02.15.07
Sony Reps At It Again? (Update)
With the launch of the PS3 occurring in Australia and Europe soon (so much for that promised simultaneous worldwide launch) we should have all expected more Sony BS to pop up any day now. Today’s story might remind of you E3 2006 (RIP E3) where Sony used an Xbox 360 to demo Assassin’s Creed, a game which they swore up and down was exclusive to the PS3. For one thing, the game was not exclusive to the PS3, and was actually just shown at an exclusive Xbox event. The Xbox 360 version was being made well before the PS3 version, and that is why an Xbox 360 unit was being used to demo the then supposed PS3 exclusive in the Sony booth. Anyway, on to the new story.
Down in Australia, this is apparently how Sony chooses to do compete with the Xbox 360. Not by beating them out with quality games or price, but by smoke and mirrors deception, as usual.
These photos were first uploaded on Flickr by the guy who took them. They were taken at a Harvey Norman store, which is an electronics store down in Australia. What exactly is going on here is unclear, but what is clear is that the Xbox 360 is completely hooked up with all the cables it needs, which makes this even more suspicious.
Related: The Life of a Sony Rep
Update: The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the retailer has removed the display. Whereas a Harvey Norman manager described it as “an innocent mistake,” Adrian Christie of Sony Australia thought it was “alarming news.”
Everything Sony is involved in these days is alarming.

asiantribe said,
February 15, 2007 at 12:25 pm
Man… that is so wrong… why the hell they use 360 as a cover? How come Australia didn’t get any PS3 kiosk yet?
DavidGX said,
February 15, 2007 at 12:26 pm
LOL That’s the funniest thing I’ve seen in a week, easy. I really don’t know what to say… lol
UNSCleric said,
February 15, 2007 at 12:28 pm
They probably don’t have any kiosks since all the kiosks here in the USA break within a day of setting them up.,..constant freezing and a black screen on the TV all day is not exactly something that screams buy me. Having an Xbox 360 run a DVD of PS3 videos maybe would though.
DavidGX said,
February 15, 2007 at 12:35 pm
You’re such a liar, Cleric. Sony obviously made the kiosks freeze so people wouldn’t stay on them too long.. everyone has to have a chance to see the future!
lol
DavidGX said,
February 15, 2007 at 12:37 pm
My sister is going to love this. She was once dead-set on buying a ps3 and now wants a 360. I’ve been showing her all these sony-bs stories and that little sony fanboy inside her has died a little bit more with each one.
ciroslive said,
February 15, 2007 at 12:56 pm
They seriously put a CARDBOARD picture of a PS3 over an Xbox 360? WOW…
Dan said,
February 15, 2007 at 1:18 pm
I know I’ll sound like a broken record, but how is this Sony’s fault. Why would Sony ever allow this to happen as the disguise is so seethrough and it would only make Sony look bad. My guess is the Retailer didn’t have a PS3 in stock and so tried to make the 360 do the trick. Sony’s fault is not making enough kiosks available, but not trying to trick anyone. Cleric, you of all people should know that Sony does more elaborate schemes than place a cardboard box over a 360 and call it a PS3. Come On!
UNSCleric said,
February 15, 2007 at 1:23 pm
That’s why I referred back to E3 2006, where they openly used Xbox 360s to demo supposedly exclusive PS3 games. Sony has no shame, their arrogance overshadows any common sense.
They’re doing the exact same things they did tp the Dreamcast. I haven’t looked into it yet, but I’m certain Sony or their close partners are connected to the new BBC program that slammed the Xbox 360 saying it is faulty hardware. Sony’s people went on BBC just before the PS2 came out in Europe and did EXACT same thing to the Dreamcast in mid-2000, claiming the hardware was faulty and not to purchase it.
SH1SNO said,
February 15, 2007 at 1:40 pm
Wow, that is so blatant that I’m almost skeptical…almost. With Sony’s history I am becoming less and less surprised when something crazy like this goes down. I find it difficult to believe that the retailer would have had that idea on their own and/or carried through with it. I imagine the repurcussions for a store doing this on their own and then getting Sony burned for it would make it not worth the risk.
On the other hand, maybe the latest PS3’s are including a 360 inside of that massive case to keep the PS2 company. Then we will see GEARS OF WAR ON PS3!!!!
Dan said,
February 15, 2007 at 1:57 pm
If you can find a connection…documented…between a british PUBLIC broadcast program and Sony’s attempt to slam the 360 then I’ll be a convert to your war on Sony. Thats like saying Sony paid off PBS or NPR to bash MS. The fact that they are not-for-profit networks and funded by the government would make that difficult.
ciroslive said,
February 15, 2007 at 2:48 pm
Are we even still arguing whether early 360s were defective? A large number of them (larger than even MS will admit) have broken and have been replaced. Mine included. As long MS does the right thing and replaces them as quickly and as painlessly as possible, the defective units don’t discount what MS has done so far this gen. But MS seems to have gotten their act together and the units out in retail now are much sturdier. “Cardboardgate” is probably the fault of a retailer but it still looks bad for the PS3, a Sony product…
Chaos1212 said,
February 15, 2007 at 4:51 pm
No,
DavidGX said,
February 15, 2007 at 6:53 pm
“Are we even still arguing whether early 360s were defective? A large number of them (larger than even MS will admit) have broken and have been replaced. Mine included. As long MS does the right thing and replaces them as quickly and as painlessly as possible, the defective units don’t discount what MS has done so far this gen. But MS seems to have gotten their act together and the units out in retail now are much sturdier.”
