I'm having trouble understanding the economics behind the shoddy design and manufacture of video game hardware. Are they actually *engineering* a high failure rate, so that they lose a little profit during the warranty period but guarantee a repurchase down the road? Are they just losing so much money on hardware sales that it's just another write off? Are they buying stock in UPS and FedEx and cleaning up with all the shipping going on?

Here are my recent hardware failures:

Nintendo DS:
- Purchased Oct. 2005.
- Failed: Jun. 2007: Stopped powering on (not a battery issue, not a cable issue, just DEAD).
- Resolution: None, out of warranty. Didn't repurchase.

Playstation Portable:
- Purchased Dec. 2007.
- Failed Jan 2008: The repeating "Do you want to quit the game?" problem.
- Resolution: Best Buy replacement policy.

Xbox 360:
- Purchased Aug. 2007.
- RRoD May 2008.
- Resolution: Warranty return repair.

Rock Band 360 Guitar #1:
- Purchased Feb 2008.
- Failed out of the box: The "yellow fret" problem.
- Resolution: Warranty return repair.

Rock Band 360 Guitar #2:
- Received as replacement Mar. 2008.
- Failed out of the box: Loose strum bar.
- Resolution: Warranty return repair.

Rock Band 360 Drum Pads:
- Purchased Feb 2008.
- Failed out of the box: The "red pad responsiveness" problem.
- Resolution: Warranty return repair.

I'm a recent convert to the realm of console gaming and I gotta say, with a failure rate like this I'm seeing a strong case against the "console gaming is just easier, no upgrades, no installs, no drivers" argument.

It's really getting out of hand.

I've *ALWAYS* purchased extended warranties with electronics and I'm really glad I do because it seems the *VAST* majority of stuff I buy fails.

I've never had a problem with consoles etc, my laptop on the other hand was ridiculous. The hinge broke, and I had to pay £100 repairing it because the warranty didn't cover 'wear and tear'... bollocks was that wear and tear, the bloody hinge broke and the screen was hanging off due to a screw that had quite literally dissolved itself.

360's have a tendency to break, but Microsoft at least acknowledge this and replace. If you want reliable consoles, go with the older ones... they could literally be thrown through a coke fountain into a pit of spikes and still work.

Wow...You have awful luck with electronics my friend. I've had a DS since about when they came out and no problems. My firend's 360 hasn't RRoD'ed on him (knock on wood), and I've never even heard of someone getting two broken Rock Band guitars that failed out of box.

It's true. My gamecube has yet to fail me and my xbox, though hueg, lives on. I have never had a problem with console hardware, and I get most of mine used. Maybe you're just unlucky? It's certainly within the realm of possibility that you've just gotten bad kit repeatedly, but most of the problems you had were already admitted to by the company and being resolved.

the_tramp:
... The hinge broke, and I had to pay £100 repairing it...If you want reliable consoles, go with the older ones...

Ya a poorly designed hinge mechanism is definitely not "wear and tear" .... that's BS.

I had a PS2 that lasted for ages. The PS2 has got to be the most profitable console systems of all time ... I wish current gen hardware could match that kind of reliability, but I guess every step up in complexity introduces 50 new ways to break things.

I sold the PS2 to get Rock Band ... a LOT of fun but man what a huge asspain.

Rjak:
I'm having trouble understanding the economics behind the shoddy design and manufacture of video game hardware. Are they actually *engineering* a high failure rate, so that they lose a little profit during the warranty period but guarantee a repurchase down the road? Are they just losing so much money on hardware sales that it's just another write off? Are they buying stock in UPS and FedEx and cleaning up with all the shipping going on?

Here are my recent hardware failures:

Nintendo DS:
- Purchased Oct. 2005.
- Failed: Jun. 2007: Stopped powering on (not a battery issue, not a cable issue, just DEAD).
- Resolution: None, out of warranty. Didn't repurchase.

Playstation Portable:
- Purchased Dec. 2007.
- Failed Jan 2008: The repeating "Do you want to quit the game?" problem.
- Resolution: Best Buy replacement policy.

