Sony To Replace PS3 Controllers

[Gorvi]

In an interview (http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=20528) with gameindustry.biz, Sony has stated that although they don't anticipate the batteries in PS3 controllers to die any time soon, they will replace any controllers where the battery has failed.

The spokesperson went on to confirm, "When and if this happens, then of course we will be providing a service to exchange these items."

[Reanimated]

Just seems like a dumb thing to do. Would have been much easier to just have a detachable battery. I mean when my controller dies am I supposed to send it to them and wait controllerless while they fix it or send me a new one? Stupid.

It's also convenient to have a removable battery so that you can keep hot spares and never have to keep your controller plugged in.

Having an internal battery just makes no sense at all.

[MasterEvilAce]

Well duh.. naturally! Even apple does this for their ipod.

The thing is, though... will it be free, or will consumers have to make their batteries explode to get a worthwild exchange?

Also; I agree w/ Reanimated. I would have made it removable. Maybe they have a reason.

[Paranoia]

Gotta wear thick gloves that can resist explosion.

[hideouslywrinkled]

As a cynic who has purchased a consumer good or two in my lifetime... I find this impossible to believe.

[absolut taco]

Sony needs to get out of the battery business. They should have little gas powered engines for the controllers. That would also bring some much needed rumble. Zing!

[Morangie]

Well no fucking shit they will provide a service for changing the batteries. For a small fee.

[Vandenh]

Wa? This cannot be right. Why would they even make their controllers so batteries can not be removed????? I guess we will have a landfill of Sixaxis soon next to those boxes of ET.

[Venkman]

Wa? This cannot be right. Why would they even make their controllers so batteries can not be removed?????

So they can sell more peripherals, of course. Gotta make that money somewhere, if they are not making any on the console itself. I bet they won't really advertise that replacement service, or that it won't exist at all in a year.

What a waste.

[Gorvi]

I probably should have quoted more of the article, but it's also said that the batteries they're using shouldn't need replacing for a quite a long time, if at all with normal use. I find it interesting that yesterday when it was found that the batteries couldn't be replaced by the user when they die, everyone cried about how Sony would never replace them, and now that we know they will, people bitch and moan about that. Just an observation.
I still say it's a moot point, as I've had to replace my controllers for every console I've owned after ~3 years just from normal wear, from the NES on.

[Morangie]

I find it interesting that yesterday when it was found that the batteries couldn't be replaced by the user when they die, everyone cried about how Sony would never replace them, and now that we know they will, people bitch and moan about that.
For a small fee. Say, the price of a controller? Or $5 less than a new controller plus shipping. That sounds about right.

[Guy Mariano]

For a small fee. Say, the price of a controller? Or $5 less than a new controller plus shipping. That sounds about right.

Holy shit. Your battery already died on you PS3 controller. Sorry to hear that :rolleyes:

[Opty]

I'm tired of all these articles with Pro-Sony bias! Evil Avatar more like Sony Avatar! :rolleyes:

[BenN1ce]

I bet there will be less PS3 battery replacements than X360 console replacments ;)

[morose]

I find it interesting that yesterday when it was found that the batteries couldn't be replaced by the user when they die, everyone cried about how Sony would never replace them, and now that we know they will, people bitch and moan about that. Just an observation.
I still say it's a moot point, as I've had to replace my controllers for every console I've owned after ~3 years just from normal wear, from the NES on.
As much of a PS3 cynic as I am, I have to agree. Complaining about the battery in the controllers before they even ship, much less have shown themselves to be a problem? It seems like people just enjoy complaining for the sake of it.

[Murtaug]

I did not catch the news of the batteries not being removable. Long life or not, this is just a bad design.

The 360 is my first experience with wireless controllers on a console. I did have some for my NES way back in the day, but they worked so horribly I took them back pretty quick. I was a little worried I would be changing them out constantly, but to my surprise a set of batteries lasts a long time. Putting some NiMHd I had laying around to use even saved me from dishing out for the charger kit.

