Failing In Large Numbers

Videogame fans are no stranger to the concept of hardware failure, especially if you happen to own an Xbox 360. James Lincoln of NoMoreGameBlogs takes a look at console failure rates and whether they should be enough to sway a consumer's decision.

[Nitrowolf2]

"Xbox 360 has sold 31.81 million consoles worldwide, with PS3 at 23.97M, and Wii at 53.09M"

"Well first off, this means that of the 31,810,000 Xbox consoles sold 7,103,300 of them will fail or have failed. That’s seven million defective products!!!! The Wii (at 397,113 failed consoles) and PS3 (373,500 failed consoles)"

oh and also 50% of 31.80 is roughly 15 mil. So that 54% of the console they calculated is wrong. Mybe for the ps3 and wii also.

[TheTeam06]

Dude, I don't mean to be the math teacher of the crowd, but I think your numbers are off.

@below: me too. I know about 5 people with 360s, and they all have had a problem with it. Three of them went through more than one.

[tbone432]

I only know 7 people in real life that own a 360 and all of them have failed at least once.
So personally i think that the failure rate is higher than 54 percent.

[da720izcumin]

thats just what they do.
no need to argue with them, it's in their nature, their existence depends on it.

[Nitrowolf2]

ya i know my num. are off. but not by much. half of 30 is 15, so just i just used 50% instead of 54 percent and rounded down to 30. unless my number i used are wrong.

[infekt]

Cr@p console from a sub-par brand. Im surprised at people when they are shocked at that number of failures that Microsoft has had over the course of its existence. People still buy them... Sheep. Sigh.

[El Botto]

Never in my long years of gaming have I ever encountered such a craptastic console as the 360.

The RR060 is the new dreamcast alright. Its better that it goes that way. Just roll over and die. And take those stinking bots with you.

[Ron_Burgundy]

it's only common since to know of how much the flopbox fails

[OGharryjoysticks]

>>>

For this topic everyone is required to submit comments in the open zone only.

move along....

PS3PCFTW - I take your last bubble for not following rules.

[kalebgray92]

i wish these stats were out before i used my money.... please pray for me

[OGharryjoysticks]

I think I'll take one of those delicious bubbles you have as well :)

[ATY]

"for 300 dollars would you buy a overheating dvd player,"

Because you heard this new model 'fixed' the RRoD - but really this time, not like all those other times before.

Because you still have a burning hatred for Sony over the Dreamcast, Xbox, HD-DVD

Because you spent the last three years running your mouth off to your friends about the Xbox 360 and the PS3 and you would look like a complete fool buying a PS3. Better to save face

Because you still think 'making stuff shiny' is the height of computer graphics - Halo, Gears of War, Unreal Engine...

[OGharryjoysticks]

I got thread #1 locked down. I set the rules. You all are being 360 fanboys in disguise trying to win points going against my rules using anti-360 posts to fool people into posting here in the Gamer Zone. Monkey see monkey do. Sure that's how the 360 crowd does it. But I have to take your bubble as well. Now be gone. Poof!

[dolan]

kalebgray92: "i wish these stats were out before i used my money"

Xbox 360's were dying like mad in store demo stations everywhwere before the console launched.

Xbox 360's were dying like mad at game media sites before the launch.

There was a story of a guy who already up to his 10 or 11th 360 replacement in the first year.

The gaming forums were filled with gigantic threads of Xbox 360s dying like made right from launch to this very day. Not fake accounts with little kids making up stories, but threads filled with long time Xbox owners posting story after story of their 360 dying.

We've since learned from inteviews and reports tha Microsoft was totally aware of the RRoD hardware design flaw and went right ahead and sold the console regardless.

1.1 billion was spent just to fix early 360 models with the RRoD problem. No other console company in history has ever had a hardware failure problem remotely close to that size.

No one has anyone but themselves to blame for buying a 360 and having it die on them.

[OGharryjoysticks]

I tried to help my brothers and sisters in the Open Zone have some fun this Saturday evening but a bunch of snobs wouldn't go along with the program.

The guys who disagreed only own Gameboy Color and dolan lost a bubble too.

imdaboss - sorry to inform you but I'm da boss of post #1 :)

I haven't seen this many bubbles in a bubble bath.

[Simon_Brezhnev]

i wonder where omega and that pizza at u know they going to spin it

[v1c1ous]

this is a flamebait topic?

