Boston to Bill Sony for Chaotic PS3 Launch. [Archive]

View Full Version : Boston to Bill Sony for Chaotic PS3 Launch.

Dr.Finger

11-18-2006, 07:03 PM

link (http://www1.whdh.com/news/articles/local/BO34376/), via Joystiq (http://www.joystiq.com/2006/11/18/boston-mayor-billing-sony-for-copley-chaos/)
Mayor Thomas Menino blames the Sony Corporation for the mess the PlayStation 3 release caused at Copley Plaza.

Menino says he will bill the company for crowd control.

Twelve police cruisers had to be dispatched when an unruly crowd of 500 rushed the doors of Copley Plaza's Sony Style at 5 a.m. yesterday.

More on the mess at Copley Plaza here (http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/11/18/playstation_3_hopefuls_overwhelm_mall/).

So does Boston have a legitimate beef with Sony? Could Sony have taken reasonable action to prevent the chaos? Or was this out of their hands?

Grimmjow

11-18-2006, 07:10 PM

LOL

so there going to bill Sony due to the stores not having a legit ordering system? wow

Draft

11-18-2006, 07:11 PM

GunnyMo

11-18-2006, 07:19 PM

Just another dumb politician trying to garner votes on the "anti-games" bandwagon. And I agree with what Draft said. :D

Heptoid

11-18-2006, 07:19 PM

Mubbles is an idiot.

Though I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't at least a little something out of Sony.

Adam Blue

11-18-2006, 07:21 PM

With so few systems available at launch, this should have been a first come first serve through Sony.com.

I think it's idiculous for a company to send out a limited supplies of an item, and have double the amount of people scrambling for them.

WhiteCrow

11-18-2006, 07:25 PM

While I'm not sure how actionable that is, it certainly is funny. I knew people in the area who went to try to secure a PS3, but nobody I knew was going to the Copley Sony Style store for one. 500 people? That's nuts.

Sloth

11-18-2006, 07:46 PM

Its the stores fault for not having an organized system to sell the PS3. Sony is certainly worthy of scorn and ridicule, but they aren't legally liable.

WastelandDan

11-18-2006, 07:53 PM

Can he reasonably blame Sony, the creators of PS3, for the general insanity surrounding launch? I think not.

Can he reasonably blame Sony, the owner and operator of the Sony Style store at Copley Plaza, for not doing a better job of controlling the crowd? I would say yes.

Actually, you guys aren't entirely right. I'm taking a Social Psychology and the Legal System course at my grad school and we've been covering past legal cases taken from the LEXIS-NEXIS legal database. Recently we covered a case where the broadcast corporation RKO lost a court case and the resulting appeal dealing with a contest they held that resulted in a man's death.

Essentially, they held a contest where a DJ drove around broadcasting his location and the first person to find him in person would win a cash prize. The demographic of the DJ's program was younger teenagers and the contest was held during the summer. Two teenagers in separate cars located the DJ but failed to collect the prize, so they decided to follow him to his next location and thus be the first persons there. However, their driving was so reckless they forced a man off of the road and he died from the resulting crash. Even though nobody from RKO actually forced the man off of the road, and it was done by two teenagers completely unconnected with the RKO corporation, had they not come up with a contest that provoked people into acting dangerously nobody would have died.

Following already standing precedent, the judge found that RKO was responsible for the death of the man and was fined in the sum of $300,000. The ruling was made on the basis that when holding a contest or public event, the parent corporation responsible for it must plan for possibly harmful results of said event/contest.

So, whether you agree with it or not, it is indeed possible that Sony could be found guilty should there be a lawsuit, and there's enough legal precedent to show that they could be held responsible for any injuries.

The legal system; you don't gots to like it but it don't hardly matter either way.

jonat3

11-18-2006, 07:54 PM

As far as i'm concerned, Draft summed it up nicely. That's all that needs to be said about it.

pacman

11-18-2006, 07:58 PM

I think this is out of hand. Sony clearly has its share of problems of late, but this isn't one of them. You can't blame the company for the frenzy the system has created; all you can blame them for is having a horrible distribution plan for the system. That alone does not amount to making them liable for all these situations across the country

ddbrown30

11-18-2006, 08:03 PM

Actually, you guys aren't entirely right. I'm taking a Social Psychology and the Legal System course at my grad school and we've been covering past legal cases taken from the LEXIS-NEXIS legal database. Recently we covered a case where the broadcast corporation RKO lost a court case and the resulting appeal dealing with a contest they held that resulted in a man's death.

