It's not clear at the moment if this is one of those isolated cases of a momentary lapse of stock on Sony's part, or if this is the beginnings of a greater pattern to come, but at least one person -- a European NeoGAF poster -- is claiming to be caught in console limbo while he waits for Sony to replace his failed 60GB PS3 which was sent in for repairs.
The story has it that after a month of hearing nothing from Sony regarding the repairs, he became concerned and contacted them for an update. The response on the other end might surprise you:
"Sorry we don't have any stock of the 60GB left and we don't know when a shipment will arrive to replace your unit. Call back in two to four weeks for an update"
Surprised by that answer? So are we. Hit up the jump, and get our take on things.
We have no official confirmation from Sony at this point to either validate or discredit this claim, but it sounds feasible. Now we all know that while the PS3 may have a lower failure rate than the nearest comparable competitor, the Xbox 360, not having enough stock on hand to take care of your current customers is a big no-no.
Is this an inevitability now that the 60GB PS3 has been phased out? Just personal opinion here, but if this story is true, I'm wondering why Sony didn't go the customer service route, and at least try and scrape together a replacement for him from somewhere. We realize that times are tight (even for Sony), but doesn't anyone believe in having inventory anymore?
[Via ars technica -- Thanks Justin!]
Contest:
8:24 PM on 04.03.2008
| 
Also, what on earth happened that they couldn't fix the original owners PS3 instead of looking to replace it??
Sony dropped the fucking ball big time.
In every feature but region and HDD size, the PAL 60GB is equivalent to the NTSC 80GB.
Software emu is easier said than done. I don't think they're willing to put that much R&D into a PS2 emulator for the PS3 because everyone who has PS2 games has a PS2. Plus, it has taken the PS2 emu community years to get it to work on flagship PC hardware. Even though they have the PS2's specs and engineers who made the PS2 working on it, it will still take too much time and money for a feature that won't net them any money. Not to mention that they're barely pulling a profit on each system. I don't see what the fuss about BC is.
i agree about software emulation for download, but i just thought you should know that the 40gb has wifi, your thinking of the 20gb that doesnt
Sucks to be him, and if it's Sony's fault that it's broken, then shame on them.
@ El Guapo: Why did it fail?
Unfortunately, I don't think Sony's customer service has as much experience as Microsoft when it comes to replacing dead consoles.
Make one fucking Console, and STICK TO IT! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!.
This is the main fucking problem with making multiple SKU's and keep shitting on the people who bought first gen models. I do hope Sony finds a way to fix the 60gig model and if need to replace them, to replace them with the same model. I would hate to get a 80G when I payed for 60g version. I still play Chrono Trigger and old school PS1 games on my PS3.
Now just for this, I wont fold@home much till I hear sony has a good way of fixing this issue.
forshame sony. we expected better of you.
@Crunshii - I think Microsoft has finally come to realize the point of sticking with one console. The systems in the Arcade, Pro, and Elite are all the same, except what they're packaged with. Sony on the other hand, changes their mind more often than a six year old picking an ice cream flavor. Nothing they're doing in terms of system production, makes any sense to me.
PS: Customer service for both Sony and Microsoft, blow serious ass.
Truth is that Sony are fuckin greedy. The worry about shit like Home, which is flash and nice but not neccessary, and remove BC that they promised and us gamers wanted and needed badly (really because their true agenda, is to make us download and pay for our PS1/PS2 catalogue again). Fuck that.
Until the day they fucked up the skus and removed BC completely, I was up for buying a PS3. Now, I honestly couldn't care less, regardless of what good games are on it. I don't mind missing MGS4 etc because of it. Its a matter of principle and them not screwing us over unfairly. I'll stick with my PSP and PS2.
I'll stick with my 360 and MS, they know how to treat customers better. Sony can trump up whatever crap they like, but there's no excuse for removing BC and I'll never forgive them for that.
They should just offer him a different version with a couple of free games. Its not hard to keep people happy!!
My mates PS3 gets as hot as my xbox360 which id say is warm not hot!! But hey who cares, its only really xbox's that break becasue of heat!
what an outrage... he pays loads of money for one of those and then has to wait a month to find out that it'll take another month before they know what'll happen to him???
They should give him a new one with some games added to it, just for being so fucking patient!
Sure hope nothing happens with my PS3! The only thing that has even gone "wrong" with mine was when I rented UT3 the PS3 froze about 4 times with that game and only that game.
They really should just offer the 80 as an immediate solution or wait for repairs if they are not going to make any more hardware BC versions. But they are really going to have to bite that bullet sometime cause they are going to eventually have to piss people off that need a new one after the warranty is up(I'm sure they are shooting for doing this later as its best to piss people off after they are invested in the library and dont want to give it up).
If it were me, I'd even go as far as taking this to other gaming press out there (drag them through the mud if you, have to, as the japanese hate embarassment), and ask why Sony removed BC from PS3 and didn't forecast for these kinds of problems, now arising because of what they removed the BC. (yes, I know BC isn't his PS3s fault by the way).
Well, considering that Sony is pushing a system that is supposed to be marketed to those with HiDef setups, I would expect them to replace a unit that can upconvert my PS2 games so they don't look like ass on my HDTV with a unit that can do the same. This is all leading to Sony selling PS2 games on PSN along with PS1 games. Give it a year or two and I'm guessing they'll be selling them like MS sells XBox 1 games.
The longer this chap has no PS3 with BC, the worse it will get for Sony.