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[InterMoniker]

I'm a proud owner of an Xbox 360 comin' at you with a red ring of light blazing brightly. I also used to own a Nintendo DS with a cracked hinge. I ALSO own a Playstation 2 that works about 50% of the time after being operated on by yours truly TWICE to stop DRE's.

From what I hear, the PS3 already has problems with controller sync and unresponsiveness.

It's time for us gamers to demand answers. Why is gaming hardware so prone to failure?? I have a first gen DVD player (remember the Divx format? the actual Divx discs?? Well it sports that logo.. so yeah.. it's definitely first or second gen at the latest) and it still works every time. Why can't my 360 just keep working? I don't abuse it in the least. My PS1 and PS2 gave me problems throughout both of their short lives.

I'm pissed. And high. peace.

Seriously the controller hasn't done that to me once.

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

I have found all electronics are getting more unreliable. I never returned or used the warranty for anything in my life but in just the past couple of years I can remember the following breaking down:

Viewsonic CRT monitor (lasted a few months)
LG LCD monitor (lasted a few days)
Phillips TV (three weeks)
Canon 350D (a week)
Xbox 360(8 months)
Xbox 360 (six days)

I'm not trying to point out brands either, because all brands are crappier nowadays.

Ya same here, I baby my electronics and they seem to all break within a year sometimes only a month or two after purchase whether it be systems, monitors, tv, etc...

 

[manzo]

In the years running my store, I've seen nearly every problem under the sun.

PSX:
- Disk reader becomes offset by generated heat. Short-term solution was to play the system on it's side or even upside down. Eventually would become unreadable.
- The plastic disk clamp would eventually wear down from use causing three key support sections to break off causing the ball bearings to become dislodged.

First of all, awesome post Mammothtank. A few additions to your list, something we discovered at our local gamestore, whose owner is a good friend of mine.

In Europe, most of the first batch of Memory Cards were broken straight out of box. We had a fair share of returned memory cards back to the store.

Dreamcast:
- Early in it's life, certain games would not read if they were produced by certain factories.
- The disk reader would give up the ghost suddenly, but not from wear and tear.
- Heat would slightly morph the internal fan's casing causing it to jam.

The lead in the power supply started to give cold points after a while, thus cracking the solder. This resulted as sudden resets and console not powering on. Could be repaired with resoldering the joints in the powerboard or just switching the whole board to a new one. A very common problem with the European models.

PS2 -Later:
- The disk reader would give up the ghost suddenly, but not from wear and tear.
- If system fell, door would usually become dislodged and jammed. Easily fixable with tinkering, but most people don't know how.

PS2 - Slim
- The disk reader would give up the ghost suddenly, but not from wear and tear.
- The plastic yellow ring on the power port would wear and break from either heat or weak plastic. This would cause the system to be unable to recieve power properly.

The later (V9-V12) models had regulators removed from the laser coils, resulting in big currents to the DVD lens when powering up the console. This resulted as burned out lenses, destroying the drive. Had many of these. The problem was fixed in the newer Slimline PS2s.

 

[InterMoniker]

Why do they abound? Because gamers don't care and the companies that make the hardware know they can get away with it. What kind of message does it send when gamers rebuy their 360 multiple times and put up with all the crap the hardware companies throw at them? I rebought my PS2 because of the DRE problem and one time was enough for me to say never again. I can't imagine those gamers that rebuy console after console or continue to pay out tons of shipping or repair fees.

Gaming hardware quality has been going down the toilet and until gamers finally say enough is enough nothing will change and the big hardware companies will continue to take us for a ride.

YES YES. I still can't believe this is happening. THIS is what needs to stop. And NOW.

I totally agree. I am guilty of buying another PS2 when mine broke but that was after 2-3 years and I got the slimmer PS2 for like $150.

Totally different than buying 2 $399 360's in 1 year

 

[Ranger X]

Technology evolving fast (faster than money = need to cut somewhere)

v
v
v

Comes from Capitalism mentality.

v
v
v

Comes from Greed.

 

[Psychotext]

Seriously the controller hasn't done that to me once.

That's a lot like being a 360 owner who never got a RROD. These things aren't 100%.