Yeah. My original 360 died after a little over a year. Even though I was beyond the warranty, including the extended 1 year warranty they gave they still replaced my 360 for free. My new 360 (refurb or brand new I do not know.. but it’s flawless) is rock solid. Nothing but good things to say about the experience.
““Cardboardgate” is probably the fault of a retailer but it still looks bad for the PS3, a Sony product…”
It’s so easy to believe that this is sonys fault because they’ve done soo much shit like this in the past year or so. Maybe not this bad, but some of it close. Using a 360 to demo assassins creed and then going “Look at those amazing graphics! Only with teh cell could you do that! PS3>360OMG!11!!” is close, if not worse than this.
If sony doesn’t come down on this store hard then I’ll be sure it was their doing.
UNSCleric said,
February 15, 2007 at 8:51 pm
Sony has reps at that store once a week or more due to the PS3 coming out in a month. They’re setting up store shelving, etc. Sony is completely aware of this, and were most likely the ones that did it.
DavidGX said,
February 15, 2007 at 9:47 pm
What Cleric said. At this point no one should underestimate the stupidity that sony is capable of.
CEoBOb said,
February 16, 2007 at 8:53 am
I personally think your xbox bias has made you so delusional sometimes but this is even a strecth for you. You only see a xbox with a fancy Sony cover. That does not mean Sony did it. Did you see a tv playing any PS3 games in those photos? I know for a fact that companies do whatever it takes to make a buck so dont repeat yourself there. Sony by all means is not a shining model of perfection as Microsoft is a shining model of imperfection. It is like you forget the thing Microsoft did before the Xbox. (Note every anti trust case and Halo was originally a Apple product). I think sometimes you just go out of your way to make a big fuss over nothing just to prove you are right.
Your Day in the Life story… though good and humorous, Im not buying it a bit. Sonys product isnt doing well for a couple of reasons. Price, Games and Movies. It is too expensive and the 360 would be just as expensive if its HD Drive was built so dont try and explain that. It is has too few games, like the Wii and 360 when they were released it happens to all the systems. Lets not start about the movies cause I could give two shits less about the movies. I bought a video console not a movie theatre. Sony knows it can more money on the movies than the games since most movies they just have to put on a different format to make an extra buck. Generally when you release movies to gamers they dont buy them. They want games and when they get some Im sure it will do better.
I agree whole hearted with Dan and his statements about the BBC and NPR. And as you know I am a multi platform gamer. You confide yourself to one platform. I think it would have helped if you grew up with video gmaes instead of growing into them. Most gamers have been playing games since before you were born. Mario, Dig Dug, PacMan, Galaga all came out before you born. I think you need a more diverse background in gaming before you can rate them. I play my Wii the most because it is inventive and fun, I then play my PS3 that i got at launch because it is backwards compatible with ALL PSX games and has a game or two that is solid, then my 360 because it has a game or two that are backwards compatible and it has a few good 360 games. 360 is becoming like a PS2 has a some good games but a lot of shitty games with improved graphics.
Maybe I’m right or just plain mean. Just quit being all one dimensional and be a better gaming site. I know I can come hear for good Xbox game info but where do i go for the rest.
dan said,
February 16, 2007 at 10:53 am
“Sony has reps at that store once a week or more due to the PS3 coming out in a month. They’re setting up store shelving, etc. Sony is completely aware of this, and were most likely the ones that did it.”
How do you know Sony reps were in the Store on a weekly basis…did you call the store in Australia!! I just wish I could understand how you make such crazy claims with no basis in fact. Plus, I’ve wroked retail…company reps don’t come to set things up. At most you get display instructions from the company that store employees implement.
But even more to the point…explain to me WHY a sony rep would want to do this. It looks embarassing to Sony. It doesn’t hurt MS in any way shape or form, and it certainly doesn’t make the PS3 look good. Boy thats really sticking it to microsoft…”we’ll set up a display but use a 360 instead…thats great marketing on our part”.
I try not to get heated when reading your site, but its post like the one above that makes me want to call you all kinds of insulting names.
Dan said,
February 16, 2007 at 1:50 pm
CEO - you bring up an interesting point about fanboyism and age. I’m in my early 30s and I’ve been gaming since celecovision and Atari 2600 were the two competeing systems. I had the Atari but never hated the celecovision, in fact I wanted the celecovision. During the Super NES and Genesis days I never felt animosity toward the other platform. I’ve only noticed the trend of fanboyism since the PS2 and Xbox. I wonder if marketing companies have just gotten better at brainwashing people into being brand loyalty monkeys.
