So, something neat happened last night! I booted up my review copy of Persona to delve into the latter portions of the game only to discover that my 4GB memory stick had become corrupt and my 35 hours of progress in the game were gone. Pffft! Just like that. This was a Sony-manufactured memory stick on an unhacked, untampered-with PSP 2000, which makes me wonder: Will Sony ever make something that doesn’t stop working?
I’ve owned an awful lot of game consoles in my lifetime, and when I think back on the machines that have suffered visible defects or malfunctions, the list demonstrates an alarming trend. Yeah, my old NES eventually became pretty finicky, but it continued working for a decade until I turned it into an art project, and there was a defective DS Lite in there along the way, too. But besides that, all my troubles seem to wear the Sony label. My PlayStation stopped reading CDs unless you propped it up sideways, the drive door on my first PlayStation 2 decided to stop working (with Xenosaga in the system, just to rub salt in the wound), my first PSP had defective buttons, and now this. Oh, and my fiancée bought me a Sony camera that now only works if you don’t use flash. I’m pretty sure my PS3 only continues to work properly because I only use it as a movie player most of the time, and I’m sad to think that eventually it’s going to die as well, because then how will I play my PS2 games upscaled to look good on an HDTV?
Edit: In an act of desperation, I copied my PSP’s contents to my Mac, reformatting the card, and copied everything back over. It became magically uncorrupt — whew. Thanks, Apple, for saving me from Sony.
Ico
Ah well. I’m sure that so long as Sony continues to churn out games as good as Ico, I’ll continue to subject myself to their shoddy, overpriced workmanship. Of course, the fact is that Sony hasn’t churned out anything as memorable as Ico this gen, which only fuels my apathy. But I’ll wait just a little longer. Last Guardian surely can’t be too far away, right?
The links borked :(
Link is broken; for anyone else looking at the comment the article’s location within the wiki is of course /Games/33-Ico.
Meanwhile, knock on wood, I’ve had good luck with Sony’s consoles, with each one bought near launch and lasting at least until a bit into the following generation. I haven’t taken a gamble on any of their portables, though. Nintendo portables can be kicked down the stairs and keep working (certain model’s L-buttons notwithstanding) so I’m happy sticking with my DS.
Yeah, Sony shit breaks. Even the link to an article about a Sony game doesn’t work!
All joking aside, I’ve had mixed experiences with Sony hardware. My PS2 actually outlasted my Xbox 1 and Gamecube, though my experience seems to be some sort of fluke. My GCN eventually stopped reading discs (though Nintendo did fix it, free of charge, several years after the warranty expired,) and the disc tray on my Xbox stopped ejecting. Strangely enough though, my PS2 keeps chugging along.
On the flip side of course, are the stacks of broken PS1’s I went through a couple years ago. Those things were about as sturdy as wet tissue.
Perhaps a certain Atlus employee can send you a save file?
Memory Stick corruption is common on the PSP – I’ve lost two over the years, although both were SanDisk brand. Also, counterfeit Sony MS are a huge problem – I’ve even seen them at brick-and-mortar stores. Check out this guide and see if yours is legit:
http://reviews.ebay.com/FAKE-Sony-Memory-Stick-Pro-Duo-MagicGate-Cards-Exposed_W0QQugidZ10000000001236041
Sorry about the stick man, that’s a bad break.
Doesn’t make me want to start using my PSP again anytime soon.
Hah, my PS3 stopped working just last week!
…and furthermore, I hear Ico, sadly, looks like crap when upscaled. I’d shell out good money for an HD version of it.
I guess I’m an anomaly, but I’ve never had a Sony ANYTHING go bad or break on me.
The only two systems I’ve ever had crap out on me were my first PS2 (no surprise there) and an NES I bought from a neighbor that would crash to the blue-blink randomly and without warning. Worse still, it would (for lack of a better term) poison the carts I played on it to do the same on any other NES deck. I’ve never had a reasonable explanation for that.
I’m pretty sure it’s a legit memory stick since it came directly from Sony PR.
Small comfort, I know, but it’s a good idea to back up your Wii/DSi SD Cards and PS Memory Sticks to your computer hard drive. The best part about the PSP save format is that you can just copy the save files to-and-fro as you please, provided you have a card reader or a Mini-USB to plug the PSP itself to your computer. I’ve shared some neat FFT:WotL and Castlevania saves over the internet that way.
Ironically, the only system I’ve ever had completely die on me was a GameCube; I’m given to understand that’s rather an anomaly.
Worked out for the best though, since I purchased a new one that had Metroid Prime as a pack-in. I’d previously dismissed the game as simply an FPS, and I’d never played a Metroid game before, so, yeah…
Hurm. I actually had a PS1 continue to function despite it falling and splitting the spindle part upon which the cd spun. I just held it together when I put a new game in (and prayed). Also, I still have a 1st generation PS2 that continues to work fine, though the action on the disc tray is not as smooth as it used to be.
I’ve had pretty good luck with my Sony consoles, I suppose. My PS1 worked perfectly the entire time I had it, and my original PS2 still works despite somewhat regular use. (Its life had to be extended by surgery, though, but that was as simple as opening it up to clean the lens.) Then again, I’ve never bought a Sony product apart from those two consoles, and pretty much everyone else I know has had their PS1/PS2 crap out on them after a couple of years.
Yeah, my PS1 had a different problem altogether: It stopped reading the CONTROLLERS. It read discs just fine; it just couldn’t recognize that there was a controller in either slot. One of my friends had the same problem with his PS1. Luckily, I had a PS2 by this time, so it wasn’t a huge loss. My 1st gen PS2 still works fine; it just grumbles heavily each time I open and close the disc tray, so I try to limit its use.
I try to back up my memory stick every week, just in case something happens.
I’ve never played Ico, but I’ve desperately wanted to play it since I first heard of it. I’ve seen videos both of it and of Out of this World and they do seem like games with a similar concept.
They also remind me, to a certain extent, of the first two Oddworld games, Abe’s Oddyssee and Abe’s Exoddus, both of which don’t get as much recognition as they should.
Fun Fact: Ico would not boot on my “launch” PS2 anymore, so I had to open it up and fiddle with the laser (and boot the game with the system on its side) before I could refresh my memory and write the article.
My first-gen PS2 only plays PS1 games if it’s in the vertical position. It plays DVDs (including PS2 games) in either position…
This isn’t really related to this post, but I’m not sure where else to put it…
I’ve been trying to register for a forum account here, but I seem to get stuck at a step where someone has to manually add me to the forum:
“Your account has been activated but you are currently in the moderation queue to be added to the forum.”
…since Aug 24. I tried emailing the webmaster at this address, but the mail bounced back.
Is there any chance I could get that forum account activated? It would be nice to be able to actually post in the forums! :)
I used to have to put my Playstation upside down at a 30% angle for it to read discs and not skip/freeze on full motion videos and loading. :)