If you haven’t experienced the problem yourself, you may not know that Sony’s PlayStation 4 is a magnet for cockroaches. While the presence of bugs is enough to make Sony refuse to work on your console, independent repair shops have the process of debugging a PS4 down. (Note: There are no pictures of roaches in this post, but we do discuss them.) [More]
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Sony Adding (Some) PS4 Games To PlayStation Now Streaming Library
By 3.13.17 — Updated: 5.10.17
A few weeks after Microsoft announced it would offer a new monthly subscription that includes access to downloadable Xbox games, rival Sony says it’s expanding its PlayStation Now library to include some PlayStation 4 titles. [More]
[Update] Sony’s Fall Plans: Two New PS4 Versions, Price Hike For PlayStation Plus
By 8.22.16
Ah, September: time for the kids to head back to school, the air to get a little crisper, and the tech companies to get all their stuff launched so folks can plan to get it before the many-months-long Holiday cycle hits in earnest. And reports say that Sony’s planning not just one but two new PlayStation models for store shelves this year as days shorten. [More]
Sony Confirms It Will Sell A More Powerful PlayStation 4, Codenamed “Neo”
By 6.10.16
If you’ve been waiting breathlessly for a new, more powerful version of the PlayStation 4, take a breath, already: it’s coming, but it won’t be arriving quite as soon as some rumors predicted. [More]
PlayStation VR To Sell For $399, Go On Sale In October
By 3.15.16
After months of guesswork about when Sony would finally release its much-awaited PlayStation VR headset — and for how much — the company finally announced those important details today at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. So, will PS VR be the iPhone of virtual reality — or the 21st century equivalent of the Nintendo Virtual Boy? [More]
Xbox One Will Support Cross-Platform Multiplayer With PS4, PC
By 3.14.16
If you like playing online multiplayer games on your Xbox One but hate that you can never play your pal because she’s a PlayStation 4 devotee, here’s some promising news. [More]
9-Year-Old Opens PS4 Box On Christmas Morning, Finds Block Of Wood
By 12.28.15
Christmas morning is a time for family togetherness, enjoying the delighted faces of children, and surprising loved ones with thoughtful gifts. Unfortunately, wrapping gifts and putting them under the tree until the recipient opens the box means risking a retail hazard: boxes of expensive electronics that contain notepads, bricks, picture frames, or mirrors. This is disturbingly common, and happened to a family in Massachusetts this Christmas. [More]
How My Credit Card Company Helped Save My Broken PS4 When Sony Wouldn’t
By 10.6.15
It’s been 11 months since Michael’s brother PS4 failed, months he’s spent trying to get Sony to fix what should have been covered by the gaming console’s one-year warranty. But because there was no proof of his efforts to have the PlayStation 4 repaired under warranty, prompting Sony to basically shrug and wipe its hands of the situation, Michael had to take another route to victory. [More]
Don’t Expect To Play Your PS3 Games On A PS4 Anytime Soon
By 6.19.15
Owners of Sony’s PlayStation 4 hoping the company would follow in Microsoft’s footsteps and add backwards compatibility to allow PS3 games to be played on the newer console shouldn’t hold their breath, as executives for the electronics company say they have no immediate plans to implement the technology. [More]
Sony Says My PS4 Is Too Infested With Bugs And Dust To Fix Under Warranty, Won’t Offer Proof
By 6.17.15
There’s a certain sense of relief provided by a warranty — when your product stops working, you can just send it in for repairs or sometimes receive a new one to replace it. But Consumerist reader Levi says he found himself out of luck after his PlayStation 4 gave him the “blue light of death,” despite the fact that it was under warranty. [More]
6 Things To Think About Before Paying $50-$70/Month For PlayStation Vue
By 3.18.15
After months of limited testing without a price tag, Sony’s PlayStation Vue live TV streaming service launched today in only a few markets with packages ranging from $50/month to $70/month. Since I live in Philadelphia, one of the launch cities, I was able to get my hands on Vue to determine how it stacks up against basic cable and Dish’s recently debuted Sling TV service. [More]
Sony Extends PlayStation Store Sales While Still Experiencing Connectivity Issues
By 12.30.14
If you have a Sony PlayStation, you’re no doubt aware that the PlayStation Network went down for several days during the Christmas holiday and is still apparently experiencing problems. While the company isn’t yet offering any free stuff or reimbursing PlayStation Plus members for the downtime, it is extending a pair of sales in response to the incident. [More]
Be On The Lookout For Boxes Of Rocks When Shopping For Post-Holiday Deals
By 12.29.14
In the coming weeks, some retailers will be offering deals on unsold stock of popular holiday gift items. Sometimes stores are up-front about whether or not a particular product was previously purchased and returned, while many just put these items back into inventory with the truly new stuff. That’s why you need to open up those boxes before you leave the store — or else risk getting home to find you’ve purchased a box of rocks. [More]
Walmart Closes Now-Infamous Online Price-Matching Loophole
By 11.20.14
It was fabulous news for bargain-hunters when Walmart announced a change to its price-matching policy, allowing shoppers to bring in listings from popular online retailers as long as the items are identical. When some shoppers formulated an evil-genius plan to use fake third-party seller Amazon listings to buy PlayStation 4s for less than 25% of the sticker price, the wording of the original policy technically allowed this to happen. Walmart has responded by changing their policy. [More]
Terrible People Create Fake Amazon Pages, Convince Walmart To Price-Match Them
November 18, 2014
It seemed like a great victory for consumers when Walmart announced that it would price-match select online retailers, including Amazon.com. However, because we’re not evil, we didn’t foresee how some people would misuse the price-matching privilege to scam Wally World into selling them video game consoles at cut-rate prices. [More]
Sony Planning Online Pay-TV Service, Original Programming For PlayStation
By 3.20.14
When the most recent generation of gaming consoles was unveiled, it was Microsoft’s Xbox One that most loudly claimed it wanted to be an all-in-one media center for users, while Sony’s PlayStation 4 seemed intent on being a next-gen gaming device that, like the previous generation, also allowed you to access video feeds through its store and various streaming services. But a new report says that Sony is working on something that would land it squarely in competition with Netflix, Amazon, and cable/satellite operators. [More]
Microsoft Offers $100 Credit For People Who Trade In PS3 For Xbox One
By 1.30.14
Want an Xbox One but you’re put off by the $499 sticker price? If you’re willing to part with your PS3 or certain newer models of the Xbox 360, and you live near a Microsoft store, there’s a deal you might be interested in. [More]
Sony Starts Inviting Users To PlayStation Now Beta Test
By 1.29.14
Sony shook things up a few weeks ago at CES when it announced the impending launch of PlayStation Now, a cloud-based service that could give PS4 owners access to previous-generation games that won’t currently work on the new console and Sony says will eventually let users play PlayStation games without any console at all. This week, the company began sending out the first round of invites to users who registered to become beta testers for PS Now. [More]
