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Howard Stringer and the new motto for Sony - Image courtesy Richter Scale
Sony's Sir Howard Stringer talks about digital music five years before iPod, its Mercedes-of-consoles and Blu-ray Disc

When it comes to Sony’s PlayStation 3, we rarely hear from parent company head Sir Howard Stringer. The Sony Corp. boss is one of the interviewees in an upcoming CEO Exchange TV program, and he speaks on his climb to his current position, giving tidbits on various Sony products, according to a Smarthouse report.

Although Apple is credited with bringing digital music to the masses with its iPod, Sony planned a similar product far earlier, but was unable to execute. Sony eventually released a digital music system, but it was admittedly inferior and less user friendly than competitive offerings.

“In 1997 we were working with IBM on electronic music distribution and could have put this out five years earlier [than iPod],” explained Stringer. “But we couldn't get our people to understand software. And we are a music company. They saw digital media, panicked and didn't like it."

Sony’s far reach in consumer electronics, in theory, should allow the company to produce devices that excel in convergence. For example, Sony Ericsson mobile phones are now melded with the Walkman and Cyber Shot brands to help reflect various strengths of its handsets.

“The good news is that Steve Jobs spotted a trend that we've seen. The phone is a convergence device, between music and a phone. We are all building variations on the same theme. We have sold plenty of Walkman phones [from Sony Ericsson], especially in Europe,” Stringer said, adding that Jobs and his iPhone are still not ever to be underestimated. “I would never sit up here and say I'm not worried about Steve Jobs. I wouldn't bet against Steve.”

Sony is also championing the rising Blu-ray Disc format, and Stringer does not hesitate to express his confidence in the format, saying, “We are selling 3-to-1 vs. them. We have exclusives with Disney, Fox, Sony [and Lion's Gate] and they have the top 15 of 20 movies at the moment. At some point Blu-ray will take over based on ... this support.”

On the topic of one of the world’s most popular Blu-ray Disc players—the PlayStation 3—Stringer was quite frank on his views on the Wii, and even offers a possible reason why the new console could fail.

“Wii is a wonderful device, but has a different target audience. If we fail, it is because we positioned PS3 as the Mercedes of the video game field. PS3 is after a different audience and it can be whatever it wants — a home server, game device, even a computer.”

Stringer recently went on record to speak on the spiraling reputation of Sony following the Great Laptop Battery Fiasco of 2006 and the tumultuous launch of the PlayStation 3.  The Sony Corp. CEO revealed that a lot of the negativity surrounding both recent challenges for the company is the result of internal strife in the company and a cultural disconnect between Sony CEO Howard Stringer and his Japanese executive team.

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Positioned like a Mercedes?
By therealnickdanger on 3/20/2007 10:20:34 AM , Rating: 5
More like a Volkswagen that is "priced like a Mercedes". PS3 has decent hardware, but it's not this technical wonder the Sony PR machine insists it is. They'll say anything to justify the price tag of their leading Blu-Ray player.




RE: Positioned like a Mercedes?
By javiergf on 3/20/2007 10:50:25 AM , Rating: 5
The PS3 is not technically superior to the Xbox360, in fact in graphics card, memory distribution, programming tools and games the Xbox360 is the "Mercedes".
The only superior thing is the blue ray player that they are forcing into the market and its superior price tag...


RE: Positioned like a Mercedes?
By Master Kenobi (blog) on 3/20/2007 11:04:49 AM , Rating: 4
Depends. I will list them out since I don't own any (Will eventually own a Wii if i can ever find one FFS)

X360
-Superior Graphics Hardware
-Superior Memory Size
-Superior Developer Tools/Kits

PS3
-Superior Disk Drive (Blu-Ray, newer and larger capacity)
-Larger Hard Disk
-HDMI

-Neutral
The CPU's in each system are roughly the same. The X360 uses 3 Standard CPU cores that incorporate Hyper-Threading to execute 6 Threads in order. (Not a big issue on a console like it would be for a PC)
CELL uses 1 standard CPU core with 7 specialized cores that seem to do specifically Floating Point calculations only.

CPU's come out even, with the CELL having more theoretical crunching power, but the X360 easier to program for to get the most out of the processors. So it washes out.

------------------------------------------------- -----------
The Blu-Ray is a questionable addition. Yes it allows larger capacity disks to be used than on a DVD-9 Player, however it is unknown if this a a necesity as it does add significant cost to the system.

The lack of HDMI on the X360 can be seen as a negative, however the Component cables seem to do a good job on their own with quality as good as the HDMI from the PS3.

Otherwise Wii FTW?


RE: Positioned like a Mercedes?
By therealnickdanger on 3/20/2007 11:49:37 AM , Rating: 2
Not to be a little snot, but too often the PS3 and 360 CPUs are made out to be these similar technologies, when they are truly different. The PS3 "CPU" is made up of one PPE core and the seven SPEs for FP and vector calcs, not cores, it's an important distinction. In addition, the OS reserves use of one of the useable seven, making the total count six available for any game or extra processing. The 360's CPU is comprised of three PPEs (not really standard) with multi-threading (not technically Hyper-Threading) and FP and vector accelerators built in to each core.

Also, if rumors are correct, the 360 will soon be repackaged with HDMI and a larger hard drive (and die-shrink). It would still be wise, however, for Microsoft to follow suit with Sony in allowing users to add their own HDD. 12GB just doesn't cut it...


By doctor sam adams on 3/21/2007 1:10:19 PM , Rating: 2
That's a pretty good analysis, I think. From one perspective the Cell is like a single core dual-threaded CPU with a lot of additional FP power behind it. The dual-threading can also hide the latencies of the in-order design, so programming two threads for a single in-order CPU complex might be easier than programming one or two each for the equivalent cores of the 360 CPU. The fact that they have their own memory spaces makes them a little more useful, but that seems to be in order to make them super fast rather than more independent. It is probably better to use SPEs locked together than send them off in their own individual directions to potentially lose synchronization with each other.


RE: Positioned like a Mercedes?
By DingieM on 3/20/07, Rating: 0
RE: Positioned like a Mercedes?
By Chadder007 on 3/20/2007 12:33:51 PM , Rating: 3
I think its interesting that almost ALL of the analysts last year only spoke of the PS3 and 360, excluding the Wii. The Wii was never a factor in the console wars when it came to news reports last year and now its the one selling the most.


By Scrogneugneu on 3/20/2007 7:37:23 PM , Rating: 2
Were you really believing that analysts could be right about something?


RE: Positioned like a Mercedes?
By Plasmoid on 3/20/2007 11:01:18 PM , Rating: 2
Yeah and they were all taking about the playstation 2 and xbox and gamecube while the playstation 1 was the best selling...

I could finish off with a nice dig about how last gen consoles always sell well... but im not that cruel.

Playstation 2 outsold Wii for quite a while...


RE: Positioned like a Mercedes?
By regnez on 3/20/2007 12:12:17 PM , Rating: 5
Scratch large hdd and HDMI off the PS3 list.

http://kotaku.com/gaming/top/game-mag-says-black-x...


RE: Positioned like a Mercedes?
By FITCamaro on 3/20/2007 12:48:18 PM , Rating: 2
The 360 and the PS3 have identical amounts of memory. Its just different in the distribution. Xbox360 has 512MB GDDR3 with the processor and the GPU having full, direct access to it.

The PS3 has 256MB of XDR memory and 256MB of GDDR3. The PS3's GPU has full access to the all of it if needed. The PPE core only has access to the 256MB of XDR. The SPEs don't have direct access to any of the RAM.

So yes the 360's memory configuration is better but neither has an advantage in amount. XDRs speed advantage is also debatable (much like the Rambus vs. DDR argument of old) and only serves to drive the costs of the PS3 up even further.


