The backplate of a PS2 playing all tracks on SingStar Rocks! without problems (Serial: C4220382, barcode: S01-4220382-7):Īus Rocker’s PS2, model number SCPH-70002. Page with info about various PS2 revisions.
ArsTechnica article on how to get rid of PS2 read errors.Another GameSpot thread with a poster having problems.Thread from the GameSpot forums with people having problems with SingStar Rocks!.My second post about SingStar Rocks! problems, with more comments from people experiencing the same issue.My first post about SingStar Rocks! problems, with comments from people experiencing the same issue.
Sony should come clean and tell us what the problem is, and print a new batch of SingStar Rocks discs that actually work. I’m lucky – I was able to swap my PS2 with a friend, so that I now have a PS2 that can play Rocks! while she doesn’t – but that’s not an option for most Rocks! owners. The error, whatever it is, only causes problems on certain PS2 machines. There seems to be something wrong with the manufacture of a batch of the Rocks! discs. This helped a little bit – we got about 50- 60 seconds further into some tracks that froze after just 20 – 30 seconds previously – but didn’t solve the problem. We ended up changing the level of the laser by six “clicks”. I have also tried cleaning the PS2 and adjusting its laser using this PS2 cleaning/calibration guide from ArsTechnica. Lately, several people have commented on my weblog that they have the problem too. However, I spotted some complaints at the Gamespot forum for SingStar Rocks! – more people were having the same problem I was. Indeed, I was able to try playing the Rocks! disc at a local games shop, and it worked without a hitch. Since there was no internet uproar about default SingStar Rocks! discs, I started to think that something might be wrong with my PS2. I went back to them two times for new discs, so that in the end, I tried a total of four Rocks! discs on my PS2. Unfortunately, the disc from EBGames had exactly the same issues, and mostly in exactly the same places in the tracks. I made plans to return my copy to BlahDVD and buy another one from the local EBGames instead. Considering that all other discs played 100% fine, I decided that it was probably just one bad disc. However, the disc surface looked perfectly fine – no smudges or scratches. Queens of the Stone Age – Go With the Flowįirst, I assumed something was wrong with the disc itself, as the PlayStation machine has no problems playing other PS2 games (including SingStar, SingStar Party, SingStar 80s, and SingStar “Norske Hits”).Coldplay – Speed of Sound (freezes late).Franz Ferdinand – Do You Want To (freezes late).Keane – Everybody’s Changing (freezes early).The Cardigans – My Favourite Game (freezes early).These are some of the songs I had problems with: Eventually, you get the menu (“end song”, “quit”, “resume”, etc) Lyrics and notes are still displayed as they should, and it is possible to sing along and get points.The audio starts playing in a short, 4-5 second loop (variation: It skips a bit before finally entering the loop).The video freezes (variation: the video skips a bit before eventually freezing).I got it on release, but soon discovered my PS2 wouldn’t play the game like it should.īriefly put, some of the tracks exhibited these problems after playing for some time (ranging from 30 seconds into the song to near the end): I pre-ordered SingStar Rocks from online retailer BlahDVD. Hopefully this can make it easier for Sony or someone else to figure out the cause of this problem.
Please list the model number orf and serial number of your PS2 if you want to – I’ll add them to this page (see mine at the bottom). If you have had similar problems, I’d appreciate it if you would leave a comment at the bottom of this page. My conclusion is that the cause is a technical problem with some of the SingStar Rocks! discs now in circulation, and that Sony should give us an explaination and replacement discs that actually work in our PS2s. I describe the problems I have had playing SingStar Rocks! on my otherwise perfectly functional PS2.