Sony Says "These Aren't the Vita Technical Problems You're Looking For"

[Greg Tito]

Sony Says "These Aren't the Vita Technical Problems You're Looking For"

Sony strongly denies there are widespread problems with the PS Vita.

The like the BBC [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/114854-PS-Vita-Is-Big-in-Japan] that Sony publicly apologized for the technical "glitches". A spokesman from Sony has issued a statement saying that they were not apologizing at all and the company does not acknowledge the existence of any widespread technical problems with the PS Vita. In fact, they are quite miffed about the whole thing.

"The PS Vita has had a terrific launch and sold in large numbers. We're annoyed with these stories, because we can't find any evidence of widespread glitches," said David Wilson, head of Sony's PR in the UK.

"The stories even said that Sony has issued an apology for PS Vita glitches, which simply isn't true - there's an apology on our Japanese website for people who are having trouble getting through to our technical help line, but that's it," he continued.

Wilson says that Sony's normal technical support pages on its website have been construed as step-by-step ways to avoid the glitches. "There's a page showing standard procedures for powering the PS Vita on and off, which has been on our site since before the launch, which has been presented in some news stories as a means of solving the alleged glitches."

He says that it's possible that some customers are experiencing problems with the PS Vita, but they are isolated and not evidence of design or manufacturing problems by Sony.

I have to side with Sony here. It is altogether impossible to ship a piece of hardware as complex as the PS Vita without some bugs and glitches popping up. Just because one guy has a problem, doesn't mean that the launch is borked and that Sony must apologize. It just means one PS Vita isn't working as advertised.

Of course, these videos posted by the Rocket News guy do look really freaking frustrating, it's just irresponsible to assume that the PS Vita is garbage based on one guy's experience.



Source: VG247 [http://www.vg247.com/2011/12/21/sony-no-evidence-of-mass-vita-problems-we-havent-apologised/]

Permalink

 

[Greg Tito]

Of course, these videos posted by the Rocket News guy do look really freaking frustrating, it's just irresponsible to assume that the PS Vita is garbage based on one guy's experience.

How is it in any way irresponsible? If someone pays a lot of money for a new device, and the PS Vita is in no way cheap, only for it to not work as advertised and provide all sorts of glitches, bugs and general errors, why should they not vent against Sony? People will have spent a lot of hard earned money on their Vitas, and if it turns out that the damn thing can't play games like advertised, they're well within their rights to ***** at Sony about it.

The responsibility here lies on Sony to provide a functional, working product. Even if the majority of Vita users are happy, those who have a dodgy unit have every right to be angry at Sony for taking their money and giving them a faulty product. Especially when Sony's PR takes as evasive a stance as this guy in the article.

Oh absolutely, Sony should try to fix this guy's problem, but just because one unit doesn't work doesn't mean that the whole launch is crap.

Greg

 

[Voltano]

I still think Sony is wrong in this situation as it seems like they are not doing any research or tech support on why these people are having technical issues with their $250+ new toy. It just sounds like they are stating the fans are wrong for buying it from them--which won't look in the future.

Its inevitable that there will be some issues with a new product--Bioware's 'The Old Republic' is a good example--and its the developer/publishers job to respond to these issues then say that some customer's are 'wrong'.

 

[Epona]

I have to side with Sony here. It is altogether impossible to ship a piece of hardware as complex as the PS Vita without some bugs and glitches popping up

Well, bugs and glitches sounds more like design flaws and not manufacturing flaws. Design flaws are not acceptable (like the RRoD).

Didn't we hear the same excuse about Skyrim? I guess now it's ok to release faulty hardware too. Imagine if your next $1000 Sony HDTV had a few bugs and glitches, would that be ok too?

 

[fix-the-spade]

Oh dear, another season, another round of the Sony PR game.

