Which One Is Worse? RROD vs. PSN

Kotaku - At this point, after 17 days with no end in sight, it's fair to ask the question. the PlayStation Network Outage, or the Xbox 360's Red Ring of Death: Which is worse?

Let's leave aside the data breach, though it is one of the largest in history, and is the feature of this disaster that attracts so much mainstream attention. Within the gaming community, the idea that a console would be completely without its online functionality for this long is just staggering.

[TomInc]

Red ring is deffos worse.. at least the PSN will come back and isnt really costing people. Red ring is a new console. Anyone who would prefer to fork out over £100 to replace a console rather than wait for multi-player on the PSN to return needs to get outside.

[omi25p]

Red ring is not a new console, You get a three year warrenty so if it breaks you send it off and they repair it for FREE, if they cant repair it they send you a refurbished console.

[sdtarm]

this is just plain stpid, both are issues but completely different, one affects you for a determined period of time but you lose nothing, you can still play your games, and you just lose and extra service for a period of time.

The other is a hardware issue, once you get your console RRoD you wont be able to access the content you paid for, you will probably lose some and you cant play your games neither, it may or may not affect you. in order to fix it you need to do an effort and wait and even after you get your new one you are in risk of getting again.

Stop being stpid ppl, ssly if this makes it to the main page this site must me renamed news for retards.

[TenSteps]

Ha my friend got the red ring 2 weeks after his warranty finished therefore even though red ring doesn't mean new console it's still a problem that could result in someone having to buy a new console.

-All Heil Tman

[Godmars290]

Depending on if the reason the 360 broke-down was actually RRoD and not a few other issues at the time which MS chose not to call or include in RRoD.

And that was after MS eventually recognized RRoD while trying not to recognize it. Release or supply numbers.

They certainly weren't called before congress as things suggested RRoD went as high as 70%

[b_one]

i bought NEW console and dont want some used God knows how console... refurbished shit

[tehpees3]

RROD for sure. that breaks it down. PSN is temporary

[the_best_player]

Red Dot Of Death (New Version)

[Fox01]

Identity theft or RROD, which is worse?

[gamingdroid]

Although I feel they are pretty similar, the defining factor (surprisingly isn't the credit card number) is your date of birth combined with your name and address being exposed!

You got a broken hardware that is covered by warranty or a network that is down gets resurrected. In either case, at the worst you are screwed for a few hundred bucks and choose a different platform in the future.

However, your Date of Birth can be used for identity theft for the rest of your life. You can't change or retract it obviously!!!

Anyone affected by identity theft knows the burden of proof is on you, got your credit screwed up can affect your ability to get a loan, the cost of the loan, even a job opportunity (yes, credit checks sometimes happen) and set up utility services just to mention a few things.

Makes the loss of game time seem negligible.

[Vip3r]

Warranty only applied to the non slim consoles. Now it's a 1 year warranty.

[mastiffchild]

Well, seeing as the same faults that result in RROD don't ALWAYS result/show as RROD you can have wrangles with MS over the warranty as well. It's not and never was watertight. Also it was the result of MS caring way more about getting a lead on Sony and making devs break exclusive deals from the PS2 days more naturally whereas, even if Sony could have done a bit more, the fact is PSN was attacked by outside influences. MS and our 360's weren't.

Dunno which is more annoying but blame wise I'd say MS were more consumer unfriendly than Sony have been. In the end, though, both are different things but I've STILL lost more online gaming time to RROD and the holiday Live outage than to PSN being down after being hacked. Whatever, both were shitty and I hope Sony gets PSN up for everyone soon as they can. It's dragging on a bit and is going to cost them a lot-but if the PSN is better afterwards and people stop being so daft can't we all be a bit happier and, you know, get back to talking about games rather than which shit smells worst?

[AAACE5]

It's pure flamebait, and we know who the majority of posters will be an which side they will be on!

[Sunhammer]

RROD bricks your console.
PSN, which is only required if you wish to play online, is free and only down temporarily.

Only the hit-seeking retards at Kotaku would attempt to make such comparisons.

Gaming "journalism" at it's finest. N4G, worse by the day.

[BattleAxe]

Well with the PSN outage, my console will still work perfectly, so RRoD is far worse.

[wsoutlaw87]

what happens after 3 years? you lose you're console. RROD can happen to you more than once while hopefully this only happens once. The biggest difference however is that i can play demons souls dead space 2 and portal 2, when you get rrod you cant play a thing

[somerandomdude]

They aren't really compatible. rrod is a hardware problem with the 360.

The psn situation is due to a malicious attack. This is a situation that Microsoft could/can be targeted against as well. It shouldn't matter what gaming platform you prefer, as a gamer everyone should be routing for Sony to defeat these hackers. This situation is more a test as to whether a online gaming platform can succeed. If Sony fails then online gaming will fail as well, not to mention companies will take a huge step back from any form of digital distribution in general. Hackers are only defeating themselves by holding back innovation.

[Zydake]

Don't want to be a negative nancy but...

One got shut down for like over a week and maybe will happen once.

While the other happens all the time.. Hmm which one's worse.. -_-

Btw Any1 up for playing Call of the Dead? I want to beat the top guy whose at 40.

[Achemki]

@gamingdroid
I used to work as a skip tracer, lots of fraud accounts, you're overexaggerating about the name/addy/birthday PSN thing.

Your SSN/NID# are way more important to conceal. Name&addy going out mean little. I can get all that AND someone's phone# by looking in the phone book, an online directory like Blackbook, or by calling directory assistance. I know people who have even activated cable/internet/phone services under kids' names lol. Google maps can even show me how many trees are on your front lawn. People's addys change all the time too. The addy linked to my account/card on PSN isn't even the right one. Means nothing. I can vouch for all the people I've seen approved for fraudulent loans with aliases and wrong addys. Telemarketers ever call you? Then your info is already circulating.

Your local paper publishes birthdays and obituaries every day along with full names and those of family/friends. A million people share your birthday, and probably your name too. Saying I'm Brad Pitt Dec18/1963 ain't gonna get me a credit card with a million dollar limit and a spare key to Angelina Jolie's Manhattan apartment. Try it. :D

Identity theft is a terrible thing, but other than your credit card getting out, there's nothing in this PSN breach that isn't already out there. PSN doesn't have your SSN/NID, birth certificate, passport, health card (if you're Canadian), Drivers License, banking info (if you're smart)...so people need to take a deep breath.

