Sony piques PS3 fans with PlayTV patch fee Sony is to charge PlayStation 3 users for a PlayTV firmware update that brings to the tuner and console the ability to view a seven-day programme guide and record entire series of shows at the push of a button - features DVR owners already take for granted. The Japanese giant announced the major PlayTV update back in April, …
"Sony's action isn't unprecedented - other companies have done the same before."
Microsoft rips of Xbox owners every month. If you had a launch Xbox (aside from the fact chances are it's long since broken), you would have paid over £200 in Xbox live fees by now.
Wether you takes this update or not is entirely optional. if it's less than a fiver, I have no problem at all paying it. I use PlayTV alot, it's a very good option.
Perhaps make it free to Playstation+ subscribers, that might be the push I need to subscribe to my £200 a year worth of content for £40.
I have a Sky+ box sitting above my PS3, as I suspect a lot of PS3 users in the UK do. (okay, granted, it could be below, or to the side or some other direction).
This isn't going to get them anything other than the idiot buy, is it?
Probably quite profitable, if other indications are anything to go by. (says the iPhone 4 owner).
you know they delivered a FREE update to 3D Blu-Ray today...
My 2006 PS3 has been continually upgraded since launch, it was great then at £400, it's even better now and it's bang upto date.
Microsoft at the same time have been rushing out broken turds and then relying on stupid gamers to rebuy. How many NEW xbox slim owners do you think there are? Not many almost all the slims are being sold to EXISTING xbox owners because the original one was so abysmal.
So which company looks after it's customers? It's certainly not Microsoft.
It's not Sony either. Removed Linux support, making us pay extra for features others take for granted, and let's not forget the Sony BMG DRM scandal. Don't get me wrong, I like my PS3, but I haven't been able to justify even one more dollar on the console since paying for games that I bought years ago on the PSX. Seems the only one that's not actively hurting people is the one that's lagging behind in features: Nintendo.
its fine if sony charge for it and also there premium pack because as long as they keep the free pack for ps3 users im happy as long as the options are there for me i can always upgrade in the future but i need a ps3 first lol sony arnt like microsoft and forcing you to pay microsoft on the other hand force you buy getten you to pay 39.99 a year thats a ripoff then theres microsoft points on top of that its crazy
Microsoft don't force you to pay. It's rare these days that people are leagally forced to do anything. Bad choice of words i think.
Anyway, yes, if you want access to online gaming with the xbox, you need a gold subscription (none of my 4 years or so have ever cost £39.99 due to endless promotions) but the free silver access still gives you quite a lot.
Its a choice.
The one thing I miss is being able to go to the tvtv.co.uk site, or desktop or mobile, and being able to schedule recordings remotely. I don't want to have to buy a Sony Ericsson mobile to be able to do that. If they incorporate that feature into the update, then I'd be happy to pay for the upgrade.
On the subject of the charge, I would suspect that it's more to cover the cost of TVTV than anything else. If they could allow you to choose whether you wanted to pay for that feature or not, I suspect most would be happy.
"Apple notoriously charged iPod Touch owners for updated system software it was giving away free to iPhone owners"
There's nothing "notorious" about this - US accounting laws means that they have to charge a nominal fee for the update on the iPod Touch (see sarbanes-oxley) because it doesn't have revenue based on subscription whereas the iPhone does.
It's perfectly ok for Sony to charge for something which arguably inferior playback devices provide free of charge.
It's equally ok for Sony to weep softly when they realise that only a very small percentage of PS3 owners opt to buy the update/patch.
It's also equally ok for Sony to then offer the update/patch for free later on, and then give account credit to those PS3 owners which bought the update/patch originally - in much the same way as Nintendo did with Wii owners and the Wii internet channel.
Digital devices get taxed more when they have certain functionality. The FM radio feature on the iPod Nano for example, increases it's cost by a tax percentage, not by the cost of the FM reciever.
I'm guessing 'somewhere' there's a tax for the functionality that Sony are adding. So someone has to pay the government for it. Why that has to be us, I have no idea.
I'm glad I didn't buy PlayTV in the first place!
That will totally destroy the credibility of this article..
All EPG's use patented Macrovision technology ( which they acquired from GemStar). Obviously Sony adding a EPG to PlayTV, they will incur these royalties, which they are either partially, or fully passing onto the consumer.
There is clearly no conspiracy, perhaps someone should tell Mr Smith.
I hope they dont change the look of the EPG, its by far the nicest looking guide about... If the replacement changes the nice HD, Translucent thing to some garish block filled jobber than Id be pissed right off!
If the update is sub£3 then id probably upgrade, but with the SkyHD box, I use PlayTV less nad less...
It seems odd that Sony should opt to charge for an update on a niche product, surely the onus would be to give it for free and try to convince more people to buy the hardware...
Paying still feels tight when HD broadcasts are on the horizon and the hardware is obsolete anyway....
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