Man shot dead at PS4 sale

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/os-fatal-shooting-playstation-orlando-20131118,0,1857799.story

Extra extra read all about it! Man shot dead over PS4 sale in front of a police station from the sound of it.

So, instead of money changing hands it became a winner-takes-all deathmatch.

Leave it to Doomers to see the deathmatch spin on this story.

And here I figured the bloodbath wouldn't start til Black Friday. Looks like I underestimated.

Keep in mind that the sale was one-on-one, and not e.g. in front of a shop where a riot or big fight might have taken place, as the article title's might lead you to believe. PS4: not really worth killing for -yet, or ever.

What really seems to have happened is that poor nigga got careless. He mustn't have been exactly trouble-free, and someone took the chance to ice him as soon as he stuck his neck out. It just happened that the sale was a PS4, but it could've just as well be crack, weed, a camera or other valuable.

And as for the crime being done near a police station...that doesn't say much. If the perp and the smoking gun are out of view when the first flatfoot arrives, it's irrelevant how close the scene is to a police station: the result will probably be just another archived case.

I don't have time to read the article. Did he shoot himself after he found out his new system required a day one patch?

I hate that day one patch bullshit with todays consoles, it's what stopped me from buying a Wii U.

Avoozl said:

I hate that day one patch bullshit with todays consoles, it's what stopped me from buying a Wii U.

You can't bother to buy a console because it needs to update itself when you start using it?

...okay?

Jodwin said:

You can't bother to buy a console because it needs to update itself when you start using it?

Well, if the console requires an internet connection (or, in general, the presence of an external service) to even start using it for the first time, then it risks becoming practically worthless, especially as an aftersale/used/portable item. Don't have Internet? You can't even use it (except maybe with pre-update software). Missed an update? Its resale value will plummet (except if the update is considered as breaking some functionality, then non-updated ones might be more sought after).

The problem is that any device tied to a particular service risks going the same way as analog TVs (which at least have plenty of other uses) or non-MPEG4 DTV decoders (which get binned by the thousands, and are practically unsellable), when that service stops existing or is temporarily unavailable. I don't see why this should be extended to game consoles.

I guess one's acceptance of this marketing model depends on whether he accepts the whole "computing/gaming as a service" premise. I'm oldschool, and I only accept "computing/gaming as an interaction just between you and the bunch of electronics in front of you", with no strings attached.

Yeah I have a feeling 2 thugs met in front of a police HQ to make an exchange and someone got the better deal.

As for a console being updated day 1... I'd rather buy a console that is daily improving itself. They probably found bugs when it was released and fixed them before it was released where we are.

Maes said:

stuff

None of that applies when you're buying the system while it's still being continuously supported, though. -_- And even in the unlikely case that you'd buy and out-of-date used copy after the system has been discontinued, it's not like the system wouldn't work because it can't know that it needs to be updated without the update servers being online.

Jodwin said:

None of that applies when you're buying the system while it's still being continuously supported, though. -_-

True, with a big company like Nintendo or Sony you are (probably) OK for a few years, with smaller ones it's already thinner ice, and of course on a whim even the "Big Uns" may decide to pull the plug or kill the system.

Jodwin said:

And even in the unlikely case that you'd buy and out-of-date used copy after the system has been discontinued, it's not like the system wouldn't work because it can't know that it needs to be updated without the update servers being online.

History shows that YMMV in those cases. E.g. if you have a pre-update PS2, you actually have more functionality (e.g. SACD playback!) than those with the (irreversible) update, and very little forward compatibility problems. With other systems, side effects may vary from negligible to not being even able to use the update service or play newly released games. I don't know if an "initial activation/registering" will be/is required by any of the existing consoles (a-la iPhone), but if it does, that would certainly kill any aftermarket value, especially if it's then linked to activated games. But those are really spillover effects from forced DRM, than anything.

I bought an original PS2 at a garage sale 2 years ago. Never been updated. Works just fine.

I can buy any PS2 game with PSN and have it carry over from PS3 to PS4. People like to say the catch is that you need a PSPlus... for $50 a year that gives you a free game every week. Well worth it.

From the article:
Investigators say Johnson and the other man arranged to meet outside Orlando police headquarters at 4:30 p.m. for the sale of the hot video game console — 1 million of which were sold within the first 24 hours of its nationwide debut on Friday, according to Sony.

However, the meeting site was changed to the Church Street location of the shooting.

Sounds like it was arranged to be done by the police station, but they ended up doing it somewhere else. Regardless, this makes it an isolated incident that probably had less to do with the fact that it was a PS4 and more that it was something of significant value to one party (as Maes explained earlier)

kind of reminds me of this story.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal-boy-stabbed-over-pokemon-cards-1.172068

Jeezz 1999, I remember when I first heard about it...

geo said:

I bought an original PS2 at a garage sale 2 years ago.

Did carrying a concealed weapon crossed your mind?

Kirby said:

...but they ended up doing it somewhere else.

This, along with the weapons thing, raises a few suspicions. It seems the transaction was doomed from the start.

Zed said:

Did carrying a concealed weapon crossed your mind?

Sadly no. Although, IL just passed a law making conceal carry legal. My friend that puts up signposts in the ghetto for real estate agents couldn't be happier. I hang out with a lot of gun enthusiasts, but they rarely have guns on them. They have them in their vehicles, gun closets at home, but never actually on them.

Now that conceal carry is legal, plenty of businesses have cropped up with classes about it.

reminds me of gta V launch when people got stabbed and robbed because of the game copies

Waffenak said:

reminds me of gta V launch when people got stabbed and robbed because of the game copies

Oddly appropriate.

geo said:

As for a console being updated day 1... I'd rather buy a console that is daily improving itself. They probably found bugs when it was released and fixed them before it was released where we are.

People don't realize how much time passes between going gold and getting to retail. Day one patches are certainly better than day one bugs discovered too late. It applies to games and console OSes alike. The price you pay for having software that does more than let you manage saves. (Even there, look at how many revisions the SegaCD BIOS got. It's great that these things can be updated now, rather than having to wait for a hardware revision for changes.)

But if you don't have the means to improve it and it wants you to do that first you're technically screwed.

Is that even a real issue or a hypothetical? I know some games require newer features, but on the Wii those definitely shipped on the discs, I'm not sure about 360 but I know you can opt out of patches.