PlayStation 3 kiosks freezing up ... on purpose!

[Player-X]

PlayStation 3 kiosks freezing up ... on purpose!


Have you ever spent any time in a Best Buy, EB Games, or GameStop playing their PlayStation 3 demo unit and have it freeze up on you? No, you haven't... or so I was told by a Sony rep a few days back. Read on to find out more. Just before the launch of the PlayStation 3, I walked into a local EB Games and noticed that they had finally (three days prior to launch) received their demo kiosk. Problem was, it was turned off. Right next to the hulking beast of a setup, two teenagers were wailing on "You Really Got Me," the Guitar Hero II demo, and the PlayStation 2 was in full force.
Curious, I asked the annoyed, bored-looking clerk why anyone would dare do something like turn off a PlayStation 3 (The penalty for such an offense? Death, in some states).

"Well," he sighed, "it's locked up on us about five times. And we got it this morning."

He explained to me how when the machine would freeze, he would have to unlock the kiosk and hard reset the machine -- every time. It was easier, he said, to just leave it off and let people drool all over the protective plastic that housed what appeared to be an empty shell of a PlayStation 3 -- if you don't know, the actual unit is housed below the kiosk and is not visible. This, to me, was a fine explanation, and not surprising considering reports I've heard of units freezing at trade shows; and hey, the damned thing is cased in metal with little or no ventilation. I'll let it slide.

Cut to a busy Christmas Eve: The same EB Games is bustling with last minute shoppers; a child knocks over a World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade promotional display; frantic mothers blather on about games they can't remember the names of; and in the middle of it all I spotted a Sony PlayStation retail rep frantically cleaning off the very same kiosk I had mentioned earlier. I wasn't going to let him get away.

"Happy Holidays," I said.

"Oh, hi! I'll be done here in one second and then I'll turn on the unit so you can get a glimpse of the future."

"Oh, I know all about it," I said, trying not to laugh. "I have the future at home. In my closet. Still in the box. Trying to sell it. No takers."

After a short, awkward silence, I decided to go in for the kill.

"So dude over there," I said pointing to the busy clerk, "says he keeps the kiosk off because it keeps freezing up."

"Nope. No it doesn't."

"Well, actually, yeah. It does. I've seen it happen myself."

"No. It doesn't. We did that on purpose," he said.

"You make the entire console lock up on purpose because ... why?"

"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."

I'm totally confused at this point, completely stunned at what I'm being told because it's the stupidest thing I'd ever heard. I let him rattle on for a while, trying to convince me (and probably himself) that yes, Sony went out of their way to have their consoles lock up so that the masses will not spend hours upon hours basking in all its glory.
He went on about how a PlayStation 3 shouldn't be hard to get now, and how they're shipping them out of Japan daily. I waited for him to spill the beans on the Cell processor powered, mechanized laser-breathing dragon they use to import the consoles to the States, but he revealed nothing.
When the Sony rep was done and finally turned on the future, I decided to stick around and play some Motorstorm (which is pretty damned awesome). Didn't freeze up on me once.

Later, I was told by a Best Buy employee that they were told the same thing -- the locking up and freezing was intentional. So, if you're sitting at home and your console locks up on you or your Bluetooth controllers aren't performing the way they should be, don't worry about it. It might be on purpose.

Then again Sony has already called various flaws such as the PSP buttons being too close to the screen "features".

Does anyone have a PS3 and does it freeze up on you?

[industrian]

No Really, PS3 Demos Freeze on Purpose! - Kotaku

Originally Posted by From above article

The only question I have is if the rep actually believes this bull****, or if he is actively lying through his teeth. I called the GameStop I work at during the holidays and conducted a quick survey. Not one employee there, myself included, has ever seen the kiosk freeze up. We generally have to flip the switch on the fuse box on and off from the back room when people play too long. We'd better get on the phone with Sony ASAP and ask for a unit that freezes up as intended!

Not to mention the Motorstorm demo is a WIP.