[HolyOrangeCows]

"Red ring is not a new console, You get a three year warrenty so if it breaks you send it off and they repair it for FREE"
-
And after 3 years?
And the launch consoles, the ones with the most explosive failure rates, are WELL past 3 years.

Hardly comparable problems.

[Anon1974]

Oh Kotaku. How low will you stoop? "Which is worse, PSN outage or Hitler? Surprisingly, we find it's very close."

Seriously, remember before Gran Turismo 5 came out, and they launched 4 negative GT5 stories in a week, about a game months from launch, and then topped it off with an obviously faked video of reported lengthy load times?

Of course the PSN outage is nothing like RROD. People are going on about "But they leaked people's BIRTHDAY's!" Are you kidding me? Aren't births a matter of public record? I put my name into google and found a family tree with my birthdate on it. I didn't put it there. Ohhh nooes! Someone is gonna steal my identity!

Seriously, the leak certainly isn't a good thing - but I went through 3 faulty Xbox's, countless hours lost talking to incompetent call center reps and had months were I couldn't play games I spent hundreds of dollars on. Contrast that with PSN's outage which has affected my gaming habits NOT AT ALL. I've been playing single player games, like I normally do, without any problems.

And if thieves want to try identity theft on me, I'm one of 35 million others who had their information taken and I know the bank laws in my country are strict enough that no one can do squat with my name, address and birthday. I need to show ID to deposit a third party cheque where I live.

My stress level at having my information hacked is zero. Thieves have probably stolen more information out of my trash over the years and I'm not about to lose one second of sleep over it.

Seriously, go online and try to apply for a credit card with just a name, phone number and birthdate. Or a mortgage. See how far you get. I just don't understand people who insist in living in fear all the time rather then getting informed.

But here's the thing, those claiming that this is some kind of massive breach that should have us all scurrying in fear, look at their posting history. Notice a pattern?

Kotaku is a joke.

[InFAMOUS1]

he was saying the RROD was a new console in terms of the fact that when Xbox 360 launched it was a new console and had the issue and in a smaller way still does today... As it stands right now, the RROD issue is far greater. If the PSN ends up costing Sony billions and billions of dollars then we will talk.

[jeseth]

While the PSN outage is getting annoying as I can stand . . .

RROD is probably the worst consumer electronic problem I've ever seen. Failure rates as high as 50% in some tests is crazy. How a company can put a product to market with that many design flaws is unbelievable. I have co-workers that have had as many as 4 Xbox 360's. And every time it is a major inconvenience to them.

PSN being down isn't that much difference than the Xbox Live outage during the 2008 holidays that lasted for 2 weeks. RROD is/was an epidemic.

[StoneyYoshi]

yeah the 3 year warranty didnt happen until a year after the incident got big. so all the ppl who got it at launch had dead consoles after the year warranty ended and they were shit out of luck. then MS got sued a bunch of times so they settled for doing the 3 year warranty extention. so at one point, it was a new console.

[Reibooi]

God I hate these flamebait piles of crap. Doesn't at all shock me Kotaku came up with this crap(one of the reasons I stopped reading that site)

RROD is definitely worse. I mean come on. At one point if you bought a Xbox 360 you were almost guaranteed to have it Red Ring and that lasted for like 3 years before you could safely buy a console from MS and not worry.

The PSN issue is something that A) Wasen't Sony's fault B) At worst didn't even last for a month and C) didn't prevent you from playing all your games(yeah I know some didn't work but oh well). Really there is no comparison.

[skrug]

@Omi25p

360 didnt have 3yr warranty, when it first came out.

I believe, at first it was 90 days, then after a few months it was extended to 1 year. Then a year or so later, the 3yr warranty[only of rrod].

[pixelsword]

RRoD

I can still play my PS3, just not online. RRoD prevents both.

[Solid_Snake-]

identity theft or rrod. hmmmmm id have to go with rrod.

[Scyrus]

funny, considering no one had their identity stolen (yet)

ontop of that every psn user has 1 million$ coverage for free identity fraud soooo stop trollin

[TomInc]

At the moment they've yet to find someone actually affected by ID theft that hasnt lied about it for site views... So im not really viewing it, or the credit breach claims as a worry right now. Plus Sony are covering insurance, so again, no loss.

[wsoutlaw87]

you cant steal an identity with a name and address or else the phone book would be worth money. Don't let fear-mongering websites trick you.

[jeseth]

There was nothing stolen that isn't already shared between companies.

The people that think there is security beyond your SSN are just in denial. Name, Address, DOB, hell even mothers maiden names are not "safe" anymore.

People just need to be responsible and ID things on their statements as they come through.

[ChrisGTR1]

i think you mean RROD vs YLOD

[TomInc]

The article mentions RROD vs PSN.

[ChrisGTR1]

yea its talking about which is a worse debacle. definitely rrod is much worse. but hes comparing different things, he should compare xbox live crash in christmas 08 to psn crash of 11

[a_cold_soul]

Identity theft > RROD

[StoneyYoshi]

there has been no actual proof that there has been any identity theft. the title says rrod vs psn, not rrod vs psn identity theft.

[The_Nameless_One]

Was there any confirmed identity theft yet resulting from the breech? So far all I saw were some rather shady people claiming they got money charged on their accounts even after Sony said people should start monitoring them.

Seemed fishy to me that the claims started mere days after Sony declared that account information was stolen. You would think as a cyber thief you would want to use the time people had no idea of the extent of the breech.

Plus those people never really explained if thier account hacking was a result from the PSN breech. WHo knows, if they are willing to give Sony their bank account information then they could have done the same on another web site.

Seeing how I went through 5 Xbox 360 in 4 years I would give the RROD the crown. Don't forget that as Soon as Sony knew the extent of the breech they notified people while MS knowingly released defected systems into the market knowing they would fail. Also don't forget how long it took MS to even acknowledge the problem (though they never fully admitted it) and start the their extended warranty program. Remember how MS actually charged people to get the RROD fixed?

[Joni-Ice]

PSN being down for the hack reasons happened once. The RROD happened 4 times to me. You decide.

[TurismoGTR]

Both.. at the moment. when PSN back on, then it's RROD.

[saladthieves]

RRoD was worse. With PSN down, I at least can play single player games. When my Xbox RRoDd, It was:
GAME OVER.