[Persistantthug]

I bought my PS3 in January 2009 after I weighed in carefully about all the features between the 2 competing products. What put PS3 over the top was the well known failure rate of the XBOX 360. As a consumer, I feel the console product I buy needs to last for NO LESS than 5 years. In fact all of the consoles I have had in my lifetime (PS3 makes 7), dating back to my older brother's Atari 2600, they literally ALL work today. So to me, having a console fail/break on me is unfathomable.

But what is more "unfathomable", is the willingness for others to buy a product they know is failure prone, and not just failure prone, but EGREGIOUSLY failure prone. Why would anyone do that? Why would anyone buy the same failing product 2, 3....5 times? I'm really asking a question here that I'm hoping someone can explain because I'm really perplexed...worse over, I'm actually kind of disturbed by this. Why would you put your hand in a proverbial fire to get it burned over, and over, and over again. Its like, when did people become retarded? To me, this is very basic, logic that even a pre kinder gardener can understand. I don't consider myself a genius, but I knew in Jan. to stay clear of an XBOX 360 because it just plain breaks.

Is everyone who bought this product...are they less intelligent than me? What the hell is going on here?
I'm serious with my question because I really don't understand the dynamic going on here.

[Rhythmattic]

Persistantthug

I'm pretty sure i'd do the same thing if my entire catalog of games was on the one platform. I dont think that multiple 360 purchases are due to Stupidity.... The cost alone to trade all games /console to an alternative just doesn't make it monetarily feasible...

As for me, I get my 360 next week, to play the few 360 exclusives.. As for all the other games, I'll purchase them for my other systems...

[OGharryjoysticks]

Spam yourself. I know where the open zone is and I told you to party there with your 4 bubbles. Minus one :)

[iceman06]

That makes perfect sense. Unlike trying to justify your purchase with the great games or the 3 year warranty argument. You simply say I have too many games to give up. THAT is why i waited to purchase the PS3 over the Xbox 360. It was not some BLIND FAITH, as some SONY supporters are accused of. It was the fact that I got the backwards compatible 60GB SKU and now I can have the 30+ games that I have on the PS2...the 10 or 15 that I kept from the PSONE era...plus the now 20 or so games that I have on the PS3. Ultimately, it was what GAMES do I REALLY want to play? What would I MISS if I ONLY owned one console?

[vhero]

Why you think MS sold so many consoles so far?? After warranty gone you gotta replace that console somehow.. You look at your large game collection and can bare to sell it so go out and buy a new console. MS gets a sale to stick on their nice little stat page. I would say today there are more PS3's being used than 360's definitely outside the USA. MS like its this way though and fair play to them. Company's have different ways of making numbers work for them Sony have no doubt done some number fudging over time.

The best one though is when MS gives everybody a free month Gold with the latest AAA game so it sells say 10 million copies then they can say oh look we got 10 million gold subscribers! I remember when they did that after including 1 month gold with Halo 3 and Gears.. They won't ever fix RROD as it makes them look they they are the on top console when really they are not..

[TheFreak]

People where buying the 360 because the ps3 was so expensive and because of pirating. Many people own a modded xbox to play games for free.

[Nelson M]

Before Them Redneck RRoD Lovers
Pile in here for some Damage Control
But Dont Forget BoTs
I Think The RRoD is The Greatest Invention Ever

[Snawpop]

yea well ps3 suxxxxx

[Tinted Eyes]

You created an account to say that?

[ultimolu]

How...creative.

[sunil]

come on... you can do better, check with corywebb or xbox360elite or patchstation 3 for better combacks

[Snawpop]

yes i clearly made an account to post something with more truth than you'll ever post in your life. :D

[strotee]

This thread will get ugly.

[sunil]

Something that will not be talked about here - The author said "I’m a big fan of Xbox and think that it is definitely the top entertainment system of its generation."

definitely the top entertainment system of its generation really?

Ps3 - Can play Blu-ray, DVD, CD, DivX files from SSD
Xbox 360 - DVD, CD (not sure about DivX support and playing directly off SSDs)

PS3 - 7.1 channels of audio in the Dolby Digital, DTS, SACD and Dolby TrueHD formats

360 - 5.1 channels of audio in Dolby Digtal and DTS. It down-converts Dolby TrueHD

[SpaZaA]

DivX is supported, not to mention a pretty decent browser with Flash 10 that you can use to watch streaming video such as YouTube, HULU, etc.