I would say I get at least fifteen hours of usage out of a set of batteries, pretty sure more than that though. I have only swapped batteries out three or four times since I bought the system three months ago.

I really am beginning to loathe Sony.

[roboninja]

As much of a PS3 cynic as I am, I have to agree. Complaining about the battery in the controllers before they even ship, much less have shown themselves to be a problem? It seems like people just enjoy complaining for the sake of it.
Your post sucks, I hate it!! (now I feel better) :p

[BenN1ce]

I would say I get at least fifteen hours of usage out of a set of batteries, pretty sure more than that though. I have only swapped batteries out three or four times since I bought the system three months ago.

I really am beginning to loathe Sony.

So in Five years you will buy 60 or more sets of batteries or a charger? That's a good thing for a $50 controller :confused:

[Talanvor]

Um, they'd make more money if they sold batteries (and chargers and cables) in the same manner as Microsoft. I'd HATE to have to send in MY controller and get some replacement from who knows what the HELL they were doing while they were playing Lara Croft, Rumble Roses, DoA, etc etc.

Ew.

[Telefrog]

I'm no electrical engineer, but how is it even possible that you "may not ever" need to replace the batteries? My iPod battery had to be changed after 3 years and it doesn't transmit signals wirelessly all day like a controller would.

[Yeti2005]

As much of a PS3 cynic as I am, I have to agree. Complaining about the battery in the controllers before they even ship, much less have shown themselves to be a problem? It seems like people just enjoy complaining for the sake of it.

I think it's completing valid for people to complain because we've seen this type of behavior with Apple's ipod. The ipod is a nice product but it really sucks having to replace the battery because it's not removeable. My ipod battery lasted 3 years which is decent but it still doesn't lessen the blow that I had to replace it because they didn't engineer the thing to have removeable batteries.

On a less serious note, couldn't they have used the money they saved on not having rumble by including removeable batteries? :)

[soco]

as i said in one of the other 12 threads about this, it's not gonna make a big difference as they're using an open standard (bluetooth) for the controllers, anyone should be able to make a 3rd party controller that's wireless and accepts batteries, and it may even be nicer than the original.

[agentgray]

TRANSLATION: Damage control before the console release.

Something must be wrong with some production units would be my guess.

[bboy]

Will they offer new homes to those whose were burned down by said batteries? Yeah, no thanks SORNY.

[EternalGamer]

They are actually making the controller with the rechargable battery BUILT IN FOR FREE and promising to replace it if anything goes wrong and people are complaining.

So let me get this straight, MS's strategy is better because they make you pay for rechargable batteries and then make you just buy a new one when they go bad? So paying for stuff is bad I suppose? Did you guys complain when Nintendo built in a rechargable battery for the DS or GBA SP? No, of course not, but by this logic, I suppose it would be that you didn't complain because they LET YOU PAY for the replacement. Even for EA this is unbelievable.

[Guy Mariano]

Will they offer new homes to those whose were burned down by said batteries? Yeah, no thanks SORNY.

Nah they will do the same thing MS did when they recallad 14 million power cords.

[Morangie]

Holy shit. Your battery already died on you PS3 controller. Sorry to hear that :rolleyes:
I noticed you didn't say anything about your belief that Sony will not charge for replacing the battery in your controller. Guess fanaticism can only go so far.

[Morangie]

They are actually making the controller with the rechargable battery BUILT IN FOR FREE and promising to replace it if anything goes wrong and people are complaining.

So let me get this straight, MS's strategy is better because they make you pay for rechargable batteries and then make you just buy a new one when they go bad? So paying for stuff is bad I suppose? Did you guys complain when Nintendo built in a rechargable battery for the DS or GBA SP? No, of course not, but by this logic, I suppose it would be that you didn't complain because they LET YOU PAY for the replacement. Even for EA this is unbelievable.
Please point out where in that article it says the replacements will be free.