RE: Positioned like a Mercedes?
By caqde on 3/20/2007 5:56:06 PM , Rating: 2
Actually the Xbox and PS3 memory configurations can both cause problems. With the Xbox the problem there is similar to owning a computer with an integrated graphics chip because the Videocard and the processor want access to the memory ALL THE TIME there is a huge fight over resources which causes a problem with memory bandwidth theoretically the bandwidth for each would be about half of the memories current bandwidth but with this I would say somewhere less than half for each given latency issues.

Now with the PS3 the only real issue deals with the problem of one part not having as much memory as you would wish to have since the Xbox could theoretically limit memory to the videocard to give more memory to the processors is the videocard doesn't need it but then again that depends on the development tools used. But then again it is proven in the PC world that having seperate memory for the Videocard and CPU is faster than shared memory, but given this the PS3 configuration is the superior one of the two in this area.

When it comes to the memory share in the cores with the PS3 it was meant to be that way as the other processors don't need memory access as they can't think much anyways all the memory operations are being left to the main core although multiple unspecialized cores might seem better the FP specialized cores might help alot more than one might think depending on how they are used and how good the FP units are compared the the unspecialized core anyways. In this area you can't really compare the two accurately but I would say that the PS3 is better at heavy FP operations and that would help in making 3Dgames with good AI and physics if used correctly. The Xbox is probably better at common tasks that a PC would be good at....... 2D will games love this.


RE: Positioned like a Mercedes?
By therealnickdanger on 3/21/2007 10:26:54 AM , Rating: 2
You comment regarding a "huge fight over resources" is incorrect. While the setup might be analogous to a "turbocache" system in that both CPU and GPU share memory, there is no "fight" or "bandwidth problem" because the Xbox360 is not a traditional computer.

Unlike PC applications which are designed for a target system and then vary in performance across million of configurations of computers, 360 applications are programmed according to the strict hardware guidelines of the 360. All games are programmed to operate WITHOUT causing bandwidth problems, so this doesn't really happen. The same is true for the PS3.

This doesn't mean that the system can't be pushed beyond its limits on occasion. If I stack up 30 cars in Crackdown and blow them up - which is a ridiculously arduous task it, clearly beyond what can be considered "normal gameplay" - it will slow the system down momentarily to about 10fps. However, the game should never shut down or error out because of a lack of bandwidth.

The 360's triple-core PPE (Xenon) is capable of some of the same FP and vector calculations that the Cell is, since it has FP and vector units built in to each core. Where the Cell outpaces the Xenon, this is easily made up for by the 360's GPU (Xenos) versus the PS3's GPU (RSX) The raw crunching power of the Xenos combined with its extremely high bandwidth with the eDRAM put the crippled G71 to shame.

This is why Bathesda said that the PS3 version of Oblivion won't be able to offer armor for its horses. Where's the magic of the Cell now? Over-rated, over-hyped. Over.


RE: Positioned like a Mercedes?
By caqde on 3/21/2007 5:43:04 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
"turbocache" system in that both CPU and GPU share memory, there is no "fight" or "bandwidth problem" because the Xbox360 is not a traditional computer.


I won't fight over the issue of the RSX being slower than the Xenon, but the issue of Xbox360 not being a traditional computer does not keep it from having the same limitations of a computer. No matter how someone programs a game they are still going to run into the issue of bandwidth and the CPU and GPU will be fighting over resources even if this fight is monitored and controlled by a logic chip. No matter how this system was developed it is still a computer.

quote:
However, the game should never shut down or error out because of a lack of bandwidth.


Since when did lack of bandwidth cause errors??? Do you know how a computer works? That problem with having 10fps is the issue at hand no amount of bandwidth problems will ever cause errors or crashes. If what you said was true then the internet would crash all the time, but it doesn't. Having a bandwidth problem creates slowdowns not crashes. Crashes are logic errors created mainly by overheating and overclocking a computer, bad programming, and faulty hardware.

Now a wonder about that 30 car stack was that being played on an HDTV or a standard everyday TV? According to the specs of the Xbox360 if you did that and caused a slowdown on a standard TV then turned around and repeated that on a High Definition TV the Frame rate would crawl even further.

quote:
Xenos combined with its extremely high bandwidth with the eDRAM


You do realize that the eDRAM's 256GB/s bandwidth is internal right? the bandwidth between the Xenos and the eDRAM is only 32GB/s. And this memory is only used as a framebuffer it is not used for texturing. Which means that the Unified Memory is still going to get constant battering by the Xenos chip despite having the 10megabytes of eDRAM.

The problem I was talking about deals with the Unified Memory that has a bandwidth of 22.4GB/s. This memory is going to be used by the CPU and the GPU and they will both need to use the memory constantly while a game is running. This splits the bandwidth two ways which is what I meant by fight over bandwidth.

quote:
The 360's triple-core PPE (Xenon) is capable of some of the same FP and vector calculations that the Cell is, since it has FP and vector units built in to each core.


Well true but will those FP and vector calculations be used for the same reasons? This highly depends on the development kit of the 360. Will the Xenon be used primarily as a graphics chip or will it also be used in AI and Physics calculations? That is the reason behind the cores of the Cell processor and hopefully that will be the way those cores are used. I know ATI's desktop cards have the capability to perform these actions but I do not know if the Xbox chip is capable of being used this way or if this capability can be used at the same time as that of it's graphics capabilities.


RE: Positioned like a Mercedes?
By encryptkeeper on 3/20/2007 12:50:42 PM , Rating: 2
PS3 is after a different audience and it can be whatever it wants — a home server, game device, even a computer.

I swear, there really needs to be a business model for situations like this one. Products like the PS3 and Zune were heavily advertised, expensively developed, and for the effort these companies have put into them, they aren't seeing the return they should. Why? Because they are making these products too similar to what's already out there and in customer's homes. Did Microsoft really think they could piss around and make a music player with only one advantage over an IPod, wireless music sharing (and they didn't even do that right). These companies have to list all benefits of using another product when they create their own, and best whatever percentage their competition already holds in the marketplace. For instance, all the features of the Zune needed to be about 80% better than an Ipod to really have a chance to beat Apple for that market share. Same with the PS3. You can't say its a home server. Who doesn't already have a computer that can do all of the "server" aspects of a PS3, that is actually going to get or has a PS3? NO ONE! Truly, the BluRay player is the biggest mistake of the PS3. Bottom line. No more kidding around, no more flaming, it's all Blu Ray's fault. If they jumped on the HD DVD bandwagon, they would be rolling right now, and they'd be supporting a format they KNOW would be the new standard. People would be less afraid to buy the hardware because they knew they'd have a standardized format (therefore increasing sales). And then the only thing they'd have to do is make great games and people would PAY the 600 bucks for the system.


RE: Positioned like a Mercedes?
By ddawg on 3/21/2007 12:48:37 AM , Rating: 1
Sony's anti-consumer attitude is the resulting in it's draconian implementation of DRM\AACS in Blue Ray; coupled with the fact that Sony evidently believes games trump movies\shows is what's killing both Blue Ray and the PS3.

Sony is definitely not a consumer friendly company! And the consumer are pocket books are speaking... I hope Sony's able to comprehend the message!


RE: Positioned like a Mercedes?
By bldckstark on 3/20/2007 4:25:48 PM , Rating: 2
I have a Wii to sell. My wife bought one at the same time I did, and now we have one too many.


RE: Positioned like a Mercedes?
By Samus on 3/20/2007 11:14:45 PM , Rating: 2
they sell for 350+ on ebay.


RE: Positioned like a Mercedes?
By Visual on 3/21/2007 10:19:20 AM , Rating: 2
xbox does advertise its unified shader and unified memory approaches as better but they dont seem to be, really.
total memory size is the same, and gfx hardware is more or less identical performance wise.

this is still bad for the ps3 though, as it came so much later... it should have been better.

as for the dev kits, from where do you get your information? for a bold claim like this you better have some reliable sources to back it up.


