How Sony Lost Its Way
Gizmondo is running an interesting article about how Sony has been on the wrong track lately. Looking back at old blog posts over the years, I find this this piece says a lot of the same things I have been thinking about. Its a pretty good read overall, and I suggest checking it out. Some excerpts from the article:
Sony’s last huge format hit was a product called “Compact Disc”. You might have heard of it. Spinning plastic wheel with pits in the bottom? Read by lasers? Co-developed with Philips?
It took a couple of years for CDs to take hold, but once they did, Sony raked in the cash. Not only by selling players, but by manufacturing CDs for themselves and others. It’s a huge part of their business even today, as Sony DADC produces not just CDs, but DVDs, Blu-ray, and PlayStation discs in facilities around the world.
Sony became spoiled. For decades, a success in a new media format meant that Sony could expect to make money selling the media itself. Through the ’80s and ’90s, they became less inclined to share the market. Sony developed the 3.5-inch floppy disc drive for computers which found wide adoption as blank discs were available from a variety of manufacturers. MiniDisc followed, but with less success. In 1998 as the flash memory market started to warm up, Sony introduced Memory Stick, what eventually became an entire family of expensive flash memory formats that were not compatible with devices from any other manufacturers.
And don’t forget the Blu-ray vs. HD-DVD war. Sony eventually won that one, but the battle continued for such a long time because neither consortium wanted to lose the market to produce media for consumers—consumers who were increasingly getting their content online.
See the problem? Time and again, Sony took an excellently engineered solution and held it tightly, the better to extract big profits. But every generation, every iteration, Sony’s need to control the format became more and more of a liability. Even loyal Sony customers could tell the proprietary formats were a screw job, eroding their happiness with their Sony product every time they had to shell out a premium to buy a Sony-authorized blank.
On Sony’s Arrogance:
There’s no better example of the arrogance of the modern Sony than the launch of the PlayStation 3. It was the last of the current generation of game consoles to market. It cost more than all its competitors. Kaz Hirai, then president and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America and now the head of the entire ball of wax worldwide, said infamously, “The next generation doesn’t start until we say it does.”
People were rolling their eyes at Sony even as Hirai and his executive team made those lofty statements—but our eyes flipped all the way into the backs of our skulls after Sony spent the next three years struggling in a videogame market they once dominated.
Why Sony would present this cocky face to the world is impossible to understand, until you realize that it’s the sort of self-delusional bluster, pre-game trash talk, from a team that hasn’t won a championship in years.
It’s clear in their marketing and press relations, too. Sony is always quick to throw a big party, launch some laptop with a silly event like a fashion show, or hand press review units out to lifestyle magazines but not technical publications. Having had one accidental lifestyle product success with the Walkman, Sony mistakenly believes that its products are stylish—when in fact the Walkman became a style icon despite its often garish or pedestrian looks.
Xbox 360 Overheating Fixed
For the past couple of months, I have had an issue where my Xbox 360 would constantly overheat. Sometimes it would overheat in less than 5 minutes just sitting at the Xbox 360 dashboard. Seeing as it should not be overheating that quickly, I figured there was a good chance that my system was just too dirty, preventing proper air-flow. My launch Xbox 360 has the newer heatsink cooling solution after being sent in for repairs for the RROD twice, so I figured the culprit in this case was probably dust.
Let me start by saying that I have had my Xbox 360 since launch. Since then I have sent it in to repairs three times. Twice for the RROD and once for broken DVD drive in a refurbished console they sent back to me after the 2nd RROD. Overall, the repair experience was good and fast, and if your console is still under warranty I would always suggest sending it in for repairs. Once you open it, your warranty becomes void and there is no going back. However, my warranty expired some time ago, and I was not willing to pay the fee to have Microsoft fix what could be a simple issue. Plus, I had gotten to the point that something had to happen, either I fix this issue or I need a new console. So with nothing to lose I opened it up.
The easiest way to open it up is to order the Xbox 360 Case Opening Tool. It’s only a few dollars, comes with everything you need to open the Xbox 360, and it saves you a lot of effort. In addition to that, I also needed a compressed gas duster. They sell these at every computer store, including shops like K-Mart or Wal-Mart.
Opening the Xbox 360 is a bit of a chore. It was designed in such a way to prevent home users from being able to open it, which is why the case tool is so useful. Once you have it, you simply need to follow one of the many guides online. Personally, I suggest this guide, which assumes you are using the case tool. I found it pretty easy to follow, with a nice set of pictures to go along with each step. If you are set against buying the case tool, you could always follow this video guide.
After following those instructions, you should now have the Xbox 360 open. All that is left to do is to remove the fan shroud, lift out the DVD Drive (either disconnect it or just move it out of the way) and blow out all the metal heatsinks with compressed gas. It’s also not a bad idea to blow out the fans as well. Just hold them steady as you do so as not to damage them.
From these low quality cell phone camera photos (I need to get a new one), you can see that the heatsinks on mine were pretty dirty. After blowing everything out, it was good as new. Then I simply put the console back together by following the steps exactly in reverse order. I have used the Xbox 360 for a few days now and it has not overheated once. In fact, it’s noticeably quieter since the fans are not spinning as fast to cool it off.
Got a Playstation 3
So, I have been considering buying a Blu-Ray player for a while now. I have a pretty good collection of HD-DVDs that I don’t regret buying, but it is time to move on from that format. Considering that there are finally enough exclusive games on the Playstation 3 that I am interested in playing, I ended up getting the 250GB Slim model. I only have two games so far, Uncharted and Resistance 2, but my roommate has a few others that I will be playing in the future. I have been using it for a little over a week, so a “review” of sorts will have to wait. So far I can say that I am enjoying it, even though the interface is abysmal. Feel free to friend me on Playstation Network (under NeutralX2 as always).
The Website Is Down: Sales Demolition
Biz tip of the week: Get your clients in the room and shove your product down their throats in a sales demo.
Presented in 360* span-o-vision (where available)
If you missed the last one you can find it here.
The Website Is Down: Remain Calm
Chip demonstrates his special procedure for a hot-swap hard drive replacement using only his steel-toed boot and his razor thin patience. Watch and learn!
If you missed the last one you can find it here.
