The honest-to-god reason I don't like Sony.

[diskoboy]

Most of you who have been around these forums long enough know I'm really not a huge fan of Sony. And I know the word 'fanboy' gets thrown out there alot when someone perfers one console over another. And I'm in NO WAY trying to start a flame war - to each his own. I love video games, period - no matter who makes them. If you like Sony, that's fine... I just don't. So thus begins the long story:

I really don't have a problem with Sony's consoles, or the company themselves. Even their high-and-mighty attiutde isn't the reason.

Sony used to be a great electronics company. Especially back in the 80's. But as the Japanese began to take over the entire electronics industry in the early 90's, it seems quality control went out the window. It all began in 1990 - long before the PS1 was even a blip on the radar. I bought my first portable CD player, the sony D-350 discman. This was a beautiful machine, and could hold it's own against even most high end standalone players, at the time (Not to mention it was $350, new). I got one for my birthday, in November 1990. Two days after I took it out of the box, the problems began. if you so much as touched the unit, it skipped, then it would just stop playing all together. So I returned it for a new one - same model. This one lasted about 2 weeks before the same problems started happening again. I returned it again. The next one started doing it immediately. So I returned it, and told myself this one was the final straw (not with Sony, but with this player...) Three weeks into it, it started again. This time, it would skip on it's own - you didn't even have to touch it. When I returned it that time - the guy at the store told me they discontinued this model because Sony was getting alot of complaints about the laser malfunctioning. So I just ask for a refund - I had had enough by then.

A few years go buy, I actually buy a Playstation. 6 months after I buy it, it craps out, and the store wouldn't give me a refund or exchange it, and Sony tried to charge me for the repair it needed. So I said 'no dice' and threw it in the garbage (I Still have a few of my games, though - including my Longbox version of RE1). $299 down the toilet.

Another few years, Sony develops the Mavica digital camera - the first digital camera I ever bought. Which was stupid, because it was outdated before I even opened the box. They already had 1.2 megapixel cameras on the market, the highest rez my mavica got was something like 800x600. And the pictures looked grainy and nasty. I was infuriated - especially since the Mavica was about $150 more than any other camera on the market, at the time.

ever since then, I have never bought a Sony product since (well I have a boxed PSone but I bought it for collector purposes. Down the road, a boxed Playstation will probably fetch a hefty chunk of change). Now I'm sure that Sony has improved their quality since then, but I was already so jaded, I just couldn't bring myself to buy anything else Sony.

Sorry about the rant - please return to your normal routine ;)

[Nate Nanjo]

I'm not much of a Sony fan, but for the last 10 years the PS and PS2 have given me more playtime than any other system. Although RPG's have a lot to do with it and my obsession with Persona series.

Although I never owned any major appliance from Sony (might had a walkman or something, but don't remember) I have gone through 3 Playstation when it first release, luckily I was able to exchange them out for a new one. I also went through 3 PS2's, however, I had to buy my 2nd and 3rd (3rd was for the Slim).

[Wolfrider31]

This always surprises me. I have a friend who had the dreaded disk-read error for the PS2 and had a faulty 3rd party controller blow out the ports on his PSone. Another friend who had his PS2 crap out on him. Etc, etc.

But, I swear to god, I've never once had an issue with Sony hardware. Actually to be honest in my entire life I've only had 3 hardware issues.

1) A VCR when I was little that was 20 years old and the heads finally crapped out.
2) A 30 dollar DVD player that was just cheaply made
3) A laptop harddrive that was DOA

Hardware just doesn't break on me, and I sometimes wonder if other people are just being rough with theirs (not that I'm accusing you of that).

Actually, I should have had one Sony hardware issue but didn't. After coming back to my apartment from Summer break I went downstairs to flip the breaker and turn the power on. I forgot that my PS2 was plugged into the wall (directly into the wall socket) and it's an old house with power issues. Needless to say I got an unlucky power surge (blew out two lightbulbs) that my PS2 felt the brunt of.

The only thing that was damaged was one controller and an infa-red doohickey for the remote. My memory cards even made it out fine.

