Already some of you started your Christmas shopping, while others most likely will wait till the last minute to buy the gifts. Well, with that in mind, I came across this very interesting, but rather depressing story which I was not aware of.
Before you click on the link and start reading this messed-up story, please pay specific attention to the paragraphs related to the Sony PlayStation 3 and the Panasonic Lumix Cameras. Really, is any body here surprised by this corporate stupidity and greed?
Story:
http://customsites.yahoo.com/financiallyfit/finance/article-108318-3394-3-gifts-you-may-want-to-avoid-html?ywaad=ad0035
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This has to be a troll post. The PS3 controller is rechargeable.
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I hope YOU'RE the one trolling Penguinboy. They're obviously talking about non-removable rechargeable batteries. So you can't replace them when they die (though honestly, this must take a fuck of a long time to happen.) And probably the average determined nerd could pop one open and solder a new eBay unit in or something.
Edit: ninja.
Ok, now I'm trolling, just ignore me.
The PS3 controller is indeed recharble. But here's the catch: It's only good for a limited amount of recharges. After that, it's useless and needs to be replaced with a new one. This of course defeats the purpose of the PS3 controller ever being traded or sold as a used item in a second-hand store. Also, certain rechargeable batteries are notorious for breaking down before their time. Laptop batteries anyone?
And last but not least, there's this little quote from Sony themselves that pretty much fails any counter arguments from anybody saying this story is not true - Quote: "there's an environmental benefit since gamers don't have to toss their batteries on a regular basis". Mmm, sounds to me like a confession from Sony.
Crave.com posted this very enlighten report that really goes in to details in to this whole fiasco. If any of you have any doubts, I highly recommend you read it: http://asia.cnet.com/crave/2008/10/13/sony-ps3-controller-charger-reminds-us-what-we-hate-about-the-ps3/
I prefer the PS3's way of doing it, personally. Replacing batteries gives me the shits. When you have a rechargeable battery, you can always just plug it into the console to recharge, but on other consoles you have to go and buy some more batteries.
The article is so vaguely worded that it would lead some people to think that the PS3 controller is one-use-only. By the reasoning used in the article, you could pretty much put anything on the list, using the reason: "The quality of this product degrades over time."
[dork] I did that with an old Game Boy that only took batteries and my mom refused to constantly buy me more. It was easy. Although if you get zapped, you're doing it wrong. I then played Pokemon Blue until it went out of style. [/dork]
Hey, as bad as Sony sounds, don't forget about Panasonic's Lumix cameras automatically rejecting other makers' batteries, that's really bad too.