Xbox 360:
- Purchased Aug. 2007.
- RRoD May 2008.
- Resolution: Warranty return repair.

Rock Band 360 Guitar #1:
- Purchased Feb 2008.
- Failed out of the box: The "yellow fret" problem.
- Resolution: Warranty return repair.

Rock Band 360 Guitar #2:
- Received as replacement Mar. 2008.
- Failed out of the box: Loose strum bar.
- Resolution: Warranty return repair.

Rock Band 360 Drum Pads:
- Purchased Feb 2008.
- Failed out of the box: The "red pad responsiveness" problem.
- Resolution: Warranty return repair.

I'm a recent convert to the realm of console gaming and I gotta say, with a failure rate like this I'm seeing a strong case against the "console gaming is just easier, no upgrades, no installs, no drivers" argument.

It's really getting out of hand.

I've *ALWAYS* purchased extended warranties with electronics and I'm really glad I do because it seems the *VAST* majority of stuff I buy fails.

Use the Guitar Hero guitars for Rockband. No solo frets, but the timing atleast isn't nightmarish.

Calobi:
Wow...You have awful luck with electronics my friend.

Yes that I do. If you give me a wall of 1000 electronic doodads, I'll pick the one with a defect. It's insane.

But this .... I mean NO ONE'S luck can be this bad can it? All the problems I've had are common occurrences you read about on the forums. Surely I'm not the only guy that gets ALL of them?

Rjak:
[quote=the_tramp]I had a PS2 that lasted for ages. The PS2 has got to be the most profitable console systems of all time ... I wish current gen hardware could match that kind of reliability, but I guess every step up in complexity introduces 50 new ways to break things.

It makes me feel old when someone points to a console made after 2000 and goes "Back in those old days they knew how to make a console"

i dont give a crap ig it fails it makes me happy and makes other poeple happy too

I'm not sure I buy the argument that more modern consoles are less reliable. I've had my PS3 for six months with precisely zero technical issues, and I fully agree with Rjak on the PS2: Reliability incarnate. I don't want to turn this into a yet another battlefield for the console wars, but that's why I've stuck with Sony consoles (although I haven't played the PSP, so I can't vouch for that), as opposed to my N64, which often required quite a bit of, erm, persuasion to get the thing to work a lot of the time. If anything, I think it is the peripheral items that tend to have more problems, and that goes for any game platform, including PCs. The more complex the controller, the more potential points for failure (I've had to replace several joysticks for my computer that way). With the number of controllers you need for Rock Band, odds are at least one won't work right. So as much as I hate to say it Rjak, I think you've just got a case of bad luck. I can certainly see where you're coming from wondering if they're trying to wring out our wallets, but I think the oil companies are more guilty of that than game companies (yeah I went there). Otherwise they'd charge us for each thing we need fixed. Besides, if a console is repeatedly unreliable, that could cause some people to send theirs back and buy a different console made by someone else, and THAT'S the big thing they don't want.

If you want to do something that might help you blow of some steam, send them an angry email about it, then laugh at any response they send. It helps :)

Peronally I find that all the hardware I have purchased in the past still works fine for me. I've got an N64 and a PS original and they both work mostly fine - I say mostly coz the N64 sometimes fails to turn on, but for a console that is now 7 years old that isn't so bad. I don't have any of the latest-gen consoles prefering a top end PC instead which I purchased about 6 months ago. The biggest problem there, is of course Windows and needs constand tinkering to make sure the dam thing works properly. This is something that seeems to be a recuring theme with PC's the software is often woefully badly programmed, despire the fact that the hard ware will pretty much last forever provided you don't overclock the crap out of it. None of the PC's I have ever had in the past have ever died on me, and several of the components to my currant one have life-time warrenties.

Sega Master System
Purchased: Christmas 1991
Status: Died Christmas 1992

Playstation 2
Purchased: Octber 2002
Status: Active

XBox
Purchased: December 2004
Status: Traded towards Wii in Christmas '06. The Sonata Arctica CDs I ripped to the hard drive are probably making someone very happy/deaf.