RE: Positioned like a Mercedes?
By jpeyton on 3/20/2007 3:21:42 PM , Rating: 1
By their own accord, Sony has set itself up for failure.

Why introduce a console that is the Mercedes of the field? You're trying to sell your console to as broad a base as possible.

If I was a game developer, I'd rather develop games for the Toyota Camry of the console world.


RE: Positioned like a Mercedes?
By Anonymous Freak on 3/20/2007 6:55:14 PM , Rating: 1
The only problem is when the Toyota Camry of the console world uses odd bolt sizes, and can only run on custom Toyota gasoline, that Toyota hasn't yet released the formula for.

Whereas the Mercedes uses standard bolts, and the gasoline formula is publicly available to all.

(i.e. the Wii is harder to program for, and internet access isn't open to all developers yet.)


RE: Positioned like a Mercedes?
By Spivonious on 3/21/2007 9:41:31 AM , Rating: 2
From all I've read, the Wii has a very similar SDK as the Gamecube, so I doubt that developers are having trouble programming it. The only really new technology is the controller, and I can only assume that Nintendo has made the controller SDK easy to program for as well. Why shut people out of the best selling next-gen non-portable console?

And to further the Camry analogy, if Camry used only custom Toyota gas and Toyota bolt sizes, then everyone would have to get the proper gas and wrenches or they'd go out of business.


RE: Positioned like a Mercedes?
By wolrah on 3/21/2007 10:14:43 AM , Rating: 2
Wii harder to program for? Ha!

It's the easiest to program for out of this generation. It's a traditional single CPU + GPU design and is effectively an overclocked Gamecube. Xbox 360 comes in second because while it does have three cores and the unified memory arrangement to manage, the XDK is held in high regard as a great way to develop games. PS3 is the hardest by a long shot, since not only is the Cell a real "interesting" machine to program for, but Sony's SDKs have never been that great.


Give em credit
By xstangx on 3/20/2007 10:53:22 AM , Rating: 2
I have used Sony products for a long time and never had problems, and i mean like tons of their products. 2 tv's 2 dvd players, etc etc. Home theatre wise they are right on the money, and my PS1 and PS2 are still going. My Xbox however crapped out even tho i had my PS2 a lot longer and used it a lot more. I think Sony is doing a great job with the PS3, maybe not so successful rite now but if it gets cheaper like 300-400 it will be bangin. I dont think they are calling it quits its just that HD gaming is expensive and buyers are cheapskates, like me. But i love HD so much i am willing to pay for it. If the PS3 gets to around 400 i will buy it immediately. HD gaming is worth it, i think sony just released the PS3 on us 1 year too early. Maybe




RE: Give em credit
By Sylar on 3/20/2007 11:53:30 AM , Rating: 2
I may not be an expert on pricing strategy but if I were Sony, I'd rather take a bigger hit and move more PS3's into the market at 3-400 a piece. Once you penetrate the market, profits should be rolling in on the games and movies. Instead, they are being stubborn charging 600/console, I mean who can afford that? Meanwhile, time is flying, it has been almost half a year since launch and the longer they take to move consoles, the sooner the PS3 will become obsolete. They are already 2 years behind MS on the xbox 360, spending another 2 to get enough PS3's into the market is stupid, by then MS may be well into the development of the next console and that would be game over. Sony is shooting themselves on the foot.


RE: Give em credit
By mtnmanak on 3/20/2007 12:20:48 PM , Rating: 2
Actually, I don’t agree with your assessment that Sony makes reliable equipment. I am not talking about the 2006 battery debacle, either. Over the last 20-30 years I have owned countless pieces of electronics. From turntables to high tech computers. In that time, I have had many Sony products and most of them did not last as long as their competitors. Also, I noticed that, while Sony often came to market with good technology, it was almost always one-upped by their competitors. Some examples:

I bought a full Sony stereo system in the 1970’s – Receiver/amp, turntable, double-cassette deck, speakers – the works. For those of you that remember such days, this was definitely a high-end system. Within a year, virtually every component had been in the shop at least once and the speakers were the only items that made it past two years.

In the 1980’s I bought a Sony Trinitron 13” TV due to its superb specs. It was a good TV, although the power supply went out in less than two years. The biggest problem was that within a year or two of buying the TV, both Toshiba and JVC came out with similar “Diamondtron” (I think that was the name for it) technology that was similar, but the TVs had more features and cost about 20% less than Sony.

I bought a 37” Sony in the 1990’s, and had even worse problems – ended up costing me more to fix it over the time that I owned it than it did for me to buy it!

I had a $1900 Sony GDM-C520K monitor that looked great when I bought it, but developed convergence issue and color integrity problems in less than 18 months. In less than 2 years, it was nothing more than a $1900 paperweight.

I could go on about numerous other Sony products that have failed on me phones, TVs, computer equipment, stereos, etc. I will admit it hasn’t been all bad. My Sony Clie was the best PDA I ever owned (except for the stupid proprietary Memory Stick) and the Walkman was superb when it first came out.

Truth is, Sony makes compelling products. Reliability, however, is not high on the list of their strong points.


RE: Give em credit
By rushfan2006 on 3/20/2007 12:45:23 PM , Rating: 5
I'm more compelled by the fact that you kept buying a brand that kept failing on you over and over again, than I am by the point that Sony has been unreliable.

I mean do you also keep putting your hand back on the burner after you get burnt too?

Btw, I've yet to buy a ton of Sony stuff. However the DVD player and the DVD Writer I have works great .....for years now....of heavy use.


RE: Give em credit
By The Sword 88 on 3/20/2007 2:02:35 PM , Rating: 2
Yeah that seems crazy to me that you keep buying their stuff.

But all my sony stuff has been great.


RE: Give em credit
By mtnmanak on 3/21/2007 2:18:19 AM , Rating: 2
Maybe you're too young to remember the 1970's & 1980's, but very often back then, Sony was the only show in town when it came to finding an affordable solution. Sure, there was always Denon, Carver and other high-end components, but in the consumer market, Sony usually came to market first with compelling equipment. If you wanted to be an early adopter, many times you had to go with Sony. JVC and Toshiba were almost always playing catch-up (although JVC did hit a commercial homerun with the VHS format). Today, there is a massive amount of consumer electronics available and the competition is high. I haven't bought any Sony consumer products in a while - in 2007, there are almost always better alternatives. That wasn't so 20-30 years ago.


RE: Give em credit
By rushfan2006 on 3/21/2007 9:10:56 AM , Rating: 2
I'm nice cover up excuse. Well I was born in the 70's so I was too young to buy anything during that time period.

However, my brothers weren't, my aunt's weren't, my parents weren't.....

And they never had issue buying other brands than Sony - high queality and good value.

However, all that aside -- still doesn't justify the logic as to why someone would continue to buy a brand they have bad experience with. In fact I think one could argue that it makes the case more interesting if you bought Sony just to be one of the early adopters.

Look...its not a huge deal, we spend our money the way WE want to. We pick the brands WE want. My only point , and this is still my opinion, it just seems odd to me that someone complains rather strongly against a brand but yet demonstrates a long history of buying from said brand.

Regardless of choice during a said time period -- which is just a copout.


RE: Give em credit
By rushfan2006 on 3/21/2007 9:11:54 AM , Rating: 2
EDIT: *It's a nice cover up excuse....


