Gaming can be, well, a kind of consumer-unfriendly industry. Players who build and upgrade their own PCs, though, usually expect a level of control over their experience that console gaming may not offer. And anything that changes that is not likely to go over well, as a change to certain Nvidia software is demonstrating. [More]
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Man Skips Around Dell Hell And Gets Free Repair
By 5.17.11
One of our reader’s Dell laptop had a defective NVIDIA chip and wouldn’t you know it, it was out of warranty and he had missed the window for getting it replaced as provided by a class action lawsuit by a month. It was dying for exactly the same reasons as defined in the lawsuit, but he just barely didn’t make the deadline. He didn’t let that stop him. [More]
FTC Sues Intel For Decade Of Illegal Sales Tactics
By 12.17.09
The FTC sued microprocessor giant Intel yesterday, alleging the company had engaged in illegal sales tactics for the past 10 years, relying on backroom strongarming instead of over technical innovation to maintain market dominance. [More]
Dell Lies About Repairs, Ruins Vacation
By 10.20.09
Michael emailed us, and Dell, from a loaner computer while he’s on a trip. His own laptop isn’t working, and thanks to a steady stream of broken promises and incorrect information, now he’s stuck without access to the software and development files he needs for his work.
Top 5 Guerilla Marketing Mishaps
By 5.8.08
In the never-ending quest for free publicity, guerilla marketers have gone through great lengths to try to make a big splash. Many guerilla marketers will often concoct stunts that are risky or illegal to grab the publics’ attention. Some stunts go over better than others while a few completely backfire. As a tribute to these foolhardy souls, WebUrbanist has put together their top 5 mishaps in guerilla marketing. The list, inside…
Dear Nvidia’s Mister Perez…
By 2.9.06
We’re passing on a message from our buddies over at Church of the Customer Blog:
Nvidia ‘Focus Group’ Member Details Hidden Program
By 2.8.06
For the record, while there are certainly “Manchurian Fans” being hired to promote products in the games and/or gaming hardware world, Nvidia and AEG have both clearly denied that they have hired stealth marketers to create personas to promote Nvidia products. We have no reason not to believe them and have stated that elsewhere on the site, but am putting it up again just to outline it. (Naturally, we’d like to know who is hiring these stealth marketers, so feel free to pass on anything regarding this you feel germane.)
Nvidia’s Perez: “They act as our ‘voice'”
By 2.6.06
Mr. Perez writes, in response to our previous questions:
I would hardly say ‘unwilling’ – I responed on Wed and Thursday.
Nvidia’s Derek Perez Responds
By 2.6.06
Prompted by our questions about Nvidia’s marketing practices, Public Relations Director Derek Perez sent us this response:
Hey Joel.
Did Nvidia Hire Online Actors to Promote Their Products?
By 2.6.06
About a week ago, The Consumerist stumbled upon claims made by various gaming websites (specifically, Elite Bastards and [Update: a poster on the forums at] Beyond3D) that graphics chip manufacturer Nvidia, in cooperation with the Arbuthnot Entertainment Group (AEG), had seeded various gaming and PC hardware enthusiast sites with pro-Nvidia shills. That is to say, that AEG would hire employees to create ‘personas’ in various gaming communities, slowly building up the trust of other members by frequent posting unrelated to Nvidia, to later cash in that trust with message board postings talking up the positive qualities of Nvidia’s products.
Consumers Speak: Circuit City and PNY’s Awful RMA
By 1.13.06
t resist. I picked up the PNY 6800GT video card. Well on my 2^nd day of owning the card the first contact point on the AGP bus managed to burn to a crisp. Since there is not a Circuit City anywhere near my town of Bumsville, KS I was forced to start making calls. Circuit City happily obliged that it would be much easier and quicker if I just went through PNY for my warranty. Well those assholes lied. Two months later I had myself a brand new refurbished replacement card.