[ultimolu]

...*whistles and exits thread quickly*

[ReservoirDog316]

haha

[Sarcasm]

*About to walk into thread, but see's ultimolu sprinting off into car and driving off. Then turns around slowly and does the same*

[KingKionic]

Not this game informer thing again ....

sigh...

[XBOX360_HAS_NO_GAMES]

HA HA HA HA HA

[Shadow Man]

With all this, STILL beating the PS3 by 8 million units and outselling the ps3 in North America and Europe.

"RROD" PS3s life support.

[Nitrowolf2]

wxer just owned you shadow

[sunil]

Shadow .. why dont you start calling the 360 the future gen console and claim that you already have a 30 million lead?

360 was released 1 year before the PS3 and the Wii. The 360 had an 8 mil lead by the time the 360 released

at launch the ps3 was 499 and now its 299... guess whats going to happen

[N4G king]

hey shadow

http://www.qis.net/~jschmit...

[Shadow Man]

REPORT AS SPAM, Thank You and good night to u sir

[N4G king]

Shadow Man

thats all what you can do
P*SSY

[Xlll]

Shadow Man your comment had nothing to do with the story. I am reporting you for posting spam. Have a nice day Mr.Butt hurt.

[Solid_Snake666]

and fanboys like you shadow are xbox life support

[Solans Scott]

when the next iteration of these consoles is released, the failure rate for each console can be reduced even further. The is nothing worse for a consumer than buying a defective product.

[SpaZaA]

Go big or go home, it's the American way...next MS console will beat the current 360's rate, it's in their nature they've got take the crown!!!

XBOX720 = 67% failure rate, city blocks will be taken down due to the red sphere of doom, the US Army will drop the console instead of bombs because they know the payload is far more deadly. Children will shriek in horror when they unwrap it on christmas morn, but though they will resist at first, eventually they WILL endanger their lives and the lives of their families just to play 1 round of multiplayer on Halo 12.
They cannot help themselves, somebody put mind control toxins in their Mountain Dew =)

[pippoppow]

My brother's 360 just red ringed. It was bought in early 2006 so no warranty for him. Me and my parents just bought him a PS3slim as an early birthday present. He was going to buy a PS3 anyways but lucky for him his birthday is in a few weeks and he has generous relatives. One of my cousins is finally going to buy a PS3 after multiple failures this holiday season. I wonder how many 360 owners are just fed up with their console and move to the PS3 this holiday.

[KILLERAPP]

I had my 360 since launch and it only has fail me once and MS paid for me to fix it, but i have had two red rings of death luckily the first one happen to my playing bioshock but i turn it off and turn it on once more and it work fine, but it died while playing gears so i sent it and they fix it but my 360 has been gathering dusk for all this year i only my PS3 so maybe when i turn it on it will die once more hope not, you just have to keep it on a well ventilated place and everything should be fine.

[MrWegman]

First I have an Xbox 360, PS3 and the Wii... I bought my xbox 360 at launch and had to go through 3 systems until I have a system that seems reliable (2 years- no problems)... when I bought the PS3- I bought the 40 gb PS3 when they were first released (with spider man 3)- I had to send the system back because it stopped reading disks after an update (Sony had a very quick turn around and sent me a new system in a few days)... since then no problems- Nov. will be 2 years... the Wii I had no problems...

Because my 360 had so many problems- I will not buy a new Zune HD because I don't trust Microsoft's quality control...

By the way I enjoy all three current gaming systems for what they each bring to the market... if my 360 dies- I would buy a new one... The elite seems like a deal compared to the $399 I paid for my defective non HDMI 360 with only a 20 gb hard-drive... the new slim is a deal compared to the $399 I paid for my PS3... the Wii needs a price drop...

[KILLERAPP]

Yeah that is true having all the consoles is the way to go, i got both PS3 and 360 at launch and is great not having to worry about the game been exclusive and not been able to play it, to bad that Splinter cell and alan awake was delayed to next year i was really looking forward to those games, next year the first six months are going to be awesome but it will kill my wallet.

[SolidSystem]

using a online poll or in this case a magazine poll is hardly a trustworthy or accurate way to figure failure rates. for online and magazine polls for instance, if you have a problem you are more likely to respond than those who do not. thus killing any point of this article because he has no numbers to even really talk about.

[Persistantthug]

But then I started to do my own "logical sleuthing".

