4/04/2008

RROD: a powerful and useful viral marketing tool? Not certainly for Microsoft!


The infamous “Red Rings of Death”, in time, has become an incredibly influential communication device for Microsoft & Xbox360 competitors. Without any doubt, for a long period, it was the only way to attack, more or less directly, a good product (well, at least until the XboxLive Service collapse during last Christmas).
The strength of RROD as a marketing tool resides in two basic aspect. The RROD phenomenon presents, in fact, an actual name and an actual logo, and both create a wonderful and unique marriage together!
Think about it. It is obvious. When you can call a phenomenon like this by name, you give it a character and a personality. Moreover, RROD can also be represented visually, and let me say, with a powerful and charming image!
Many videogame platforms in the history of this Market have passed trough technical issues, especially during the first years of their life (well, is common knowledge that practically all new products experiment technical issues during the firsts months after the launch… tank you early adopters!). However, RROD is an exception. Maybe it represents a unique case in the story of this industry. Just consider the buzz it has created. There are thousand of web pages portraying the infamous images of RROD, and even the notable site IGN.com has named the Xbox360 podcast (Three Red Lights) after the RROD.
Could you being able to imagine a more efficient and effectiveness way to communicate and promote a technical failure to a mainstream audience?
I bet that in the future, Microsoft engineers will think twice before insert this kind of feature within their next console!
Anyway, it is important to state that not only the competitors, Sony and Nintendo, have used the RROD for their own interests and purposes.
In the end, also the owners of the Xbox360 enjoy the relevance and the public status that the RROD acquired in the time being. Past July, in fact, Microsoft expanded Xbox360 warranty coverage to three years, and it even offered reimburse to users who have already paid for the repairs to their consoles. It was, without any doubt, a monumental and wise decision. And certainly it was a painful one for the Company of Redmond.
RROD clamour could have instilled some suffering in the Xbox360 fan base, but after all, it has helped greatly the Xbox360 customers.
What do you think about it?

4/03/2008

The Truth behind PS3 failure rate: A plague worse than “RROD” ?

In the last two months, a very worrying trend has surfaced.
On the web, a huge and an increasing number of PS3 owners start to report the death of their favourite console. The causes, seem directly linked to Blue-ray drives that suddenly refuse to read discs.
The begin of this alarming phenomenon starts last November when the Belgian retailer “Games Mania” stated that the 40% of PS3 sold have been returned due to hardware problems primarily related to the system being unable to read discs, Blue-ray or otherwise (see here and here).
Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, at the time, with an immediate press release, tried to hide and cover the truth behind the problem strongly denying the accuracy of the data, adding: “(we) are disappointed that such extremely sloppy journalism has resulted in this totally inaccurate story” (see here).
Unfortunately, only three months later, this problem has acquired a worldwide dimension.
In fact, especially in the last month, Blogs and Forum pages from all over the world filled with many customers’ complaints related to PS3 failure, start to appear on the Web. Some unlucky customers have even experienced multiple PS3 deaths in a very short amount of time (see here and this one from AICN)!
As a reference, below you will find some recent links to English written pages as well as French, Spanish and Italian written ones. As you will see the numbers are impressive. Moreover, Sony Tech & Customer Support and Warranty machines begin to show problems (see here , here , here and here, among the others).
For the customers, the main concern here is that this situation, until now, never really surfaced and never reached a public dimension and a widespread audience. We are not talking about the usual irritating freezing problems, we are not talking about the many and strange occasional system’s errors that suddenly appear and then disappear, we are talking about a definitive problem that required the return of the console to be fixed! Moreover, we are not discussing about a single defective lot, a single isolate problem: we are talking about a worldwide situation related to all the PS3 SKUs that is actually happened in many countries!
The other huge issue regards the one-year only warranty (see here)… If these problems with the PS3 do not stop, will Sony be financially capable to extend the warranty of PS3? In particular, will Sony be motivated to extend the PS3 warranty if this issue will remain under covered?
As a customer, I hope that this situation will achieve a public status as soon as possible. It will be our only possibility to try to solve this matter.
Morover, this time, as a customer, I ask for a more professional and serious response from Sony, far different from the one released last November.
This situation represents a real threat for potential PS3 customers as well as actual owners, and all this silence and this secrecy certainly do not help our interests.