[Hairy Chewie]

It's like comparing AIDS and Clymidia. One's for life, the others just a pain in the ass.

[DelbertGrady]

Does AIDS come with a 3 year warranty? Can I send my AIDS back to MS and get it fixed?

Are you seriously likening RROD to AIDS? lol.

[lh_swe]

That was an inaccurate comaprison but still kinda funny XD

[the_kutaragi_baka]

another shi* of article from kotaku....

don't give hits for kotaku trolls guys.

[r1sh12]

too many people dont know the facts...
RROD - 3 year warranty and free repair and you get a 1 month xbox live code as an extension for inconvenience, MS will automatically transfer licenses over if you get a different console, so you dont lose anything. After you get your replacement your 3 Year warranty is extended.

Sony PSN hack, your personal details are owned by someone and can be sold because the data was not encrypted.

How is the customer affected:
Xbox RROD - 14-21 days without xbox, but a free 1 month extension code is given back, warranty is extended and xbox is sent back for free (repaired or replaced), unless its out of warranty $120

PSN hack - Personal details can be published on the net like they already have. Personal details can be sold to anyone, or Identity fraud can happen.
US customers are the only ones with ID theft insurance not anyone else in the world...[Hopefully other parts of the world get ID theft insurance because my details are now floating around on the net]
PS YLOD - not sure about the US cost, but I think its £120 (UK)if out of warranty (only 1 year warranty)

SOme people need to not get so offended
Which is worse?

[StoneyYoshi]

nobody knows if our info has been posted on the internet nothing but rumors as far as we know. and the same as our information actually being stolen. nothing but rumors. nobody knows...... all speculation

[White-Sharingan]

I don't want someone else refurbished shit console. Now if they would give me a brand new console then that would be great, but it isn't the case.

[skrug]

you didnt mention about, sony compensating, with 1 month PS+ to everyone and extend PS+ to people the same amount of down time, in addition to downloadable games/content.

and also only some stuff are not encrypted, CC are encrypted, passwords are hashed.

[Clarence]

Well seeing as the PSN outage will not cost me any money and I only have to wait for it to come back online.

RROD you either going to spend money for a new console or your going to wait for a refurbeshed console to come in the mail.

RROD is the worse

[Solidus187-SCMilk]

looking for hits I assume, looks like it worked :(

EDIT- The worst would be if you own PS3 and 360 and your 360 got RRoD while the PSN was Down. And then you started to get strange charges on your CC and you 360 got lost in the mail. And if the PSN was down for 3 more weeks and the day your 360 is delivered the mailman leaves it by your door, but it rains and floods you porch and gets it all wet. And then PSN comes back up but your dog chewed off the left analogue stick on your only PS3 controller while you were at work.

[Kran]

RROD.

With the PSN being down, theres a bunch of SP stuff you could be doing.

With RROD, you can't do absolutely anything. With the Slim though, its less likely but it still has its problems.

[Peaceful_Jelly]

and u need to ask?

[-Mezzo-]

For the consumer both are Bad, but i will get the PSN back without any extra cost. While i will have to shell out another $300 if i get an RROD.

[v1c1ous]

when my xbox rrod, MS paid for everything and i got a brand new xbox free of charge.

when my ps3 YLOD, i had to pay sony $100. which is worse....

[wedgie]

I believe you for that, but not really the issue that is being discussed here...

[rob6021]

because one company had to pack on a full 3 year warranty to avoid a class action lawsuit; where as the other one didn't. and they only did for a specific flaw that they were owning up to - they didn't warranty your system is the drive stopped reading disks.

[MintBerryCrunch]

a broken console in RROD to a console with no online play at the moment

this doesnt stop me from playing GT5, RDR along with all the ps 1 classics at the moment

[SonyNGP]

Really?

Of course RRoD is worse. You can still use your PS3 when PSN is down!

[ash_divine]

(Sighs)... it was only a matter of time. To answer the question, that really depends on how long PSN stays down.

[ZBlacktt]

Lets see here. One you can still play games every single day and earn trophies. The other you can't play anything at all. As the console is shipped out. For millions, that happened 3 and 4 times.

[slugg]

The PSN thing could be way worse if a bunch of subscribers start getting strange charges on their stolen credit cards.

[wedgie]

IF that happens, then I agree. However, as I see it at this very moment (where I don't think any credit cards have really been stolen, or if so only a handful (sorry, don't really know the numbers)) then RROD is worse for many of the reasons others have already mentioned.

If widespread credit card theft occurs, however, then we are talking a much bigger dilemma than just a network being down.

[kuge456]

Epic fail by MS itself.
Are they innocent?

[Esena]

Yeah, I mean anyone to say PSN is worse is...well, stupid. Both the RROD and PSN are terrible. But one eliminates all gaming, while the other only eliminates online gaming. I've been playing Tiger Woods 12, Clash of Heroes, and Portal 2 (SP). I actually would have been doing the same thing if PSN is up, except for Portal 2 co-op.

Also... this is under the assumption Sony fixes this issue relatively soon.

[Killman]

Well, considering that I am submitting this comment with my PS3, I say that RROD is far worse and this question is stupid.

[Jazz4108]

I would have to agree rrod is worse. I'm very glad in my time with a 360 its never happened. I have an original launch console and a 1 year old slim that both get heavy use and a ps3 that's been replaced 3 times and one was for ylod so I'm gping to be a little hard on sony but no diffrent if my ms console dies which it could. I don't woory about my ms slim as reports have shown it as reliable or more reliable then the ps3 slim but my launch console is another story but after almost 6 years it does not really owe me. I do have to give this one to rrod though as psn will be back up better then ever and soon.

[acemonkey]

wtf is up with theres stupid ass writers lately?

[Rybakov]

ylod

ive gone through 3x as many PlayStation as i have xbox's they only time i got a new xbox was to upgrade but my friends who i either sold or gave my old console to still play and one of them is from launch....but leave it to sony to cover things up like the beginning of the psn hack

[GOODKyle]

Kotaku, I used to respect you but with all these articles in such a short span on the PSN...you've become the gaming version of FOX News in my eyes.

[Raendom]

Which One Is Worse? Kotaku vs. IGN.

loololol. I'd love if GameSpot did that article.