Weird. :P

[Fuzzball24]

I just had problems with there PS2s (damn DRE's....). Though I have a Walkman from them, that's been dropped, beaten, and kicked, and still plays like from day one.

[roushimsx]

Mavica FD-7? That camera was a pile of shit. I used to use the hell out of it because it was all I had, but it was still garbage. Had problems with the PS1 skipping as well (so I'd always have to crack it open and tweak the laser bias screw or whatever every now and then) and once I had the power supply die out (easy fix!). Been pretty lucky with the PS2 and PS3, but honestly, even if they died I'd still buy a replacement or pay to get them fixed (respectively).

It's not that I love Sony or anything, I just love games and the Sony platforms had the most good games in the previous generations. This generation is proving to be pretty fucking interesting with how badly Sony has been continually dropping the ball, though. Can't wait to see how things play out.

[neogamer]

Most of you who have been around these forums long enough know I'm really not a huge fan of Sony. And I know the word 'fanboy' gets thrown out there alot when someone perfers one console over another. And I'm in NO WAY trying to start a flame war - to each his own. I love video games, period - no matter who makes them. If you like Sony, that's fine... I just don't. So thus begins the long story:

I really don't have a problem with Sony's consoles, or the company themselves. Even their high-and-mighty attiutde isn't the reason.

Sony used to be a great electronics company. Especially back in the 80's. But as the Japanese began to take over the entire electronics industry in the early 90's, it seems quality control went out the window. It all began in 1990 - long before the PS1 was even a blip on the radar. I bought my first portable CD player, the sony D-350 discman. This was a beautiful machine, and could hold it's own against even most high end standalone players, at the time (Not to mention it was $350, new). I got one for my birthday, in November 1990. Two days after I took it out of the box, the problems began. if you so much as touched the unit, it skipped, then it would just stop playing all together. So I returned it for a new one - same model. This one lasted about 2 weeks before the same problems started happening again. I returned it again. The next one started doing it immediately. So I returned it, and told myself this one was the final straw (not with Sony, but with this player...) Three weeks into it, it started again. This time, it would skip on it's own - you didn't even have to touch it. When I returned it that time - the guy at the store told me they discontinued this model because Sony was getting alot of complaints about the laser malfunctioning. So I just ask for a refund - I had had enough by then.

A few years go buy, I actually buy a Playstation. 6 months after I buy it, it craps out, and the store wouldn't give me a refund or exchange it, and Sony tried to charge me for the repair it needed. So I said 'no dice' and threw it in the garbage (I Still have a few of my games, though - including my Longbox version of RE1). $299 down the toilet.

Another few years, Sony develops the Mavica digital camera - the first digital camera I ever bought. Which was stupid, because it was outdated before I even opened the box. They already had 1.2 megapixel cameras on the market, the highest rez my mavica got was something like 800x600. And the pictures looked grainy and nasty. I was infuriated - especially since the Mavica was about $150 more than any other camera on the market, at the time.

ever since then, I have never bought a Sony product since (well I have a boxed PSone but I bought it for collector purposes. Down the road, a boxed Playstation will probably fetch a hefty chunk of change). Now I'm sure that Sony has improved their quality since then, but I was already so jaded, I just couldn't bring myself to buy anything else Sony.

Sorry about the rant - please return to your normal routine ;)

I actually feel for you after reading this. However, after reading some of your other posts, I must ask, what do you have against other Japanese companies? You brought up how the Japanese "screwed up" the American auto industry as well. What is your reasoning on this comment?

Most American cars are made in foreign countries and most Japanese cars are made here! The only difference is the profits, as the profits of Japanese companies go to Japan, obviously, but we now have a global economy, so it doesn't matter (to a lesser extent anyway).

Just a question. You don't have to answer, but I had to ask!

[TurboGenesis]

I am not a huge fan of Sony and I don't like their arrogance nor am I like how they are try to shove proprietary formats on consumer (Betamax, Minidisc, Blue Ray).