RE: Give em credit
By Puddleglum1 on 3/20/2007 12:23:02 PM , Rating: 5
This article is about how a CEO is saying "Give 'em credit." Here are his arguments for giving Sony credit:
quote:
“In 1997 we were working with IBM on electronic music distribution and could have put this out five years earlier [than iPod],” explained Stringer. “But we couldn't get our people to understand software. And we are a music company. They saw digital media, panicked and didn't like it.”
So, they could have offered, but didn't. From what I remember, they were buying up start-ups who were beginning to release this technology. They tried to force the market to wait so that they could make a larger stake.
quote:
“The good news is that Steve Jobs spotted a trend that we've seen. The phone is a convergence device, between music and a phone. We are all building variations on the same theme...I would never sit up here and say I'm not worried about Steve Jobs. I wouldn't bet against Steve.”
Here the CEO is saying that they're doing the same thing Apple is: Apple and Sony (amongst others) aimed at the same piece of pie, and we're seeing Sony investing themselves into the leftover crumbs of the audio-player market.
quote:
“We are selling 3-to-1 vs. them. We have exclusives with Disney, Fox, Sony [and Lion's Gate] and they have the top 15 of 20 movies at the moment. At some point Blu-ray will take over based on ... this support.”
There's no arguing against the facts. This is a format war, and after years go on - and consumers forget the price they paid - this could be great for Sony.
quote:
“Wii is a wonderful device, but has a different target audience. If we fail, it is because we positioned PS3 as the Mercedes of the video game field. PS3 is after a different audience and it can be whatever it wants — a home server, game device, even a computer.”
Server in how it does Folding@Home, a computer in how it browses the web, and a game device. He fails to mention that it's functionality as a home-theatre device.

The character of a company is where credit is to be given, but Sony doesn't have the same repore that it used to. It might be that their true character is coming out, now that electronics have evolved out of their niche.


Sony anti-customer technology roundup and time-line
By ddawg on 3/20/2007 11:25:19 PM , Rating: 2
Sony anti-customer technology roundup and time-line
http://www.boingboing.net/2005/11/14/sony_anticust...

Oct 31: Sony DRM uses black-hat rootkits
Mark Russinovich, a security researcher, discovers that Sony has been sneakily installing "rootkit"-based DRM on their customers' computers. Rootkits are black-hat hacker tools used to disguise the workings of their malicious software. Removing Sony's rootkit nukes your Windows installation.

Nov 3: Sony releases de-rootkit-ifier, lies about risks from rootkits
Sony announces a "service pack" for its rootkit DRM. It deceptively downplays the risks the rootkit presented. It turns out that the remover doesn't actually work, either.

Nov 3: Felten on Sony's rootkit-"remover"
Princeton DRM researcher Ed Felten analyzes Sony's rootkit "remover" and concludes that it's a hunk of junk: "they're almost certainly adding things to the system...they're not disclosing what they're doing."

Nov 3: Defeat WoW spyware using Sony's rootkit
Warden, a program used by Blizzard to scour World of Warcraft players' system and report on the contents to the company can be defeated with the Sony rootkit. Blizzard claims that Warden only detects a few programs that facilitate cheating, but researchers have found evidence to the contrary.

Nov 8: Defend against Sony's rootkit with DRM-ripping software
AnyDVD, a DVD-ripping program, advertises that it can also inoculate you against the Sony rootkit.

Nov 9: List of CDs infected with Sony's rootkit DRM
EFF releases a partial list of CDs believed infected to infected with Sony's rootkit. Buyer beware -- you're better off buying music from someone else.

Nov 9: Sony's EULA is worse than their rootkit
EFF attorney Fred von Lohmann analyzes the license agreement that accompanies Sony's rootkit DRM (that's right, a license to listen to an audio CD!). It is unbelievably outrageous, the kind of thing that makes you want to get a torch and a pitchfork and head over to the nearest Sony office.

Nov 9: Wanna sue the pants off Sony?
EFF is looking for people who bought rootkit-infected CDs to join a potential lawsuit against Sony

Nov 10: Sony Music CDs infect Macs, too
Mac users shouldn't be smug -- Sony's audio CDs also contain an app that patches OS X's kernel with unspecified restriction-software; though Mac users have to take a few more steps before their computers are compromised

Nov 10: Fantastic screed against the coders who wrote the previous Sony DRM junk
This isn't the first time Sony's been caught doing crap like this; the last time around a geek wrote an amazing rant excoriating the coders who helped Sony write its anti-customer malware

Nov 11: Sony will stop shipping infectious CDs -- too little, too late
Twelve days after being caught using rootkits, Sony announces that it will stop shipping rootkit-infected CDs. No recall of the existing rootkits, though -- and Sony doesn't come close to apologizing. Buying Sony CDs is a great way to screw up your PC, but a lousy way to acquire music.

Nov 12: Sony's *other* malicious audio CD trojan
Princeton DRM researcher Alex Halderman reports on the other malicious software found on Sony CDs, a Suncomm product called MediaMax. MediaMax is a vicious little bug, which spies on you and reports on your deeds to the mothership.

Nov 12: New Sony lockware prevents selling or loaning of games
Sony patents a piece of software that can prevent you from playing a game that's been inserted into one console on another console; speculation is that this is destined for the PS3. Kiss game rentals, loaning and re-sale goodbye. Also, if your PS3 breaks or is stolen, you might as well toss out all your games, they're useless without it.

Nov 13: Sony's malware uninstaller leaves your computer vulnerable
A Finnish researcher discovers that the "uninstaller" for Sony's rootkit leaves a ton of crap behind that hackers can exploit -- he can reboot your computer just by getting you to load a web-page

Nov 13: Sony's rootkit infringes on software copyrights
There are strong indications that Sony ripped off a Free Software-based library called the LAME Encoder for its rootkit. The LAME Encoder is licensed under the Lesser GPL (LGPL), which was released for free re-use by public spirited programmers who merely requested that they be acknowledged. In Sony's zeal to protect its copyrights, they had no compunction about clobbering the copyrights of those software authors.
Other stuff:

Sony lied about its rootkit. They said it didn't phone home with information about your deeds. It does. When they were caught in the lie, they said that they didn't pay attention to the information it sent back, so it's OK
Microsoft is building a Sony rootkit-remover into its anti-spyware product
Lawsuits against Sony are already underway in Italy and the US
At least one piece of malicious software that exploits Sony's rootkit has been discovered in the wild




By ddawg on 3/21/2007 12:00:49 AM , Rating: 3
http://www.gamespot.com/pages/forums/show_msgs.php...

We all know Sony has been taking a lot of bad press from the PS3, but lets take a look back at the year that has lead us to the Nov. 17th release date.

First, we start with Sony itself. Yes, I was going to only make a timeline of the PS3 news, but how can you ignore this arrogance from late 2005?

Nov 10th, 2005 - Sony is caught hiding a rootkit inside music CD's that place a virus on users computer. Sony's Tom Hesse defends the decision by stating that people don't know what it is, so they shouldn't care
January 2007 - Sony, Busted Again!

Now that we know Sony cares about us, lets move on to the PS3...

