new console and the lawsuit costs.
Compare that to Sony...
...who only gave away 3 high rated games, one or two months of free premium service, a year of credit card protection, and other junk I can't remember for 3 weeks of downtime of a free service. Those bastards.
Re:joint statement with Sony (Score:3, Insightful)
Sony would never be so evil as to threaten Rockstar Games with new firmware that prevents all Rockstar Games' games from working at all.
Even Sony wouldn't be that stupid.
Are you new to this reality?
Of course Sony would be that stupid.