Completely different scenario. You're talking about a radio station purposely causing a riot-like situation. Sony is simply releasing a popular product. There's no way that they will come out legally liable in this. Maybe, MAYBE, the involved store might be if the prosocution can prove that their lack of organization resulted in the mad scramble to be the first in.

Megalith

11-18-2006, 08:06 PM

They should be sued for having no games at launch.

J Arcane

11-18-2006, 08:14 PM

You can't blame the company for the frenzy the system has created

Yes, yes you can. Especially when they have deliberately generated much of that frenzy themselves.

Unless you're telling me that two years of press announcements and advertising was all a figment of the world's collective imagination.

Thenetcase

11-18-2006, 08:16 PM

I think that it's stupid that they cay try to blame sony for this. They should blame the retailers.

Elrando Horse

11-18-2006, 08:25 PM

I think that it's stupid that they cay try to blame sony for this. They should blame the retailers.

Which would be a Sony branded "Sony Style" store.

Sony created a massive buzz for the console, then they failed to deliver adequate launch numbers. The Ps3 should not have been launched this early.

Banacek

11-18-2006, 08:26 PM

Boston Police can't handle a PS3 rush? Boston better hope that they don't have any real emergencies that they need the police for.

Elrando Horse

11-18-2006, 08:28 PM

Boston Police can't handle a PS3 rush? Boston better hope that they don't have any real emergencies that they need the police for.

A 650 person potential riot isn't exactly a minor situation.

Nimh

11-18-2006, 08:28 PM

This can be a little tricky as I see both sides of the coin. However, with any rather large public event such as the Sony launch at the Sony Store (which is I believe this where this situation happened), it is the responsibility of the vendors hosting the event to have adequate security and safety available. I do in fact believe that Sony did not have the public's safety in mind and wanted mass hysteria to help promote their product. As a result, as crazy as it may seem... the Mayor may have a valid point...

Elrando Horse

11-18-2006, 08:42 PM

Sony Style employee "ZOMG ZERG RUSH!!!!!11!!!"

WastelandDan

11-18-2006, 08:49 PM

Boston Police can't handle a PS3 rush? Boston better hope that they don't have any real emergencies that they need the police for.

We already know that Boston police can't handle anything. Remember when the Red Sox won the world series? They not only completely failed to handle the crowd-control appropriately, they accidentally killed a college student using equipment that was designed to be non-lethal. It wasn't because the equipment was faulty either, they just used excessive force in detaining the student and it led to his death.

Adam Blue

11-18-2006, 09:03 PM

Some of you got it right, but because of Sony releasing such a hot, hyped item, in very limited quantities, with double the demand than is available, they are creating a dangerous scenario.

J3DI

11-18-2006, 10:13 PM

They could've announced how many systems they had... that would have reduced the numbers significantly.

Ultima Thulian

11-18-2006, 10:30 PM

Sony Style employee "ZOMG ZERG RUSH!!!!!11!!!"

http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o110/ultima13/zergrush9fi.gif

Draft pretty much said.

On another note: Am I the only one growing weary of Megalith's trolling?

f1sh3r

11-18-2006, 10:30 PM

They could've announced how many systems they had... that would have reduced the numbers significantly.

they lied many times about the number of systems being released, didn't you see? it wouldn't have mattered, as long as there was a first come first serve way to get a system this type of thing was bound to happen.

FreezaSama

11-18-2006, 10:59 PM

As much of a "ha ha" as this gets from me, it's not Sony's fault. It's just a bullshit attempt by a city to get its hands on some easy revenue.

jeffool

11-18-2006, 11:03 PM

I was going to say "As much as I love sticking it to multi-billion dollar corporations, Sony's innocent. You have to blame the store for this." Then I kept reading and saw it was a Sony store. Wee!