Feb 27th, 2006 - Sony misses it's Spring launch date
May 5th, 2006 - SCEE CEO David Reeves: "It doesn't really matter what ships at launch." "The first five million are going to buy it, whatever it is, even it didn't have games,"
May 8th, 2006 - Sony holds it's E3 conference announcing the pricing of the PS3 at $600/$500
May 8th, 2006 - New PS3 controller will have six degrees of motion, but no rumble feature. Sony's Phil Harrison states that rumble was last gen and no longer needed.
May 17th, 2006 - Kutaragi: PlayStation 3 is "too cheap"
May 31st, 2006 - Sony's Phil Harrison denies copying the Wiimote and states that the PS3 will replace the PC
Sep 5th, 2006 - Gamers looking to get the best picture out of Sony's premium PlayStation 3 package will need to shell out extra for proper hookups.
Sept 6th, 2006 - PS3 is delayed in Europe until March 2007
Sept 6th, 2006 - PS3 launch shipment is cut from 2 million to 400,000 in the US (100,000 to Japan)
Sept 8th, 2006 - Sony's President admits that the company's hardware is in a current state of decline
Sept 26th, 2006 - PS3 first-party titles announced to be the same price as third party titles, at $59.99
Sept 26th, 2006 - Square Enix will not exclusively support Sony's PS3 as much as they did with the PS2.
Sept 29th, 2006 - Sony's President Ken Kutaragi states that his company does not care about the Xbox 360 and Wii competition.
October 12th, 2006 - Sony Exec calls the 360 and Wii "too expensive"
October 19th, 2006 - The infamous spec sheet comparison and how Sony claims the Xbox 360 requires HD-DVD to play games
October 20th, 2006 - Announced that Sony may have to replace your PS3 controller for you after it no longer holds charge
October 24th, 2006 - Sony sinks Lik-Sang
October 26th, 2006 - Sony's Q2 profits decrease by 94%
October 28th, 2006 - Sony president Ken Kutaragi said he expects the PS3 to be capable of running games at a stunning 120fps
October 30th, 2006 - PS3 will push Sony $1.71 billion into the red
October 31st, 2006 - Japan launch of the PS3 is cut to 80,000 units
Nov 8th, 2006 - Sony ships without update. You must update your PS3 out of the box in order to use PlayStation Network
Nov 9th, 2006 - NBA Live 2007 is cancelled on the PS3
Nov 9th, 2006 - Oblivion is pushed back from launch title to Jan 2007
Nov 10th, 2006 - Sony's Phil Harrison states that he can no longer confirm a March 2007 launch for Europe
Nov 11th, 2006 - PS3 launches in Japan and rewards few
Nov 11th, 2006 - Sony unprepared for Japan launch
Nov 14th, 2006 - Sony will miss 400,000 unit target for the US. Approx 150k to 200k will be shipped for launch
Nov 14th, 2006 - PS3 has backwards compatibility problems
Nov 16th, 2006 - PS3 downscales 720p games instead of upscaling to 1080i
Nov 16th, 2006 - Sony's Jack Tretton comments on the PS3 BC problems and states that the Wii has 0 backwards compatibility
Nov 20, 2006 - NYT not impressed with PS3
Nov 20, 2006 - Game Devs Prefer 360
Nov 20, 2006 - PS3 annoys Joystiq
Nov 21, 2006 - PS3, PSP Rainbow Six held till '07
Nov 23, 2006 - Saving Sony, one console at a time
Nov 25, 2006 - Sony retracts 1080i fix statement, leaving customers in lurch.
Nov 26, 2006 - More PS3 exclusives head to 360
Nov 26, 2006 - Bloomberg: Sony missed PS3 ship targets
Nov 30, 2006 - Sony shuffles senior execs
Nov 30, 2006 - Analyst: "I cannot imagine a PlayStation 4"
Dec 4, 2006 - Sony Australia: Wii "More Fun" than PS3
Dec 8, 2006 - Court rules for Immersion; Sony to pay up
Dec 11, 2006 - Industry watchers weigh in on "record-low tie ratios" for Wii and PS3 and other results from the month of the new systems' debut.
Dec 13, 2006 - Sony Admits Launching Fake Blog to Promote PSP
Dec 19, 2006 - Time says PS3 was a bust
Dec 20, 2006 - PC World Calls PS3 a top tech mistake of 2006
Dec 20, 2006 - Forced bundles and high retail price put consumers off, claims tracking firm.
Dec 21, 2006 - Virtua Fighter 5 dukes it out on Xbox 360
Dec 21, 2006 - Sony files patent for wiimote style hand-held controler
Dec 27, 2006 - PS3 Greymarket Watch: Scalpers Returning PS3s Back To Stores.
Dec 27, 2006 - Gamers who queued for days to buy Sony's PS3 are frantically trying to trade them for the much cheaper Wii.
Dec 28, 2006 - Sony's PS3: High-Scorer No More
Jan 4, 2007 - Sony spokesman David Karraker: "Everything that we put on store shelves sold out,"
Jan 4, 2007 - SCEA confirmed that there would be no supported force feedback technology with its PlayStation 3
Jan 8, 2007 - PS3 demand slows, stores stocked aplenty
Jan 9, 2007 - Sony Misses Worldwide PS3 Shipment Targets. They shiped a million in the US, but not in Japan.
Jan 10, 2007 - Motorstorm isn't going to be running in 1080p at 60FPS, despite Sony VP of Marketing David Dille saying this week that it would.
Jan 10, 2007 - Senior VP of Marketing Peter Dille: Every Sunday in the paper, there's a new deal with a free controller or a free game or $100 off all discounting the 360. I don't think you take those measures if you're selling as expected. (see Jan 13, 2007 entry)
Jan 11, 2007 - Analyst: Lagging PS3 Sales 'Troubling'
Jan 11, 2007 - ArsTechnica slams "misleading" Sony
Jan 13, 2007 - EB offers a deal, trade in your PS2, cables, a second controller and a memory card, to get $100 off a PS3, in what people assume is an attempt to actually move PS3 units.
Jan 15, 2007 - Analyst: Sony missing sales goals by 25%?
Jan 15, 2007 - Valve Software's chief Gabe Newell says PS3 a "total disaster on so many levels"
Jan 15, 2007 - PS3 sales figures 'not good' - IDC "Sony needs more must-have first-party titles to sell consoles"
Jan 17, 2007 - Sony CEO Howard Stringer: PS3 Only Using 20-25% of its Power
Jan 25, 2007 - Sony Uses PGR3 Screenshot to Promote Gran Turismo HD
Jan 26, 2007 - PS3: Now $50 More Expensive in Canada
Jan 26, 2007 - Epic Games' once-PC-and-PS3-exclusive shooter is now headed to Microsoft's new console with a slightly tweaked title, Unreal Tournament III.
Jan 29, 2007 - Sony Corp. may report third-quarter profit fell 50 percent after its flagship PlayStation 3 lost market share to Nintendo's Wii.
Jan 29, 2007 - Sony calls on Ken to save PS3
Jan 29, 2007 - Tetsuya Nomura, designer of FFXIII, has confirmed that Final Fantasy will not debut on the PS3 until 2008.
Jan 29, 2007 - Nvidia Shares Affected by Weaker Playstation 3 Demand
Jan 30, 2007 - Sony blamed the launching costs of its PlayStation 3 game console for much of the 5 percent drop in group net profit for the last three months of 2006
Jan 31, 2007 - SCEA spokesman David Karraker:"Nintendo's new console doesn't belong in the same category as the PlayStation 3." "Sony was selling out shipments of 100,000 PS3s in the US every week"


By ddawg on 3/21/2007 5:56:29 AM , Rating: 3
LMAO! I'm no fan of games -- period. With that said I am a fairuse advocate -- Sony hates consumers. Everything I posted was true and accurate. If you have evidence to the contrary... post it and stop sniveling.


By caqde on 3/21/2007 7:47:26 AM , Rating: 2
I don't know about you but from what I know of the PS3 it is the exact opposite of a fairuse issue than that of their CD department. Please don't think of a company as an individual entity. Each section of Sony is likely to be run by different people and likely not to have the same thoughts about the consumer.

Now for support of fairuse the PS3 has a removable and upgradable harddrive! They completely support such uses. You can easily put Linux on the PS3 without issues. Blueray although as a Movie product that must have AACS as a game product IS REGION FREE! Unlike other systems it is possible to buy a UK game that we can reasonable read and play it without having a UK PS3.

For being an anti-fairuse company Sony must have really shot themselves in the legs on their anti consumer push with the PS3. Despite it's problems the PS3 is very fairuse friendly especially when compared to it's competitors.