 

[Defcon]

Aren't the latest silver PS2 slims still prone to overheating and DRE's?

 

[InterMoniker]

That's a lot like being a 360 owner who never got a RROD. These things aren't 100%.

Well I'm not lying Psychotext.

 

[Psychotext]

Well I'm not lying Psychotext.

That's kinda the point isn't it. You're obviously not lying, it's just everyone's experience with the hardware is different. I could tell you of 2 people I know that have had multiple dead 360s and others whose have performed perfectly. Same goes for the PS2 in that mine never died but I know plenty whose did.

Hell, my mother's Wii died a couple of weeks back. But that doesn't mean that the hardware is good or bad.

 

[ElectricBlue187]

You know, most things don't break.

You can't shrug it off as just modern high tech equipment. Gaming consoles have a much higher failure rate that other consumer electronics.

source? you don't have a source, do you?

 

[Duane Cunningham]

Really? I had three PS2s because they constantly threw DRE errors (although I accidentally blew one of them up, it was already starting the slide into DRE hell), but I've never had a problem with my Sony cameras.

Yeah, a battery/power issue.

Actually, my second PS2 (that I turned on a couple of weeks ago to discover the joy of DRE) started working again after I took it apart and rubbed the laser eye with a Windex soaked Q-Tip. Still, I shouldn't have to do that.

 

[WickedLaharl]

I'm one of the PS3 owners that has this issue pretty frequently. Just the other day I lost a ranking match in VF5 because my fighter stood there like an idiot while I hammered buttons. Been killed in Oblivion dozens of times because of it and lost races in Motorstorm.

That said, all the reports I've seen suggest that the hardware rev Sony did in Europe fixed the issue on those boxes. Unfortunately, it seems like those of us who had the bad sense to buy the first model, and have the issue, are basically hosed. Sony doesn't acknowledge that it's a problem, and as far as I've heard there is no fix coming.

At some point, I suppose I'll have to do a trade-in and get one of the new boxes, because a disconnect between controller and console is a game-breaking flaw.

i've only had the disconnect happen a few times, but i'm really annoyed that sony won't acknowledge it and there will probably never be a fix (can they even fix it?) for the early adopters

 

[besada]

You know, most things don't break.

You can't shrug it off as just modern high tech equipment. Gaming consoles have a much higher failure rate that other consumer electronics.

Most things do break. Do you have any evidence for your assertion?

 

[besada]

i've only had the disconnect happen a few times, but i'm really annoyed that sony won't acknowledge it and there will probably never be a fix (can they even fix it?) for the early adopters

Yeah, I clearly think it's a bigger problem than alot of people, but that's likely because it happens to me pretty much every time I play my PS3.

I suspect it will never be fixed, which is why I'll eventually sell my PS3 and pick up a newer revision. What I've heard is that they replaced the bluetooth unit with a fixed one in the EU hardware. Granted, without official acknowledgement from Sony that's just hearsay.

 

[purnoman3000]

I feel we the customer are just as much at fault for all these problems as the companies who produce the product. The companies are under tremendous pressure to compete pricewise yet we constantly demand for more quality, that of which we do not wish to pay for. At launch, people screamed murder over the cost of the PS3 but Sony was still selling it under the cost it was to manufacture. If Sony sold the PS3 then for the same cost as the 360, there would've been as many problems with the PS3 as there are with the 360, if not more. People wanted costs cut on the PS3 and what did Sony do, take out hardware backwards compatibility. If we demand the companies take responsibility we should take responsibility as well as consumers. Don't want junk, don't pay for junk. You want good quality products, pay for them what they are really worth.

I had a lady come into the store and was looking at DVD players. She had returned a 29.99$ dvd player that barely lasted a week. When I suggested to her she pick up a slightly higher quality, more well built unit what did she do? Picked up another 29.99$ DVD player. It may be anecdotal but I believe it's truly a microcosm.

 

[BolognaOni]

Although capitalism greed, etc, is part of the problem, it's a pretty small factor guys...

The industry is undergoing a lot of changes right now hardware wise, this is the first generation where video game consoles really are truly cutting edge technology. In previous years, consoles were always behind PC or arcades, and used PROVEN technology, rather than the latest and greatest.