Remember the "alleged" pre launch XBOX 360 assembly line numbers....68% failure rate from some alleged sample? If this was true back in 2005, and if they were still bad all the way through 2007....well, it's not hard to see how 50% of every XBOX 360 owner has had at least 1 system fail. The systems have been out for 4 years now (4 years in November) and the new Jasper chipsets haven't been in all retail units until approx. 6 months ago.

So we're talking about AT LEAST 25 million (that's being conservative) XBOX's with potential, high defect rate systems, IN 4 WHOLE YEARS.
When you consider that, the fact that the failure rate isn't more than it is, is kinda of surprising...seriously.
What do you think, SolidSystem?

[SolidSystem]

but thats the thing, we dont know any real % of how many systems were failing. 15% of the console over 4 years is a much diffrent number than say 50%.

MS is the only one who has an accurate number. every online poll is flawed because of things like fanboys, people lie, they dont even keep track of the demograph.for instance a poll done by TREY4Life would that be accurate? also "look at all the 360 broken threads!" well people arnt going to make threads about how their 360 works right?

yes the 360 has a problem
if it was 50% MS would be in much more trouble than they are now.

so the key to this argument is getting the correct defective rate, which is almost impossible to do without MS announceing it.

back to gameinformer where he got his numbers from, how many people who have working consoles do you think would send that in? probably a few. now if you had a broken 360 or something and were mad about it, you saw that same little poll... you would wana respond to it right? people dont b***** about problems they dont have.

[iceman06]

So...then the numbers would be true...BECAUSE those "people who had a problem" ACTUALLY represent REAL FAILURES. I don't claim to know the numbers. However, just from being on this site for about 4 months I can see that there is a REAL problem. I don't think that it is as low as 15% because I read about TRUE 360 fans that all have had multiple failures. Is it 54%? Probably not that high either. Saying that. The failure rate is STILL WAY TOO HIGH for a console that has been out for 4 years. MS has captured gamers with Live, Gears, Halo, and Fable and for most of them...the wait for the console to be repaired is worth it to play these games. Personally, I would be outraged if my console "died" and I had to replace it before a reasonable amount of use. My LAUNCH PS2 served me for over 6 years and I put it through gaming HELL!!! I worry about my LAUNCH PS3 and IF I have to repair it more than once. I might just become a Wii supporter...or stick to the PSP!*L* I REFUSE to increase the revenue of a business that has faulty practices whether it be SONY, Microsoft, Nintendo, Apple, or any other demi-god of technology.

[SolidSystem]

do you understand how a poll works?

if you asked every 360 owner then yes you could find out how many people actually have it and then make a % from then. however Gameinformer only has a small sample size that they are trying to simulate what the full population would be like. so when gameinformer gets 1000 replys for instance and 600 of them are negative, its going to have an artifical inflation of the number of defective units compared to those who dont.

another example is, walk into gamestop ask one guy if he has a rrod 360 ever. he says yes... your poll is done the 360 obviously has 100% failuare rate.

and have I ever denied the 360 has a problem? I buy all my multiplats for PC and if not PC then PS3. yes it has a problem, but these numbers are fake.

[xgodofwar4sss]

fight back shadow man

[Taarec10ToTheEnd]

Stupid Bots! Shadow Man, shut the F up. You make no sense at all. Leave! The PS3 is ahead by 1 million in Europe.

[infekt]

And by several in Asia..

[madpuppy]

I just got the e74 hardware error, this is the second 360 I had a problem with. Microsoft can bite my smooth white a$$. I don't care if owning the 360 cures cancer POS console is a POS and ALLWAYS WILL BE A POS!!! better games? not when you cannot play them!!! better gamepads? the damn things are falling apart and they don't work all that great with a DEAD console!!!
I have had ENOUGH! I don't care if the CEO of Sony eats babies! At LEAST they release QUALITY!!!!!

[00]

the return of the RROD stories.

Also who the hell are these guys.

[OGharryjoysticks]

They never fixed the problem.

How do you figure it's return?

And it's not stories...it's what's happening to 69.3% of 360 owners.

[00]

talking about N4G when in 2007 all there was in the 360 section was RROD stories, and in 2008 they stopped but now they seem to be making a comeback.

[badz149]

dude, which side are you on actually??

