Sony no longer researching CELL 2, abandons architecture.

It's funny how Sony succeeded by creating a fairly simple yet powerful and easy to develop platform, and then forgot all about it and made a complex retarded more hype than power platform. I doubt PS3 will be killed off. Just like the PS2's shitty design, it'll still ride it out because many people are Playstation kiddies or hate M$.

Sony did make good products a long time ago. Now it's all junk, but then again these days most stuff is junk reguardless of the brand. Now most shit is made in fucking china with lead paint and toxic glue. Yum.

 

It's funny how the Sony discman I got in highschool works without a hitch more than a decade later, while the little Sony mp3 player I got for when I work out stopped working after like a year.

 

Oddly enough, my Sony CD player is one of the most trustworthy devices I've ever owned. My first PS2 showed signs of distress so I sold it before it could break (although I'm told it's still working), and PS2s just feel like a shitty build quality to begin with.

Would I buy another Sony CD player? I'd likely hunt down the same one I have now, which I believe is approaching the seven-year-old mark.

As far as their Cell processor, I really don't know what makes Sony think they can get away with selling overpriced, overrated hardware and expect to profit.

 

I'll 2nd that remark

Also, I am glad to hear this. The only sony product I own is PS2 and that is because of the Sega Ages 2500 series released in Japan as well as the arcade games released on the console. I have no interest in ever getting a PS3.

I know sega departed out of the hardware buisness on their own terms...but I would love to see sony drop out as well...probbably more or less because I am still aggrivated with how thier Ps2 console's hype aided in the quicker demise of the Dreamcast here in the US.

 

This is really just the continuation of the fab-lite strategy. Rather than pay directly for research at 45nm & below, they're outsourcing. From the reports I've seen, they are not saying that they will never be using cell chipsets below 65nm - just that they will no longer be directly part of the R&D for this.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/other/display/20071018114439.html
http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUST34822220071107

 

I never had any probs with my SONY-stuff.

My CD-player: Sony CDP-101 from 1983 is still connected to my Hi-Fi in the living-room. A rock of a player !

My in-car CD-player: Sony CDX R7 from 1985. Sadly doesn't fit in my Toyota Prius. Am thinking of building a case for it, Sonys first in-car CD-player.

My DVD-Player: Sony DVP-S7000 from 1997. Sonys very first DVD-player, also still connected in my living-room.

My PS-3 also hooked up.


I also own mint/never used SCPH-1000 and SCPH-10000. These are the only Sony-machines which I have given a special resting place, here. all the others have been used and never ever given me grief.

SONY isn't that bad .

;-)

 

it is not indication that their next home console won't use a Cell derivative. They're just not chipping-in , hence don't own rights to future products. This means that if they ever use the chip again (ie next console) they ll have the same break-point issues that MS had with the first xbox.

 

As a consumer it might not have been so noticeable, but for many years I worked in retail for one of the UK's largest suppliers. We tracked faulty units in order to keep tabs. It became very apparent really quickly to us that two companies in particular tended to dominate our returns list. We initially assumed it was due to higher volumes of sales of those 2 brands, however when we looked at it more closely we were shocked to discover it wasn't!

Sony was one of those companies. Having determined this, we also decided to look at the time it took Sony to repair items and get them back to us, the costs involved and whether the same items were subsequently returned for further work.

I'm not going to give you the statistics as it was a long time ago and cannot remember, but it might not come as any surprise to you that they were deemed expensive, slow to respond and often inefficient as many units were simply returned for more repair work.

We even got to the point where we saw Sony products being returned from repair with "No fault found" and immediately kept them aside because we knew a high percentage would be going back again. Remember, we had a warehouse of products so we are talking thousands of products over a number of years.

My respect for certain Sony products nosedived and there appeared to be a direct link with when Sony shifted it's production to cheaper, 3rd party and cost cutting lines. In order to streamline and become more profitable Sony sadly gave up some of it's quality and service. In the 80's they were one of the best brands going, now I know I can find a better product more cheaply if I hunt around.

This is one reason I am amazed that Sony has been so efficient when it came to damage to their gaming equipment. I cannot fault them on that score.

 

Thanks, that was my point really, but everybody else was too busy stomping on Sony to look through the rather sensationalist nature of the start post...

(to chip in, my Sony LD player is still going strong, my Discman as well (after going through a LOT of abuse), I've had a few PS1/2 units exhibit drive problems but that's bound to happen to CD-based hardware)

 

I'd just like to chip in that my original, decade old, PS1 still works like a charm!

 

Yet another melodrammatic doom thread.

Sony has decided to outsource future CPU development because the return on R&D is insufficient to make it cost effective. Big deal. It makes sense to me.

As long as they don't half-arse it like Microsoft then all will be fine.

 

I know - just backing you up, buddy! :nod:

As for quality control side of things - I've heard enough reports to suspect that there has been a correllation between moving manufacture from Japan (where it's expensive) & quality issues. However, (*touch wood*) I've also had good experiences with the Sony kit that I have. Stuff they made in the late 80s - mid 90s seemed to be solid as a rock, but all my gaming stuff is later than that & is pretty much all still going strong - mind you, nearly all of that was made in JP.

 

On a not really related note, when I was in Sudan I noticed the place is practically flooded by Chinese stuff. Heck, I bought a turban and it turned out to be made in China!
However, if something was made in Japan, it would have "MADE IN JAPAN" printed on it in HUGE letters like it was a major selling point, or even "Made with parts from Japan". Apparently even they know already that it's better than China-made stuff

 

There are 2 reasons I wont buy anything Sony:
1.Their media division is doing all kinds of nasty crap (rootkits on audio CDs, heavy DRM on media of all kinds, lobbying governments around the world for laws that serve no purpose other than to benifit the media companies bottom line etc)
and 2.Their consumer electronics division (mostly at the behest of their media side) adds DRM and crap to their products (i.e. there are things you can do with products from other manufacturers that you cant do with Sony stuff)

 

the only sony thing i have is a phone and to be honest it does kinda suck.
i wouldnt like to see them leave the games industry it would certainly be a great shame if they did

 

Have I told either of you that you're both awesome?

 

Well a certain fruit based computer computer help fund a certain powerpc cpu and then dropped it much later and no one is going oh fruit based compter company are doomed now. So Sony aren't writing cheques for Cell based research, all 3 consoles on the market are using PowerPC based chips and the next home consoles are also likely to use PowerPC based chips...

 

OMG U R AL SCH NINTENDO FANBOIS!!11111!!!11!!!
Because someone would say it eventually, no matter how sensationalist the initial post is.

 

I'll make it simple to understand:

Sony makes the CELL to use it on SEVERAL products, like the (at the time) upcoming PS3, camcorders, TVs, set-top boxes, etc...

Sony expends more money that they tought they would on R&D.

The PS3 gets released and aside from the already old GPU and same memory bottleneck from PS2, the CELL is considered good yet difficult to code for.

Sony acknowledges they cant use the CELL in any other products, and that theres a big possibility that the PS4 will use a completely different architecture.

Sony drops the fabs and now the R&D costs.

Overall: big deal! I'll say the lack of any exciting exclusives besides GT5 and MGS4 is a much bigger threat than the CELL being terminated.

More like PS3=Saturn, and if they keep cutting costs I'll doubt theres gonna be a "Dreamcast" in the future.

About chinese manufacturing, they suck big time, and if any of you think chinese-made electronics are bad you should see their cars...