Nintendo DS
Purchased: Christmas 2005
Status: Active.

XBox 360
Purchased: November 2006
Status: Active. No RROD, no housefires, no destroyed discs. Occasional game freeze on pre-owned/rental games that were scratched to hell before I ever touched them.

Wii
Purchased: Christmas 2006
Status: Probably active. Haven't touched it in seven months.

Sony PSP (Slim and Lite)
Purchased: Mid-2007
Status: Active but unused except for an occasional round of Loco Roco.

BONUS ROUND!!

Nintendo 64
Purchased: Off ebay, mid 2004.
Status: Works just fine when we drag it out for Mario Kart at parties.

All in all I've been pretty lucky with my gaming hardware. I've had far worse luck with washing machines and dryers!

I've never had anything break except my rockband drum pedal, snapped in half during Tom Sawer.

Let's see... The ONLY game system I've had fail on me is my PS2 after 4 years of operation. I've had; NES, SNES, Genesis, Game Gear, PSX, PS2, Wii, N64, and an XBox 360. Of these, I still have all but the PS2/PSX.

The only other hardware related problem I've run into is the Overdrive not activating on my first Rock Band guitar, but that was easily replaced.

No offense, I just think they don't like you. I've never had a problem with consoles. On the other hand, I have tons of Computer problems. Conversly, My original Nintendo still works perfectly.

I had a problem with my PS2 before, but it turns out that it was just a bunch of dust inside the console itself. It's those days where you're glad that your dad is an electrical engineer. Worked like new after dusting it.

My Nintendo 64 my folks gave me in 1998 still plays games just as good as the day I got it (Better, actually, since I got an expansion pak when Majora's Mask came out ;) ). Though I did go through a bunch of controllers. Gotta love cartridge consoles, no moving parts = phenomenally low failure rate. My Super NES I had since I was 3 still works, but a good vibration will freeze a game.

I like the idea of going through my console history so...

NES: 1989-Present. Only dragged out for the occasional romp through Mario 3. Still works near-perfectly. Only have to take out the cartridge and blow on it occasionally. Survived a trip down the stairs once.

SNES: 1992-Present. Awesomeness incarnate. Zero problems. Still my main Tetris machine, and I generally go through a few of my favourite games every year. Never gets put in a closet.

Sega Game Gear: 199?-200? I'm not proud of this. It was a terrible system (well, terrible games anyway). It never gave me problems, but I still hated it. Always felt like a waste of money. Sat in a box until I gave it away a while ago to someone who wanted some "vintage gaming."

PS1: 1998-2002. Got it late and had no serious problems during my time with it. However, a lot of people I knew had issues with theirs. Passed it on to my brother when I got my PS2. It's still serving him well.

PS2: 2002-2007. Second favourite console of all time. I never had problems with it. Passed it on to my sister. Still regretting that decision.

XBox360: 2007-Present. Issues depend on the game. Lots of disc-read errors in GTA4 or Mass Effect, but Gears or Bioshock are almost flawless. Hasn't bricked yet, but it is definately the least reliable of my consoles. Least likely to survive a trip down the stairs. Sure makes for pretty games though.

Anyway, I too feel that hardware of all types is getting less-reliable. Hell, I still use my parent's 1979 Zenith VCR, it's never eaten any tapes, but much newer ones have.

Problems just seem to be different for everyone, my PS2 - I've taken that thing apart like 3 times a week when I used it, and had to clean the laser scanner with rubbing alcohol so much, sprayed dust out of it with compressed air, etc. etc. - I've definetly had better experiences with computers, my Gamecube, N64, and SNES still work - I just have to find the wires >_>

Mstrswrd:
No offense, I just think they don't like you.

Ditto. I've never had a problem with my SNES, my PS2, or my Xbox. I did have a problem with my X360, with it eating my disks, but that's fixed now. But don't get me started on my computer...

Oh yeah, I'd also like to add...

MY GC WAVEBIRD IS A PIECE OF SHIT AND I HATE IT!

OK I think that's it.

