Brother Dropped Out of High School Games All Day
The Day the Video Games Died
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I went on vacation to the nether regions of the Adirondacks up here in New York State. To those of you who watch too much TV and think that New York is nothing but Manhattan, I can tell you there are some seriously remote parts where cell phone reception is nonexistent and broadband was only recently a pipe dream.
Since it was too cold outside to do much nature stuff, I brought my PlayStation Portable to keep me sane. I can't help it; if I'm not staring at an LCD screen for at least 60% of the day, I get kind of wonky. I did bring my notebook PC to do some work (my father-in-law just recently managed to acquire a wireless router and DSL up there in the boonies), but the poor thing is too weak to play any decent games besides DEFCON.
Midway through a game of Warhammer 40000: Squad Command the PSP decided to jump on its sword. In other words, it died a glorious, dazzling death, acting like every button was pressed at once. It muted the volume, then turned it up, then asked if I wanted to quit the game, then dumped to the main interface, all in a matter of seconds.
When I got home, I called Sony, which informed me that since it was out of warranty it would cost me $90, plus shipping, to exchange the poor PSP for a factory refurbished one—which itself would be covered for 90 days. I even whipped out my press credentials, which didn't impress the tech support guy.
SO: I could pay almost 2/3 of the price of a brand new, Slim model PSP, for a refurbished old model, all because Sony only covers its portable game console for a year. I've had mine for around 18 months. I had to replace it, since I have quite a collection of games and—full disclosure here—I really like the little thing, but I'm really disappointed Sony's warranty is so wimpy. Compared, say, to Microsoft's.
Oh, and my Xbox 360 decided to kick the bucket. It determined that none of my discs were readable, while they're all in immaculate condition. Obviously, the optical drive's laser is out of sync with reality, so I had to make another phone call. Yes, I was told, all Xbox 360's are under warranty right now, and Microsoft would even ship me a special box with and a return shipping label to send in my 360 for service.
So I'm down two consoles, one of which I had to replace by dropping $180 on a new one (and wait for the online stop to ship it to me). All I've got left to play with is my son's Wii and, of course, a few PC games here and there. Thankfully, I'm all about PC gaming, but when I sit at my PC I feel guilty if I'm not working.
I'm pretty much dependant on my consoles. I just got my copy of SOCOM: Tactical Strike for the PSP, and I'm staring at Assassin's Creed and Mass Effect, and I can't play any of them. I also use my 360 heavily as a media extender, so now I can't listen to my music in the living room without popping CDs into the DVD player.
What bums me out the most, though, is that Sony was coarsely uncaring about, well, at least one customer. I wrote a book about the PSP; I've pimped PSP games in my columns. I can't imagine how little Sony would care if I was just a standard consumer. Maybe the company would send over a representative to laugh at me, like Nelson on the Simpsons.
Sony has defended the PSP regarding dead pixels, broken UMD doors, and a host of other complaints—via press releases and interviews. Meanwhile, Microsoft defended the Xbox 360 and its notorious Red Ring of Death the classy way: by extending the warranty for everyone.
As I sit here in front of my PC thinking about gaming but really working, I'll end this column with a message for each company.
Microsoft: Thanks. I can wait three weeks for the repair, as long as I have my 360 back by Christmas (please?). You've done your customers a good deed.
Sony: Bite me. I would cancel my new PSP order for a Nintendo DS Lite, but I can't find any games for it that I want to play. You've made me feel like a sucker.
Brother Dropped Out of High School Games All Day
Source: https://www.extremetech.com/computing/80980-the-day-the-video-games-died
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