Smart Spending Tips - How to Extend the Life of Your Video Game Consoles Part 1

Video game consoles can be a pretty big investment for any family. Not just because of the price of the unit itself, but also all of the games and accessories they will end up buying for it. Naturally, those people will want to know how they can prolong its life, especially with all of the major defects present. These problems include the infamous RROD or Red Ring of Death plaguing Microsoft’s Xbox 360 or to a much lower extent, the YLOD or Yellow Light of Death affecting Sony’s Playstation 3.

[rroded]

if its made by ms dont buy it...

[longcat]

i know trolling is fun, but every once in a while, you have to know when and where to give it a rest.

[HammockGames]

I think most Xbox 1 owners would vouch that the original was pretty rock solid. That doesn't forgive the problems the 360 has had - not at all - but hopefully the reliability of newer models is on par with industry standards. Hopefully MS learned their multibillion dollar lesson with the corners they tried to cut (and gamers they alienated).

More seriously - dust & heat are 2 things that can doom any console. Dust them off & vacuum the vents every now and then. For the 360, installing games to the HDD can help reduce the heat generated (seems to make a big difference).

[rroded]

sry i jus cant stop

n ya xbox1 was a beast but the 360 is a joke n kinect is heading the same way...

N ya im bitter havin bought 3 of em sigh.

[dktxx2]

The ps3 isn't exactly super reliable either, just so you know. Not as bad as the 360, but still it isn't very good.

[HammockGames]

Whereas the 360 took the industry standard (for % defective) and then added a zero for good measure.

I'd say the PS3 is pretty damn reliable in comparison to the industry standard and even more so when compared to the 360.

This is coming from a guy that had the YLOD on my 60 gb launch PS3, but that was well after 1,000+ hours (probably twice that or more, actually). My original 360 died after only 100 hours (yeah, 1-0-0).

It'll be interesting to see the long-term reliability of the Slim and the new 360 models.

[dktxx2]

The industry standard is really poor, frankly. Hell, reliability standards on everything in the world is really low. 10% is bad, for anything.

But sorry I should of said the ps3 is fireproof and could take a rocket without even a scratch. The truth is just too painful for some people to handle.

[HammockGames]

Agreed, any fanboy claiming their console is "failure proof" is delusional - no matter the assembly line it rolled off of.

I was thinking the "industry standard" was in the neighborhood of 3-5% or less (or something like that - I'm going on memory here).

Regardless, a failed console sucks for any gamer.

[dktxx2]

The industry standard is probably set at like 30 percent. I mean the 360 went through the whole Rrod scare without only a small scratch in sales, when it should of been recalled. Gamers have shown that they don't care about good reliability rates, they just want the shiny things in life.

And i'm giving you bubbles for actually replying and making a decent point. Need more of those around here.

[pippoppow]

Some gamers go overboard with their play time. Do other things sometimes.

[dktxx2]

They break regardless of how long you play them. You can play them an hour a day and they're still just as likely to die on you as if you'd played them 10 hours a day.

[troncoparati]

I play my 360 as much as my friends and I never had a RROD. One of them had to send his 4 times. I guess it is luck of the draw.

[Terarmzar]

keep it off the carpet
and dust it off

[thebudgetgamer]

):

[longcat]

An intelligent, informative article
Special thanks to the contributor.

[lolzers]

Some good tips, although it's mostly common sense. I've had my 80gb ps3 for 2 years and I've never had a problem with it so far. Hopefully it'll be that way for at least another couple of years.

[PimpHandHappy]

GAMES

:-)

[ian72]

Things break, its just the way it is. I'm on my third PS3 at the moment. My first, blu-ray drive broke after about 15 months and 1000's of hours playtime. Got a refurb for £145 and that lasted around 18 months and another 1000+ hours played until it got YLOD. Got another refurb for free this time. Hopefully this lasts longer.
All my PS3's have been B/C 60gig original fatties. I'm not really complaining though as I have used them a lot.
I do keep my PS3 clean and in the open to keep it cool.
What I'm getting at is things do break and nothing lasts forever. I have probably been unlucky. All you can do is look after things as good as you can.
Shit happens.