The 5 Most Devastating Crashes In Gaming History

GP: "Sometimes mistakes happen and things don't always work out as planned. But when it comes to technological wonders that cost millions of dollars to produce, you expect at least a little bit of testing to be done to make sure the product works as intended. But as we all know, that doesn't always happen. In fact, things can fail so badly the company responsible can lose out on millions of dollars fixing it.

You would think with so much on the line companies would try harder to keep their products from having such insanely devastating flaws, but it happens way more than you think. In fact, here are five such instances that had to have left a sour taste in each company's mouths."

[Blankman85]

How microsoft turned a profit this gen with the 360 is a miracle(read xbox live gold) with the rrod fiasco.

[srcBFMVBMTH]

Pretty sure the RROD was one of the biggest fails if not thee biggest in gaming history. I mean who the hell releases a console with a failure rate of over 50% that continues on for FOUR YEARS after release! SERIOUSLY?!?!?!

http://consumerist.com/2009...

http://gizmodo.com/5339915/...

[Kin23g]

I don't know about the survey, but I've had 3 Xbox 360 dying on me in the past 6 years and none of them failed because of the RROD.
On the other hand my PS3's been holding for 4 years now.

Surprisingly, I still prefer Xbox over PS3.

[IHateYouFanboys]

firstly, your quoted failure rate is 100% made up. there has only ever been 2 official failure rates given.

1. microsoft said the failure rate was within the acceptable limit - the acceptable limit for consoles/appliances is 3-4% iirc.

2. microsoft said the failure rate was above the acceptable limit and introduced the 3 year warranty. that means that the failure rate hit >3%, meaning even 3.000000000001% was possible.

secondly, 100% of the original Playstations (the first one) built within the first 18 months were faulty due to using a cheap plastic laser eye rail. sony lost numerous class action lawsuits regarding this.

thirdly, a huge percentage of PS2s manufactured in the first few years were faulty too, getting the infamous disk read error. again, sony lost multiple class action lawsuits over this manufacturing fault.

microsoft however have not lost a single lawsuit over RROD, let alone multiple class action ones like sony did. whichever way you look at it, sony made 2 monumental manufacturing mistakes that are each bigger than the RROD.

i personally had all 4 errors - my launch PSs rail warped making it unplayable, my launch PS2 would take 10+ goes to read disks before i replaced it with a slim, my launch 360 got the RROD, and my launch PS3 got the YLOD.

incoming blind disagrees in 3, 2, 1....

[srcBFMVBMTH]

@IHateYouFanboys

"1. microsoft said the failure rate was within the acceptable limit - the acceptable limit for consoles/appliances is 3-4% iirc."

2. microsoft said the failure rate was above the acceptable limit and introduced the 3 year warranty. that means that the failure rate hit >3%, meaning even 3.000000000001% was possible."

= Microsoft said this, Microsoft said that.
LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL

"a huge percentage of PS2s manufactured in the first few years were faulty too, getting the infamous disk read error.

100% of the original Playstations (the first one) built within the first 18 months were faulty due to using a cheap plastic laser eye rail.

100% ? I highly doubt that buddy.

"whichever way you look at it, sony made 2 monumental manufacturing mistakes that are each bigger than the RROD."

If you honestly believe any of those are even remotely close to having MORE THAN 50% of consoles completely dying out. Then you sir, are an idiot :)

"microsoft however have not lost a single lawsuit over RROD, let alone multiple class action ones like sony did."

That still doesn't excuse the fact that it actually happened. Over 50% of 360's exploded.

Nice try at damage control kid. :)

[Reverent]

God, "IHateYouFanboys" is such a Microsoft troll.

[NotSoSilentBob]

Just report IHATEYOUFANBOY for spam and downbubble him for trolling. Every comment he makes is Anti PS3/Sony. We get it you hate Sony you don't need to make up facts and continue to troll.

[Agent_00_Revan]

I'm on my 5th 360. Stopped playing it. Moved to Playstation

[mcstorm]

I really wish people would stop with this RROD rubbish. I had a 360 form the 1st day and 2.5 years after I had it I got the RROD and MS replaced it for me and the xbox that they game me after is still running today as I gave it to my brother and I now have 2 360s and none of them have any issues.