Here below you will find some recent references.
English written pages:
http://au.answers.yahoo.com/answers2/frontend.php/question?qid=20080321165453AAr7UEN
http://video.aol.com/video-detail/ps3-disc-reading-problem/3930174365 (video)
http://www.eurogamer.net/forum_thread_posts.php?thread_id=109833
http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/496542
http://www.futureshopforums.ca/futureshop/board/message?board.id=playstation&thread.id=1864
http://www.fixya.com/support/t346836-disc_error_read
http://www.amazon.com/tag/playstation%203/forum?_encoding=UTF8&cdForum=Fx2VG4XY5OWU8OI&cdThread=Tx5233G747KQ6Z
http://forums.highdefdigest.com/showthread.php?t=50422
http://www.fpsbanana.com/threads/111615?18
http://gamejonezblog.blogspot.com/2008/01/ps3-red-ring-of-death.html
http://www.gamespot.com/pages/forums/show_msgs.php?topic_id=25993229&page=0
http://www.gamespot.com/ps3/puzzle/rockband/show_msgs.php?topic_id=m-1-42047118&pid=938871
http://boardsus.playstation.com/playstation/board/message?board.id=ps3&thread.id=2121236&view=by_date_ascending&page=1
http://www.gamespot.com/pages/unions/forums/show_msgs.php?topic_id=26031344&union_id=5520
http://www.ps3za.co.za/forum/showthread.php?p=72698
http://boardsus.playstation.com/playstation/board/message?board.id=ps3&thread.id=2741982&page=3
http://www.aintitcool.com/?q=node/36133
http://boards.ign.com/ps3_lobby/b8269/157324551/p1
http://boardsus.playstation.com/playstation/board/message?board.id=ps3&thread.id=2689257
http://www.fixya.com/support/t402323-ps3_games_wont_show_up_in_games_list
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080312111546AATpGx5
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies-archive.cfm/906288.html
http://www.myps3.com.au/post.aspx?id=4452
http://www.ps3forums.com/archive/index.php/t-40115-p-7.html (by the end of the page: 4th time death PS3)
http://boards.gamefaqs.com/gfaqs/genmessage.php?board=927750&topic=42299212
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080207110752AAHDt5K
http://209.85.129.104/search?q=cache:Lv4mPltdmy8J:www.ps3hax.net/help/3753-ps3-bd-drive.html+ps3+problems+blu+ray+laser&hl=it&ct=clnk&cd=74&gl=it
http://forums.videogamereview.com/showthread.php?t=10514
http://www.thinkdigit.com/forum/showthread.php?t=69897
http://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=35829
http://www.notebookforums.com/thread204018.html
http://virtuafighter.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=195796
http://www.fixya.com/support/t352003-ps3_play_ps3_disks_or_movies
http://forums.hexus.net/sony-gaming/131539-irony.html
http://www.vgchartz.com/forum/thread.php?start=0&id=17146
http://ca.answers.yahoo.com/answers2/frontend.php/question?qid=20080321045409AACZGG4
http://209.85.129.104/search?q=cache:UUhUeXR_5bgJ:www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DYqS4Mwj5LjA%26mode%3Drelated%26search%3D+french+ps3+blu+ray+problems&hl=it&ct=clnk&cd=10&gl=it (video)
http://forums.electronicarts.co.uk/fifa-08-next-gen/309687-ps3-problem.html
http://www.ps3chat.com/playstation-3-hardware/4111-not-reading-disks.html

French written pages:
http://www.commentcamarche.net/forum/affich-3879446-ps3-ne-lis-plus-aucun-jeu
http://www.play3-live.com/forum/lofiversion/index.php/t32372.html
http://gt-universe.forumactif.com/consoles-ps1-ps2-ps3-accessoires-f33/ps3-les-problemes-rencontres-t2014.htm
http://community.eu.playstation.com/showthread.php?t=156146
http://www.play3-live.com/forum/lofiversion/index.php/t31414.html
http://www.commentcamarche.net/forum/affich-4046297-probleme-de-lecture-blue-ray-avec-ps3#0
http://www.metagames-eu.com/forums/playstation-3/probleme-ps3-qui-ne-lit-plus-aucun-blu-ray-de-jeux-vid-os-99865.html
http://www.commentcamarche.net/forum/affich-4080764-ps3-ne-lis-plus-rien
http://www.jeuxvideo.com/forums/1-60-1983373-1-0-1-0-0.htm
http://www.jeuxvideo.fr/forum/playstation-3/problemes-playstation-3-id63040-page52.html


Italian written pages:
http://www.psprl.it/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=42&topic=17843.msg212799;topicseen
http://forum.console-tribe.com/ps3-general-chat/t-nuovo-sondaggio-ps3-bloccate-rapporto-60-40-gb-50282.html
http://www.ps3-world.it/news-playstation-3-sony/4845-partita-difettosa-di-ps3-da-40gb-13.html
http://www.gbarl.it/index.php?s=45df930a5758f1ba1b554a50a274f269&showtopic=41919&st=20
http://forum.console-tribe.com/ps3-hardware-generale/t-problema-lettore-ps3-non-legge-pi-i-bluray-47029.html
http://www.ps3-world.it/news-playstation-3-sony/4845-partita-difettosa-di-ps3-da-40gb-11.html
http://it.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080209120233AAUNKzB
http://forum.console-tribe.com/ps3-hardware-generale/t-ps3-da-60gb-non-riparabile-dicono-64314.html
http://forum.gamestar.it/showthread.php?t=14996

Spanish written pages:
http://www.laps3.com/foro/5_general/43189-hilo_oficial_problemas_ps3_sat_problemas_de_lector-101.html
http://dooders.net/juegos-que-pueden-petar-el-lector-de-tu-playstation-3/
http://www.laps3.com/foro/5_general/70875-duda_ps3_al_sat.html
http://zonaforo.meristation.com/foros/viewtopic.php?t=901873&sid=24ffa97180e5be7be33230d5a32145b7
http://www.laps3.com/foro/5_general/71222-lee_no_lee.html
http://www.elotrolado.net/post_problema-lector-ps3_1711097085
http://www.todops3.com/foros/showthread.php?p=165693