[Vanthar]

They are actually making the controller with the rechargable battery BUILT IN FOR FREE and promising to replace it if anything goes wrong and people are complaining.

So let me get this straight, MS's strategy is better because they make you pay for rechargable batteries and then make you just buy a new one when they go bad? So paying for stuff is bad I suppose? Did you guys complain when Nintendo built in a rechargable battery for the DS or GBA SP? No, of course not, but by this logic, I suppose it would be that you didn't complain because they LET YOU PAY for the replacement. Even for EA this is unbelievable.


QFT.

Hey look, I never have to buy batteries for my controller, and I don't have to buy a charge kit either, how is that bad?? Your controller should almost never be dead, just plug it in when you're not playing for a while. When you get back to the console, bam gtg. I just don't see how people are making this out to be a bad thing, it's really fucking stupid.

[EternalGamer]

The implication is clearly that they will replace them for free.

[Guy Mariano]

I noticed you didn't say anything about your belief that Sony will not charge for replacing the battery in your controller. Guess fanaticism can only go so far.

What I do believe is it won't cost $45 to replace the battery. Only a moron would say such a thing. I'm sure you know a few of those people :)

[Morangie]

The implication is clearly that they will replace them for free.
Show me where you got that from. All I read is "When and if this happens, then of course we will be providing a service to exchange these items." If it was going to be free, surely they would say so? It would be a great PR point.

What I do believe is it won't cost $45 to replace the battery. Only a moron would say such a thing. I'm sure you know a few of those people :)
I talk with them all the time on message boards.

[EternalGamer]

Since you suck at reading, here you go:

But a Sony spokesperson told GI.biz, "This is a purely speculative story and is largely untrue. The latest generation of Lithium Polymer batteries hardly suffer any memory effect at all, so it'll be many years before there's any degradation in terms of battery performance."

The spokesperson went on to confirm, "When and if this happens, then of course we will be providing a service to exchange these items."

First, they say it is "largely untrue" in responding to claims that the batteries die quickly and that customers will have to shell out more money when the battery dies. Then they go on to specify that they will be offering an EXCHANGE program. Exchange means you trade. It does not mean you buy something. Sometimes you exchange "for a fee." But there is no evidence at all in this interview that they plan on charging a fee. Therefore it is to be assumed it is a regular exchange.

Perhaps you can argue that "largely" implies that there is an exception, but we don't really know what the exception is, or even that it applies to the consumer being charged. The "largely" could refer to the idea that the batteries will, eventually die, thus there is a partial truth to the origianl report. You cannot assume they are going to charge you when you have absolutely no evidence to that end.

[Balthasar]

I'm no electrical engineer, but how is it even possible that you "may not ever" need to replace the batteries? My iPod battery had to be changed after 3 years and it doesn't transmit signals wirelessly all day like a controller would.
Eh? A controller would not be transmitting signals "all day," unless it is being used all day. Furthermore, comparing the Sixaxis battery with an older generation iPod is completely off-base. Li-Poly batteries have improved a lot since 2002. If you haven't noticed, iPod batteries have been getting better with every iteration.

[poopiediaper]

they don't expect the batteries to die anytime soon????? what the hell is that supposed to mean? even if it doesn't die for another two years that's still ridiculous. i don't wanna hafta ever send my controller back just because a freakin battery died. they really just wanna hammer that nail into their coffin don't they

[EternalGamer]

You are talking much longer than 2-3 years. The older generation battieries lasted 3 years easily. And even then you are just talking about a cut in charge time. There is a very good chance these would last well into the PS4's lifetime.

[KNOTE]

A service is something you pay for. Sorry guys... My guess is they're banking you won't care about replacing the battery anyway.