[ryan_s]

you are totally right i hated kotaku when they banned me from commenting on their site just because i was expressing my mind
i mean who would make an article about a toilet seat

[Game0N]

for those brainless idiots saying that RROD is not as bad because it's free replacements under warranty also have to factor in the insanely amount of time it takes for you to receive a cheap refurbished one thats probably gonna break down in a couple weeks. When i used to game on xbox i got the red ring 3 times and each time i sent it back, it took a month for me to get back and it was REFURBISHED. PSN is just a service issue, not a CONSOLE issue, the two aren't even in the same ballpark so those saying otherwise need to wake up and smell the latte!

[Mottsy]

-.-

http://youtu.be/HNTxr2NJHa0

[meganick]

Is anyone seriously asking this question? With the red ring, your 360 is dead, meaning you can't do anything on it at all forever. With the PSN issue, you just don't have access to online gaming for a little while. How are those two issues even remotely comparable?

[despair]

RROD duhh...PSN cannot play games online...RROD cannot play games...is there even a point to asking other than flamebait?

[mrcapcom]

agree apart from prod only effects that one user not the entire network

[BushLitter]

What a silly little question...

RROD is worse for Xbox gamers - coz they don't get to play games
PSN is worse for PS gamers - coz the don't get to play MP

[Neko_Mega]

I'll stay with my PS3, I have had seven 360's and only now I got one that seems to last longer then the others.

Problem is that I don't play it really anymore because I got sick off having it quit on me or something else.

[DigitalRaptor]

From a company standpoint, RROD is far worse, since Microsoft most likely knew of the problem and decided to launch the 360, rather than waiting and building a more reliable machine. Not only this, but they flat-out denied the problem until they faced lawsuits, and at this point, they extended the warranty to 3 years. Until around last year the 360 (when they launched the slim) the 360 was an unreliable POS, hardware-wise.

With the PSN, Sony have managed to keep their network secure for around 4 years, until the master key was stolen/leaked and hackers found a way in. All networks have their vunerabilities, and PSN just wasn't as secure as Sony thought. Consumers aren't losing any money with the PSN problem. It's just an unfortunate incident.

Sony has definitely learned the errors of their ways, and are proving it by re-building a much more secure network and offering their consumers free protection against identity theft. They will have to earn customers' trust, but seem to be going about it the right way.

Will Microsoft have learned from their errors of shipping unreliable hardware? Who knows?

[Bzone24]

I've only got a comment for one of your points. You wonder if Microsoft learned from the error of their ways shipping unreliable hardware, but they are shipping the newest Xbox model that is far more reliable and you rarely hear of problems out of it.

You say Sony has learned the error of their ways even though they still haven't brought back PSN for you even to see if it is more secure???

[DigitalRaptor]

Microsoft have only manufactured and released a steady and mostly reliable SKU after 5-6 years. That is far too late as far as I'm concerned. Improving your hardware and releasing a slimline version is a natural progression, and Microsoft have done that but VERY slowly. When you consider how widespread and serious the RROD problem is, as a company you shouldn't take 5 years to sort out that problem and continue passing it off to the consumer. They've done nothing to gain my respect as a company.

The situation with Sony is a serious one in regards to people trusting them again, but Sony have outlined clearly what they are in the process of doing. The PSN is not available because Sony is treating this with the utmost diligence, and they wouldn't knowingly bring a potentially unsafe network back online. It's not hard to see Sony is learning from the mistakes that were made, because they are in the direct process of that as we speak!

[Bzone24]

You aren't getting the point. Microsoft did eventually get it right regardless of how long it took.

You don't know if sony has learned from their mistakes. You are just hopeful. Of coarse they won't knowingly bring a potentially unsafe network back online, but they didn't know it was unsafe to begin with. How are you so sure that they've learned from this? They are being forced to fix things right now because of the breach, because they have to, not because they learned something. It remains to be seen whether or not they've learned something and keep PSN secure.

[leogets]

rrod means you have a 360 so thas way worse lmao.. jk guys. joking aside the rrod is worse cos that means u have no console to use at all.obviously what a silly article

[wsoutlaw87]

lol that was a little funny

[th3_d3an]

RROD PERIOD! had it happen to me 3 times thats 3 times too many the last one being right out of the box brand fcking new! WTF! sorry it rrod not even close.

[Optical_Matrix]

Talking about brewing up a shit storm. Keep it classy Kotaku, jesus christ

[Bimkoblerutso]

Seriously, wtf Kotaku? This is getting ridiculous. Well, that's not true. Your articles have been ridiculous since this whole thing started.

[Harelgur]

RROD..
PSN will be back, my dead xbox wont.

[kagon01]

Kotaku, your stupid article will be in my list, expect judgement...

[MeNoRasta]

Shouldn't you compare the rrod with the ylod?
And the psn outage should be compared to the xbl outage back in 2007.
Its 2011 now and security issues shouldn't happen at this down of age.

EDIT: the ps3 plastic shaggers was quick to disagree so i guess it is acceptable for security issues in the year of 2011?

[clintos59]

Well its 2011 & rrod still occurs since the 360 launched. Thats what 6 years now? PSN has only been down 2 weeks & u trying to make it seem like 6 years of rrod is nothing major compared to 2 weeks of no psn lol.

Edit: Oh trust me I admit ps3 failures if i ever had any but no doubt ylod does occur aswell, but not at the high scale of rrod which is limited now with new 360's but even those new models have problems.

[MeNoRasta]

Ok but microsoft knew they messed up so they released the xbox slim and yes it has its flaws just like the ps3 itself but i bet you dont wanna admit that dont you?

EDIT:Its been proven that a ps3 slim has more chance of dying than a xbox slim.Look it up on google.

[rob6021]

One was primarily the companies fault, the other was primarily hackers doing. Maybe we should throw 9/11 into the mix of 'what's worse' considering you shouldn't tie the two scenarios together.

[Burning_Finger]

New Poll.

Which one is worse??

*Kotaku

*IGN

[NotSoSilentBob]

Don't you mean which one is the lesser of two evils?

[the_kutaragi_baka]

both are big fail of game journalism.

[BootyBandit]

Hardware failure = manufacturers fault
Online services hacked = criminals fault

[HarryPS3]

Is there a way i can select only professional written articles instead of these irrelevant and lame ones like this one?!

[DeeZee]

The sad thing is, Kotaku are supposed to be the "professionals". But I'm starting to lose respect for them like I did when Gizmodo bought that stolen iPhone 4.

