Yahoo: Don’t buy a PS3, it’s Christmas’ new coal

Yahoo’s Financial team is out to tell you what gifts not to buy this Christmas, with the PlayStation 3 on the top of the Grinch’s list.

Yahoo doesn’t think that coal is such a bad Christmas present, since it not only lasts forever, it also doesn’t need any replacement parts. These are features that the PS3 is apparently lacking.

Anne Kadet begins:

Roaming store aisles, it’s easy to come up with a list of gifts that qualify as the new lump of coal.

And Sony’s console is at the top of the list. Why? Its controller. Oh yes, wait for the reasoning…

It’s all fun and games until the battery dies. Unlike its competitors, which use replaceable AA batteries, the PS3’s remote control is glued shut. When the battery goes, Sony customers have to blow $55 on a new controller.

Sony says there’s an “environmental benefit” since gamers don’t have to toss their batteries on a regular basis, but Isidor Buchmann, president of battery-equipment maker Cadex Electronics, says captive batteries are becoming common because it’s cheaper for companies to eliminate the battery housing and hatch.

And so concludes Yahoo’s reasons for not buying a PS3 this holiday. Hands up if the battery for your controller has died. Anyone? The PS3 controller’s battery is said to have a life of around 5-8 years and though its chrageable life may start to waver after a few years, you’re not going to have to go out and replace it any time soon. Indeed, in 5 years you may have bought countless AA batteries – a sum that would surpass that $55 a new controller costs.

In other news, the PS3 won the best Home Cinema Gadget 2009 in the sixth annual Vodafone Pocket-lint Gadget Awards.

Oh and by the way, you can replace the battery in your PS3 controller, with a $5-10 replacement. Just use a…screwdriver. Merry Christmas Yahoo, powered by Bing (owned by Microsoft)!

Readers Comments (39)

  1. Either a enormous fanboy made that article or a very, very stupid person.
    That’s the most ridiculous reason ever, and they call that professional journalism.

    A big FU Yahoo and that Author.

  2. Wow what a dumb-ass.

  3. You don’t NEED to replace the batteries; it’s rechargable.

  4. Hold up, that wasn’t my point, lol The point was that the article is making it like the battery lasts about the same time as a regular set of batteries. This is the biggest bull article of all time.

  5. you do know that if the battery fails after like five years sony will replace your controller for ten $10

  6. Wow, that writer needs to be fired…Definitely writing beyond any makings of a fanboy, just sheer stupidity.

  7. this is no surprise to me Micro$oft and yahoo are partners now so yahoo is doing them a little a favot

  8. what ever nobody uses yahoo any way, the only reason yahoo exists is for email. but for everything else people go to google

  9. TheRighteousFascist December 8, 2009 @ 14:13

    So . . . don’t by the whole console because the battery on the controller isn’t as easily detached as the Wii or 360 controllers?

    This is really dumb. I bought my PS3 on Black Friday this year, and do not regret it one bit.

  10. *facepalm* then I LOLD at the idiot who made the list….

  11. Email and Flikr.

  12. ……..really? lol

  13. ShurikenSpammer December 8, 2009 @ 15:06

    That is the most pathetic excuse to bash a PlayStation controller. I’ve had my PS2 controller since launch and it still works perfectly after being manhandled to shit.

  14. STFU retard!

  15. who wrote this? i suppose the biggest 360 fanboy ever or a ps3 hater!

  16. that guy is an idiot

  17. Don’t buy a PS3 over rechargeable controllers…really? I find this much nicer than dealing with batteries,if anything it’d make me want the PS3 more,lol.

  18. LOSER!!!

  19. Pervysage999: The guy is a girl.

  20. What a stupid, pitiful attempt to undermine the PS3 this holiday season.

    Yahoo should know better, or hire more educated journalists.

  21. I lol’d when I saw that article yesterday.

    That definetly was the stupidest reason EVER to bash the PS3.

  22. No duh..

    Yahoo is with Microsoft

    +

    That report deserves to be fired and yeah rot in a box.

  23. This truly is totally laughable.

    sensationalism-for-the-sake-of-it high five.

  24. BottleNeckEffeK December 8, 2009 @ 18:01

    fuck you yahoo.

  25. iPhones and iPods, same deal. No complaints there?

  26. Wow. Apparently the guy from Yahoo has never really used his PS3.

  27. who owns yahoo…microsoft

    who is worried cos sony just wiped the floor with them on black friday…microsoft

    who is getting desperate to slow sony’s momentum…microsoft.

  28. Wow that’s the excuse they used, “controller battery”. Actually it makes sense now. I am gonna buy an Xbox 360 and when it gets a RROD in 2 weeks after buying it, I’ll just replace that with another $300 Xbox 360. Thanks yahoo.

  29. Epic lol

  30. >.> So what they did was buy a new console which controller generally has a slight charge to it when you get it, I know mine did as well as my PSPgo. Then they played it til the batter ran out… and never bothered to charge it back up. We all knew Yahoo failed, just didn’t know how much.

  31. @ July lmfao yea and when my xbox scratches my disk i will just buy the game again lmao

  32. this guy is an idiot
    just because he enjoys switching his batteries and paying 40 a year for new ones doesent mean we do

  33. Easily the worst article or piece of crap I’ve ever seen since 2007, My dualshock or even the sixaxis hasn’t done this yet and I welcome this brillant battery never will I need to replace the battery so Anne?????? please silence.

    To me simply the biggest flaw on the 360 controller and the Wii mote so why complain??? you just got a Xbox/wii but you didn’t buy a charging kit your Christmas experience is ruined almost why are there replaceable batteries anyway?????

  34. I wish we could leave comments on that article. lol

  35. Woooooooow….What was this person thinking when they wrote this article on Yahoo? Obviously this was made by someone who knows nothing about electronics. Don’t they have an editor for these types of things?

  36. One thing still bothers me is ARTICLE IS STILL THERE ?!?

    Why are they not taking it down ?

    Sony should fuckin sue their asses,make them apologize and get that Anne bitch fired.

  37. @ lightstormer microsoft doesn’t own yahoo they work with each other against google.
    @the rest no this was not made by a 360 fanboy in fact it’s a retarded woman over 30 and microsoft has nothing to do with this so STFU ps3 fanboys

  38. Guys, I read the real article. I know what she’s saying. She’s saying that at the end of the controller’s life-span (like maybe 6 years) You’ll have to go and buy a new controller because the battery is no longer rechargeable.

  39. ARE THEY REALLY THIS DESPARATE??? TRYING to stop the PS3 from selling with the STUPIDEST LIE IVE EVER HEARD. You know what? Screw Mircrosoft and Yahoo. SONY….SUE MICROSOFT AND YAHOO!!!

Comments are closed.