Customer: Erm, I have a problem
Sony rep: no you don't
no you don't
NO YOU DON'T (Sony rep collapses into a twitching huddle in the corner, repeating phrase indefinitely)

Remember kids, the louder you shout everything is fine, the more true it is.

 

[Eri]

Remember kids, the louder you shout everything is wrong, the more true it is.

This applies as well.

 

[Palademon]

My PSP 3000 that I bought this year froze once, and I had to physically remove its battery.
No problems since.

Well I'd like Sony to research these PS Vita problems, like ask the guy questions, rather than simply say "Well, it's not a big problem, so we don't care". Yeah, one customer is a bit too unrealistic.

 

[Megumi0505]

Heh, that reminds me of a cell phone I had that refused to power off, I literally had to pop out the battery to get it to power off if it froze. I suppose sony doesn't make their batteries easily removable XD

 

[AetherWolf]

My PSP 3000 that I bought this year froze once, and I had to physically remove its battery.
No problems since.

Heh, that reminds me of a cell phone I had that refused to power off, I literally had to pop out the battery to get it to power off if it froze. I suppose sony doesn't make their batteries easily removable XD

See, the problem is you can't remove the battery on the PS Vita. If you could, half of these issues would be resolved.

 

[-Dragmire-]

I have to side with Sony here. It is altogether impossible to ship a piece of hardware as complex as the PS Vita without some bugs and glitches popping up

Well, bugs and glitches sounds more like design flaws and not manufacturing flaws. Design flaws are not acceptable (like the RRoD).

Didn't we hear the same excuse about Skyrim? I guess now it's ok to release faulty hardware too. Imagine if your next $1000 Sony HDTV had a few bugs and glitches, would that be ok too?

Then they just call it a 'feature'. My Sony TV turns off the backlight when most of the screen is dark(Like game dungeons or text with a black background) making it really hard to see anything. The 'feature' can't be turned off and because it's a feature it's not covered in my $200 full warranty I got at Future Shop... thank god it doesn't affect my computer experience as the VGA port is immune to that 'feature', can't say the same for any other input though.

Anyway, the Vita is probably functional for the majority people but I'd be pretty damn pissed if I was the unlucky bastard with glitchy one.

See, the problem is you can't remove the battery on the PS Vita. If you could, half of these issues would be resolved.

So no upgradable battery then? It's probably so people don't hack it but that still sucks.

 

[VanQ]

I feel bad for the guy, but one guy's issues isn't enough for me to scream doom! I just wish Sony would hurry up and release the damn thing on this horrid desert island I live on.

 

[FalloutJack]

"i am having freezing issues since i tried to hack it"

i think you will find THAT is what they are trying to say..

Nah, the hackers are smarter than that and know how to get around it within days or hours.

EXTRA EDIT: Any system that can be bricked for ANY reason is automatically shit.

On another note, I just have a simple question that a friend asked me about the Vita: Why is Sony releasing a handheld system that does not support products from the previous system? Backwards compatibility is a marketable plus of a feature. Doing without that makes you look like the guy who never takes off his training wheels.

 

[fix-the-spade]

Why is Sony releasing a handheld system that does not support products from the previous system? Backwards compatibility is a marketable plus of a feature.

The same reason they progressively removed backwards compatability from the PS3, if your old games 'don't work', sony can sell them to you again and again, permanent rental until the next console comes out.

The success of PSnetwork classics as downloads says that yes, people really are that stupid.

 

[FalloutJack]

Why is Sony releasing a handheld system that does not support products from the previous system? Backwards compatibility is a marketable plus of a feature.

The same reason they progressively removed backwards compatability from the PS3, if your old games 'don't work', sony can sell them to you again and again, permanent rental until the next console comes out.

The success of PSnetwork classics as downloads says that yes, people really are that stupid.

Well yes, people are stupid, but not all of them. Marketing on stupidity is a backwards step from the country that decided to create quality over quantity. You can fool idiots, but that doesn't mean that you're in the green. Breeding such behavior will only make the market worse later.