[Metalmurphy]

Well i would understand the Kiosk to lockup to prevent overheating and damage since theyre usually in very confined spaces, but not retail units. Infact i don't believe i've seen a single case of a retail unit freezing. But locking up to prevent ppl from playing it? I don't get it

But, if you ask me, i have a hard time believing this conversation ever happened

[Chrono Archangel]

well, tbh, i havent scene a working PS3 yet.... nor a Wii O_o
The few times i went to EBGames, the PS3 would be frozen ingame and the Wii... well, didnt see any wiimotes anywhere :S

ok i lied...ive seen one PS3 work.... but still.....

[darth sephiroth]

i think it only freezes up if you spend like 5 hours playing. or 1 hour if you play the same thing in one go.

wii are the champions, wiiiiii are the champions... grraghlhah *gets strangled by ps3 fanboy*

[Vlado]

....don't think sony wold do that , i play on my 360 for about 6-7 hours a day....do you think sony wold like to be at a disadvantage?

[hushypushy]

There's a working PS3 at the Target near my house, I never get a chance to play it though because there are always little kids swarming it. At all the gamestops I've been to, they are always off. But that's to be expected, people at Gamestop are lazy ****holes, even the Xbox 360 wasn't playing any games last time I was in there.

I'm pretty sure that entire article was made up.

[BigIg]

Originally Posted by hushypushy

I'm pretty sure that entire article was made up.

I wouldn't put it past them

But we all know good old perfect sony has never lied.

[Metalmurphy]

Well seeing as everyone complained that 2xHDMI and 3 ethernet ports was uter useless they changed it and announced it right after, its not like they hid it to fool ppl. I don't call that lying tbh. Its also not because the PS3 couldn't handle it, note that the final devkits do have 2xHDMI and 3 ethernet ports.

[BigIg]

Originally Posted by Metalmurphy

Well seeing as everyone complained that 2xHDMI and 3 ethernet ports was uter useless they changed it and announced it right after, its not like they hid it to fool ppl. I don't call that lying tbh. Its also not because the PS3 couldn't handle it, note that the final devkits do have 2xHDMI and 3 ethernet ports.

Alright,
Of course, more lies..
Now where is the mind boggling Xbox 360 crushing graphics Sony promised? I thought cell was 10x more powerful than god? (Lol, I read that in someone's sig somewhere)

[Metalmurphy]

What do you mean "more" lies? You calling me a lier?

And btw, i believe those "graphics" you talk about are these:
http://www.threespeech.com/blog/wp-c...eenshot348.jpg
http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/9...sdahsdado2.jpg
http://www.theimageplace.net/uploads/da4cb15c0a.jpg

This within 2 months of the console release, remember that the 360 had a huge leap in graphics in 1 year, imagine the PS3 in one year...

[industrian]

That picture itself is a lie, as I seem to recall both PS3 versions having a HDMI socket.

Originally Posted by BigIg

Now where is the mind boggling Xbox 360 crushing graphics Sony promised?

As of today, the PlayStation 3 has been on the market for 57 days. If you had a 57-day-old child, would you expect him to read, write and do algebra?

When the XBox 360 first came out, people complained about it's games looking like high-res XBox games... now they're complaining about the first PS3 games looking near-identical to second generation XBox 360 games. I really wish that these idiots had a bit more patience.

[BigIg]

Originally Posted by industrian

That picture itself is a lie, as I seem to recall both PS3 versions having a HDMI socket.



As of today, the PlayStation 3 has been on the market for 57 days. If you had a 57-day-old child, would you expect him to read, write and do algebra?

When the XBox 360 first came out, people complained about it's games looking like high-res XBox games... now they're complaining about the first PS3 games looking near-identical to second generation XBox 360 games. I really wish that these idiots had a bit more patience.

I'm not saying I expect it to be the Xbox 360 crushing system when it came out, but that's the impression Sony gave.

[Metalmurphy]

You must be forgetting how Microsoft advertised the 360 before launch...

"Next generation games will combine unprecedented audio and visual experiences to create worlds that are beyond real and they'll deliver storylines and game play so compelling that it will feel like living a lucid dream."

"To ensure that the next generation delivers, every game is built on what we call Essentials, a foundation of requirements every game must have before it can ship on the Xbox 360 platform." (you could tell these requirements we're high when most launch titles looked like high rez Xbox titles)

"With Xbox 360, the age of the jaggies is over, superseded by smooth, lifelike visuals of cinematic quality...Let me just say very clearly: These games will also look amazing on standard definition TV."

