How do I handle this situation?

[Frank Gunn]

Put yourself in this position: Your PS2 suddenly starts to whir like a buzzsaw, and turns your brand-new Smackdown game into a groove-laden coaster.

What do you do?

[Reaver]

Originally Posted by Frank Gunn

Put yourself in this position: Your PS2 suddenly starts to whir like a buzzsaw, and turns your brand-new Smackdown game into a groove-laden coaster.

What do you do?

Chuck the PS2 and get an Xbox.



LOL. Seriously, you really only have two options. One is to have it repaired, and the other is to get a new one. I would imagine that the money it would cost to ship it off and have it fixed wouldn't be that much less than getting a new one, plus factor in the time you two would be apart, and I think just getting a new one is the better choice.

[Frank Gunn]

*laughs* I already have an XBox, but thanks for the tip.

I figured I'd bite the bullet on a new Playstation, but does anyone know what I should do with the old one? And what I should do with a freshly scratched game, purchased just two days ago? I don't know if Gamestop is game for a return...

[lopper]

I think that EB will give you fifty bucks in store credit if you trade in a broken PS2. I heard them tell that to some guy on the phone when I was in there the other week. It may be different where you live, though.

[Ruined]

Originally Posted by Frank Gunn

Put yourself in this position: Your PS2 suddenly starts to whir like a buzzsaw, and turns your brand-new Smackdown game into a groove-laden coaster.

What do you do?

STEP 1: Return game to store and say it was loose in the case and heavily scratched. Break off a piece of the case hub if necessary.

STEP 2: Sell PS2 on eBay and explain that it does not work properly and you are selling it as is with no returns.

STEP 3: Trade in/sell leftover PS2 games for XBOX versions

[Sycowulf]

Actually EB will give you 100$ trade in credit for a new PS2... I recently did that, and get this after not two months my ps2 is making whirring noises when playing Smackdown... Thanks for the heads up that bitch is going back tomorrow before my disc gets destoryed...

My suggestion is take it to eb, get a used one, with the extended service agreement... should only run you 50-70$...

And I agree with everyone else, the xbox is a much better system overall, and seems to be more reliable too... If its your only gaming system an xbox would be a good choice for a change.

[IKEA_boy]

Originally Posted by Sycowulf

...and seems to be more reliable too...

I've had my Gamecube since a month after launch, my Xbox for 1 1/2 years and my PS2 for a year and have yet to have a single problem with any of them. (Knock on wood.) My Xbox sometimes won't read discs but I think that's more of a software issue than anything else. (If I'm watching the music "visualizations" when I try to load a disc, nothing happens and I have to reboot. Every now and then it'll give me a "this is a DVD, buy our playback kit" message with games but I just assumed it's a dusty disc. )

[Frank Gunn]

Yeah, I have all three systems, but the PS2 is the only one I've ever had any problems with, and the only one that I've regularly heard complaints about. It really seems a lot less durable than the other systems.

[DVDriven]

Originally Posted by Frank Gunn

Yeah, I have all three systems, but the PS2 is the only one I've ever had any problems with, and the only one that I've regularly heard complaints about. It really seems a lot less durable than the other systems.

I bought my PS2 at launch and I haven't encountered any problems thus far (knock on wood). Given that the PS2 does have a larger installed user base, when hardware or software issues do arise, it appears that the problems are more pervasive, when in fact they may be comparable percentage-wise to other platforms. The Xbox isn't without its share of hiccups. Microsoft has used three different manufacturers to supply their DVD-ROM drives; the first-generation models were supplied by Thomson, IIRC, and have proven to be the most problematic (Phillips and Samsung drives are better). As with any piece of hardware, YMMV.

With that rant out of the way, I would consider taking the PS2 to either EB or Gamestop for credit towards the purchase of a new unit. I have no experience with SONY's service centre, so I can't relay any stories, good or bad, regarding the quality of their work. For peace-of-mind, I would consider a comprehensive extended warranty in the event that your replacement unit presents a problem in the future.

