Why is Sony So Against International Moves?

Hello everyone.

An annoying thing happened a few days ago. For the first time since moving to the UK, I decided to turn on my PS3 and buy a personal space for the PlayStation 3’s social game, PlayStation Home. I realized that my credit card information wouldn’t work, so I needed to update. I went into the master account settings, found the payment info section, entered the password, and began updating the address. Once I got to the country/region field, however, I found that it couldn’t be changed. So I went on my laptop to the website, where hopefully, I could change my region. Nope. Not there either. After a fruitless search through customer support, I decided to call the UK helpline. I was connected to someone rather quickly, but I was told that in order to change my region, I would have to either disconnect my PS3 from my account or buy a completely new system and then create a whole new Sony account for the UK. This wouldn’t be so bad, but all of my data would be wiped off of the hard drive in the process. I’d even have to make all of my purchases all over again! This is out of the question, and I suppose I’ll just have to be fine with an Xbox 360 for three years.

If Sony had been smarter about this, then perhaps this sort of situation wouldn’t have happened. I know that their network had been attacked last year, and their security had gone up as a result, but this restriction on changing regions is overreacting—if it was even because of the attacks in the first place.

This policy that to change your region, you need a whole new Sony account is unnecessary and inconvenient, and practically makes my PS3 unusable.

Sony, stop. You rocked E3 with your PS4 announcement, but this is far from rocking. Actually no it isn’t-- it’s rocking my world in a bad way.

Andrew Ferguson

No Added Effort: Now A Thing! Also, 2DS.

So this blog is now a thing. I've talked about maybe making it a thing before, and toyed with the idea a bit, but now it's official: this blog is, indeed, a fully FCC-compliant, EPA-certified thing. What kind of thing? That's to be decided. It could be a humorous thing, or perhaps a political thing, or a tech thing, or maybe all of those things at different times.

Maybe it should be a gaming thing, along with all of the other things I've made/done this year so far.
Well if THAT's what it'll be, I have the perfect introduction.

Nintendo has recently announced a new product in their lineup of 3DS systems. (If you don't know what a 3DS is, click here.) The product is called the Nintendo 2DS, and it's basically a doorstop with buttons. Seriously. Look at this thing!

See? A doorstop with buttons. And Nintendo is spouting something about how this is an entry-level system for the younger gamer that can't use the 3D effects. Well then just turn the 3D slider off and restrict the accessible levels in Parental Controls! The overarching selling point here seems to be that the 2DS is is a safer system than the 3DS was for five-and-unders, who might drop the device or turn the 3D on and hurt their eyes. The 3D effect on the original was fine to me, but maybe that's just because I have much experience staring at brightly lit screens in dark rooms at three o' clock in the morning. (I don't have a problem, okay?!) But this product really doesn't look that much safer, seeing as first off the six other devices all close, protecting the screens. If you drop the 2DS face-down, well, it's a good thing this one's about value, innit? (A little British terminology there. GOOGLE UK, HERE I COME!) How have they fixed this problem? They're releasing a carrying case. How nice, especially since it's sold separately. Also, I've seen reports online that the 2DS is actually heavier than and has the same screen size as the 3DS, with a solid hour less battery time than the 3DS XL on a good day. And how will a five-year-old fit this in their pocket? Does Nintendo expect the consumer to have pants that can open a rip in space-time? 

In short, this seems like an unnecessary move from Nintendo, and a dangerous one, especially riding on the heels of the Wii U (click here), a console that didn't sell very well and wasn't really very good in the first place. Example: Some Wii U games have a problem in which the game glitches out and your character is forced to walk to the lower right corner of the screen, even without you pressing anything. 

Perhaps they should just re-announce the Gamecube.

Well, that was fun. I feel like a right gaming journalist now. I'm not, of course, but whatever. I hope you enjoyed this first post, and hopefully, more will come.

Andrew Ferguson