"In the HD Era, we are going to deliver the Zen of gaming...you achieve the perfect mind-body equilibrium as you forget your physical surroundings and you become completely immersed in the game itself."

just a few examples among many

News flash, every company does this. But only Sony is bashed for it...

[hushypushy]

Originally Posted by BigIg

I wouldn't put it past them

But we all know good old perfect sony has never lied.

Uhh......Sony didn't write that article. When I speculated that the entire article was made up, I was talking about the author of that article making things up (a la The Onion) in order to make fun of a story or create some confusion.

And jeez, do you REALLY believe the hype for every system comes out? Go back to every console ever made, they ALL had hype. Like the Genesis slogan, "Sega does things that Nintendon't". Yeah, what things was that? Remember the SNES ads, "Now you're playing with power!" Yeah, tons of power in that SNES. And pretty much the same for every marketing campaign. What did you want Sony to say? "The PS3 is gonna be pretty decent, we guess"? Well, it's obvious that you don't have a future in marketing.

[Cid Highwind]

Originally Posted by Metalmurphy

You must be forgetting how Microsoft advertised the 360 before launch...

"Next generation games will combine unprecedented audio and visual experiences to create worlds that are beyond real and they'll deliver storylines and game play so compelling that it will feel like living a lucid dream."

"To ensure that the next generation delivers, every game is built on what we call Essentials, a foundation of requirements every game must have before it can ship on the Xbox 360 platform." (you could tell these requirements we're high when most launch titles looked like high rez Xbox titles)

"With Xbox 360, the age of the jaggies is over, superseded by smooth, lifelike visuals of cinematic quality...Let me just say very clearly: These games will also look amazing on standard definition TV."

"In the HD Era, we are going to deliver the Zen of gaming...you achieve the perfect mind-body equilibrium as you forget your physical surroundings and you become completely immersed in the game itself."

just a few examples among many

News flash, every company does this. But only Sony is bashed for it...

I read an article which had the exact same quotes some time ago. And you're pretty much completely right, and it's pretty surprising as well seeing how Microsoft isn't particularly loved either with its windows platform.

You should've seen what the responses were on how Vista could be up to 50% more expensive in the Netherlands than it will be in the US.

[BigIg]

Originally Posted by Metalmurphy

You must be forgetting how Microsoft advertised the 360 before launch...

"Next generation games will combine unprecedented audio and visual experiences to create worlds that are beyond real and they'll deliver storylines and game play so compelling that it will feel like living a lucid dream."

"To ensure that the next generation delivers, every game is built on what we call Essentials, a foundation of requirements every game must have before it can ship on the Xbox 360 platform." (you could tell these requirements we're high when most launch titles looked like high rez Xbox titles)

"With Xbox 360, the age of the jaggies is over, superseded by smooth, lifelike visuals of cinematic quality...Let me just say very clearly: These games will also look amazing on standard definition TV."

"In the HD Era, we are going to deliver the Zen of gaming...you achieve the perfect mind-body equilibrium as you forget your physical surroundings and you become completely immersed in the game itself."

just a few examples among many

News flash, every company does this. But only Sony is bashed for it...

Well, Microsoft may have used the stupid marketing lines, but they did however at the E3 show real footage, for the most part, Sony however showed a bunch of OMFG WOW! type CGI that every sony fanboy believed.

[D.D.]

lets not try to justify.

recently, Forza 2 was completely CG. i forget if theres more.

then MS started this CG thing with their showing of the dancing robot with the girl in the foreground when they introduced the Xbox.

[Metalmurphy]

There are more, like Crackdown CG (and they said it was real time too at X05 yet the game looks NOTHING like what they showed), that Robot tech demo, more recently Forza2, PGR4, Bioshock, even Halo 3.

Oh and btw, Sony also showed real time at E32005, like Getaway, FF7 tech demo, UT 2007 and i'm sure there are others i don't remember.

Point is, Sony did nothing to deserv this amount of bashing unless MS deservs it as well.