I got a PS3 on release day and I got the Yold 2years after I bought the console Sony wanted me to pay for it to get it fixed so I bought 2 PS3 slims after that and I have not had a problem since.

So to me both the PS3 and 360 had problems with there 1st batch of consoles and the way I look at it so what stop making a big deal of it you have a choice when your PS3 or 360 breaks. Go and buy a new one or don't just like everything else in life you buy.

[Irishguy95]

I myself have had 3 360s and this one has been sent off for repairs twice. Never RROD either. But...all replacements and repairs were free. I even got a Jasper model with HDmi as a replacement.

Ps3 Single player, cost
360 multiplayer, interface ease of use

PC - combination of all of the above/troll

[TitanUp]

xbox 360 got red ring of the death 2 times so i gave up with that.

ps3 2 of those failed and killzone 3 came out and i was very disappointed with that.

ps3 got hacked and that is when i decided to switch to pc gaming exclusively and i don't regret it.

http://us.playstation.com/p...

http://raptr.com/Farsendor/...

last game i played on a console was killzone 3

[Bladesfist]

wow, that is exactly what I did this gen. xbox 360 died so I got a ps3, played uncharted 2 and then bought a gaming PC. Fell in love with pc gaming.

[TitanUp]

i was already a pc gamer but i didn't buy a lot of games.most of my pc gaming time was spent playing battlefield bad company 2 and wow.

steam is what really made me happy with pc gaming :)

[Jockamo]

Steam makes PC gaming the ruler of them all. So many cheap great games!!!

[OhMyGandhi]

my launch 360 Red ringed, and I got a new one, and it's working flawlessly.

my ps3 YLOD on me, and my rented copy of "Shadows of the Damned" is still in it.

Blockbuster made me purchase the game for how late it became.

I suppose it's not a bad thing, I actually am loving that game, so it could be worse, it could be worse.

consensus? you better believe that I'm waiting a while after ps4/720 come out so they can iron out the issues.

Jesus, hardware wise, this generation has been a damned disaster in terms of dispersing heat. I don't get it.

My last generation of consoles work perfectly, as well as the generation before that, and the generation before that...

[Summons75]

No YLOD???? 8 Playstation 3's in the first year. I gave up and tried again when the slim came out. Everyone I knew too also had a terrible problem with YLOD. They had minor RROD problems, I luckily never had one but ylod was waaaay worse than rrod even though rrod. Take note too that I prefer most of my gaming on PS.

The PShack was terrible too, luckily I don't play online all that often so I didn't fully get effected.

also I already know I'm gonna get a bunch of sony fanboys coming in and saying that my yyold problem was not true and blah blah blah but save it, it happened and Sony did absolutely nothing about it and denied it even to this day.

[josephps3]

8 YLOD for one person? Why do I find that hard to believe? Even just statistically speaking that's impossible.

Anyways, I as well got the YLOD but I was lucky enough that it was fixable ($70) and now so far so good.

This generation has been plagued by a lot of hardware failures more than any other generation it seems whether Xbox or PS3. I hope the next generation turns out better.

[iamnsuperman]

I got a YLOD after 4 and a half years. I agree. 8 seems statistically unlikely. I remember watchdog (bbc programme) tried to spin the ylod into a bigger problem but were heavily criticised for it due to the vague nature of the findings.

[nik666uk]

Even if that was true what idiot would buy 8 PS3s in a year? Nice try!!

[Summons75]

It's called an in store replacement plan. What idiot buys an expensive item without getting one of those? Replacement plans get you a brand new system with out paying any extra money (except for a new plan) better than Sony wanting me to pay 100 bucks to send it out for two months just to get a different console back.

[OhMyGandhi]

you couldn't be that fed up, you had 8 ps3s.

[BlaqMagiq24]

*cough* bullshit *cough*

[LostDjinn]

I think he's doing more then coughing BS.