Now understand I am not standing up for the rest of Sony but when they put the PS3 together it has become a nice piece of Hardware despite the issues with it's cost. I don't know of any system out there that is this flexable without requiring you to circumvent the systems copyright protection schemes...


By ddawg on 3/22/2007 4:37:02 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
I don't know about you but from what I know of the PS3 it is the exact opposite of a fairuse issue than that of their CD department. Please don't think of a company as an individual entity. Each section of Sony is likely to be run by different people and likely not to have the same thoughts about the consumer.


Sony has tied the PS to a losing horse. The issue isn't how neato and nifty the PS3 may be... many of us (myself included) will never own a game console of any brand. The PS3 flop\debacle is a win for those of us who dreads Sony's draconian implementation of AACS.

quote:
Now for support of fairuse the PS3 has a removable and upgradable harddrive! They completely support such uses. You can easily put Linux on the PS3 without issues. Blueray although as a Movie product that must have AACS as a game product IS REGION FREE! Unlike other systems it is possible to buy a UK game that we can reasonable read and play it without having a UK PS3.


It would be fairuse if you could make backups of your games or movies... the hard drive isn't even a relevant fairuse issue. BTW: AACS isn't even a HD DVD requirement.

quote:
For being an anti-fairuse company Sony must have really shot themselves in the legs on their anti consumer push with the PS3. Despite it's problems the PS3 is very fairuse friendly especially when compared to it's competitors.


Yes they have and consumers around the world are saying "no thanks!" Sony's response has been to release weekly press releases swearing they've won and all sorts of unfounded delusional fantasies.

quote:
Now understand I am not standing up for the rest of Sony but when they put the PS3 together it has become a nice piece of Hardware despite the issues with it's cost. I don't know of any system out there that is this flexable without requiring you to circumvent the systems copyright protection schemes...


You seem to be under the impression that I hate the PS3... nothing cound be farther from the truth. I hate Sony's DRM, Sony's attitude that they will control what I listen and or watch my media on without even having the proper manners of a prision guard to utilize lubricant before giving the consumer the shaft!

Here's some more hard data to validate the PS3 continues to belly flop despite Sony's PR

You shouldn't have any problems bagging a PS3 - if you want to
Didn't get around to pre-ordering? Don't worry, there won't be a rush
http://technology.guardian.co.uk/weekly/story/0,,2...
Bobbie Johnson
Thursday March 22, 2007

Figures from market analyst NPD suggest that Nintendo has taken the upper hand in America's console war, with the two top-selling games machines in February: the DS Lite (with 485,000 units sold) and the Wii (335,000). The six-year-old PlayStation 2 came next, selling 295,000 machines, followed by the Xbox 360 (228,000) and Sony's PlayStation Portable (176,000). Even Nintendo's Game Boy Advance (136,000) sold more units there last month than the new PlayStation 3, which shifted just 127,000.

Numbers like this will make tough reading in Tokyo, and leave one crucial question up in the air: after the loyalists are satisfied, how many people will want a new PlayStation?


By caqde on 3/24/2007 12:50:57 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
Sony has tied the PS to a losing horse. The issue isn't how neato and nifty the PS3 may be... many of us (myself included) will never own a game console of any brand. The PS3 flop\debacle is a win for those of us who dreads Sony's draconian implementation of AACS.


How does this in any way fit in with the context of the text you quoted???????????????? I was talking about a section of a company. Have you ever worked for a large corporation? Sony like an other large corporation is built into divisions. SO in that manner the console division (Sony Computer Entertainment Inc) doesn't know what a thing about what the music division (Sony BMG Music Enertainment) is doing. So what I was telling you was to NOT blame the PS3 for it's Blu ray issues that your first articles were so blatantly suffering from.

quote:
It would be fairuse if you could make backups of your games or movies... the hard drive isn't even a relevant fairuse issue.


I don't know if you can make backups of the games or not but then again does it matter? You can't make backups of the Xbox360 or Wii games so blaming them for it isn't going to help any.

quote:
BTW: AACS isn't even a HD DVD requirement.


Yea so why are you ONLY yelling at Sony for this? Do Apple, Dell, HP, Hitachi, LG, Mitsubishi Electric, Panasonic, Pioneer, Philips, Samsung, Sharp, Sun Microsystems, TDK, Thomson, Fox, Walt Disney, and Warner Bros get away with helping to make this format without taking some of the blame too they are all on the Board of Directors for the Blu ray Disc format.

Not to mention the Contributors AMD, Almedio Inc, Alticast, Aplix Corporation, ArcSoft, Atmel, AudioDev AB, Broadcom, Canon, CMC Magnetics, Coding Technologies GmbH, Cryptography Research, CyberLink, DATARIUS Technologies GmbH, Daxon Technology, DCA, Deluxe Media Services, Dolby Laboratories, DTS, Esmertec, ESS Technology, FUJIFILM, Fujitsu, Gibson Guitar, Imation, InterVideo, Kenwood, Lionsgate, LITE-ON IT, LSI Logic, MediaTek, Meridian Audio, Mitsubishi Kagaku Media, Mitsui Chemicals, Moser Baer India, NEC Electronics, Nero, Paramount Pictures, Pixela, Prodisc, Pulstec Industrial, Ricoh, Ritek, ShibaSoku, Sigma Designs, Sonic Solutions, Sonopress, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, ST Microelectronics, Sunext, Taiyo Yuden, Victo Company of Japan, Visionare, Zentek, ZOOtech, and Zoran.. These companies contributed to the specification. Now Notice Sony BMG Music is listed here. Hmmmm what does this say.. Well if you actually look you will notice that Sony BMG is a joint VENTURE. So the evil corporation is not all Sony but also note that Sony Corp does not have full control over Sony BMG only partial even if it was fully Sony's.

quote:
You seem to be under the impression that I hate the PS3... nothing cound be farther from the truth. I hate Sony's DRM, Sony's attitude that they will control what I listen and or watch my media on without even having the proper manners of a prision guard to utilize lubricant before giving the consumer the shaft!


And your under the impression that Sony is the only company to blame. Blame the Sony BMG for the DRM on the CD's and Blame all the companies listed above for the DRM on Blu-ray. To think that all of this is because of one company is laughable. The industry doesn't work that way.

Oh and to prove that Sony isn't run by ONE PERSON, Sony Japan (their Japanese SONY ONLY music label) doesn't use DRM in it's CD's that they sell. They tried it and learned quickly that they weren't that good of an idea and dumped it in 2004. BTW they started using it in January 2003. Given the factors of a company and how they work 1 year is a "short" time for them.

If you need sources here they are:

http://www.blu-raydisc.com/general_information/Sec...
http://www.sony.com/SCA/outline.shtml

So while you are telling people how evil a company is why don't you start understanding that companies are a lot more complicated than you believe they are. So please go yell at the companies you know to be "customer haters" now "Sony BMG" and the "Blu-ray Disc Association".


By Chaser on 3/21/2007 7:58:37 AM , Rating: 2
Sony hates consumers?

So they hate the people they market their products to?

You spend 15 minutes or longer writing up your little collective bias newsrant?

1) get a life.
2) Vote with your wallet and stop buying or commenting on products made from a company that "hates you".

Seriously do you people have anything better to do than to repeatedly predict Sony's doom and gloom over and over again?

I realize that many of you are bitter because of $600.00 console envy but get over it. Take all that extra time and energy you have go over to a Wii or Xbox forum, plant beautiful dafodils and sing victory songs together in unison.


By ddawg on 3/22/2007 5:00:39 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
Sony hates consumers?

Yes

quote:
So they hate the people they market their products to?


What part of that don't you understand? Sony despises the consumer! Sony considers the consumer thieving scum that's guilty until proven otherwise and even then they're suspcious?

quote:
You spend 15 minutes or longer writing up your little collective bias newsrant?