[OGharryjoysticks]

NEO GEO. I'm just still waiting for the price to drop, but it looks like they were reliable because the ones they have on Ebay still cost a sh.tload

[MetalGearBear]

remember, there 10+ millions of xbox360 were dead by RROD.
RROD FTW!!!!!

[slave2Dcontroller]

for me. 2 weeks ago 1 of my PS3's YLOD and my Fallout3 got stuck inside. The damn thing wouldnt even stay powered up long enough for me to eject it let alone copy my saves. It was a terrible because my warranty for it had expired so my only option was to tear it apart and get my game out.

I guess it kinda worked out because I wanted to buy a Slim anyways to preserve my other fatty which is boxed up and in tip top shape but having to start all over in Fallout suuuuuuux!. So yeah, to the RROD victims, I feel your pain.

[v1c1ous]

YLODs dont exist in N4G!

[slave2Dcontroller]

Apparently your right looking at the disagrees I got.

[SpaZaA]

YLOD happens, but out of every 1000 members on N4G only one gets it.

Usually when people have electronics break on them they are VERY vocal about it, which is why there are people out there who do not hesitate to say they have stuff break.... until it becomes a sort of thing of shame like RROD, where it's victims so frequent and numerous have come to the point they either keep quiet or outright deny it exists (as if that will make it and their investment justified).

Heck if I had a console and 10+ games, I'd consider a few RROD's acceptable because the value of the games for trade in or selling becomes so low so fast I'm better off just replacing my console.
But I knew better.
And waited until a more reliable console was within my budget.

I didn't want to go through the BS, the headache or the embarrassment.
I guess there are just a lot of people out there who lack patience.

[ForROME]

its sad, there was a time because of the first xbox I was a very loyal halo and xbox lover, but three dead systems later, and i had to tell myself your a grown man, get over it and move on and I did, i miss the hell out of HALO but I suppose I can always play my original xbox still, that thing was a tank

[iceman06]

I don't OWN an XBOX product. But, if I DID...I would have to have a SERIOUS talk with my inner child and tell him to STFU and deal with the fact that he can't have HALO if he has to worry about his system FAILING before he can finish it. As I said...I can't support faulty products no matter WHO makes them. That is a GROWN UP decision that probably makes my inner child CRY!!! He'll get over it!!!*LOL*

[HDgamer]

*exits*

[massvmunkee]

dont get me wrong, i love my xbox360! but i recently wanted to play halo 3 cuz i saw the live action odst trailer, which is btw very nice. i started playing and within 5 minutes my xbox gets 1 red ring and the error message e74. i was online entering my info for repairs when it said my warranty expired and id have to pay 100bucks.. this is what caused me to throw away the dam thing and stick to what i enjoyed more, my ps3. although xbox 360 may have the best online experience, to shell out 100 bucks to repair it only to have it break again, and another 60 bucks for xbox live, definitely not worth it.

[INehalemEXI]

you could of towel tricked , and traded it to gamestop and got 120 bucks credit, thats what I did to the last one that failed on me.

[TheDeadMetalhead]

Train a fan on your 360 when it's on. Seriously, it helps.

[KingKionic]

This information is misinterpreted .

Not many facts can come from a poll from game informer .

[crinale]

Microsoft, just REDESIGN the damn thing and it will be OK...

[jden28]

I am a multi-console owner I've owned pretty much every console in the past 15 years and bought them all at launch. I really hate that the x360 is getting the rep that its the most defective console ever....its NOT. That doesn't mean that it doesn't have a high failure rate it DOES. Most defective ever NOT. My X360 failed on me after 3yrs, my genisis and snes I was forever blowing in those stupid carts and blowing in the cart slot to get them to work. My ps2 burned a ring around my tekken tag game 2 days after launch, my second ps2 stopped reading blue discs after a year fatal disc read error and these were common problems. I don't know anyone that owned a ps2 that didn't get the disc read error or the ring burn. I don't know anyone that owned a genisis, (s)nes that wasn't blowing in those carts and cart slots. Just because a company doesn't admit it doesn't mean it didn't happen. My experience with getting my x360 fixed was waaaaaaay better than trying to get my ps2 fixed, h#$#@ I just ended up buying 2 more because sony wouldn't do crap about my 2 day old console and said it was my fault when everybody was havin the same problems. No fanboyism allowed all consoles fail some more than others and it doesn't make you cool to hate on a company for admitting it (even if late) where other didn't admit anything and just took your money. I'd rather they admit it warranty it then fix it, Than pretending its not defective and screwing over thier customers. Oh bye the way the ps2 was so defective they got sued over it in a class action law suit for the disc read error and disc burn issues settled it and kept sealed the actual defect rate.