[Odyzen]

EternalGamer, you aren't actually talking to any real people here. These are all bots. They were put in place with the EvAv/Xbox 360 shilling agreement. As you can see the AI may seem really good but it's all really predictable. ;)

[51|RandoM]

I bet there will be less PS3 battery replacements than X360 console replacments ;)


hahahahaha! :D

[Furtive]

They are actually making the controller with the rechargable battery BUILT IN FOR FREE

I wouldn't call it free. After all they are $50

Did you guys complain when Nintendo built in a rechargable battery for the DS

Last I checked, I could order a replacement battery for my DS:L and replace it myself for much less than buying a new DS:L. I'm not trying to troll you Dan but that interview wasn't very specific on the details of any future replacement/exchange progam. Until Sony confirms a pricepoint I'm guessing there will be a small fee to replace the battery just like iPod does. Either way I still say this is bad design. I like having extra rechargables batteries on hand to throw in my wavebird, logitech mouse, phone etc when they go down.

[Morangie]

You cannot assume they are going to charge you when you have absolutely no evidence to that end.
But you can assume they won't charge you when you have absolutely no evidence to that end?

I just don't see a large corporation doing something for free (that isn't caused by a fault/incompetence) that they could charge for. I guess you're just a hell of a lot more optimistic than I am.

[Worldcrafter]

I opened the comments thinking "Finally, some PS3 news that won't get spun in a negative way!" but god damn, there are some here who absolutely must make Sony the bad guy no matter what they do! I can't wait for the PS3 to finally be released so we can have some actual news and stop this pointless speculation.

[Gorvi]

But you can assume they won't charge you when you have absolutely no evidence to that end?

I just don't see a large corporation doing something for free (that isn't caused by a fault/incompetence) that they could charge for. I guess you're just a hell of a lot more optimistic than I am.

The point needs to be made that if Sony really wanted to try to profit on you getting new batteries for their controller, they'd make them user replacable and then have it so you could only use the special Sony PS3 Controller Battery. I find it hard to believe that they'd be charging much for this, or if it'd even be needed much at all. I'm sure we'll see, but this isn't exactly something that's going to be settled even in the next few years, until the controllers actually start dieing.

[Savok]

I have trouble believing a company that wants half the cost of a PS2 when fixing one before even knowing what's wrong, will go and do something useful like free replacement controllers when their batteries die.

[Johan]

Deceptive thread title...sounded like there was already a defect in PS3 controllers, and they were replacing them as we speak...

*Hugs 360*

[Gorvi]

Deceptive thread title...sounded like there was already a defect in PS3 controllers, and they were replacing them as we speak...

*Hugs 360*

I had considered saying dead PS3 controllers, but that seemed to be almost more misleading. I just went with the title of the original story.

[Loganrapp]

If controllers start 'asploding, then I'll get pissed.

Though it is a bit curious that before anything even ships, they've got PR saying, "hey, we'll replace the controllers if your battery dies! But, uh, don't worry, it won't ever happen, we promise!"

It could be something inoculous, just trying to get some positive "we're on your side" news out there for the PS3 release.

I won't trash Sony on this one, yet. I'm just saying - why would they even need to say it if there wasn't a problem already? Just seems odd. Not that there's anything wrong with odd.

[Gorvi]

If controllers start 'asploding, then I'll get pissed.

Though it is a bit curious that before anything even ships, they've got PR saying, "hey, we'll replace the controllers if your battery dies! But, uh, don't worry, it won't ever happen, we promise!"

It could be something inoculous, just trying to get some positive "we're on your side" news out there for the PS3 release.

I won't trash Sony on this one, yet. I'm just saying - why would they even need to say it if there wasn't a problem already? Just seems odd. Not that there's anything wrong with odd.

The entire article was in response to a question gameindustry.biz asked a Sony rep because of the story yesterday about the batteries not being user replaceable.

[Morangie]

The point needs to be made that if Sony really wanted to try to profit on you getting new batteries for their controller, they'd make them user replacable and then have it so you could only use the special Sony PS3 Controller Battery. I find it hard to believe that they'd be charging much for this, or if it'd even be needed much at all. I'm sure we'll see, but this isn't exactly something that's going to be settled even in the next few years, until the controllers actually start dieing.
But you do need that special Sony PS3 controller battery. You just can't buy it separately.