But for video games, the Sony PlayStation and the Sony PlayStation 2 is have the largest variety and selection of games that I play. From RPG to shoot them ups, the PlayStation family of gaming hardware (sans PS3) is offer games that is suit my enjoyment.

In other thing, I am not like Microsoft video games hardware. They are make junk console. My Xbox is barley alive (Thompson drive) and the Xbox 360 is going to die before long (its a launch day purchase-built on October 31, 2005) - the 360 runs good now but I am sure it is end like the rest.

[diskoboy]

I actually feel for you after reading this. However, after reading some of your other posts, I must ask, what do you have against other Japanese companies? You brought up how the Japanese "screwed up" the American auto industry as well. What is your reasoning on this comment?!

Well they didn't screw it up, by no means. I own a Honda, and love it! A Toyota before that. We did that all by ourselves by making shoddy products.

The Japanese stole the industry out from under us - not that there's anything wrong with that, it's a buisness thing, it happens. I guess I got upset becuae the auto industry helped make us an economy to be reckoned with, and virtually built this country. And when they took over, as cheesy as this sounds, a little piece of America died with it.

Call it "just trying to be patriotic"....

[Slate]

You confuse me. You say that you don't have a problem with sony but then you go on to say the hardware failures you experienced? I don't understand.

[Xizer]

Well, Sony does admittedly have a tendency to have anti-customer policies. Their constant development of new DRM technologies which are usually broken within hours is rather mind boggling. Their attempts at thwarting hackers on the PSP is downright laughable.

They do produce some incredible pieces of tech, though. The PS2 was an excellent system - yeah, it had reliability problems at the start, but they fixed that. I think Sony kind of lucked out with the PS2, and just scooped up all the PS1 developers for a second round of fun.

The PS3 is disappointing, but on the bright side, it's pretty reliable and has some incredible technology.

Sony's consoles have always had great technology - the original PlayStation's audio hardware was downright impressive. I think they are getting their act together in the quality control department. They learned their mistake a few years ago. After they redesigned the PS2, all hardware they have produced since is much more reliable. It is Microsoft's hardware we have to be concerned about now.

In conclusion, Sony's gaming division is pretty good. I don't know about the rest of the company - they are one of the "big four" members of the RIAA, for example.

[Hep038]

Ohhh wow, just what this message board needs another I hate Sony thread. Cant wait for the "EA sucks" and "causal gamers have ruined video games!" to follow closely behind.

[DigitalSpace]

EA SUCKS! CASUAL GAMERS HAVE RUINED VIDEO GAMES!

(Couldn't resist.)

[Gentlegamer]

Years ago when I worked in retail in the mid 90s, a salesman gave me his view on Sony. His opinion was that Sony used to be very high quality. Much of Sony's sales were based on this past reputation that was no longer true. Sony's products cost more than the competition because of the brand name and the reputation it had built in years past, but other "no name" electronics were often higher quality and cheaper than those of Sony. Essentially, Sony was coasting on its reputation.

[Sothy]

I loved Sony in the ps1 era. Way more bang for your buck vs n64 and Saturn imo. things like Resident Evil and Twisted metal and return fire that just made a huge impact and seemed so new and like "dude games are getting cool".

PS2 era.... pretty good. I wound up digging my xbox more but there was still a good reason to have ps2. I mean hey I could play the game later on Xbox with marginal improvement but ps2 usually got the first port.

Now... 360 is my baby. I look at the ps3 stuff at gamestores and just think..dAmn what happened.

I kinda want a psp if I can get one cheap. I may pick up a wii if I get a wild hair in my ass. But honestly PS3 reminds me so much of 3DO when it was on the market for some reason. Nearly no interest from me.

Although that HOME thing or whatever looks interesting, but not enought to blow that kinda cash. I would also like to play Resistance some time.
So ok 2 ps3 related things that pique my interest. 5 or so for wii. And "nonstop OMG i wanna get that!" stuff for 360. No brainer for me.

[Family Computer]

Sony is a horrible electronics company at this point. I love their game systems, but the only thing they do right with their other products is design—and even that is hit and miss compared to companies like Apple & Nintendo. If they didn't have the best selection of games (PS1, PS2, PS3 will soon follow), I wouldn't purchase them.