I've had to send my 360 to Germany two times. I haven't bought any games for it in months and probably never will. I'd like to play games, but the whole industry is just making it really, really difficult for me to enjoy them.

1. Games are usually released buggy and incomplete.
2. Consoles are unreliable and often just plain crap.
3. Game journalism is bloated with corruption, egoism and trendy cynicism.
4. Games are often extremely derivative and loaded with juvenile themes.
5. Micropayment strategies, DRM and other bullshit just makes life hard for the honest consumer.

The industry is just too full of compromises to offer anything really worthwhile and valuable. I rarely buy or play games anymore. Instead, I buy paperpack books that cost a few euros and offer undiluted joy and enlightenment for years to come. I also like to play board games, like Race for the Galaxy, with my friends.

i've only had my 360 crap out on me, even then i sent it in and had it back in like 2 weeks so i didn't really care.

I do agree that old consoles like SNES were nearly indestructable. My snes was kicked around and on one occasion had coke spilled all over it and it still works to this very day.

I've never had an issue with game hardware. 'Cept maybe when my psOne wouldn't work half the time but that was probably my fault. Electronics tend to not like being lost behind radiators for over a year.

I've had tons of consoles, and some issues as well.

NES: Had it for over five years. Never broke. I got a new one recently that's a little buggy but it was that way when I got it (and let's face it, most of them are around 20 years old).

Game Boy: The original clunky one with black & white display. I had that one for many years. Never failed me as far as I recall.

Master system I: Never had any issues with this one. Not sure if it still works, I haven't used it in years.

SNES: Power button sticks sometimes, most likely because of mistreatment and wear. It's over ten years old.

PS1: The laser broke eventually, but it lasted far into the PS2 era.

N64: Resets itself sometimes for unknown reasons.

PS2: Still works. No issues.

XboX: Shuts down sometimes for unknown reasons. Prone to crashes, though that could be the games and not the hardware.

Gamecube: No issues.

Wii: No hardware issues.

DS: Screen has become a little unresponsive and inaccurate after much use.

It looks to me like the hardware issues with consoles is a reasonable new problem, now that consoles are becoming more advanced and trying to fill in for PC's in many areas. I think the next generation, where online play has become standard will root out some of the more serious hardware problems with consoles.

Well, if you're tired of stuff breaking, download emulators! They last as long as your computer, but you have to redownload them sometimes because they go corrupt after some us, but I use a PS1 and GBA/NDS emulators, which is finely compatible with your trusty keyboard.

For me...

SNES: Works like a dream, have had it for about 15 years.

PS2: Had to replace after 5 years due to a faulty laser, PStwo works fine.

X-Box 360: Stopped reading discs after a year, repaired it, works fine now.

GHIII Guitar: First one got a messed up strum bar, this one has a sometimes faulty orange button, but otherwise is fine.

The only hardware failures I've had are a PS1 controller that got something sticky (no, not that) on it and the PS1 itself, which was thrown to the ground because I forgot what was in my backpack (oh, the shame). My PS2 and Gamecube still work fine.

the_tramp:
I've never had a problem with consoles etc, my laptop on the other hand was ridiculous. The hinge broke, and I had to pay £100 repairing it because the warranty didn't cover 'wear and tear'... bollocks was that wear and tear, the bloody hinge broke and the screen was hanging off due to a screw that had quite literally dissolved itself.

i had the same problem with my laptop T_T eventually the rest of my computer began to die to the point where i basicly had a zombie computer running on ram that didnt exist (i know, weird and impossible right?) anyways, i've never really had a problem with console gaming except one of my ddr mats that was crap when i bought and it and lagged so much it was pointless to even try.

on the other hand, i've had plently of problems with PC gaming. i got hellgate london back in december and i havent even gotten to play yet because it ran my computer retarted and my computer would run the little start menue and when i clicked to play it went into an angry fit of rage. this could be due to the fact that my computer is constantly full of games and media but isnt that what and entertainment computer is built for?

Guys, guys, my MEGA DRIVE still works most of the time.

(Especially that 'new' one I got in Dubai last year, marked "NEW 2007!")