51|RandoM

11-18-2006, 11:41 PM

Yes, yes you can. Especially when they have deliberately generated much of that frenzy themselves.

Unless you're telling me that two years of press announcements and advertising was all a figment of the world's collective imagination.

If that is true, we need to sue Christianity for every shopping incident that ever occurred on Black Friday.

kid cabelgo

11-18-2006, 11:53 PM

If that is true, we need to sue Christianity for every shopping incident that ever occurred on Black Friday.

Do it!

The Catholic church has definitely got the greenbacks to spare. Mormons too!

You and me buddy. Lets take 'em for all they've got!

Elrando Horse

11-18-2006, 11:56 PM

If that is true, we need to sue Christianity for every shopping incident that ever occurred on Black Friday.

Christianity has a lot to account for.
But this isn't the place for such disscusions, please don't bring religion into this, it'll just get ugly.

wyeast

11-18-2006, 11:59 PM

Can he reasonably blame Sony, the owner and operator of the Sony Style store at Copley Plaza, for not doing a better job of controlling the crowd? I would say yes.
(Quoted, lest we forget)

Yes.

51|RandoM

11-19-2006, 12:00 AM

Christianity has a lot to account for.
But this isn't the place for such disscusions, please don't bring religion into this, it'll just get ugly.

I'm sorry, but I don't believe in categorizing religion as a taboo subject just to keep things from "getting ugly".

If they get ugly, that says more about religion than I myself ever could.

Ponder that while you're in church today.

Slack3r78

11-19-2006, 12:10 AM

If that is true, we need to sue Christianity for every shopping incident that ever occurred on Black Friday.
Random, I know you're smarter than that. Thanksgiving is essentially a secular holiday.

pacman

11-19-2006, 12:12 AM

Random, I know you're smarter than that. Thanksgiving is essentially a secular holiday.

Hey, that means we can sue the government. Even better, says I :D

Elrando Horse

11-19-2006, 12:18 AM

Ponder that while you're in church today.

If you're thinking I'm a particularly religous person, I'm not.
I've just seen a lot of fights started over such things.
Anyway, moving on...

F3nyx

11-19-2006, 12:23 AM

I'm sorry, but I don't believe in categorizing religion as a taboo subject just to keep things from "getting ugly".

If they get ugly, that says more about religion than I myself ever could.

Ponder that while you're in church today.All he's doing is attempting to prevent people like you from turning this thread into a shitfest.

J Arcane

11-19-2006, 12:28 AM

If that is true, we need to sue Christianity for every shopping incident that ever occurred on Black Friday.
Hooray for completely irrelevant flamebait comparisons! Yay!

Mr.Zip

11-19-2006, 12:33 AM

http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o110/ultima13/zergrush9fi.gif

Draft pretty much said.

On another note: Am I the only one growing weary of Megalith's trolling?

That video is awesome! I tip my cap to you.

(but if it really was a rush it would show zerglings, not hydras. yeah, i'm a starcaft nerd.)

VenomUSMC

11-19-2006, 12:48 AM

Maybe Sony will send him a PS 3 for his kids and he will drop the bill?

Don't worry for the PS 4 they will activate national guard units.

j00s

11-19-2006, 12:51 AM

Elrando Horse

11-19-2006, 12:58 AM

You know, Sony really is responsible for events like this. They know what they're doing when they hype a console this much when they have so few to ship. They should just wait until they've manufactured enough to meet the launch demand, THEN launch.

Honestly, I'm sick of half-assed launch after half-assed launch. If Sony were to wait another six months to start selling the PS3, I guarantee you it would not have hurt their sales at all, plus, there wouldn't be such a shortage of systems.

I don't think it's about Sony's sales, it's about their competitors.
By having a tangible presence in the marketplace (as minute as it may be) it'll better dissuade people from buying another machine until adequate supplies of PS3 are available.

Of course I could just be talking out my arse.

outontheporch

11-19-2006, 01:05 AM

DylonCorp

11-19-2006, 01:16 AM

If that is true, we need to sue Christianity for every shopping incident that ever occurred on Black Friday.

I know it's late, but isn't Black Friday the day after Thanksgiving? Thanksgiving isn't religious, it's when we celebrate Bub's teaching us to plant for fish-corn bushes.