[mitsuhede]

well i can still play my ps3 so...

[tweet75]

RROD ....the psn problem is only temporary and all games can still be played offline....the RROD means nothing can be done on the system

[Justin_bristoe]

just traded my xbox 360 slim in today.those E 82's were starting to last too long lol.some xbox fanboy can deal with that sht when it finally craps out for good but in exchange for it halo odst reach gears 2 AND THE keybord i got portal 2 MORTAL KOMBAT batman arkmam asylum and a move sharp shooter for my socom all for ps3! it was a good day i must say.i might take arkam asylum back and buy kz3 just to have two sharp shooter games!

that xbox started doing thT E 82 A MONTH AFTER I BOUGHT IT. IT STARTED RED DOTTING LONGER THAN BEFORE SO WHEN THAT BAD BOY STARTED WORKING AGAIN I HIGH TAILED IT TO GAME STOP AND PUNTED THAT THING BACK INTO RETAIL...HAVE FUN WITH IT!! CANT WAIT TIL PSN COME BACK!!!

[sam2236]

What kind of retarded crap is this?! The RRoD is obviously worse bnecasue the console is fucking BROKEN!

Seriously, how the hell does this shite get approved?!!

[blackburn10]

Exactly. This is bad but come on. At least i can still play my PS3 but when the 360 breaks you can't play or do anything. I mean people put it down as if it were nothing but i live in Trinidad where it isn't so simple to send my console for repair or to get my money back on warranty. If I owned a 360 I would have to buy each and everyone for full price every time it broke.

And to add to the insult of releasing a broken console Microsoft never really apologized for it.Instead everyone tries to pretend it didn't happen by getting angry every time anyone mentions it.

[Ddouble]

I'm still amazed when people say i'm on my 4th, 5th, 6th x-box. I would have given up by the third. RROD is far worse.

[clintos59]

Believe me ive had 3 go out on me & now that my warranty is up, I am not buying a new one if this one lets up on me. I'll just use my little brothers since hes a 360 fanatic.

[RyuCloudStrife]

your mom is worse...

on a serious note, this shouldn't even be a comparison...

[undercovrr]

Its articles like this that I hope show gamers that Kotaku is just another unprofessional journalism website which lost its touch.

[Relientk77]

RROD, the PSN is just temporary

[ceedubya9]

Well, seeing as how you can actually still PLAY your PS3 while the PSN is down, I think the answer here is pretty clear. Both are pretty big disasters though that that both companies should learn from for future console plans.

[Vega75]

I rather get RRoD than have my info stolen. So for me psn is far worse as I can always get a new console. I can't get a new identity

[headblackman]

you would think that the rrod is worse but if you think about it, it's really not because of the warrenty that only takes like a week or 2 to get back. the psn has already been down for 2 weeks and they dont even know when it's coming back on. yes the ps3 can still play games but no one really plays offline non-multiplayer games. and rrod is not an issue anymore so lets stay current. the psn hack is current

[hiredhelp]

witch is worse hmm
buying a new console or waiting on the fence. hmm

[NateCole]

Lets see.

A couple of weeks offline while i can still use my PS3 or couple of weeks waiting for the x360 to be fixed multiple times.

Trust people to make suck stupid comparison.

[Barajas_201]

what?! a hardware fail lier and a service being down for two weeks aren't in the same level of fucked up, kotaku ones again shows off their stupidity, ign, kotaku, gamspot, and gametrailers are really the most ignorant video game related websites out there, so dont give them hits people :)

[ForROME]

Facile comparison, software and hardware do not compare...

[Kos-Mos]

This article is pure spam.

[Ninjamonkey82]

RROD was a pain in the ass tbh PSN will come back online and thats a fact. Ive been threw alot of xboxs pre slim. And before i caught onto the fact i could get them to fix it i lost money on them aswell so. Yeah RROD every day for me.

[mendicant]

It's completely obvious that the vast majority of you did not bother reading the article before commenting. Had you done so you would have realized that it's very well written and makes good arguments.. The lack of critical thinking, reading comprehension, and intellectual honesty is so lacking on this site sometimes it's amazing.

OT:

I've gone through three 360s because of the red ring of death and as many of you can attest to, it's a very angering situation to be in. However I didn‘t have to pay for repairs, shipping or handling and they extended the warranty three years. And they also gave you little things like a game here and there or some Microsoft points. Gradually they recover from this and the new type S is good to go. I still harbor deep resentment against Microsoft for this issue, and they are going to have to do all a lot to gain my trust in jumping into their next console as an early adopter. While my 360 was away I didn't have to think about it too much because I have PS3 and a Wii. I claim no brand loyalty I just want to play games.

In the article the author makes a very good analogy by saying that the Sony situation is akin to having burglars break into your house and steal your stuff but you willingly and knowingly, left the doors unlocked. Millions of people had their personal information stolen. That is something that can affect you in real life, not simply playing games. Identity theft can be a damaging issue for years, as opposed to the few weeks of inconvenience.

One of the more parroted comments I've seen is that it's not that big a deal because your information is out there anyway, that this type of thing happens all the time. To that I would say then you should understand the concept of why that's a lot worse, and secondly just because it happened in the past to others doesn't mean that it's okay to happen now. Sony is a multibillion dollar corporation and they seriously dropped the ball in not having adequate security. Those of you saying that this is not a big deal, or that the PS3 can do other things are seriously missing the point. It's not about the other things that it can do, it‘s about not doing the thing that they should have done. They know that these type of things happen and they should have been prepared. The loss in revenues also effects publishers dlc offerings. There simply is no excuse for Sony to have allowed for their security to be as lax as it was and they knew that it was lax. Microsoft knowing about rrod was bad enough. Sony knowingly had crappy security guarding their customers information. Both offenses are unacceptable, forgiven but unacceptable. However in my mind there is no argument as to which one is more egregious.

[gypsygib]

I couldn't play my 360 for two weeks each time they had to replace my console, and it happened 5 times. RROD is much worse. Not to mention that I bought a new console and then was given a refurbished POS.

[ShAkKa]

Both are bad, there is no need to pick one over the other.

-Praise the TMAN-

[KurdGamer]

What type of stupid F***** question is this? Of course RROD is worse. You XBOX is rendered useless. at least with my ps3 I can watch bluray movies and play great single player games. This question is like asking

"whats worse AIDS or the Flue?"

