globeandmail.com : Sony shares drop over PS3 worries — FYI

Investors worried about the product after Macquarie Equities analyst David Gibson wrote in a report that PlayStation 3 units on display at the Tokyo Game Show about 10 days ago operated erratically and had to be repeatedly reset.

“While the reason for this is unknown, we suspect it may be due to overheating as a result of enclosing the units and the high temperatures at the venue,” Gibson wrote in the report Monday. “We are concerned that such a problem has occurred so close to full production and is clearly negative news for the company.”



  1. Gregory says:

    So.. it’s overpriced, poorly focused, overheats, erratic….

    Plus… I’ve seen some PS3 demos. Yes they look good, no they don’t look that much better than the 360, graphically they may be “better” by not by enough of a margin to justify the price.

    Sony may really have a problem here, it could be that this is their Saturn.

  2. OhForTheLoveOf says:

    When this item decided not to be a gaming platform and instead focus (or not focus as it were) on being a swiss army device, I lost all interest anyway.

    Printer/scanner/copier/fax
    phone/camera/txt messager/MP3 player
    PC/home entertainment center
    etc/etc/etc/

    I want devices that do one thing or a few related things extremely well. I do not want devices that do a dozen things half assed.

  3. Mark Derail says:

    Sony has lost it. That ‘edge’. I won’t be buying their XBR 1920×1200 46″ screen either.

    However I’m not thrilled over the X360 + DRM either.

    Say OUI to the Wii . . .

  4. Miguel says:

    I remember that once (when the original Playstation was lauched) Sony said it only wanted to be the future of games, after some other manufacturer said it was going to be the future of all audio/visual entertainment. I don’t remember who it was, but that tells me it ceased to matter. Sony will cease to matter soon because of mistakes it once criticized on others…

    Can Sony still save itself?

    Drop Bluray
    Drop UMD
    Drop Memory Stick
    Drop Sony Movies
    Hire younger people, drop the old farts costing fortunes

    Go back to being the best HARDWARE company in the world. With no DRM and infinite hackability. Then the opinion leaders will come, and the long, slow recovery, can begin.

  5. I just wrote about a lot of the same things on my blog…

    http://www.nerdlifestyle.com/News/30.aspx

    I think it’s a bummer that a company with so much history of making cool and quality gadgets is on the verge of total collapse.

  6. Named says:

    The Achille’s heel of Sony is their media / entertainment / movie business. Sony should be making hardware to provide entertainment. Unfortuately, ever since they became a content owner, they have split into two business models in the same company. A total disaster. Drop the content, and they can make the hardware again without having to worry about pirating their own movies.

  7. Smartalix says:

    What Named said.

  8. FRAGaLOT says:

    Gregory:
    Your first line describes that the Xbox 360 is. But at least it’s a real product and not vaporware as the PS3 still is (sorta).

    Overpriced: yep $300 minimum plus the games are $60 a pop
    Overheats: yep mine died on me last week.. shipped off for repair.

    At least the Xbox 360 has a real market with an active online community. Play Station online never amounted to anything, and Nintendo keeps talking about it but who the hell wants to attach a modem to a Gamecube?

    With XNA on the table, Microsoft is well positioned to have a commanding market share with online gaming, plus the 360 has had a years headstart already.

  9. Joel Benotto says:

    What Pedro said that Smartalix said that Names said

  10. Jägermeister says:

    Agree with #4, 6, 7, 8 and 10.

  11. ECA says:

    Lets see….
    360 and PS3 have same problems with HEAT??
    Wonder why??
    SMALL box, SMALLER fan, not enough AIR. Sounds like a laptop problem..Dont it.
    CPU, GPU, port controller chip, DVD, ALL heating up a Small box.

    Letws add that Neither box comes with a HD/blue ray PLAYER…read that close… 360 didnt have one, and has it as a $200(?) add on…PS3, has one, but ISNT supposed to PLAY movies, only games. THEn we really dont know what ELSE Sony has done to there machine.
    MS has used a triple back recovery system, that insures that it cant fail very easy, and YOU CANT HACK IT, easy. They also have setup a system that REQUIRES all program creators to distribute THRU MS ONLY.

  12. Angel H. Wong says:

    ECA: that’s why Nintendo decided that the Wii should be and open architecture (or at least it’s rumoured to be.) It learned a valuable lesson that if you tighten the leash too hard you’ll choke the cash cow.

  13. doug says:

    #4-8. total agreement. I am a one-note wonder on how cool the PSP would have been without the UMD drive.

    I think I have decided – once the new Halo comes out, I am going with the 360. Figure by then (and contrary to their current denials) MS will have incorporated their HD drive into the box.

    What I would really like, however, is for someone to cobble together an open-source console running Linux and OpenGL (or something) with a freeware SDK that would let an abundance of small companies make games.

  14. Tom says:

    I don’t think it can compete with the wii, the wii will be cheap, easy to play, and bring simplicity back to the console. While sony is going to sell its supercomputer for 350 or so. Sony doesn’t stand a chance.

  15. Smartalix says:

    15,

    I’m waiting on Halo 3 to buy my next xbox myself.

  16. Cognito says:

    So.. it’s overpriced, poorly focused, overheats, erratic….
    Have Sony been reading the Microsoft How to do it book?

  17. OmarTheAlien says:

    Six hundred bucks for a damned game? I’ve got way more than that in the last PC I built, but I do lots more with it than just play games. Actually, I don’t play games, I fly simulators, that’s grown up talk for way cool games.

  18. OmarTheAlien says:

    Pedro, be nice. Your probably just pissed ’cause you blew a lot of money on a game console that sux…
    And as far as growing is concerned, I do that everyday, and with luck, I’ll continue ’till the day I die.

  19. ECA says:

    15,
    I would like a console that would load up ANY PC game, onto an internal HD, and JUST LET YOU PLAY….
    Internet access could be added, and you could set the Server.. for multiplayer.
    Even make it a Transputer, that will load up ANY OS you wish.
    But, MS wont give FREE access to directX driven games.
    Just install an OS driver at the beginning, and away you go.

  20. Matt H says:

    I’m with #4, 6, 7, 8, 10, and 11.


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