1) get a life.

Sniveling is so unbecomming.... I have a rather nice life <game console free too>

quote:
2) Vote with your wallet and stop buying or commenting on products made from a company that "hates you".


I do exactly that... I try my best to avoid anything that will profit Sony. Perhaps you would rather I scream Go Sony Go... tell more lies... the Sheeple will believe you!

quote:
Seriously do you people have anything better to do than to repeatedly predict Sony's doom and gloom over and over again?


Sony itself is predicting the PS3's belly flop! And to make matters worse the sales number actually validate their prediction! Reality is a tough pill to swallow.

quote:
I realize that many of you are bitter because of $600.00 console envy but get over it. Take all that extra time and energy you have go over to a Wii or Xbox forum, plant beautiful dafodils and sing victory songs together in unison.


LMAO! Please stop making me laugh... my sides are killing me. Envy of what? I won't buy a game console of any brand. I did buy the external xbox360 HD DVD drive for $200 to watch movies on my PC.

You shouldn't have any problems bagging a PS3 - if you want to
Didn't get around to pre-ordering? Don't worry, there won't be a rush
http://technology.guardian.co.uk/weekly/story/0,,2...

Figures from market analyst NPD suggest that Nintendo has taken the upper hand in America's console war, with the two top-selling games machines in February: the DS Lite (with 485,000 units sold) and the Wii (335,000). The six-year-old PlayStation 2 came next, selling 295,000 machines, followed by the Xbox 360 (228,000) and Sony's PlayStation Portable (176,000). Even Nintendo's Game Boy Advance (136,000) sold more units there last month than the new PlayStation 3, which shifted just 127,000.

Numbers like this will make tough reading in Tokyo, and leave one crucial question up in the air: after the loyalists are satisfied, how many people will want a new PlayStation?


If we fail
By kattanna on 3/20/2007 10:09:57 AM , Rating: 2
sounds like they are setting the stage for their possible failure




RE: If we fail
By BladeVenom on 3/20/2007 10:15:01 AM , Rating: 5
The stage was set long ago. It's just now they are hearing the audience boo.


RE: If we fail
By oTAL (blog) on 3/20/2007 11:52:15 AM , Rating: 2
Allow me to disagree... maybe by admitting the possibility they'll be able to take measures to avoid it. Humility is usually a good thing and admitting a problem is usually the first step towards solving or mitigating it.
Admittedly it's a little late since the PS3 is, so far and by all non-Sony account, hugely bellow expectation.... But the truth is that they can still throw money at the problem and possibly solve most of the larger issues...
In a way I kinda like this guy....


RE: If we fail
By oTAL (blog) on 3/20/2007 11:55:58 AM , Rating: 2
I am disagreeing with the OP and not the post I replied to. Sorry for the confusion.


No surprise here...
By NoSoftwarePatents on 3/20/2007 11:49:03 AM , Rating: 2
As a member of the RIAA, Sony LOVES DRM (digital restrictions management)-that's why they couldn't get their theoretical product out the door. They might have had a sound product, but controlling is a huge issue for them, as it is with most content companies-especially traditional movie and music companies.

I wish Sony had opened up the PSP instead of closing the architecture, but what's done is done...




RE: No surprise here...
By rykerabel on 3/20/2007 3:38:52 PM , Rating: 2
/agree

an open psp would have seriously ruled the portable world.

sony's last "vision" was the ps1. ps2 and ps3 are just trying to ride on that same vision.

(i have a ps3 and love it, but software makes the console, hardware just sets the limits)


RE: No surprise here...
By ddawg on 3/21/2007 2:41:42 AM , Rating: 3
Sony despises consumers... as one of the primary contributors to the RIAA\MPAA Sony's attitude is consumers are all thieves until proven otherwise.

On HD DVD AACS is optional, on Blu-ray it's mandatory.
http://www.doom9.org/

Sony will no doubt continue it's propaganda campaign in the hopes the "sheeple" will buy into their delusion and squander their hard earned money on a battle that's already lost.


Was it just me...
By xphile on 3/20/2007 11:50:20 PM , Rating: 2
For just one little moment in that little picture on the main DT page my mind saw Stringer holding a gun to his head...

Sadly it was not so (sigh), I guess the mind plays those little tricks on you when you so want something to be true :-)




RE: Was it just me...
By ddawg on 3/21/2007 12:14:08 AM , Rating: 2
My opinion is that mandatory drug testing should be immediately instituted for upper level Sony Management and it's PR\Marketing department should be placed on suicide watch.


RE: Was it just me...
By Chaser on 3/21/2007 8:02:25 AM , Rating: 2
As long as they don't take the collective works of genius off this forum into consideration for their business decisions then there's no need.


What a naff motto
By lemonadesoda on 3/20/2007 9:18:34 PM , Rating: 2
"Entertaining the future".

Yet again, SONY P.R. needs to be fired. That must be one of the worse taglines in corporate history. They are in a desperate need of a refreshing image and something to recover the brand equity that used to exist in the SONY name ten years ago but has all but vapoured.

But since most entertainment is fiction and comedy I guess there is a ring of truth linking this with SONY.

Fire the Marketing and P.R. departments. Cleansweep needed. SONY is going from bad to worse.




RE: What a naff motto
By ddawg on 3/21/2007 12:18:55 AM , Rating: 3
Toshiba not so impressed by Blu-ray's victory cries
March 19th 2007
http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/03/19/toshiba-not-s...

It really doesn't take a keen eye for news these days to spot the all-out PR blitz by team Blu-ray to convince the masses that the format war is over and Blu-ray has won. Now Toshiba is finally sticking up for itself, in specific response to Blu-ray's recent CeBIT press conference. Olivier Van Wynendaele, Deputy General manager of HD DVD at Toshiba, calls the Blu-ray claims "propaganda" and disputes the Blu-ray points. For instance, the new 3:1 sales figure being touted by the Blu-ray Disc Association in regards to Blu-ray to HD DVD sales is claimed by Wynendaele to be artificially inflated by free Blu-ray movie vouchers being redeemed by PlayStation 3 owners. He also notes that Toshiba has sold 200,000 HD DVD players in the US, in comparison to the 30,000 standalone Blu-ray players sold, and that it's not clear yet how many Blu-ray movies the two million PS3 owners are going to be watching. Olivier also promised that Toshiba will undercut Sony prices every step of the way, and made it clear that while HD players account for less than 1% of DVD player sales, it's way too early to call the war for either side.

Toshiba rejects Blu-ray victory claim: Moves to dispel anti-HD DVD 'propaganda'
http://www.tech.co.uk/home-entertainment/high-defi...

Toshiba had sold 200,00 HD DVD players in the US, compared to just 30,000 true Blu-ray players. Van Wynendaele said that the two million PS3 sales could not be counted because there was no guarantee that people who were buying the consoles were: a) choosing to buy movies with their own money; or b) actually watching Blu-ray movies at all - the vast majority could be using the PS3 to play games on, for example. The truth is, he said, that neither format could claim victory when high def player sales accounted for less than 1% of regular DVD player sales - in the US at least.

Sony Exec's are rumored to be devastated and PR Department is no doubt in therapy with the shock that came from the realization that not everyone is mesmerized by the Sony Marketing\Propaganda blitz!


CDs aren't digital all of a sudden?
By ElFenix on 3/20/2007 1:05:08 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
Although Apple is credited with bringing digital music to the masses with its iPod, Sony planned a similar far earlier, but was unable to execute. Sony eventually released a digital music system, but it was admittedly inferior and less user friendly than competitive offerings.

Sony and Philips brought the CD to market in 1982. And I'd say it was pretty successful at bringing digital music to the masses.




By JonnyBlaze on 3/20/2007 4:24:59 PM , Rating: 2
They didn't face the same problem in 1982. The internet.


