PS3 RED RING OF DEATH?

Last Monday I fired up my PS3 in anticipation of watching Superbad on Blu-Ray, which the wife had so graciously picked up for me. Unfortunately, when I put the disc in nothing happened. No title screen, no indication that the PS3 knew the disc was present at all. I'm not a noob, so of course, I cycled the power on and off and tried again...no luck. O.k., I tried shutting down with the all-powerful black switch in the rear that essentially resets everything on the PS3 and still no luck.

Now I was genuinely concerned. I took out Superbad and put in Call of Duty 4...nothing. "Oh no", and several other choice phrases unfit for print rolled from my tongue, then I went to my computer hoping to find a simple solution online. Instead, I found a wide assortment of posts on various forums reporting the same problem - a sudden inability of the PS3 to recognize any disc - and the solutions weren't exactly what I was hoping. Apparently the problem is caused by leaving a game or movie paused for an extended length of time, or even leaving a disc in at the title screen. Eventually, that fancy Blu-Ray laser burns out forever. Goodbye $600.

Every report invariably lead to a return of the console to Sony for a replacement with varying degrees of success or failure. Worse yet, there were many reports of posts being taken down from Sony's own forums in an apparent attempt to keep the problems out of the press. Unsubstantiated reports said the problem was as common as 25% of all consoles sold. What?!

This was beginning to sound just like my experience with the Xbox 360's red ring of death.

With great trepidation, I called Sony's customer support line.

After waiting on hold for nearly 20 minutes, I was greeted by an American-sounding woman. The next five minutes were spent getting all of my personal information, literally one letter at a time. It was extremely irritating to have to spell out the word "road", but whatever...if it helps me receive the correct service the first time through, then I'll put up with it. After all that, I explained my problem and the rep told me they would send me a prepaid shipping box with detailed instructions on how to box up my console and prepare it for pickup. Turnaround time, she said, would be approximately two weeks for me to receive a new console.

She explained that I could copy all the information I had on my console, including game saves, to a memory card so I would not lose my all-important save data. Then, the genius that is my wife noticed the Best Buy receipt said I still had four days to return or exchange it there since it was a holiday purchase. I explained this to the Sony Rep and she gave me an incident number in case I needed to call back and have the box sent anyway.

I copied all my PS3 data to a mini USB drive, packed up the PS3 and headed to Best Buy with my receipt in hand.

After the Geek Squad checked out the console and verified it was, in fact defective, they told me I could exchange it with no problem as long as they removed the UPC code from the new box - since I had already mailed in the original code for my Blu-Ray movie rebate - and the Spiderman 3 Blu-Ray movie, since I had forgotten to pack it in the box. "Sounds great", I said.

I then decided to purchase the two-year replacement plan for the console for $59.99, which I normally never do. In this case I decided if I had a problem in the future it was worth $60 for the convenience of not having to return it to Sony, plus it bought me an extra year beyond the Sony one-year warranty period.

Once I got home I restored my wireless settings, restored all my save data, and then put Superbad in...hallelujah, success! Of course, I had to re-download all my PSN purchases, but that was no big deal as I set them up to download overnight.

Now, I just hope this one doesn't go bad.

I'll let you know if it does. In the meantime, anyone else had a similar experience? Let us know in the comments.

Happy New Year - 2008 may be a lot like 2007

by Tiberius Jonez

After an extended holiday vacation, I am back and excited about the new year and what it means for the world of gaming. Sony is expecting big things for the Playstation 3 in 2008, and Nintendo hopes to keep the Wii in high demand. Microsoft is looking to move beyond its past hardware problems and let the Xbox 360's staggering library of great games carry it forward. 2008 is going to be a pivotal one for the console makers and game designers alike.

However, before we get too far ahead of ourselves, we need to take a look back at the lessons learned from what many consider the greatest year in video games history, 2007.

In terms of sales, 2007 was unquestionably the biggest year in the history of the video games industry. Even as companies continued to consolidate, seemingly shrinking the number of players on the field, the industry as a whole saw incredible growth. Analysts predict that by the end of 2008, video games will surpass movies and music combined in sales. For an industry barely in its 30's, eclipsing its gray-haired older brothers is impressive.

However, despite the amazing numbers, not all was well. The Playstation 3 continued to stagnate, forcing Sony to release the 40GB PS3 at a $399 price point in order to spark a late surge in sales. While the Wii continued to sell like hotcakes, the lack of quality games for the system began to become a glaring problem for the console's owners. The Xbox 360's long-downplayed hardware problems finally forced Microsoft to invest over a Billion dollars to extend the console's warranty to an unprecedented 3 years as a show of good faith to their loyal customers.

Only a week into the new year, we are already receiving clues of where 2008 may lead us. Several developers, including EA, have committed huge resources to making new games for the Wii over the next year. Microsoft has had some technical issues with Xbox Live over the past few weeks, leading to more bad publicity and consolations to customers. But, the 360 version of Call of Duty 4 continues to sell in huge numbers. Sony's streak of bad luck continues as word came that two of their most important games of 2008, Metal Gear Solid 4 and Little Big Planet have been delayed until at least fall. HOME remains MIA with no word of when gamers can expect to see something from Sony's alleged answer to Xbox Live.

Blu-Ray received a boost this week with their rumored $500 Mil payoff to Warner Brothers securing the studio's exclusive backing of Sony's HD format. Unfortunately, Sony's desire to market the PS3 as a movie player rather than a game console continues to alienate many gamers. At the same time, it has been reported that during their upcoming CES presentation, Microsoft will announce their intent to license the Xbox 360 platform to other manufacturers, a move that could potentially lead to a HD-DVD version of the 360.

If console sales are truly dependent on software, Microsoft is in the best position moving forward since they have the most impressive library of next-gen games available. Based on price, the Wii is clearly in a different situation than either the PS3 or 360. I've been saying for more than a year that Sony needs to get focused on games rather than Blu Ray movies to sell PS3's.

As it stands, the more things change the more they stay the same. By the time 2008 comes to an end we will hopefully have a clearer picture of where the battle between the console manufacturers stands. Right now, the only thing that is crystal clear is the DS is killing everything out there. As someone who owns all three consoles, I know my 360 gets the most play. I like my PS3 but I can't stand online play on it compared to Xbox Live. The Wii needs games...period.

What do you think? Which console(s) do you own? What do you think 2008 will bring us in terms of games? Comment and tell everyone what you think!