03/13/00

Sony Deserves a Second Chance

There’s been a lot of Sony bashing in the American press lately, due to the botched Japanese launch of the much-hyped Playstation 2. Now read that sentence again. See the part that says "Japanese launch"? It seems to me that Sony deserves a second chance to prove themselves with the system, and that second chance will come this fall, when the PS2 releases here in America.

I’ve read all about the faulty memory cards that Sony shipped… and I must admit that a bug which erases the consoles DVD driver is pretty severe, but come on, people – unless you’re one of the maniacs not willing to wait out the few months between now and the U.S. release, this means absolutely nothing to you! And if you wanted to be one of those early adopters with an import system, maybe this is a blessing in disguise. Rather than blowing $500 - $700, you can wait it out and get a better machine for half the money. Everybody has botched a launch – Sega screwed up miserably with their surprise Saturn launch, and then again with defective games and systems when the Dreamcast debuted here last year. But to blast a company for some early mistakes in a foreign launch that will absolutely be fixed when the PS2 releases here is just plain unfair.

I know all of you Sega fans out there are worried. Let’s face it, when the PS2 comes out here later this year, there’s a very good likelihood that it will kill Dreamcast in sales before the year is over. And, of course, Sega fans don’t want that to happen, so they’re jumping all over the flaws of the Japanese launch in an effort to dissuade gamers from considering the system when it comes out in the states. Well, I for one say let us judge the PS2 when it matters – this fall. If the U.S. launch is marred by defective software or hardware, then will be the time to start bashing Sony for these mistakes. I could care less about the PS2 in Japan, since I won’t be buying a Japanese system. The thing could explode into flames when you press the Power button for all I care, as long as they fixed the problem when it matters – the U.S. launch.

Have I made my point? Have I beaten the dead horse until it is no more than chunks of, er, dead horse? If you’re still so concerned about the state of things in Japan, then you should move to Japan, where your complaints actually matter. Otherwise, shut the heck up and wait until September. Then, when Sony manages to botch the U.S. release of the PS2 you may find a large dead fish and beat me about the face and neck until I say "Uncle."

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