Correction
By chsh1ca on 3/20/2007 2:55:25 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
Although Apple is credited with bringing digital music to the masses with its iPod, Sony planned a similar far earlier, but was unable to execute.


Similar what?

Good article otherwise. :)




Too much of a stretch
By Trisped on 3/20/2007 5:13:01 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
If we fail, it is because we positioned PS3 as the Mercedes of the video game field. PS3 is after a different audience and it can be whatever it wants — a home server, game device, even a computer.”
No, a computer bought pre-made as a gaming PC is a luxury car version in the video game field. My custom built rig would be something like a hot rod with running lights and spinners. The PS3 has no car equal, because there is no car that could survive on the market charging a 150% fee over the next closest rival, but providing similar quality drive with a much harder to work on engine.
Sure, your PS3 can be whatever it wants, but as a Jack-Of-All-Trades it is very much not a master of any. My PC is a computer, it can act as a home server for web content or torrents, or whatever else I want to share. It can play games at native resolutions other then 720p, 1080p, and 480i on monitors which cost a fraction of what TVs cost. The fact is that the PS3 is half-way between a console and a computer, and does not do the computer side well due to its strange processor. The console side is debatable, once again due to the strange processor, but also because of user preference and potential media support (ie games worth playing). And yes, you can bring cost into the equation if you want. It would be hard to make a PC that rivals the actually usable power of a PS3 for $600, but it could be done if you watched the adds and new what you were doing.
On the positive side, it is nice to see Sony releasing positive news. Maybe the next step will be to provide correct, positive news.




By ddawg on 3/21/2007 12:08:28 AM , Rating: 2
Sony said in January it expected losses in its game unit to exceed its previous estimate of 200 billion yen this business year, but would aim to break even on games in the year starting April 1.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070309/tc_nm/sony_ps3...

200 billion Yen = US 1,713,208.860000

And yet Sony's world wide sales are far behind schedule. At the rate which Sony is losing cash one can not help but ponder if today's Sony Corp. will even exist in 3-5 years if they continue to bet on a losing horse (Blue Ray)

Is it any big surprise the PS2 outsold the PS3 in Japan during the Christmas 2006 season




subject.
By Visual on 3/21/2007 10:04:54 AM , Rating: 2
i wish it really were the mercedes... but a lot of folks that posted above were right, it's not.

if its graphic card was at least a bit better, it could possibly stand out and claim a "mercedes" position. as it is now, it came out so much later than xbox360 and still brings comparable performance in terms of graphic card. i'd not hesitate to buy a ps3 even at european prices if it had a graphic performance that was a year ahead of xbox. (or closer to a year and a half in europe, actually...)

this is the biggest mistake sony made i think - if they planned the console to come so late because of bluray, they should've at least made use of the delay by giving it more modern gfx hardware.

if it were actually able to render on two 1080p outputs, be it for panoramic view, for a dedicated hud display or for multiplayer without split-screen, it would have something special to brag about. but as it is now, it can barely support a single 1080p output at decent framerates.
even if the console isn't able to render complex 3d scenes on both outputs in 1080p, dual screen would still be good for less demanding games or things as simple as huds or other fancy dual-screen interfaces.

but does the ps3 still have dual hdmi? (i know the cheap version has a single hdmi output, but i'm wondering about the full version)
seeing how they were overhyping this feature long before it was launched and have stopped mentioning it now... i guess it was removed.

ps3 still has the mercedes of optical drives, and this alone is enough to justify the higher price for some people... but it is not what matters most for games, and so it's upsetting many of the other people.

as for the cpu, i'm not sure it's a mercedes at all. it is powerful in specific situations, but obviously so harder to use that they're still unable to show some impressive demo of its abilities. hopefully with time they will manage to make full use of it...




Me likey PS3
By MachOmega on 3/26/2007 9:54:49 PM , Rating: 2
My home network:

2 MacBooks (Core 2 Duo)
1 macmini (Core 2 Duo)
Sony PS3
Sony PSP
AirPort Extreme (802.11n)
AirTunes

Everything set up wireless.

Having worked on PCs for 10+ years, these are my impressions:

Apple hardware doesn't suck anywhere near as much as PC fanboys claim. To the contrary, setting up and maintaining a Mac network puts PCs to shame. I know you're not allowed to take sides on DailyTech, but, having worked with both platforms, Macs are easier.

Setting up my PSes was a snap. I couldn't get my PS2 or PSP to work with my Windows network but my PS3 and PSP work fine with my Apple setup.

The PS3 is completely silent and runs cool in my setup even after hours of gameplay.

The system updates continue to unlock the power of the PS3.

If Elder Scrolls: Oblivion is any indicator, future PS3 games will look better than Xbox360 games. Say what you want about MotorStorm, but it is noticeably better looking than any 360 game that I've seen to date. Halo 3 may change that but the PS3 looks like it may have the visual edge.

Overall, I'm extremely pleased with my PS3. I don't have to shell out an additional $200 for high-definition DVD, I have wireless built in, and HDMI (which I actually use with my HDTV). Plus it looks awesome on my entertainment stand. When I look at the 360, I think it has peaked technologically. I think the PS3 is just starting to turn the corner and, side by side, it seems to have the most upside of all the new consoles. The 360 is more polished right now but I think it is as good as it's going to get.

As for the Sony bashing, doesn't anyone remember that Microsoft is a convicted monopolist. Arguing the superiority of the corporate ethics of Microsoft and Sony is like arguing if Charles Manson is "better" than Jeffrey Dahmer. Yeah, Sony pisses me off with the constant DRM shyte but anyone who has to deal with the constant "Windows Genuine Advantage" bs or had their system compromised by viruses, spyware, or adware will know that MS doesn't have the high ground. Bottom line, the 360 is more mature but the PS3 is catching up. Let's get away from the corporate culture arguments and let the market speak for itself. I wanted the best system available and, for ME, that was the PS3. I may have made a different choice if price or my home setup was a factor.




Ugh.
By vhx on 3/20/07, Rating: -1
RE: Ugh.
By Marcus Yam on 3/20/2007 4:57:20 PM , Rating: 6
Brandon Hill has an unhealthy obsession with automotive articles.

Anh Huynh has an unhealthy obsession with CPU articles.

Tuan Nguyen has an unhealthy obsession with Apple articles.

Michael Hoffman has an unhealthy obsession with space articles.

We all have our varied strengths and areas of expertise here at DailyTech. :)


RE: Ugh.
By KaiserCSS on 3/20/2007 8:23:57 PM , Rating: 2
This has got to be, hands down, the funniest thing I have seen in a long time here on DailyTech. Nice neon green color by the way.


RE: Ugh.
By crystal clear on 3/21/2007 3:32:02 AM , Rating: 2
Hey you FORGOT "Kristopher Kubicki"-HOW COULD YOU???


RE: Ugh.
By Marcus Yam on 3/21/2007 4:46:56 AM , Rating: 3
Kristopher Kubicki has more unhealthy obsessions than I could possibly name.


RE: Ugh.
By Chaser on 3/21/2007 8:05:27 AM , Rating: 2
www.1up.com


Sony Biosphere III
By SunAngel on 3/26/07, Rating: -1
Well, if PS3 is Mercedes, then XBOX360 is BMW.
By Roy2001 on 3/20/07, Rating: -1
By Roy2001 on 3/20/2007 1:38:14 PM , Rating: 2
OOPS, I wanted to say that 360 is BMW at VW's price.


By Puddleglum1 on 3/20/2007 1:45:05 PM , Rating: 2
Negative. PS3 uses Cell, X360 uses a PowerPC variant.
http://anandtech.com/systems/showdoc.aspx?i=2611&p...

Agreed on the analogy, however, a Mercedes would include a rumble-pack.


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