[mendicant]

Another ignorant, uninformed comment from somebody who didn't read the article. I wonder how some of you can function in the real world being such morons.

"whats worse AIDS or the Flue?" I can't believe you seriously thought that sentence out in your head and decided that it worked. That's not even considering the rest of your comment.

[RAmar101]

RROD is miles worse as many people have had to get replacements, don't give me that 3y warranty crap, what happens after the 3 years? What happpens to all the other error codes? Scratched disks which microsoft still deny?

How many people have had to purchase another 360 due to console failiures? Those numbers are not made up its real.

RROD is worse, with psn issue the online play is down temp but console still works.

The ONLY reason xbots are jumping up and down is that they need something like this to cover their hurt, last year by now they had mass effect 2 - alan wake and crackdown 2, this year upto now has been cock all that's a FACT

OT sony is handling this well, u can't just turn everything on just like that just to please users, they have to make sure everything is safe, I'm looking forward to the welcome back package.

The weeks before outage, psn offered free realms for free and blue toad murder files for free, that's 2 full free games, upon reboot we will be getting 2 further free games, this is why sony are best their console offers far more than the comp which may I add is looking long in the tooth now.

360 was out 16months ahead of ps3 if anything there should be more slew of titles than ps3 offering but it hasn't, LOL LOL

Poor article though to get hits

[mendicant]

I'll tell you like I told the guy above you

"Another ignorant, uninformed comment from somebody who didn't read the article. I wonder how some of you can function in the real world being such morons."

[ZeroX9876]

the article says that with the RROD, a single product is affected. I don't know what they call a single product, but I couldn't use netflix that I paid for, I couldn't play FFXI either and can't play my singleplayer games. It affects developpers sales because I won't buy a game on my RRODed 360 when it's out for repair.

With the psn being offline, I can't play online games, can't download stuff on my psn (redeem codes, pre-order bonus, portal 2 steam pc link), can't play DC universe anymore. so there's more chances that I get my game for another system.

There's negative things about the two and they're pretty harsh on both side.

Kotaku prefer the 360 over the PS3 so articles like this are commons, but they can have their opinion too. If they find psn being down more annoying than a RROD 360, then so be it. Personnaly, I think RROD is more annoying since you lose everything you can do with it, but this is my opinion, not yours.

and they talked about the new 360 motherboard being safe. they exactly said and I quote "RRoD is effectively eradicated, like childhood polio. Microsoft appears to have recovered", maybe "RROD", but a couple of my friends 360 slim broke down. only 2 of them actually on maybe like 10 of my friends that got slims, but the problem is still there.

And even if PSN is back, I think that when a COD map pack comes out, there will be another PS store slow down or crash, even with the new servers.

nothing is perfect and we know this already. I'm just sick of all those RROD and psn down articles. 1 or 2 is alright, but there's like 2-5 articles a day about them for sure.

[ZeroX9876]

both take 3 weeks to get back from repair....but when psn will be back on, no problem for another long time. RROD... can't say the same thing. the 2 problems are a bitch to deal with anyway. wish my 360 didn't broke twice. PSN being down, I'm glad I got other systems to play online.

[Speakindatruth]

I can play games on my PS3 while the PSN is down. When my 360 RROD'd, I had to wait two weeks (sometimes three) just to get my console back. It has RRoD'd ten times since I bought it at launch. And I paid shipping every time. I could have bought two new 360s with that money, and I've lost collectively over four months of gaming from it. After the tenth RROD, I stopped playing 360, sent it in to get refurbished, and sold it with all my 360 games. Now I just play PS3. Not a fanboy, just pissed off.

[Mr_Luke]

Which question is that?!?
RROD is worse, with RROD the console is dead....
PSN down just means "you can't use the online features but you can do all the rest".
Please... sometimes i think they make those article to make ppl laugh..

[TXIDarkAvenger]

PS3...it only does offline.

[Frak]

PSN Down = No Online Gaming BUT Will Be getting Free Stuff, PSN PLUS is on HOLD and a better PSN

RROD = NO Gaming AT ALL{ my xbox live subscription is running out LOLOLOL]

TAKe a Pick Morons

[Pl4sm4]

hmmm . let me think . oh WE CAN STILL enjoy OUR GAMES ... premium quality games all the way , oh and that piece of a maggot game gears of war 1,2,3 ... keep buying it they might change they might change the weapons color by the 6th game . whoever wrote this article should go play pacman or something

[NotSoSilentBob]

Hmmm lets see, one stops you from playing online while one stops you from playing all together? Which one is worse?

[Muffins1223]

rrod dosent really exist anymore so stfu fanboy,i mean yea a xbox slim could break but then a agine a ps3 slim could break...

[NotSoSilentBob]

RROD doesn't exist anymore? Kind of like only a "small" number of initial Xbox 360s customers experienced RROD when it first launched?

/sarcasm

[mcgrawgamer]

You know gaming journalism and fanboyism have hit all time lows when we have to compare failures. Neither were the end of the world, neither were/will be on going issues and neither will sway a gamers loyalty to console "A" or "B". This article is sad and the comments here are worse.

Jeez! Will we ever get back to discussing games?

[gamer7804]

One is already remedied, the other is in the process of being remedied, i think its time we moved on and talked more about games.

[Muffins1223]

rrod dosent really exist anymore so stfu fanboy

[laz1973]

Ha tell that to my m8 whos 360 just got it the other day after laughing at the PSN going down.Whos laughing now me cause I can still play my games.LMARO

[DFresh]

After dealing with both issues dealing with a broken console is definitely worse.
IMO.
PS3 YLOD (9-28-10)
PSN Outage...still going on.
Dealing with customer service, going through the procedures, it's just all really annoying.
Not having online does suck just as much but at least I still would have a working console that can still be used to play single player games, movies and music until the online network is fixed.
Either that or you have multiple platforms to game on.
For me that's PS3/PC.
:P

[ZombieNinjaPanda]

Let's see:

One breaks your console, the other loses your credit card information.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

[sak500]

How about rephrasing the question?

RROD or YLOD+PSN downtime.

YLOD is worse since it's only covered for a year.

[YodaCracker]

Both cost/or will cost their companies billions. But sensitive data like credit card information getting out is much worse than your console simply breaking. This PSN fiasco is going to lose Sony TONS of present and future customers. At the current rate, the PS3 was set to pass the 360 in total sales by as early as summer 2013, but now it will likely never happen.