[ATY]

Give the PS2 lies a rest. No one wants to hear that garbage.

140 million PS2s have been sold worldwide. People have been playing their PS2s non-stop for 9 years now.

If you're going to make up stories to try to deflect the 360 having the worst console hardware ever made, do it with a console the entire gaming world doesn't own.

[jden28]

Listen ATY not to ruffle you're feathers but I tell no lies, don't need to, don't care enough to do it. Look it up. And since when did the number of consoles sold decide if a console is defective or not!? Your logic is flawed. Bye your reasoning, because M$oft has sold 32 million consoles worldwide people have been playing for 4 years non stop. Thats ridiculous, to think that. I can guarantee that out of that 140 million ps2's many people were repeat buyers for faulty consoles, because sony never admitted it, never warrantied it, and simply wouldn't fix it for free. Thats my point that they ALL fail its what happens when they do that matters...How are you treated and do you have to pay for it to be fixed or do they cover it.

[The-Warranty]

Ps2 was last gen, and didn't have the Failure rates of the 360

[jden28]

You're right ps2 was last gen doesn't mean it didn't happen I lived through owning 3 of them and none are working now. Waiting on sony to enable software BC on the ps3 before I buy another one. But I challenge you to look up and find out what the ps2's real failure rate was. Also I work in a store where we sell game consoles and the x360 seems to have nipped it's problem in the butt we're seeing a lot less of them have problems than the launch batch. Interestingly enough we're seeing more ps3's with the yrod(albeit nothing like it was with the x360) lately.

[ATY]

"But I challenge you to look up and find out what the ps2's real failure rate was"

We don't need. We all own PS2s.

After almost four years of the RRoD fiasco no one is in any more to hear some 360 owners spout BS about the PS2. You're an embarrassment to gamers of all platforms.

[Sarcasm]

It's pretty hilarious (well not really), I've had friends whose PS2 DVD drives died. They also have a 360 this generation, that also ended up RROD on them.

The PS2 failure rate isn't a myth, but nonetheless nobody really knows how high it was. But I don't think it's as bad as the 360. And keep in mind, they died for different reasons. PS2's failed because of the DVD drives. 360's failed because of the CPU.

Simply put, the 360's cooling design isn't sufficient enough.

[v1c1ous]

is that 360 has such a VISUAL representation.

3 flashing lights is more apparent than turning on the system and getting a DRE.

btw, i went through 4 ps2s due to DRE :o

[ATY]

Don't ever.

EVER

dare compare the 360's RRoD design defect to the PS2 again.

Is that CLEAR?

[v1c1ous]

lol u mad?

[00]

you've gone and done it now, hell's a comin

[dolan]

I never owned a PS2 last gen but had huge numbers of friends who did.

I had never had a single friend ever have a single problem with their PS2. Or any other console. I vaugley rembember hearing stories about some early Xbox'es and PS2s but that was it.

But it wasn't until the rrod fiasco started up that we magically had these 'stories' of about the PS2.

v1c1ous, get out of gaming. Sitting around in rrod stories posting the same 'I had x number of PS2s die' lies is as pathetic as someone can get. People like you don't deserver to be part of the gaming world.

[dolan]

00: "you've gone and done it now, hell's a comin"

And Xbox fans are constantly crying about why the rest of the gaming world despises the Xbox and its fans...gee, wonder why?

[pixelsword]

- I agree that the RRoD articles are akin to beating a dead horse, and I am a little tired of hearing them myself to be honest, so how should someone feel when someone else brings up the original PS2's being not very dependable? Since those problems were left behind when the slims came out, the point is pretty moot to bring up since you yourself stated "...all consoles fail some more than others and it doesn't make you cool to hate on a company for admitting it (even if late) where other didn't admit anything and just took your money." But you do realize that while they (both Sony and Microsoft) weren't admitting it, they were all the while taking money for a defect the must have known existed. Early or late that type of thinking is disingenuous. I would also like to point out that both Sony and Microsoft "made good" of sorts by Microsoft extending the warranty and Sony by coming out with the slim, although I think the warranty is better of the two. Let's all agree that both the 360 and PS2 will not garner much consumer confidence in the eyes of history, k? I mean, if bringing up something that's not relevant to the topic at hand can be justified by obscure tangents, I'm sure someone could pull out a blue screen of death story or two and be in the right.

