"Pet" Owners See Doom for Sony

[Borgboy]

In a surprising move (http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/ptech/02/02/goodbye.aibo.ap/index.html) last week, Sony announced it was pulling the plug on its Aibo; the world's first mass-market robot, a dog. Owners were quite disappointed, expressing their concern about lack of support in the future. Sony has promised to provide maintenance for seven years after production is halted, but that wasn't enough to convince many Aibo owners that Sony is going down.

Masato Maruyama, an engineer, believes Sony isn't just hurting Aibo owners, who feel as if they're being told their pets have just seven more years to live. "I feel the decision to withdraw from a product that's so representative of Sony heralds an end for Sony as a global leader," he said.

Richard Walkus, a Madison, New Jersey, man who has a Web site devoted to Aibo, concurs. "They lost something," he said of Sony. "They lost stature."
It's probably a good thing that Sony is focusing in, but it's still a sad story for those who so dearly love their pet Aibo. A lot of Sony haters have been predicting their down fall lately; it's kind of scary to hear it coming from people who truly like Sony and their products.

[Grifter]

]It's probably a good thing that Sony is focusing in, but it's still a sad story for those who so dearly love their pet Aibo. A lot of Sony haters have been predicting their down fall lately; it's kind of scary to hear it coming from people who truly like Sony and their products.[/I]

I don't think it's just the haters. No empire last forever

[Pkwarts]

No way the Aibo dog will be the reason of Sony's downfall. Maybe if Sony would kill Lassie....

[Spigot]

In a surprising move (http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/ptech/02/02/goodbye.aibo.ap/index.html) last week, Sony announced it was pulling the plug on its Aibo; the world's first mass-market robot, a dog. Owners were quite disappointed, expressing their concern about lack of support in the future.
It's probably a good thing that Sony is focusing in, but it's still a sad story for those who so dearly love their pet Aibo.
Maybe it's just me, but I personally think that it's sad if you 'dearly love' a robotic dog. Granted, I'm rather ambivalent to loving a real dog (cats, on the other hand...).

I just wouldn't be shedding a tear because my robotic novelty dog only has 7 more years to live. That's 49 years in Aibo years!

[Citizen Philip]

lol the robot dog owners are up in arms!

maybe they can order an angry mob with pitchfork and torches (optional) robots.

[Cha-Ka]

Wow, Microsoft really has some catching up to do if they're going to compete in the robot pet euthanasia war.

[The Continental]

lol the robot dog owners are up in arms!

maybe they can order an angry mob with pitchfork and torches (optional) robots.

Do three people really constitute a mob?

[StANTo]

Perhaps they're just focussing on a more advanced doggy product.

[destoo]

lol the robot dog owners are up in arms!

maybe they can order an angry mob with pitchfork and torches (optional) robots.


No. They won't need to. They just need to pick up the 3rd party head mounted laser attachment and send the dogs to do the job themselves.

I just hope that when they do sunset the dog they release all specs and information to allow the homebrew scene to thrive.. I think the soft and specs are pretty closed right now even if some have already made custom patches to their aibots.

[Grimmjow]

dang..i was seriously thinking bout getting one of these...jsut to see hpw it would react with my lil dog :)

[Borgboy]

Maybe it's just me, but I personally think that it's sad if you 'dearly love' a robotic dog.

Haha. I never said that it wasn't. :p I did say it was a sad story for them, which is true; they seem quite broken up about it. I just thought the story (and what they said about Sony) was very interesting, and was curious what everyone thought, so I posted it. However, since so often people complain of a heavy anti-Sony slant here, I tried to keep it from being too opinionated. :)

[Dr Quincy]

dang..i was seriously thinking bout getting one of these...jsut to see hpw it would react with my lil dog :)

Naturally it would assimilate it into the collective AIBO hive mind by inserting a Memory Stick Pro in its anus.

[Dag-Sabot]

Whats that Aibo? SONY's stuck down the well?! OMG!!!

*Im holding out for the beer fetching Robo-Girlfriend.

[Crono]

Get a real dog, you know... one that poops something other than batteries?

*Checks e-bay for Aibo prices*

[Stormwatcher]

I don't get how the dropping of Aibo means the death of Sony. I really don't.

[Dark Hamlet]

This is obviously just a sign that PS3 development is really getting under way. The newest feature on the console is that it will walk to the fridge and get you a drink every time you do something impressive in a game. Sony figures that it will be much cheaper to add this feature if they use unsold Aiba parts (legs, microchip brain, etc.). Unfortunately, PETA is offering a large amount of resistance due to the inhumane treatment of robotic animals. Read the full story at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarcasm. :D

[TheEpicOfTyler]

I wonder why this is frontpage news on a gaming site.

[Royal Fool]

...maybe the people that own Aibos are allergic to real pets?

Just a thought.

[Sl1pstream]

Or they don't have time for real pets. You know, the ones that leave a corpse if you don't feed them.

[Ronberk]

I'm sure dealing with pet feces is the high point of every normal person's day.

[Neosho]

Wow, Microsoft really has some catching up to do if they're going to compete in the robot pet euthanasia war.

Quoted for making me laugh out loud. I don't know why, it was funny.

[mister_slim]

Wow, Microsoft really has some catching up to do if they're going to compete in the robot pet euthanasia war.
Yeah, but MS is leading in the game console euthanasia war.