14 DAY TRIAL // The consequent waves of bad press finally caught up with Sony, following Tokyo Game Show's (TGS) PlayStation 3 occasional overheating. It appears Tokyo Exchange Market analysts were fast to react, downgrading the PS3 rating on account of hardware issues so close to the launch date. According to Macquarie Equities' David Gibson, many of the 200-plus PS3s available for testing on the 2006 TGS floor "operated erratically and had to be repeatedly reset." Problematic overheating with Dell, Toshiba and Apple technologies using Sony's recently recalled lithium ion batteries served only to furthermore fuel the rumors.
In a GamesIndustry exclusive Sony Europe categorically denied the allegations of PS3 hardware suffering from overheating problems. While this kind of behavior might be paramount to the overwhelming number of PS3 launch day units, this is not guaranteed to bring back the 2.75% Sony lost on the Tokyo Exchange Market. "SCE can categorically deny that there's any problem with PS3 units overheating. As could be seen on the TGS floor by the tens of thousands of media and public attendees, both the hardware and software worked flawlessly."
But that's just one side of the story as hand on reports from the TGS floor specifically state there were overheating issues, and the consoles often enough required rebooting. Eventually Sony addressed the concerns and here's the full explanation: "The environmental conditions at TGS conspire to test any electrical item. In the case of PS3, the combination of pre-production software, running on pre-production debug units, enclosed in demonstration units without ventilation, and surrounded by so many eager fans that on Saturday and Sunday it was almost impossible to move, are bound to prove a challenge. If indeed, there was the occasional unit that needed rebooting, it was due solely to the adverse environmental conditions within the Hall and not to any more general problem with PS3."