Speaking for myself, I could not live without a PS2. I have made a considerable investment in both software and accessories; if my existing unit should falter or fail, I would obtain a replacement ASAP, but that's me.

[incubus0]

CONSOLE
There's a good article at TechTV.com about how to fix a Disc Read error on PS2s.

TechTV.com/XPlay

I'm not sure if it will fix the wurring thing you got going on, but you may notice something loose while in there.

GAME
Just return or exchange it for a new one.

[BrainofJ]

I've heard rumors of the PS2 dropping to $99 around Thanksgiving so you might want to hold off for a month to see if it drops in price. That or get a used one.



That tech TV thing might be worth a try.

[SilentBob]

Originally Posted by Frank Gunn

Put yourself in this position: Your PS2 suddenly starts to whir like a buzzsaw, and turns your brand-new Smackdown game into a groove-laden coaster.

What do you do?

Take it back.

2nd day after launch the exact same thing happened to my copy of TimeSplitters. I just took my game back and asked for an exchange. They asked to see if they could repair the game and all had a good laugh when they flipped it over to see the discs ingraved with a white ring around the disc. No problems after that with my system or the replacement disc.

But they said it was probably in improper layering of the disc that caused it too become a that expensive coaster. But they were full of jackasses (now under new and smart management) so i don't think they know anything

[Frank Gunn]

Since I know how much you all love happy endings, I just wanted to let everybody know that Sony has agreed to repair my system free of charge (even though I bought it in September, 2001), that GameStop exchanged my disc without incident (though the guy behind the counter had a good laugh when I tried to convince him that the circular grooves must have occurred during shipping ), and that my brother is going to let me borrow his PS2 until I get mine back.

Big thanks to everybody here for their advice, and especially to IKEA Boy, who suggested that I call Sony in the first place, which I wouldn't have thought to do.

[elwood731]

Originally Posted by shilo101

Sony is not exactly known for the greatest build quality on their consoles, but then again who is? I think I still have a launch day Playstation propped upside down somewhere.

I have heard this logic before, and frankly, it simply does not hold up. What would Sony's motivation be? To sell multiple systems? Why? Not to make money. Most consoles lost money for each sold. The PS2 when first released was losing money for Sony each time it sold. Sony makes its money off the games. Even now, I doubt Sony is making a huge profit--if any. I know MS is still losing money on each XBOX sold. So it just doesn't make sense unless the reason was to sell multiple systems so that they can brag about more systems being sold, but even that seems a bit hard to swallow as there would be easier ways of achieving that.

[Frank Gunn]

Hey, considering that Sony is willing to repair my years-old PS2 for free, I can't complain. They're obviously willing to work with the customer over manufacturing defects. Seems to me most companies would say, "Oh, your warranty's expired? Then our advice is to fuck on off."

Sony's definitely in my cool book for awhile.

[Sycowulf]

They usually do charge to have it fixed, they tried to pull that shit when my old one stopped reading cds... I remember they were asking 150$ to fix it, which was goddamn rediculous since the system ran 199$ at the time.

[elwood731]

Originally Posted by shilo101

While I am likely to agree with you for the most part, there is a break even point on hardware. After a few years, and x number of units built and sold, the majors reach a point where the hardware is no longer a losing game. Why do you think the original Playstation wnet under so many internal hardward revisions during its life? Cost saving, and eventually profit increasing.

To use your example, yes MIcrosoft is still losing money on each xbox sold, but they (1) do not have near the market saturation that the PS2 does and (2) their machine is much more complex, and uses slightly higher end parts than the PS2.

Lets say Sony sends Frank a new unit for his damaged one. What are they going to do with his damaged unit? Throw it away? No. Give it to the poor kid at the end of the block who still has a SNES? Nope. They a re going to replace the $5 part that is bad, and resell the machine as refurbished.

On the flipside, theres also always the tax benefit of a 'money losing' venture.

At any rate, Im not saying its true that theyve intentionally used inferior or cheap parts, I'm just saying that there are plenty of solid reasons as to why they could have.