You want to be a high-tech, early adopter? Great. You get early failures due to unforeseen design problems, that's just the way it is.

If anything, this generation is screwed up because MS is not even trying to make money until next year. I gotta believe that kind of approach is not the best for the stability of the business...

 

[Xeke]

I love that my SNES is still running just fine.

 

[dysonEA]

In the years running my store, I've seen nearly every problem under the sun.

NES:
- The metal pins that clamp unto the game cartridge wear and don't make full contact.

SNES:
- The plastic that encases the AC power nub snaps off.

PSX:
- Disk reader becomes offset by generated heat. Short-term solution was to play the system on it's side or even upside down. Eventually would become unreadable.
- The plastic disk clamp would eventually wear down from use causing three key support sections to break off causing the ball bearings to become dislodged.

Saturn:
- The disk reader would give up the ghost suddenly, but not from wear and tear.

Dreamcast:
- Early in it's life, certain games would not read if they were produced by certain factories.
- The disk reader would give up the ghost suddenly, but not from wear and tear.
- Heat would slightly morph the internal fan's casing causing it to jam.

PSOne:
- The plastic disk clamp would eventually wear down from use causing three key support sections to break off causing the ball bearings to become dislodged.
- The power cord would form a short in the thin wire and need replaced.

PS2 - Early:
- Handful of systems were defective out of the box.
- The system had many open vents which attracted immense amounts of dust. This would clog many areas of the laser requiring minor to precision cleaning. Eventually the disk reader would give up the ghost.
- If system fell, door would usually become dislodged and jammed. Easily fixable with tinkering, but most people don't know how.
- Two small plastic teeth on the laser arm guide it back and forth. Over time they could wear down causing the laser to become stuck.

Gamecube:
- Heat would slightly morph the internal fan's casing causing it to jam.
- The disk reader would give up the ghost suddenly, but not from wear and tear.

Xbox:
- The disk reader would give up the ghost suddenly, but not from wear and tear.
- Power supply would blow out from the stress of the power cable being insterted and removed or from gravity if the cable was hanging down sharply.
- Internal HDD would conk out.
- Motherboard would give up the ghost suddenly, but not from wear and tear.
- System would turn on as soon as plugged in. Would not turn off unless it was unplugged, and over all, very odd behaviour. Possibly tied to the power switch board, but more likely the Motherboard.

PS2 -Later:
- The disk reader would give up the ghost suddenly, but not from wear and tear.
- If system fell, door would usually become dislodged and jammed. Easily fixable with tinkering, but most people don't know how.

Xbox 360:
- Handful of systems were defective out of the box.
- The disk reader would give up the ghost suddenly, but not from wear and tear.
- The external power block would blow out.
- The door would start jamming when opening, but a slight touch as it jams would open it.
- The system would enter a startup lockdown intidicated by the three red rings. Often tied to the GPU chip overheating causing the screen to become pixiled.

PS2 - Slim
- The disk reader would give up the ghost suddenly, but not from wear and tear.
- The plastic yellow ring on the power port would wear and break from either heat or weak plastic. This would cause the system to be unable to recieve power properly.

PS3:
- Handful of systems were defective out of the box.
- Not enough time has passed to see longterm issues.

Wii:
- Handful of systems were defective out of the box.
- The GPU chip over heats causing the screen to become pixiled.
- Not enough time has passed to see longterm issues.

so according to this, the N64 is the most durable console? sweet

 

[besada]

I love that my SNES is still running just fine.

So is my Atari 2600. My original Atari 2600. That I bought when they came out.

Maybe we should just go back to cartridge games. Now with flash prices falling, you'd think we might be able to get a large amount of stuff on a really fast medium.

 

[Flakster99]

Things break?

Hard to believe Peter Moore said such a thing to begin with. Was he looking to compound the issue by firstly denying, then sweeping these issues under a gigantic rug with a "Thing's break" quote? Brilliant.

Oh, and absolutely, there is positively, zero reason we should sympathize at ALL with Microsoft in the slightest any more than we should sympathize with Sony or Nintendo. They exchange a good for money. Just as they expect that the money will be legal tender, we can (and should) expect that the good they give us in exchange is free from defect. If they screw up, it's perfectly acceptable to gripe about it.