It is late.

TrackZero

11-19-2006, 02:12 AM

On another note: Am I the only one growing weary of Megalith's trolling?

No, that would be why most of us put him on our ignore lists over a year ago....

Ah...found it, Megalith and Zeal are also both known on other forums, such as GamingForce. They even gave Megalith his own wiki entry:

http://gfw.condign.org/wiki/Megalith

TrackZero

11-19-2006, 02:28 AM

Deadend

11-19-2006, 02:33 AM

Zeal lacks his own entry on there. His redirects to Megalith.

So yeah... Sony hyped the hell out of the system, and said there won't be enough and they knew all about the potential demand. Yet they had their store totally lacking in organization to handle the situation.

Which in my mind means they willfully neglected the situation.

sardonic_wrath

11-19-2006, 04:10 AM

I'm going to take an etic-emic approach and say Sony could be held responsible because they made so few units. When the stores open for something of that importance for this X-mas season, in such limited quantities, there's going to be madness. This could easily have been prevented by Sony. On the other hand, blaming a company for something that happened in a retail store is ludicrous, they should have known.

Royal Fool

11-19-2006, 04:13 AM

No, that would be why most of us put him on our ignore lists over a year ago....

Ah...found it, Megalith and Zeal are also both known on other forums, such as GamingForce. They even gave Megalith his own wiki entry:

http://gfw.condign.org/wiki/Megalith
Yeah, I put Megalith on mine. Zeal is very close to it as well.

Sl1pstream

11-19-2006, 05:19 AM

New Rule: No more wannabe wikis.

OT: I agree with Draft

Dr.Finger

11-19-2006, 05:27 AM

Orphiuchus

11-19-2006, 08:58 AM

This is the stores fault, I dont see how it can be looked at any other way.

That said, I think sony should be billed anyway.

Screw those jerks, screw them in their stupid asses.

51|RandoM

11-19-2006, 09:19 AM

All he's doing is attempting to prevent people like you from turning this thread into a shitfest.

i didn't, he did by responding in such a fasion.

thanks for your input...

If he wants a thread where nothing ever can be compared to any action of anything else except what was explicity stated in the original post, he needs to go somewhere else. He isn't going to get that here... even if I never were to post again.

I don't see anything wrong with a subdiscussion being generated from my comment, especially considering that the original story will die out in a matter of hours... and people can just as easily keep talking about the main topic as freely as they want.

51|RandoM

11-19-2006, 09:23 AM

Random, I know you're smarter than that. Thanksgiving is essentially a secular holiday.

You're correct, I am smarter than that---which might be why I know Black Friday has a hell of a lot more to do with Christmas than it does with Thanksgiving.

Black Friday isn't about Thanksgiving. Black Friday is about Christmas.

Is it the Friday after Thanksgiving? Yes, coincidentally.

Is it the start of when retailers finally get into "the black" due primarily to Christmas shopping? Yes.

I can't blame Chrisitianity for the commercialization of Christmas, but there is still a link.

51|RandoM

11-19-2006, 09:24 AM

I know it's late, but isn't Black Friday the day after Thanksgiving? Thanksgiving isn't religious, it's when we celebrate Bub's teaching us to plant for fish-corn bushes.

It is late.

Black Friday has much more to do with Christmas(Christmas shopping) than it has to do with Thanksgiving(coincidental timing).

In other words, without Christmas, there would still be a black friday, but it would probably fall elsewhere in the calendar(assuming we returned to rational spending habits spread throughout the year instead of concentrated pre-Christmas).

Baron Samedi

11-19-2006, 09:34 AM

I can't blame Chrisitianity for the commercialization of Christmas, but there is still a link.

That and Protestants for Capitalism. Of course, the same people would then argue that Xmas was originally a pagan holiday, and therefore all this Christ boohaha is destroying progress. All hail the Christian bogeyman!

michaelwhite

11-19-2006, 02:06 PM

Where's 50 cent when you need him?

F3nyx

11-19-2006, 07:04 PM

Where's 50 cent when you need him?In da club, obviously.

Zechs01

11-20-2006, 08:37 AM

If i was Sony i would tell him to go fuck himself ;)