Its like I said before - there are three types of gamers: Xbox gamers, PS gamers, and gamers.
ciroslive said,
February 20, 2007 at 1:53 am
EVERYONE has a preference when it comes to gaming. They become a fanboy when the ONLY good type of console is the one they prefer. All consoles have benefits and faults. It becomes a problem when you become a blind follower to one company. There are in reality five different types of games: MS gamers, Sony gamers, Nintendo, PC gamers, and everyone-is-equal gamers. I’d like to find a gamer who honestly likes all platforms equally. The fanboyism has reered its ugly head more often over the past few years because of the growth of gaming itself and the internet. Similar fanboy attitudes existed in the 90s, its just increased thanks to people typing their mindless devotion instead of speaking it…
UNSCleric said,
February 20, 2007 at 1:55 am
I don’t see how liking every console on the market, except for those created by a company which openly doesn’t have gaming or gamers in mind, makes me a fanboy. I have owned every console in the past, and will own a Wii someday. I personally will not support a console (the PS3) which does nothing but harm the industry I love, and I will use this site to show others what Sony is up to on a regular basis as I have for nearly two years.
Dan said,
February 20, 2007 at 11:10 am
Cleric - my point is how have games like Rachet and Clank hurt the game industry, or GT, or Jak and Dexter, or any number of other sony 1st party games. I think if you love games, you’d want to play those titles. I think on balance Sony has done more to bring the industry to levels never before seen. Without the Sony PS gaming would not be what it is today. I think they have done more good than harm, while still acknowledging the harm.
SH1SNO said,
February 20, 2007 at 6:04 pm
Dan - I don’t think any of us will argue with you about Sony’s past consoles too much. There is a reason that they became the dominant force they are in the marketplace today. However, it seems like Sony has really lost its emphasis on good gaming (and good hardware) and is more focused on making money/pushing their new format. I can honestly say that it is not the PS3 that I particularly dislike; granted, I think the 360 is a superior package, but the PS3 does have some merit. However, it is the direction that Sony has taken in recent years which I actively oppose, and will therefore not consider purchasing new Sony hardware.
On the other hand, I don’t claim to support Microsoft 100%: while I feel they are doing a superior job in the gaming division, their OS division is in a similar situation to Sony’s entertainment division. I don’t think Vista is particularly worth the cost of an upgrade, and Microsoft’s competitors clearly have the superior implementation of many features. This is just another example of a company getting huge and rich from past success and then lose the motivation to continue innovating or producing quality products. EA is another prime example.
Matt (YourExWife) said,
February 21, 2007 at 3:47 am
Well said SH1SNO, but why do I get the feeling that most of us have said this exact thing before countless times on this site and the message never gets across?
dan has become very reasonable, but it seems that too many people just assume because there is negative Sony news that that’s the sole purpose of the site.
ciroslive said,
February 21, 2007 at 4:38 am
For the record I never meant to say that you’re a fanboy, Cleric. I was just stating what I believe a fanboy to be. By buying multiple consoles in the past you’re not a fanboy in my book…
Tyler said,
February 21, 2007 at 4:00 pm
cleric, you need to put some good news about sony….if there is any. My point, stop bashing sony so much. spread it. Microsoft is making 10 million other people buy a new 360 that is better in many small ways. if sony did that u would say something bad but if microsoft does that praise them. i have to admit i hate sony and i love microsoft. but c’mon. Plus the nintendo wii will win the console war for three reasons; One its fun, two its cheap, and three old people will buy not just people from 8 to 32 but late 40s and 50s
Proeliator said,
February 21, 2007 at 4:32 pm
The problem, Tyler, is there is VERY little to publish that’s positive about Sony.
Recently, a Sony exec stated that he’d pay $1200 for any PS3 that stayed on a store shelf more than 5 minutes. If you want, I’ll start digging around and find the news. He claimed he wasn’t risking anything, becuase you “can’t find PS3’s in stock.”
How much have we seen, even with our own two eyes, that proves that wrong? But Sony is STILL pushing their BS.
They got caught hiring companies to pretend to be rabid fans… and still they push BS.
As for Vista, no comparison. Vista’s main “problem” everyone has with it is SECURITY functionality. Maybe if we all didn’t know about and tolerate how many people stealing from Bittorrent daily, it wouldn’t have happened. Sure, it’s not the wisest marketing idea every for everyday PC users, but unwise marketing compared to lying to your customers above and beyond normal marketing ((All marketing is at least somewhat untrue.)) doesn’t hold water.
As for the new version of the 360, you can maybe say that MS is milking customers a bit. But, again, are they lying left and right about sales figures? Are they demoing PS3 games and calling them 360 titles? Hell, you brought up Halo… but they didn’t display an Apple product as a PC product. They BOUGHT an Apple product and made it into a PC product, and a successful one too. Let’s be realistic, Halo would not have been as successful released on MAc’s as it was on PC’s.
The level of BS isn’t the same in the least. Microsoft, depsite it seedy history, is still more honest than SCEA is. And that’s SAD.