I'd say the PSN disaster is worse and I have gone through four Xbox 360s (only paid for the first one, though).

[rlm41]

PSN problem is worse.. 3 year warranty on RRoD and if it breaks down (unlikely RRoD these days), once you get your console back you can continue playing online.. PS3 you can't play online even if your console is working.

Besides I'd rather have the 3 year warranty with chance of Red Ring than 1 year for the PS3. PS3's break down too they are not invincible you idiots. So 1 year warranty is a downside for PS3.

[devilhunterx]

Can you play at all with a RROD xbox2?

[abczby]

PSN without a doubt. PSN instantly affected every person who owns a PlayStation 3. The RRoD only affects 25% of people who owned the original Xbox's. I bought an Xbox 7 months after launch and I've never had any problems with it. Not to mention Microsoft handled the RRoD a lot better - if you ever get one you automatically get a FREE 3 year warranty. The people in these comments who are saying the RRoD costs you a new console (or any money at all) are blatant PS3 fanboys who don't even have an Xbox 360. Any time you get one you just send your Xbox into Microsoft's repair center and you'll have it back in about 10 days, good as new.

Also, the PSN crisis will end up having cost Sony more than the RRoD cost Microsoft, which shows how much worse the PSN crisis was than RRoD - the PSN crisis will have lasted about a month while the RRoD existed from the debut of the Xbox until the release of the redesigned one meaning that in one month Sony was able to eclipse a disaster that lasted for over 4 years.

The most pathetic part is that the PSN crisis could have been completely avoided if there were just some competent people at Sony programming their network security.

[xPhearR3dx]

RROD isnt even a problem any more, and the yellow light on Playstation is just as bad

[griffis007]

What a stupid flame baiting article.

[AtomicGerbil]

In other news:-
Which one is worse? No running water for a few weeks or Your house burnt down.

On topic, Red ring has to be worse, no console at all till it's fixed.

I don't consider the unencrypted accessed details on PSN an issue, as that kind of information is available by much easier means and available for access by anybody.

[NaiNaiNai]

My god are you people really thinking have your information stolen is less of a problem then a system breaking.

WTF is wrong with you all. if you're information is stolen, even if you report it, Its not that damn simple. people can still use your name for all sorts of things, bad credit takes a long time to fix.

My god how blind you fanboys are, you say there are alot of 360 fanboys here, but truth be told I would say maybe 5% of the website is actually a 360 fanboy and 85% are ps3. just because of the "agree/disagree" ratio on some of these comments. You should all go and die. save the would the trouble.

[laz1973]

Well since we can still play games, watch blu-ray movies and surf the net why ask .the PS3 rocks better than the 360 even when the PSN is down.PSN will be back better than ever before and with NEW servers the psn should have less lag and connection problems.One day 360fanboys will see the light and leave M$....IMO

[AngelicIceDiamond]

r u a fanboy

[laz1973]

Yip but you dont see me on 360 posts bumming about how great the ps3 is and how shit the 360 is.The 360 is a good games machine but just lacks more stuff than the PS3.

[Three_Sisters]

I think PSN down is better...

in RROD, I'm sure you don't want your hundreds of dollars worth console not running...and with that you totally can't do anything...

in PSN down...you can still play single player games, play music, internet browse, and watch videos

[FITgamer]

Definitely RROD, the PSN being down doesn't require you to spend money for repair, or have to buy an entirely new system. Next stupid question of the day?

[TheNocturnus]

RROD is worse, I'm on my 9th 360. ridiculous ain't it?

-All Heil Tman!

[AngelicIceDiamond]

What do u think?

[ATiElite]

RROD totally sucks ass cause it makes your gaming come to a complete STOP! Shell out $300 for something to break would have me PISSED OFF. M$ really dropped the ball on this with their lapse in quality of design and manufacturing.

PSN and Sony have been huge targets as of late but the PSN hack is very serious. So what no multi-player...go outside and get some exercise. The real danger is these ass clowns stealing your credit card numbers which they have done but Sony is being all too quiet on this issue although they have steps in place to correct their total FAILURE to protect consumer information.

The PSN hack is by far worse than RROD. When people start getting huge credit card bills for crap they didn't buy then you'll understand. Plus this could lead to identity theft which is an even worse headache than RROD.

PC=NO problems. :p

[CtrlAltDel]

When you look outside the window of this website's EXTREME fanboyism....

you can distinguish which one actually broke the CONSUMER'S TRUST. (Or rather which trust was not repaired).

MS has broken the trust of consumers but they have successfully repaired that trust (as noted by continually rise in sales) by offereing an unheard of 3 year warranty, money back for those who spent money on repairs and finally; a new and improved 360. Some users felt that wasn't enogh and haven't returned to the xbox brand.

Sony has broken the trust of consumers with not only their PSN service being suddenly taken away (along with many features which were gradually taken away via firmware updates) but with their lack of responsibility with user account info (which unfortunately, many HERE don't think is dangerous), as noted by the lack of security on the PSN.

They two are trying to repair the trust of consumers (after being...nudged by local governments)by offering free games and free account monitoring services (for 1 year). Is this enough for consumers? Only time will tell.

IMO it is a far more dangerous and POTENTIALLY expensive situation than RRoD.

With RRoD at the MOST it would've cost you $300.

With your acct info compromised, it could potentially damage your pocket book thousands upon thousands of dollars. The damage may not come this year but likely when all this dies down.

[iNMyFiN4LH0uR]

wat is the point of this question besides instigating further fanboyism? you aren't about to become a better or smarter person if you know which one is worse.

[grayday104]

I think this all depends all on how you were affected each one is bad some people had their identities stolen and some people had to buy a completely new console but i say that psn is worse because having an identity stolen is a big deal

[Gamingbethyname]

Well when I was playing gears of war 2 on that hot summer day in 09 and xbox got rrod i was crushed. I tried everything but nothing worked.playing mag psn goes down I'm freaking pissed go on the internet to see what's up and everyone's offline.But hey my old xbox 360 parts make gret coasters

[zeeshan810]

RROD is worse b/c I don't wanna lose my console.

[tudors]

IMO PSN breach is worse, neither are good for the image but once your details are out there they got them, you got to change your bank details and all sorts of other stuff, the hardware problem is just a hardware problem, I don't see how they compare really.

