PS2 PROBLEMS
March 8, 2000

The recent Playstation2 launch welcomed hundreds of thousands of system owners (more). Unfortunately, problems have surfaced that have rained on a seemingly great launch parade. NCS, a leading online import store, received reports from vendors in Japan regarding these problems.

Most notably, playing Ridge Racer V with the memory card will corrupt card data and destroy DVD drivers. This basically means DVD playback (a key reason for many PS2 purchases - not to mention part of the reason for the price) is rendered useless (though it should be possible for most owners to reinstall these drivers).

Sony has reportedly recalled all PS2 memory cards in Japan. Those of you who followed the launch likely noticed that Sony blamed a shortage of memory cards for shortages in system shipments. A recall of memory cards is going to have a significant negative impact on people getting the most out of the system right away. The faster Sony makes sure people can fully use systems, the less troublesome this situation will be.

Of note, Sony also reportedly denies a recall of PS2 memory cards, which would indicate the company is trying to keep its image clean. Unfortunately, if it doesn't do a recall, this means it is doing nothing about the widespread problem (as far as existing owners go), which wouldn't bode well for its ability to resolve issues in a timely fashion nor take action in such a situation (read: no recall is worse).

Unfortunately, until there is official word on the situation, it won't be possible to know which of the two evils (recall or no recall) has occurred. However, what is known is that there is a problem that needs to be addressed somehow, and fast.

Other problems involve DVD playback as well. Issues with sound skipping while watching a movie, DVD drivers not recognizing certain types of DVD's as valid (and rejecting them), and double sided dual layer DVD's requiring multiple attempts before working have been reported.

More isolated issues are overheating and freezing. Those of you with the early PSX who have resolved these problems by turning them permanently upside down know about this.

What impact will this have on the North American launch? You may have heard reports claiming that everything will be just peachy and that there will be no problems, but we'll give it to you straight, as it's really not that simple.

One good thing for the North American (and European/PAL) launch is that Sony has discovered these problems early on in the life of the Japanese release, which means that they should know what to expect for future launches and hopefully prevent the problems from occurring again.

However, and without this, it could be perceived as though everything will go perfectly when the system heads west, these problems point out a simple fact: no system launch is perfect, no matter how much planning goes into it.

Overheating issues occurred with the PSX and Dreamcast, as well as the Japanese PS2 launch, and it can be expected that this will pop up again with the North American PS2 launch. Fortunately, it appears as though the overheating problem is relatively isolated.

As for DVD playback trouble, while Sony will hopefully resolve everything before a North American launch, realistically, the fact that no system launch is perfect may well creep into DVD playback problems for future launches as well. This was almost to be expected, as PS2 is more of an all-in-one machine instead of something with the sole focus of playing DVD movies.

Unfortunately, without a crystal ball, it's not possible to say which problems will and will not occur when the PS2 heads west, but if history is any indication, there are likely to be some defects that we can only hope will be addressed and rectified as quickly as possible.