Sony Battles Net's Bad Buzz About Playstation2

Reports are beginning to surface on the Internet about technical problems with PlayStation2, Sony's ultra-sophisticated new video game machine. Sony is denying some of the reports. Released March 4, 2000 in Japan to throngs of game fans, PlayStation2 is so powerful that the Japanese government has classified it as a ''supercomputer'' and limited its export. Sony reported selling 980,000 of the machines, which also play DVD movies, in the first three days. It's expected to arrive in the USA in September 2000. According to reports, owners have experienced problems running DVD movies, particularly after playing the auto-racing game ""Ridge Racer V."" The software ''drivers'' needed to play movies are stored on a removable memory card. Those drivers, corrupted by certain games, can be reinstalled by running a system disc that comes with PlayStation2. Employees at Sony's US affiliate say they haven't experienced the problem. The company denies reports that the memory card is defective and being recalled. ''I do not know how that story got started,'' says Sony Computer Entertainment of America's Molly Smith, ''but it is not true.'' Other Net sites are reporting more serious problems, such as overheating and freezing up. One game news site even alleged that all units built in one of Sony's several manufacturing sites are defective. Experts say it's far too early to detect such patterns. According to Richard Doherty, Chief Analyst at market research firm Envisioneering, those reports may well reflect the realities of bringing increasingly complex machines to market in time and on budget. ''Asian manufacturers do not test every unit off the line. They are prepared for 1-in-20 defect rates, sometimes even 1-in-10,'' numbers that improve as production ramps up. Competitive pressures are bound to increase. Bill Gates will be announcing Microsoft's long-rumored X-Box video game system Friday, March 10, 2000 at a conference in San Jose, California. Source: USA Today