- If your Playstation 2 stopped reading any type of disc it was likely because it was dirty compounded with the fact that the PS2's problems in terms of reading discs was because of the lens aperture adjustments were garbage on many PS2s; my younger brother is a genius with electronics (me, not so much), and he adjusted his with a total time of less then 10 minutes from breakdown to reconstruction.

- Also, if you still own your Genesis or SNES, You don't need to blow in them; what you have to do is take some off the counter alcohol (Grain alcohol will do, but why waste it when you can drink it?) and a Q-tip or two and clean both the cartridges and connecting receptors on the consoles and they will work good as new... and yes, my brainy brother also figured that out. :)

[v1c1ous]

ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah !

wow. that was just sad. i'm sorry i can't join in your circle-jerking RROD party. keep reaching onto that rainbow.

you can believe someone going through 10 360s, but don't believe someone going through multiple ps2s due to DRE? obviously you must be young, cause i been gaming a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ng time, and the ps2 DRE issue, while small, WAS a big issue for sony when the console first released due to faulty lasers. luckily sony are excellent hardware manufacturers and fixed the issue quickly within 1st year. and later the slim ps2 phased that out completely.

and about the rest of the world despising xbox and such...i guess 1/3 of the world doesn't, and that's enough to have taken a bite out of sony's piece of the pie. i bet it hurts you physically to know sony ain't gonna be #1 this gen. and that's sad :(

cause me? i own all consoles, so i'm fine. sure i lean slightly towards 360/wii i;'ll admit it, but i'm not blind.
but no. i come to N4G for the lulz that comments like that bring to me.

here's a tip kid. add me to your ignore list. cause i don't want to cause you any more grief :(

[badz149]

still with "no fanboyism allowed", I'm gonna say this. there's no doubt the PS2 had its share of problems. so do every other consoles ever made out there! hell even the Wii has problems but out of all, RRoD is in its own league! to say that it's not the most defective console ever is DENIAL because it's a cold hard FACT! 360 is a solid gaming system, yes but it is flawed to the design level which could've not been there if designed properly!

[00]

"And Xbox fans are constantly crying about why the rest of the gaming world despises the Xbox and its fans...gee, wonder why?"

Why the hell should I care?

EDIT: you make PS3 fans look bad.
=]

[jden28]

Look ATY and all other sony fanboys I owned a ps2 and ps3 love the games but the ps2 hardware was crap they lied and lied and denied that they had a defect problem. Mean while everybody I knew had the dre problem and ended up buying another ps2, H$%^l the ps1 had the heat vent on the bottom and I'd have to turn it upside down because it would overheat. Msoft is not the mother of all bad design choices. MY point is and will always be that they ALL fail its what the company does about it that makes the difference and M$oft took care of me while sony acted like YOU and pretended nothing was happening.

What the heck are you disagreeing too? Just look up the link!

NEVERTHELESS here's the link look for yourself!!

www.gamespot.com/news/6139482 .html

[dolan]

Dude, look at your life.

Sitting around desperately googling for crap to try to smear the PS2 hoping it will somehow deflect the hardware failure nightmare Microsoft created with the Xbox 360.

Look in the mirror. Do you honestly think anyone wants to hear your garbage?

You're trying to smear a console that has been on sale for 9 years and some 138-9 million units sold worldwide.

[clintagious650]

There is no denying the 360's high failure rate. I mean im on my second 360 right now. I have 3 friends that were on my xbl friends list whose been through the same problem. 3 of my cousins who owned a 360 had their system fail on them atleast one time & one of my close filipino buddies had his die on him 2 weeks ago. The crazy thing is they all still stuck with the 360. I guess when u invest soo much money into the system, its kinda hard to just let go and switch. I still held on to my 360 but at the same time I also bought 1 wii and a launch 60gb ps3 & the MGS4 80gb Bundle & just bought the slim. Ps3 in the living room & my lil brother uses my MGS4 ps3 now since I bought the slim.