I would never choose to buy a sony product besides game consoles, everything else is better elsewhere. Headphones, MP3 players, digital cameras, camcorders, Televisions, computers, you name it—there is a better product by a different company, usually for less. The average consumer still puts the Sony brand-name on a pedestal, but why I am not really sure. Again, Sony can make some really nice designs, but you almost always pay more for less quality.

Let's not even get into horribly designed, proprietary software on their computers/MP3 players.

Sony loves predetermined obsolescence as well.

[alxbly]

In 1995 I got a job working full-time and earning my first wage. One of the things that I had always desired was a minidisc player... I loved music on the move and this seemed like the ultimate portable system at the time. With my first wage I went to a Sony Store and got a special deal on both a portable player and home minidisc recorder. The portable was tiny and was just amazing (you could skip tracks and it would fit in your pocket!) and the options on the full sized recorder were mind blowing. I was seriously impressed... for about four months. After that, the recordings became unlistenable and every song would jitter and skip. Back the recorder went to the store.

Luckily I had taken out an extended warranty on the system because sending it back would be a regular occurance. For the next three years it was away for repair for at least two months in every year. The problem was that the laser kept on misaligning and couldn't record properly. I got so fed up with Sony (who refused to replace the unit, they just kept on taking it away for repair) that I wouldn't consider a Playstation at all. I did end up buying a slim PS2 in 2005 and that console is still going strong today. However, the whole minidisc experience really soured me to Sony and was the main reason I wasn't willing to shell out for a Playstation. I missed out on a lot of great games at the time... but I'm catching up now. :)

[neogamer]

Well they didn't screw it up, by no means. I own a Honda, and love it! A Toyota before that. We did that all by ourselves by making shoddy products.

The Japanese stole the industry out from under us - not that there's anything wrong with that, it's a buisness thing, it happens. I guess I got upset becuae the auto industry helped make us an economy to be reckoned with, and virtually built this country. And when they took over, as cheesy as this sounds, a little piece of America died with it.

Call it "just trying to be patriotic"....

You are incorrect! It was the steel industry that was the backbone of this country!

[Griking]

Ohhh wow, just what this message board needs another I hate Sony thread. Cant wait for the "EA sucks" and "causal gamers have ruined video games!" to follow closely behind.

And you know that you'll read those threads when they come too.

[heybtbm]

I still think any gamer that skipped the PS1 or PS2 missed out on the best of what gaming had to offer for the past 12 years. The Saturn, N64, Dreamcast, and Gamecube didn't even come close to the quality of Sony's 2 machines. As a RPG fan, a huge majority of my gaming time has been spent on one of those two systems during the past 12 years.

Right now though, the 360 is undisputed King of Consoles. Wii is starting to get interesting, and my PS3 is essentially a very expensive PS2. I still think RPG fans will have to buy a PS3 at some point. These latest 360 JRPG's are still the exception in my mind, not the rule.

[Wolfrider31]

You are incorrect! It was the steel industry that was the backbone of this country!

I thought it was the little plastic American flags. :P

[neogamer]

I thought it was the little plastic American flags. :P

This is a joke right???

I sometimes honestly never know!

[neogamer]

I thought it was the little plastic American flags. :P

This is a joke right?

I sometinmes honestly, don't know.

[alxbly]

I still think any gamer that skipped the PS1 or PS2 missed out on the best of what gaming had to offer for the past 12 years. The Saturn, N64, Dreamcast, and Gamecube didn't even come close to the quality of Sony's 2 machines.

Whilst the quality of the games library isn't in question, the quality of the consoles could be (PS2's quality... let's not go there). Luckily (or unluckily) for me, although I didn't own a Playstation I had plenty of friends who did, so I got to sample most of the best games for the system. I have fond memories of them too, and spent many a night playing Ridge Racer, Wipeout, Metal Gear Solid, Resident Evil, FFVII, etc.