[Loganrapp]

The entire article was in response to a question gameindustry.biz asked a Sony rep because of the story yesterday about the batteries not being user replaceable.

Oh, well, then people are getting really retarded over this.

[Guy Mariano]

But you do need that special Sony PS3 controller battery. You just can't buy it separately.

Kind of like that overpriced hard drive on that other console :rolleyes:

[Morangie]

Kind of like that overpriced hard drive on that other console :rolleyes:
You don't need the 360 HDD, you just should have had to need it. Good luck playing on your PS3 without a battery in the controller.

[Guy Mariano]

You don't need the 360 HDD, you just should have had to need it. Good luck playing on your PS3 without a battery in the controller.

I won't need luck. I'd just plug it in :D

[Gorvi]

You don't need the 360 HDD, you just should have had to need it. Good luck playing on your PS3 without a battery in the controller.

And good luck saving any game files or downloading anything off of LIVE without an HD or an overpriced memory card. :p

[KingGorilla]

Just seems like a dumb thing to do. Would have been much easier to just have a detachable battery. I mean when my controller dies am I supposed to send it to them and wait controllerless while they fix it or send me a new one? Stupid.

It's also convenient to have a removable battery so that you can keep hot spares and never have to keep your controller plugged in.

Having an internal battery just makes no sense at all.
Plus it is nice to spend more money on extra peripherals right?

[Morangie]

And good luck saving any game files or downloading anything off of LIVE without an HD or an overpriced memory card. :p
Good luck saving any game files or downloading anything off PS3 online without a working controller :D

I won't need luck. I'd just plug it in :D
Wired controllers for wireless controller prices. Enjoy.

[Gorvi]

Good luck saving any game files or downloading anything off PS3 online without a working controller :D

Touche :p

[BlackPete]

The implication is clearly that they will replace them for free.

This coming from the guy who spun Sony's fear-mongering ads quite nicely :rolleyes:

So it's acceptable to take implications instead of taking the words literally now?

[Crenor]

knowing Sony, a resonable fee for a $600 gaming console should only be $30-40, SUCH A BARGIN!!

[dirtystreetz]

Well no fucking shit they will provide a service for changing the batteries. For a small fee.
My thoughts exactly

[OrangePulp]

Looks like the Sony hate squad is out in force today. Way to ruin the thread with pointless bullshit, guys. Hold off on the rants until a couple years down the road, when peoples controllers might start to fail.

Does anyone happen to know whether they actually are using a specific, custom-made battery, or whether it would be something more general that you could get at a battery-specific store? If it was something general, you might be able to replace it yourself; unless the motion sensing apparatus makes the controller a lot more complicated, the base design is easy to take apart and put back together.

[AbinSur]

The major point of contention here is not that the battery in the PS3 controller might have to be replaced. I'm sure that the batteries Sony is using will work for a very long time through countless chargings. The problem is charging the controller. When the controller runs out of juice, how fast can I get it recharged and get back into play?
When I play my XBox or PS2, I keep the controllers next to the machine when I'm not using them. I grab one, take it with me to the couch, and play. When I'm done, I take the controller back to the entertainment center and set it next to the machine (so the wires don't lay all over the living room).
Now, with the 360 wireless controllers, the workflow (playflow?) is different. My 360 controller is kept near the couch, next to the TV remote. I never have to go near my entertainment center. If my controller runs out of juice, I pop the battery out, get a fresh one, and pop it in. The old battery goes to the charger. My set up does not change.
With the PS3 controller, I can't do that. When I'm done playing, I have to put the controller on a charge base (or plug it in somewhere), and there are no plugs next to my couch. If I'm playing and the controller runs out of juice, I either have to stop playing, get a different controller, or possibly plug the controller in to something and let it charge while I play (and there are no plugs next to my couch).
Untouchable batteries are fine for something like an iPod, which has to be plugged in to sync up anyway. But wireless controllers do not need to be plugged in to anything for any reason other than charging.