I've been through several replacement 360s (Paid for the second and had them replaced for free since. It's out of warranty now though), a single PS3 (after years of use) and a single Wii (drunken damage).

Long story short, they all break. It's just that the 360 was really good at breaking. It's just serves a cautionary lesson for next Gen.

Edit: Then again aren't MS pushing the next box on PC (or is that just 360 software)? I may not even need to buy MS hardware. That'd be great.

[srcBFMVBMTH]

You're story about your so called "8 failed PS3's" is as unbelievable as............. Microsoft creating any new IP's.

If it really did break that much then you probably handled your PS3's like how a monkey handles his feces.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-e...

[yesmynameissumo]

7 360s that either E-74, RROD, sent a PAL console from support when I needed NTSC...yeah, I think the 360 and its support is horseshit.

Next gen I'm wasting a dime on anything MS until after a year on the market. Maybe 2. I'm not going to allow them to give me a headache.

[HammadTheBeast]

Microsoft stole my copy of GTA 4 when I sent it in.... (¶__¶)

[Reverent]

Omg that happened to my friend lol.. He sent his Xbox360 after an RROD (Btw, this was within the first few weeks the 360 was released). Microsoft literally just sent him the same broken 360 back claiming he "tampered" with it. However, he had some game in it that was mysteriously missing when he got the 360 back.

He probably shouldn't have left the game in there... but still. Pretty messed up on Microsofts part.

[nik666uk]

The most annoying one was the 360 being rushed out with a high percentage failure rate(which Microsoft knew all about) just to get their console out 1st!! I've never owned a 360 but it still annoys me how they blatantly ripped parents who were buying them for their kids off!! And those same kids come on here and defend them!!!

[Jockamo]

They replaced them for free.

[Dread]

dont say that
sony fanatics dont want anyone to know this. remember MS bad and always wrong, Sony good and always right.

rinse and repeat, and you will do fine in N4G

[Hicken]

Not at first, they didn't. When that first batch of 360s started dying outside of warranty- which was originally just a one-year warranty- people had to buy new systems out of pocket. The three year warranty was announced early July 2007.

The 360 launched November 2005. The one-year warranty for that would have ended November 2006(assuming it WAS a one-year warranty, and not something less, which I can't find any info on). Any systems bought from launch until July 2006 would not have been covered by the warranty, thus people would have had to pay for a new one out of pocket.

July 2007's 3-year warranty was retroactive, meaning it covered every system bought from the day of purchase for three years. That now included replacement systems people bought out-of-pocket; assuming an original one-year warranty, some people were now on their second system. According to various studies- though no information was EVER released by Microsoft- that meant 1/4 to 1/2 of users were on replacement systems.

Assuming a minimum of 6 million and a maximum of 10 million units sold during that first year, and assuming that everyone who experienced a system failure bought a replacement, 25% failure rate would mean another 1.5 million systems(at 6 million the first year) up to 5 million systems(at 10 million). The real number was, obviously, likely somewhere inbetween.

Keep in mind, the extended warranty ONLY covered the RROD(general hardware failure); Square Trade's study- which tested a little over 1000 Xboxes for no more than 10 months, and saw a failure rate of 16.4%, yet predicted these estimates to be "significantly lower" due to the short testing period, and people not reporting- found that 40% of the system failures were NOT covered by the extended warranty: disc read errors, video card failures, hard drive freezes and the like. That's 2/3 as many systems failing from factors that would not be replaced by Microsoft.

People whose systems suffered from these issues would also have had to buy new systems, and assuming everyone who experienced such an issue out of warranty also bought a new system, a few million more would have been added on to the number of systems not replaced for free.

If we take the median possible number of systems from the first year alone that failed (3.5 million) and assume about half as many for the 8 months from November 2006 until the 3-year warranty was announced in July, we get 5.25 million systems that were replaced without a warranty.

But since this is based on an assumption that every system failed outside of warranty, and that every one that did was replaced out of pocket, that number's probably a bit high. It's probably more in the 3-4 million range.