Let me give a shout out to all the SNES and NES owners out there with working systems. We're a dying breed, but still we persist.

 

[FightyF]

This is why when it comes to electronics I usually stick to higher end stuff. I really like Sony products, somehow I've never had a problem with anything from them. I truly believe in "you get what you pay for" mentality, and its the reason why Sony products are generally more expensive than its competitors.

Actually most of Sony's stuff is consumer range products...not really high end at all. Believe me, most of everything I own is Sony branded, because I can't afford the high end stuff. IMO Sony has the best quality consumer products out there. Now, I hear about JVC comparing, but I haven't dealt with any JVC products, though my friends are happy with them.

 

[Dr. Zoidberg]

I've owned pretty much everything over the years, but these are the only problems I've had with gaming stuff.

NES - Standard cart-contacts problem. Replaced the contacts adapter, works fine 20 years later

GB Orig - Developed dead LCD lines after a year or two. Upgraded when the GBP came out.

Dreamcast - The GD-Rom drive died on me within a week of the warranty expiring. I had to buy another.

GC - Started having very occasional problems reading certain disks. I had two units anyway so no big deal.

X360 - First one died about 13 months in. Bought a second one while I was waiting and then sold the refurb to a friend. Both have been fine since (so far)

PS3 - My current PS3 is a pain in the ass. It's 100% bluetooth problems, too. I can sync the BD remote to the system, works fine until I power it down, and then it never works again until I go in and "restore default settings". It does this every time and I've swapped out remotes twice to make sure it wasn't that. PITA! Secondly, my two controllers will sometimes decide not to work (or won't cut on the PS3) and I have to re-pair them with the USB cable. This is on top of the occasional drop-outs during gameplay.

I'd send it in for repair but this just isn't a big enough problem for me to want to do that. Instead, it just pisses me off a little bit at a time. Sometimes I wish it would go kaput so I'd have to send it in.

Sorry about the PS3 rant, it's a little thing but it's maddening.

 

[Koren]

Canon 350D (a week)

What happened ? Because those are usually quite solid, I've never heard any complaints about this. When I fell six month ago, mine had a 2 meters jump that finished on concrete, and still work perfectly (baring minor scratches on shell). For this kind of camera (with many moving parts, I was really impressed...

 

[Bildi]

What happened ? Because those are usually quite solid, I've never heard any complaints about this. When I fell six month ago, mine had a 2 meters jump that finished on concrete, and still work perfectly (baring minor scratches on shell). For this kind of camera (with many moving parts, I was really impressed...

I agree, and I've not had a problem since then and haven't among the five or so Canon cameras that family and friends own including a film EOS300 SLR that survived a second storey balcony drop onto concrete(!). After a week of owning the camera, I took a small apeture photo of mostly clear sky and I noticed a black line running halfway across the picture. Cleaned my lens, still there. Tried another lens, still there.

Then I checked the sensor - under the right light you could see a big-ass scratch on it. I have no idea how a sensor comes out of a factory scratched and I don't think it was a customer return because everything was taped up and packed properly it seemed.

I hoped they wouldn't think I tried to clean it and scratched it in the process but thankfully they didn't and exchanged it. The replacement took a few weeks to arrive due to shortages :\

 

[chemicals]

sweet baby jesus I'm so pissed about my broken 360. If I knew the ones on the shelves were freeze/RRoD free, I'd run out and buy one this second. I spent most of my day trying internet fix-it-yourself methods, but none were successful in the long term. SO yeah.. not sure what to do at this point... I loved my 360 so much when I first bought it that I sold off all my PS2 games and bought a shit-ton of xbox and xbox360 games.. I even bought the cockamamie arcade games... oh man. What a drag. Even if I'd sell off everything, I would only have enough for a PS3 and maybe 2 or 3 games.. the PS3 is too expensive for me to switch over at this point. oh well, I'm rambling.. but I'm high.. yeah. . long message AND high as a kite. Peace, brothers.

p.s. I'm liking the PSP redesign.. maybe I'll drop out of the home console market and get a PSP with a faggot of games. Who knows.