Yup, just checked all my 14 games and 2 have cracks, and both are :drumroll: region 3!

Ratchet and Clank
LBP

I have 5 R3s, 7 R2s, 1 R4 and 1 R1. So I think its safe to say the R3s are affected by the cracking phenomenon. (I have lots of R2s as I am from the UK and buy my games over there much cheaper).

Anyway I sent an e-mail to media molecule about my LBP CD and hopefully they will charge me a set amount for a replacement CD. In my region 2 manuals most of them say they will replace a damaged CD after warranty for a set fee of xx pounds sterling (EA said 10). Not sure about region 3, as I can't read the japanese and/or chinese in the manuals :S

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Added on July 15, 2009, 10:59 pmI've been shoved around by game developer to Sony back to game developer and back to sony now, I think I'm not going to bother trying to get replacement discs. Sony HK even told me game discs don't even have a warranty and told me to ask SCEA even though I contacted them originally and they told my to contact Sony HK as my games is region 3.

e-mail from SCEA:
Hello Joe,

We apologize for any inconvenience that you have experienced with your disc being cracked. Since your game is region 3 then you will need to contact that country Sony support and see if they might be able to assist you with that. We only deal with Region 1 and any other products that are North American products for the Playstation Systems.


Regards,
Crystal L.

OK, so I thought. I'll contact the nice people at Sony in Asia.

e-mail from sony HK:
Dear Mr. Jackson,

Thank you for your e-mail and interest in PS products.

Regarding to your enquiry, please be advised that we do not provide any exchange for game discs. Please take note that we only provide warranty and repair service for consoles. We advise you to contact the game developer to inquire further on this issue.

For updated information regarding our PS products, please feel free to browse our web site at http://asia.playstation.com/my/en.
If you have further enquiries, please do not hesitate to contact us at http://asia.playstation.com/my/en/support/contactus/.
Playstation product hotline tel: 1-800-81-4963（Mondays to Sundays 09:00-20:00)

Thank you for your kind attention.

Best Regards,

Benny Garcia
Contact Centre
Customer Communications & Relations Department
Direct Touch Point Marketing Division

Ok. Why didn't SCEA tell me to do that in the first place. So I go to Insomniac's website and they don't have a 'contact us', but on their FAQ it says:
I have a defective disc. Do you have an exchange program?

Unfortunately we don't have an exchange program. We create and develop the games here, and Sony publishes the discs. However, you may contact the Sony Computer Entertainment nearest you: America (SCEA), Europe (SCEE), or Japan (SCEI) for help.


Now I am frustrates as Sony and its developers are acting like true malaysians throwing the responsibility at anyone else. So I contact Sony HK once again about the mishap.

e-mail from sony HK:
Dear Mr. Jackson,

Thank you for your e-mail and interest in PS products.

As we have mentioned previously, please know that we do not provide exchanges for the game discs. Game discs do not have warranty[U]. Please take note that the Developer for the game is Insomiac Games. The Publisher is Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA). Therefore, if you want to persue the issue, please contact SCEA at http://www.us.playstation.com/Corporate/ContactUs.

For updated information regarding our PS products, please feel free to browse our web site at http://asia.playstation.com/my/en.
If you have further enquiries, please do not hesitate to contact us at http://asia.playstation.com/my/en/support/contactus/.
Playstation product hotline tel: 1-800-81-4963（Mondays to Sundays 09:00-20:00)

Thank you for your kind attention.

Best Regards,

Benny Garcia
Contact Centre
Customer Communications & Relations Department
Direct Touch Point Marketing Division

Game discs do not have warranty[U] Hmmm. Really? So whats that fine print at the back of every manual about? Now they want me to contact SCEA who have already said they only deal with North American issues.

I'm not quite sure what to do now. I guess just use the damaged disc until the crack enters the data section of the disc and then make a nice RM200 coaster

This post has been edited by THEALB10N: Jul 15 2009, 10:59 PM

Exactly. In the UK if you have a product designed and marketed to last for several years (like a PS3) and it breaks through normal use after say a year and 3 months, you just call Sony up, tell them that you are aware of the act of good trade (or something like that) and they will fix your product FOC as if it were under warranty! Compare this to Malaysia, my friend sent in his PS3 after a few months as it wouldn't play discs and they told him that it costs RM300 to fix as they need to send it to Singapore! I myself just got my Logitech G25 back 9 weeks after I sent it in under warranty. The consumer is treated very poorly in this country...

Thats true, but you must agree its a tad unfair for the shop to tell him when he bought the PS3 that they will get the PS3 fixed free of charge if it breaks within a year, then tell him it will cost RM300 when it finally does break.

So basically the warranty means bollocks as you still need to pay for the parts... I've never heard of this being the case for a products warranty in any other country.

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Added on July 22, 2009, 10:51 amOK I wrote them a long letter with all the e-mails from my previous post in it, a link to the forum and a threat to bring my story to newspapers and gaming mags/websites.

This post has been edited by THEALB10N: Jul 22 2009, 10:51 AM