I also picked up a PS2 just in time to sample some of the best games the system has to offer; God of War, Ico, Ratchet and Clank and my personal favorite; Shadow of the Colossus. And having an Xbox meant that there were lots of great multiplatform games that I didn't need to miss out on; the GTA and Burnout series, for instance.

[Tommy]

I think alot of your problem stem from not reading any product reviews. Before I buy anything I always read, read, read, about what I am investing in. I would suggest doing some research before you go throwing anymore money out the window.

[BHvrd]

I've also been in the same boat as you in the past.

I had a Sony VCR that crapped out as soon as warranty expired. I went through 2 PS1's that overheated. My first ps2 had blue disc read errors.

I'm batting about 75% on Sony products that have let me down over the years in terms of "reliability", but I bought a ps3 and I really think they got it right this time. The thing is designed really really well.

So yeah I can understand your view towards Sony products cause they haven't been the most reliable over the years for me either honestly.

Oh btw, Sothy is a 360 fanboi, zomg!

[smokehouse]

Let me start with this:

As some here may know, I install home theaters. In the past I worked for a Sony dealership selling flagship Sony items.

You know, their XBR sets and ES line home theater electronics.

With that said, I have never in my life seen such a hot and cold company. Many of their products are amazing (their CRT sets were mind blowing after calibration, their ES DVD players were also outstanding)….but their quality was pure shit. From blown power supplies on TV’s to sets (and players, and receivers) where poor assembly caused a “ping-pong” effect of bashing parts inside the item during shipping.

Yes, I’ve seen sets go “poof” the second you plug them in, yes, I’ve seen 3 $5000 XBR LCD sets actually have the internal projectors come loose inside the cabinet and bounce around in the set. I’ve seen their top of the line front projectors bad out of the box. And it wasn't like we sold 10,000 sets a year, the failure rate was just very high on almost all Sony stuff.

And after all of this you’d think they’d take care of their seller…..

Nope.

As a matter of fact, they treat their dealers worse that their customers. I once had a $2800 16:9 XBR CRT set bad out of the box (opened to put in the store on display), sent in for repair and it took so long that by the time we got it back, the new replacement model was out and $500 cheaper. Sony’s response….”Sorry, discount the set.” His profit on the set was $300 BTW (no I’m not kidding the markup on a TV set is small for small local business owners, a local big name store would actually put their sets on sale for LESS than our dealer cost).

Long story short, Interior Sound Design is now out of business and I have moved on.


On a side note, I also used to work for a Toshiba dealer and….no such problems. They were FAR better to work with. Unlike Sony, they would actually lower our cost on sets so we could stay competitive with the large chain stores, something Sony would not do. Many times our dealer cost was far higher than other "bulk" sellers received.

[bangtango]

Never had a major problem with Playstation or Playstation 2 hardware. I've had nearly twenty Playstation 1's pass through my hands over the past several years and most of the ones that were running rough weren't handled with care by their previous owners. Of course I have a rule of not running any console for more than two hours in a row. If I have designs of pulling an all-day or all-night marathon gaming session, I'll usually mix it up with at least two or three different consoles so I am not putting too much wear on a single one.

[Push Upstairs]

My Sony DVD player is a tank. Big, black, and never met a DVD it couldn't play. Can't play CD-R's, but that is a minor issue.

It will be 8 years of movie watching enjoyment when December rolls around. :lovin:

[DigitalSpace]

I have a 30001 model PS2 that's still working great to this day. The only problems I've ever had with it was when I was storing it vertically.

I've owned a few different Walkmans over the years. The older ones are great. The current one I own (I got it at a Goodwill) was manufactured in 2001. I had another one from around that time that lasted me a long time before the headphone jack finally went out. The newer models suck though - I had two where the buttons just stopped working out of the blue.

There's no way in hell I'd buy any of their higher end products though (especially after reading smokehouse's post).

Anyways, I agree that Sony used to be a good company until the day someone woke up retarded and decided that quality didn't matter anymore as long as the name recognition was still there. Then it got to the point where the Walkman and PlayStation were the only things they had going for them. Now the Walkman's pretty much dead and if Sony doesn't turn things around before it's too late, the PlayStation could be too.