Still, all you said gives them no logical reason to want their systems to fail. Even if they have reached a "break even" point, they are still doing just that--breaking even. As I said, even if they are making a profit at this point, it is not one that is financially worthwhile, and the implication was they have been making the PS2 this way since launch, when they WOULD have been losing money. As for the XBOX being of greater quality parts and more "complex," I am not sure how much creedence I would give that. More complex? A lot of people would claim the PS2 is a more complex system inside chip wise, unless you mean because of the hard drive? ANyway, not a big point.

As for them reselling his refurbished machiene, this is still losing them money, so why do it? They give him a new $180 system and resell his for $125 or so? They're still losing money. Until you can show me a way Sony could really be making money, and not something like $1.50 per system, then I say this is simply illogical and makes no sense for Sony to do. They might have used cheap construction or parts to make the system cheaper to save money, but not because they "want" to force you to buy another.

[elwood731]

I think you're still missing the point, though. You claim they have been making systems this way since the first PS2 rolled off the line. Unless they timed it for three years later to breakdown, then they were breaking down and losing them money until this point. Why? That's just stupid business.

As for them now making a profit on each system, who is to say they even are? I know they have redesigned the insides of the system at least once to make it cheaper, but it might simply be cheaper than $300 at this point, not down to $180. Even if it is down to $180, it seems likely Sony is about to drop their price to $150 or even $99, at which point they would again be losing money on each system sold.

I am not saying they didn't make them cheap to save money, but making them break so you have to buy another just doesn't make sense from a business standpoint. You still haven't explained why they made them this way from the start when it would lost them even MORE money than they were already losing? Even fi they switched over to systems that would break now with the latest redeisgn, they still know they will be lowering prices soon, so they would be shooting themselves in the foot again. It just doesn't hold up from a business standpoint. It's just more of a conspiracy theory than anything.

[elwood731]

I have no idea where you got any of your numbers. Some sources? Some of those sound pretty far out there to me, as you basically seem to imply that at launch the PS2 only cost $180 to build? That would mean at launch it was cheaper to build, with a DVD drive, than the GameCube which launched a year later without a DVD drive? I don't follow this logic. Did you get these numbers off some website or actually from Sony's financial reports?

As for me never believing you, I will once you provide some real evidence rather than speculation. As noted, so far the theory doesn't make financial sense.

[Frank Gunn]

Since I know how much you all love happy endings, I just wanted to let everybody know that Sony has agreed to repair my system free of charge (even though I bought it in September, 2001), that GameStop exchanged my disc without incident (though the guy behind the counter had a good laugh when I tried to convince him that the circular grooves must have occurred during shipping ), and that my brother is going to let me borrow his PS2 until I get mine back.

Big thanks to everybody here for their advice, and especially to IKEA Boy, who suggested that I call Sony in the first place, which I wouldn't have thought to do.

[elwood731]

Originally Posted by shilo101

edit: forget it. i told you where i got my numbers rather specifically, and the ones which i figured, i told you how i got them. im spending too much time on this, and theres really no reason to for either of us to be doing so.

Actually, you were pretty vague on all your information other than saying you got it from "industry websites" without direct quotes.

And honestly, can you say what you said made any sense? The PS2 cost $180 to make at launch? Sony has been making a $120 profit on it since day one? Even when the XBOX cost over $450 to build and the GameCube $200, both a year later?

The $175 million number your quote, what exactly does it refer to? Where does it say that money comes from? Its videogame unit specifically? Does that include all software and hardware sales? Such as the PSOne? Or is it just PS2? That's why I ask for direct quotes, because otherwise you are throwing out numbers that I have no way of tying them all together to see how you got them.

I'm not trying to argue with you, but I think if you took a step back and looked at the evidence you would have to agree there hasn't been any so far, at least any hard evidence. When you use logic against this theory it doesn't hold up. I don't even know where you got the $24 profit off of four games. I assume you read somewhere that Sony gets $6 off each game sold? Does this include first party titles? By the way, even though Sony is an R&D company, I think most of the components in their computers and other products are still bought from other companies. I may be wrong, but I don't think Sony produces their own RAM, etc. in computers, so I tend to doubt they do in the PS2. Maybe someone can answer this?