[jden28]

Pixel sword you get mad respect. But I am a tech nut probably a lot like your brother. The alchohol thing is temperary at best the contacts will continue to oxidize. It wasn't just a poor aperture on the ps2 drives, when placed vertically the laser ribbon would physically rub against the disc creating a disc burn. And of couse it also had terrible aperture. I felt this was relavant only because I'm soo sick of the rrod articles and maybe it can put it in perspective for those younger sometimes less informed readers. The internet is so much bigger than it was 9 years ago Could you imagine what would happen if sony released the ps2 with al its issues today. Thats why i think the rrod issue is so big, the internet. Once Again you get mad respect pixel sword just trying to inform the un- informed

[Socomer 1979]

They believe xbox360 is 8 million consoles in the lead when 40 million
Xbox360's have died from rrod & other hardware malfunctions.
It's like the m16 assault rifle in early Vietnam that had so many good soilders killed against the ak-47.
Then the xbutts brag about sales like Richard Nixon bragged about watergate.

American products?
Completly useless & demeaning.

[Socomer 1979]

Answer: talk about nintendo cartridges & ps2 dre issues many moons ago.
LOL!
Ps2 fixed thier old DVD drive problem & quit making that blue sided disc right after learning about it.
The difference is they fixed it. They didn't buy a 3 year warranty plan for electronics. Most importantly, Sony
Brought DVDs into the mainstream. So I think you can understand if they were tinkering around with a new format 9 years ago.
What's microsofts excuse?

It's not like ms is new to DVDs or even a games console are they?
No. Original xbox. Pc games.

Apparently, it's cheaper to buy a 3 year warranty then to outfit the xbox360 with a cooling system.
But after learning that ms dropped support for the original xbox because it's hardrive was too expensive to manufacture then why would they fit the bill for a fully working system?

All it takes is 1 night of extended gaming & it's over.
There's littlebigplanet levels with exploding xbox360 blowing up entire buildings for Christ sake!
It's a joke & xbox360 fans are the butt of it.
That's your fault not mine!

Millions of YouTube videos. Actual american military shooting the 360 as a firing squad.
Acknowledged by all gaming sites & mainstream media. Known by every major retailers.
Sung about in music & preached by a pastor. Even prison has recollection of rrod & a few guys are in jail because of it. Babies, teenagers, adults & senior citizens know what rrod stands for.
Its as popular as aids. Be safe but not doing it is the safest.

We all knew rrod is the reason ms loses this gen. Don't take it personal just tell your friends you're getting a ps3 because of 1 exclusive. They are numb anyways so they will follow. You could say that you hate natal more & you feel sold out. Ms forcing you to represent your gamer lifestyle as a mii on facebook? Ouch! That's asking alot.
I wonder? Exactly how many times did you tell your friends you hate ps3 ? Probly alot.
I guess it's a littlebigpill to swallow huh?

[DelbertGrady]

This is the first article about RROD I've ever seen on N4G.

[Saaking]

Xbox 360 FAILS.

[champ21]

one of my friends his xbox recently failed.

lol since we arent n the usa he had to buy a pal version. All his previously purchased games are ntsc, now most of them wont even work rofl.

[bjornbear]

I demand quality, and quality isn't present here =/

[Demon5500]

Come on where is the logic, I highly doubt this is true, 17 million consoles failing that's a joke,
Ms would be told to pull the product off the shelves, no matter how good a warranty they have in place and that is fact, And these number you are adding up where based upon a study, of witch 3000 gamers were asked about what console they owned had failed the most, well guess what there were over 1800 hundred 360 owners in that group, I and many others believe this all started from a smear campaign stated by Sony and then filtered on to the net, around the time the slim was announced, and every day more and more article's pop up, with bias towards the xbox brand, There is no doubt that there was problems with lunch console but not all of them will fail, There are many people who still have lunch consoles, So even tho this blog is not from a one sided prospective the real nature of it is based upon console war tricks that one company has been trying seance the day's of Sony vs Sega , so when will the public "sheep" wake up, and there are also reports of ps3 slim scratching Blue ray movies, and what about YLOD on older ps3's there is no warranty for these faults,It takes a company like Ms to stand up and pay millions on a warranty while the other company make costumers pay $199 to fix there faulty blue ray dio problem .so like all fanboys, its all right to dig up crap about one company, but when it comes to your console you have to eat your pie too, :)

[Tripl3seis]

i was one of them who move from a 360 to the ps3.And for me at least it was a great choice and im sticking with my ps3 until this gen is over.

[Thoreau]

i enjoy my 360. micro know they have issues with the 360 production. fix them and micro will be a competitor.