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Sony Shuts Down PlayStation Network Indefinitely

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21–30 of 31 posts

Re: Sony Shuts Down PlayStation Network Indefinitely

#21
post #18

A moderator from PSX-Scene.com gave an interesting in-depth explanation as to what is going on with the PlayStation Network on a Reddit AMA recently: http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/gx6o4/im_a_moderator... His take (and he admits it is speculation but it sounds quite plausible) was that a custom PS3 firmware called Rebug gave Playstations Developer-level access to the network, which allowed you to do a whole…

So, a non-Sony employee, on a non-Sony forum, admittedly "speculates" what appears to be a bunch of garbage nonsense, and that's newsworthy?

... while providing supporting evidence, in the face of Sony's utter silence aside from "down now, up when it's up"? Yes. That makes their link by far the most informative thing I've seen on this to date.

Re: Sony Shuts Down PlayStation Network Indefinitely

#22
post #10

"indefinitely" is linkbait more than anything. It's not "indefinitely" in terms of "forever", which is how it's usually used - it's "an un-specified amount of time". It's technically correct, but when you hear about something "shutting down indefinitely" you don't think "oh, that's all right, they'll be back up soon".

The funny thing is that it's not "technically correct," it's actually correct and used properly here (both prescriptively and descriptively). Your criticism has to do with the word being misused elsewhere when people or companies avoid using the word "forever."

Re: Sony Shuts Down PlayStation Network Indefinitely

#23
post #22
post #10

"indefinitely" is linkbait more than anything. It's not "indefinitely" in terms of "forever", which is how it's usually used - it's "an un-specified amount of time". It's technically correct, but when you hear about something "shutting down indefinitely" you don't think "oh, that's all right, they'll be back up soon".

The funny thing is that it's not "technically correct," it's actually correct and used properly here (both prescriptively and descriptively). Your criticism has to do with the word being misused elsewhere when people or companies avoid using the word "forever."

"forever" is not mis-use, it's also correct and it's the more-common usage by far (in my experience). Let me google that for you: http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&#3...

Re: Sony Shuts Down PlayStation Network Indefinitely

#24
post #20
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why force a click to see the result? Seems like a good way to ensure you get bogus data.

Good question. That's why I threw in the Haven't Tried option, but you might be right.

He is right. I would remove the "Haven't Tried" option and reposition the elements so that the status report is prominent and the option for user input is secondary.

Re: Sony Shuts Down PlayStation Network Indefinitely

#25

Man, I feel old, I remember when Sony was The Brand Name in consumer electronics. Between rootkits and intrusive behavior and this sort of thing... I can't think of the last time I bought something with the Sony brand on it. (To be fair, it was probably either a DVD... or a DVD burner.)

I've returned a couple of their batteries for dying while under warranty. Beyond that, I avoid Sony like the plague. Hardware, software, videos, music, everything.

Bring back the company that made the Walkman, a cheap, DRM-free, durable music player, and maybe I'll change my mind.

Re: Sony Shuts Down PlayStation Network Indefinitely

#26
post #23
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The funny thing is that it's not "technically correct," it's actually correct and used properly here (both prescriptively and descriptively). Your criticism has to do with the word being misused elsewhere when people or companies avoid using the word "forever."

"forever" is not mis-use, it's also correct and it's the more-common usage by far (in my experience). Let me google that for you: http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&#3...

Your linchpin is anecdotal. "Forever" is a second definition after "indefinite." It's not really that important, though, I was just trying to provide some insight to the GP as pertains to Sony's statement.

Re: Sony Shuts Down PlayStation Network Indefinitely

#27

Man, I feel old, I remember when Sony was The Brand Name in consumer electronics. Between rootkits and intrusive behavior and this sort of thing... I can't think of the last time I bought something with the Sony brand on it. (To be fair, it was probably either a DVD... or a DVD burner.)

They changed right after they started buying up movie production, music production, and game production. Then all the good engineering, good standards, and open nature were thrown out in favor of user lock-in, DRM, and piracy prevention.

If anything will be the downfall of Sony I have to say that Sony/Columbia Music started it. With their ridiculous copybit protection on DAT. How a million dollar division (media) dictates a billion dollar division (electronics) to come up with these schemes is beyond my comprehension.

Re: Sony Shuts Down PlayStation Network Indefinitely

#29

Man, I feel old, I remember when Sony was The Brand Name in consumer electronics. Between rootkits and intrusive behavior and this sort of thing... I can't think of the last time I bought something with the Sony brand on it. (To be fair, it was probably either a DVD... or a DVD burner.)

problem with sony is that they fail so much with pricing things .. they cannot charge as much or more than apple products because frankly the design and the build quality doesn't match up. I still remember them trying to sell a netbook for around 1K$ .. They just released a honeycomb tablet that might be priced at 600 when ASUS Transformer (similar specs) got sold out for pre-order at Amazon for 400$..

Re: Sony Shuts Down PlayStation Network Indefinitely

#30

Man, I feel old, I remember when Sony was The Brand Name in consumer electronics. Between rootkits and intrusive behavior and this sort of thing... I can't think of the last time I bought something with the Sony brand on it. (To be fair, it was probably either a DVD... or a DVD burner.)

My family traces it to the '80s? when Sony moved a lot of their assembly to Mexico and the $$$ Trinitron TVs they then purchased were plagued with cold solder joints (which they could take care of but of course most consumers couldn't, at least not directly). For quite some time before they went all in evil as you note their quality went fitfully but steadily downhill.

Compare to e.g. my mid-late '70s Sony turntable, which due to it being direct drive is still fine (the auto positioning and end of record removal mechanism failed long ago but that's hardly essential). Built on a solid cast aluminum base ... they just don't make 'em like that any more.

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