[Push Upstairs]

I don't own a Sony portable CD player but I do own a Philips/Magavox one.

Also bought in '99 and still going strong. Nice Bass too.

[DigitalSpace]

I don't own a Sony portable CD player but I do own a Philips/Magavox one.

Also bought in '99 and still going strong. Nice Bass too.

I own a Philips 3 CD changer stereo from 2000. Still works great.

[James8BitStar]

I had problems with Sony in the past... had to buy three PS1s just due to a controller. Then my PS2 got damaged, again by a controller... and I was like, "What kind of cruddy ghetto consoles are these?"

I have boycotted Sony since.

[neogamer]

I own a Philips 3 CD changer stereo from 2000. Still works great.


I own a Philips CD-I system! How is that for ya....LOL

But, no I don't hate Sony at all, if anything, I am more against Microsoft, but as stated earlier in another thread, I am hoping that:

1. Their stock price does something other than just sit there!

2. Halo 3 allows me to enjoy the Xbox 360 again!

Heck, Its pretty sad when you play Resistance Fall of Man ten times longer than Gears of War, but Gears of War gets rated higher by every darn video game reviewer! Must be me, I guess!

[Moo Cow]

I thought it was the little plastic American flags. :P

Those are made in China, sadly.

[Push Upstairs]

But Honda cars are built in America (only because its cheaper).

[jajaja]

Sounds like you've been unlucky, discoboy. We have a few Sony products ourself and i cant recall having problem with any of them. The oldest Sony device we have must be a LP vinyl player from the 70s. It still works great today (used it some weeks ago). I also have a PSX and PS2, i never had any problems with those either.

I can understand that you stay away from Sony products, but as you say yourself, you have been labeled as a fanboy, what have you said then? Is it anything about PS2 or PS3? If so, do you have any experience with any of those?

[TheDomesticInstitution]

Sony isn't really any worse than any other electronics company... I worked at circuit city for several years, and I saw every make of televisions with problems. I saw several sony TV's dead out of the box, but yet it's understandable. I owned a playstation one for years, but didn't play it as much as my nintendo- I sold it a few months ago in good working condition. I have two Sony tube TV's, and as far a picture goes- It's really hard to beat them. The first TV set I bought with my own money was a sony flat-screen in 2000. It was an open box from a circuit city and it's still going strong (was probably a refurbished for all I know). My current set is a 30 inch widescreen tube and the picture is fantastic. Sony has had it's share of failures over the years, and some of their products are shit (home theater speakers are horrible). But hey, I'll continue to pick and choose. Just because shit happens, you can't hate a company entirely and everything it produces. I love my xbox, but I'm already on my second. And as far as next gen game consoles go... The failure rate of the 360 is a travesty, and I won't buy one until they fix their problem. The PS3 is way overpriced... and the Wii should have a damn hard drive. It's all about maintaining a love/hate relationship with companies... and arming yourself with information as a consumer.

[kainemaxwell]

Only issue I ever had with any Playstation system was the infamous disc read error on the 1st PS2s. Other then that I never had any problems with my PS1 or slim PS2 to this date.

[neogamer]

But Honda cars are built in America (only because its cheaper).

This is not true! Most Honda cars are ASSEMBLED in the US because it is cheaper than shipping all the parts to Japan, assemble the actual car, then ship the whole car back to the US and sell it to the end consumer!

[Barbarianoutkast85]

The only Sony products I have owned are as follows; Sony Playstation, Sony Playstation 2, Sony Playstation 3. and a Sony television that was given to me as a Christmas gift.
I had to buy three PS1s in its life time, because it would stop reading games right, or would freeze up. So I would turn the system sideways and sometimes it would start working again.
I had bought two PS2s because I started geting DRE's all the time on my original PS2. Which I bought on launch date and lasted juuuuuust long enough to void the warranty
When I bought my Playstation 3 from EB. I made sure to buy the store warranty so if it craps out I can get a new one.
The sony tv I got for Christmas when I was nine or ten lasted until I graduated college. So that TV lasted slightly over a decade. So I can see why you arent a fan of Sony