Still, that's about a minimum of 3 million systems that WERE NOT replaced for free. And that's not including systems DURING the 3-year warranty era that broke down and WERE NOT covered. That number, being about 2/3 as many as the covered systems, would mean about another 2 million or so. And the 3-year warranty ended before the Slim came out, so that would increase the number of systems sold that would need to be replaced out of pocket.

All told, a rough estimate of about 5 million systems wouldn't be overkill for re-buys NOT covered by Microsoft.

[LostDjinn]

@ Hicken: That's BS!
The 360 originally came with a 90 day warranty. They didn't extend the warranty till 2 years after release. I know because I had to buy a second one when my first crapped out after a matter of months.

[BrutallyBlunt]

Amazing! The guy above writes an essay about the RROD issues and neglects to talk about any of the other 4 issues from the article. The same person who criticizes the media for being biased against Sony. The same person who continually supports Sony above all others and holds them on a much higher pedastal, questions why people question his responses. The same person who continues this polarization between Sony and Microsoft. The same person who has fallen in the trap of since the Playstation 3 competes most directly with the XBOX360 it is to be treated as the enemny.

I've never seen anyone take what is supposed to be a hobby to entertain us, be taken so far out of context and so serious before.

[StreetsofRage]

HOLY SMOKES HICKEN!!!! What is wrong with you???

Another sony fanboy that takes this gaming waaaaaaaay to seriously. You kids got issues.

[taquito]

you guys are doing it wrong, lol....or just being too nice and obidient

i went thru 4 360's and 2 ps3's

everytime one died, i went up to the store i bought it from and DEMANDED a new console, with the 360 this was easy because they were doing the whole 3 year thing, ps3 i had to raise a shitload of eyebrows going thru different managers, but eventually, if you are persistant enough and use the right language, not sweraring mind you, that doesnt work, veiled threats about lawyers, class actions, posting this to youtube ect......those types of language get their attention

be mellow about it, but firm, i never once waited for a console refurb, the day my console died i went to best buy and said "hey this stopped working heres my reciept i need to grab another one"

[Qrphe]

Bubbles for you; we get enough with companies trying to rip us off.

We need to send a message that if you give us faulty products, you BETTER be ready to replace it or give us our money back.

Shrrriiiiiimmm!

[Kurt Russell]

Same for me taquito, I just took mine back to the stores I purchased from and kicked off there. 3 times I did it, 3 times I got a replacement console at no extra cost at that very moment... and that was before the 3 year grace.

[Jockamo]

We didn't hear much about Sony's defective 3D TVs. Now at a bargain price of $200??? I heard about the sale, but I didn't know they had such a high failure rate.

From the article, "You see, these monitors have a habit of just not working. The main problem for most people is the image shown on the screen. For some people the screen will go black for a few seconds every few minutes. But it can get so much worse. Some TVs will just go permanently black with no way to fix it or just plain lose their sound.

The process for getting it repaired is pretty streamlined, but losing access to your gaming TV for a solid week every few months can be pretty annoying despite paying the bargain bin price of $199.

'Obviously these problems eventually got fixed (except for the 3DTV at the moment) but it just goes to show you that the big three aren't perfect."

...so Sony didn't want to fix their 3D TVs. Instead they just marked them down to a really low price. That's shady as hell, in my opinion...

[chrisarsenalsavart]

Dude, this is N4g, here we talk about consoles and games not about your freaking tv.
And i,m sorry to say 360 was named as one of the consumer electronic product with the highest failure rate ever.
As a playstation fan, i know how it feels like when someone criticise your favourite brand but if you look at last gen consoles, ps2 also was rushed out and had quiet a bit of issues the first year.
All that matter is microsoft won,t be doing the same mistake next gen.
As a playstation fan(notfanboy), i must say that microsoft s done an amazing job this generation.

[Jockamo]

Well, I'm only quoting the article. If you read it, you'd realize it was relevant.

[ACEMANWISE]

I bought one of those Sony 24" 3DTVs. There is some truth regarding the complaints of blackouts on those tvs. Though my situation doesn't seem as severe as most reports, I can tell you what has happened to me.