[Whackedorange]

RROD is worse cause microsoft knew that their console had faults and still they released it to the market (why else do you think the extended warranty came to place??) PSN is not a fault that could be blamed by Sony at all just those cyberterrorist who claims to be working our case (They certainly are dead wrong there).

[TBONEJF]

U have to ask of course RROD. Cause you can't even play your games period.

[coola426]

RROD because 1. when it breaks even if you have the 3 year warranty you have to wait 3 weeks to get your xbox back. so you still won't be playing xbox both multi-player and single-player. As for the PSN outage you can't play multi-player for 2 weeks and a lil bit but you can still play single-player and use your ps3 for other reasons. you just can't player multi-player.

[Kee]

Well RROD bricks your console so... That's worse. but ps3s have YLOD (not sure about the slim mines is ok so far.) so i mean it's like comparing tomatoes to peppers.

[typeN8]

What the hell kind of question is this..i swear n4g guys wanna see fights..

Im sure the psn outage sucks...its does

But nothing compared to a xbox breaking 3 or 4 times

Give me a break

And if any of you 360 fanboys disagree
Bring it you bastards

[PygmelionHunter]

Is this a serious question?

[ClimateKaren]

Kotaku have become the worst, fear-mongering, sensationalist, fan-baiting, shitting-on-the-readers website on the internet. It's such a shame, it used to be such a great place. But, once you're under that Gawker umbrella I guess you have to do as the Gawkers do. Now that Kotaku is only seeing a small percentage of the hits that they used to get (due to pissing their readers off and not caring one bit), they have to put out articles like this one at least once a day to balance things out. Pathetic.

How the mighty have fallen.

[Darkspade]

Very Stupid Topic

[young7yang]

well boys and girls.. suck it up and play those campain games....

i'v had my playstation for about 4 yrs now... and this is the worst that has ever happened to me...

iv gon through 3 xbox systems and am currently on the new slim 360 model...

psn could be down for a month i could care less.. as i am playing yakuza 4 at the moment

[BeastlyRig]

I vote for the free one!!

[DonnieDarko]

Worse for consumer or worse for company? Ms will have lost more money from rrod than Sony loses from psn fiasco.

However if you are victim of red ring what's the worst possible scenario? You are without your console for 2-4 weeks, then its replaced. It's annoying as hell. You'll be compensated with one mOnths free gold card, I was twice anyway.

Psn - worst case scenario someone could clone your identity, takin out loans, mortgages etc. Commit cyber crimes using your name. Stress involved for victim? Massive. Time taken to resolve it? No idea, longer than 2-4 weeks I bet. But don't worry, you'll get two crappy mini games and a ps plus trial.

You do the math.

My opinion only

[ChronosRaikou]

This article is a joke. RROD obviously.

[xstation79]

Since this is n4g everyone is going to say rrod is worst, even though microsoft will send you a box with a shipping label for your console and then send you another console within 2 weeks or less with a free month of xbox live gold. Not nearly as bad as everyone makes it out to be. Or you can enjoy single player only games for 3 weeks plus the fear of having your credit card stolen

[dionnysus]

not a fair comparison. one involves a highly used component of a still working console (ps3) and the other involves the functionality of the console itself (360). RROD was probably worse, because it initially cost us money to replace our 360s. either way, gamers got the shaft.

[carter20]

OMG really these articles are getting on my nerves like seroiusly we know psn is down and what is worse .... a network going down for 1-2 week or your console dying what is this shit people do anything for hits this site does get some real lame submissions seroiusly. people need to relax aswell psn has been down... is it only me that isnt even bothered as it will be back up soon..

[tonywood]

PSN is free. Therefore, it should be an acceptable inconvenience for Sony gamers. RROD effected the ongoing charges of an online gaming machin....which MS charged for.

[ryan_s]

another stupid article from kotaku

[Miacosa]

Red Ring of Death no doubt, once you get it there is no coming back unless it can get fixed or replaced. This really is a poor comparison, apples and oranges my friend.

[gamerben]

PSN takes your patience.

RROD takes your money.

You do the math.

[9mmMAG]

I have not had the RROD myself (knocking on wood) but know others who have. With this in mind, you have to look on a larger scale at who all are impacted by each issue. RROD caused issues for a percentage of 360 owners only. The PSN outage affects all Playstation owners and not just PS3 owners. To me this outweighs the RROD.

[Xander756]

Anybody who says RRoD is worse is just a fanboy, pure and simple. The attacks on PSN are going to cost Sony much more financial loss so it was worse for Sony. It was also worse for customers because their information was stolen while that didn't happen with RRoD. Get real kids.

[NeoTribe]

Flamebait.

[ndl1531]

what stupid idiots. how do u even compare? one is a hardware failure and onother is an outage it will come back on plus u can still play ur games and wit the rrod u cannot ur system is basically dead

[meday354]

Hahaha, fuck havin a down psn is way better than having a 360 and a 360 with tha rrod! I'm not a fanboy, had 360 untill it had tha rrod issue. Honestly tha ps3 can still play 90% of its games offline so its not a big deal like have a 360 with tha rrod prob. genesis and snes didnt need online to be enjoyed so whats tha big deal?

[monkeybizz]

troll bait, move along.

[madpuppy]

which is worse? temporary road construction or your car blowing it's engine?

[madpuppy]

uh oh, watch out! we got a spineless troll spamming the disagree button.

[ndl1531]

look at all the 360fanboys acting like this inconvenience is in the same level as the rrod what idiots. all of you were hoping and praying that something big wuld happen to sony so you all can say "see they screwd up too" haha anyone who thinks this is in the same level as rrod is a fool plain and simple .

[gumgum99]

PSN Outage: the system works, but it is offline.

RROD: Neither the system, nor the online works. Its a Brick.

[DonnieDarko]

Which is worse if you're actually a victim of identity theft/fraud off the back of the psn saga?

[madpuppy]

with the exception of a few people who were full of crap, no one has presented solid,verifiable evidence of identity theft directly related to this event.

Sure, it may happen but, to be filled with vitriol over it won't make it any better.

And I still think that a company openly selling a defective product (read: piece of garbage) is much worse than a company being a victim of an organized attack on it's servers.

[kuroukage]

These articles are worse. Seeing 90% PSN articles up daily, that's what's worse.