Bought the TV in December 2011. During the first 3 months the TV would blackout during gaming about one per day. The blackout would last about 1-2 seconds. Then about 3 months in the TV blacked out and didn't return until I unplugged it and let it cool down. Then the TV worked okay again.

In my opinion I think this is an overheat issue. I think the TV needs an internal fan but doesn't have one. Therefore I try to keep the room cool and keep air circulating at all times. I haven't had an issue since.

The reason I think this is because I've had this issue before on a 250W Sony subwoofer that was insanely cheap to buy. The subwoofer generated an intense amount of heat and was enclosed in a tiny cramped space with small vent holes...no fan. It lasted about a year on half power.

[BrutallyBlunt]

Good to hear about the 3DTV, i almost bought one. Sony's recievers and audio equipment is hit and miss (commenting about the subwoofer above). Unless you buy their top end models. I've had issues with stereo recievers and heaphones. They used to make the best TV's out there and then coasted on their name. Now it's such a competitive market they can no longer charge a premium while being competitive.

From the article,

1. The Gurren Lagann Game That Killed Computers

- can't comment, don't know much about it.

2. The Great Playstation Hack

- opened up everyone's eyes and made people more vigilant on protecting themselves. They didn't handle it well at first but we need to move on. The service still goes down once in awhile for maintenance, not sure why compared to other online services. Either way my identity wasn't compromised and i got some free games out of it. The downtime hurt some games, namely DC Universe.

3. Wii Updates To 4.2 And Starts Killing Consoles

- heard about it but never had it happen to me. The Wii was easy to crack, much like the DS. Nintendo also doesn't have the experience like Microsoft and Sony when it comes to patches.

4. Microsoft Learns The Early Bird Doesn't Always Get The Worm

- didn't happen to me but my systetm did die and Microsoft wouldn't cover it. There was a problem with the A/V input inside and they said only the RROD was covered for that length of time. Cost me $80. The new slim systems are what the original systems should have been.

5. The Playstation 3DTV Is Cheap For A Reason

- almost bought one but thankfully didn't. They never did market this thing well and the size constraints hurt its appeal.

[miDnIghtEr20C_SfF]

My original 40 gig PS3 is blowing it's fan real loud and hard even when I'm just watching a blu ray. I fear it's going to die on me.

[chrisarsenalsavart]

your ps3 needs an inside cleaning.
there s some vids on youtube that shows you what you need and how to do it.
good luck!

[Xperia_ion]

Replace the thermal paste and it wont.

[units]

PSN hack anyone?

[AusRogo]

First 360 I got back in 06 died after 3 months. Got a ps3 in 07, still works. Got a new 360 in 08, still works but the fan is crazy loud and has had the red ring twice (I pray it doesn't die before halo 4!) . Got a ps3 slim in 09 and haven't had.any problems yet. My Wii runs fine too. So I consider myself lucky not having to replace any of me consoles except my 360. But overall I've had a pretty good run this gen!

[NotSoSilentBob]

This is just a flamebait headline. They don't even mention the total crash during the 80s due to over flooded market.

[R_aVe_N]

I was not really overly effect by any of this stuff. I did have a few RROD 360's, but my current one is ok just a loud fan. Still have my launch PS3 and a slim no issues at all. I never really update the Wii so no issues there. The PSN hack didnt effect me at all really I use false information on there as it is. I don't use my real name, spam email account, and no credit card info(I use prepaid cards)

[Bladesfist]

The more advanced technology gets the higher the failure rate goes.

[triplev16]

I'm on my third 360, one RROD and one disc drive malfunction. My current 360 got the red ring but came back to life after a couple days of non-use (not sure how but it happened) and it's still going strong. I'm on my second PS3—first one YLOD (launch console), and my Wii doesn't read discs anymore so I'll be getting another one of those (or just wait for the WiiU). But seriously, this gen has been full of malfunctions. From last gen I still have a working Gamecube, XBOX, PS2 and Dreamcast. My SNES and Genesis still work. So yeah, IMO this gen has been the worst for me.

[Anon1974]

I'm on my 4th 360 but when I noticed the last console they sent me was older than the one it replaced I decided to only play it for the odd exclusive that interested me. 2 red ringed and the 3rd was a terrible, disk scratching unit that MS sent me as a replacement and then refused to take back a week after I noticed it was gouging my games, until I pointed out my extended warranty. I had to pay twice as the first unit red ringed outside of the original 90 day warranty and the second outside of the year warranty they extended it to eventually (the 3 year deal came later).

Then I had to fight with MS to refund that money when they extended the warranty because they claimed they had no record of me ever paying. It was almost 3 years before they actually sent me a refund and that was after countless hours on the phone being bounced around and hung up on, faxing in my credit card statements to prove they took my money, etc. Every single person I know with a 360 has experienced at least one RROD.

By contrast. I have 2 PS3's, one since launch and I've never had an issue, nor do I know anyone personally who's had a PS3 die on them. Not saying I doubt those claiming they've had issues, I've just never seen it myself.

[triplev16]

I personally don't know anyone whose PS3 has malfunctioned either (other than myself—no luck), but damn if I don't remember waiting in line on 360 launch day, dropping over $500 (C) in front of my wife (who thought I was nuts LOL), and then four weeks later the console red rings. Got it fixed and then a month after that the disc drive malfunctioned. I was so pissed at Microsoft I didn't get a new XBOX until last year when I heard more and more people saying the units were more stable. However the fans are acting up now…

My launch PS3 went strong until I got YLOD about 8 months ago so I did get a lot of life out of it no question. Microsoft IMO really botched the initial production of the 360s and I really felt screwed over for being an early adopter. Next gen however I will be waiting at least a year before I dive in…

When I see some next gen titles though I'll probably be lining up again LOL

[Qrphe]

> The 5 Most Devastating Crashes In Gaming HISTORY
> ALL occur within the last 6-7 years

HOW OLD ARE YOU?!?!?!?!??!?!?!

It really irritates me when some tend to think videogaming started with this gen (or the last two or three).

[strangelove]

The original title to the article was The 5 most devastating crashes in recent history. Since there wasn't anything gaming related in the title it was changed to The 5 most devastating crashes in recent gaming history. That title was a bit too long so it was then changed to The 5 most devastating crashes in gaming history. Now that you've seen behind the curtain, are you still upset with me?

[crawling182]

Honestly a little surprised by the first one. Even with a beta for a large company to end up killing hard drives..... Did no one do any initial testing?

[PixL]

Another example of faulty logic when people state how many years they've had their consoles. It's working time, number of hours played, which counts, not how old your hardware is. Anybody who has at least a little knowledge of electronics and has seen PS3 and 360 inside knows that Microsoft console is a cheap pile of junk which should be sold for less than 100 dollars. Also, PS3 slim is cheaper by design than old fats and won't hold as long.

[BelieveinGhosts]

What do you know? Just cause an electronic device looks cheap on the outside doesnt mean that it will malfunction.
On the inside, the PS3 slim has newer parts than the fat and should last longer

[strummerdood]

Never thought the Red Ring was that big of a deal. Yeah, it sucks when it happens to you, but you get a brand new console a week later. Two of my 360s died, but my current one has been going strong for some time now.

[ikral]

No Sony console broke on me, ever. I had PsOne, have PS2 for 10 years, PS3 for 4 years, PSP for 5 years, bought another PSP 3 years ago for multiplayer.

[vikingland1]

MY ps1 would get over heated and not work. My ps2 wouldn't read discs properly. I had the launch 360 and it worked all the way and I traded it for a xbox 360 elite and it never broke either. I traded it for a xbox 360S and I had to get a new HDD because it was messed up and no problems since. I have a ps3 slim and haven't had any problems. So you just never know. Oh yeah and MS replaced my HDD for free.

[BelieveinGhosts]

My 40 GB PS3 got the YLOD after a year and when i called sony to have it fixed, they said i would have to pay £150. After looking online, i realised it was best to spend an extra £150 to buy a new 80 GB PS3.

However, after my Xbox 360 broke after a year with the RROD, Microsoft said that i should send it in free of charge and to my surprise they gave me a newer refurbished console which has worked fine ever since although with little usage ever since.