The PlayStation needs to be on its side to avoid overheating. The PlayStation 2 won’t read blue-bottom discs. The PSP suffers from dead pixels and unresponsive square buttons. The PlayStation 3 fails to…
Actually, wait a minute. The PS3 seems to be working smoothly.
While the Xbox 360 melts internally, is being subjected to a $1 billion warranty system, and the Wii apparently has an appetite for big screen TVs, the PS3 remains strong. Visit any gaming site and you’ll find countless stories on how flaky gaming hardware can be, the problems with it, and all types of PR cover-ups.
Yet, the mainstream gaming press seems to missing how the PS3 is holding up. The same mainstream press didn’t seem to have any trouble whipping up snappy headlines on Sony’s earlier hardware to attract a fanboy war. How is everyone missing this historic development (and that is by no means an exaggeration)? This is brand new hardware, with multiple first-time technologies from the cell processor to the Blu-ray drive.
Maybe it’s a simple case of this simply not being news. When you turn on the nightly news, do you hear about the latest tragic plane crash, or the thousands that reached their destination safely? Would viewers rather hear a reporter drone on about the millions of cars currently navigating the freeway system, or the one that slipped off and landed upside down in a pillar of smoke?
This is a different case though. Unlike plane and car companies, Sony’s hardware track record so far is riddled with problems. Smart resale gaming shops won’t even touch a first generation PS1, and they’d be wise to immediately check any PS2’s. This is a story; a successful console is in homes from the PlayStation division, and it's actually working smoothly. Some obscure religions may note that this is a sign of the apocalypse.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Andrew Ogier
there's an old addage, no news is good news. We expect things to go smoothly, that's why there's no news stories about buildings that didn't get blown up, or about PS3 not crashing.
PS3's do fail though, They also have a red light problem, and also some games crash in the middle of play, but well within acceptable limits.
Simply put, a 5% failure rate is not news, it's accepted. A 33% failure rate like in the Xbox 360's case, where it costs Microsoft £500m to ratify is newsworthy.
2 - Josh
Actually, from what I've heard the biggest problem right now is the controller disconnecting during play.
This issue has plagued every PS3 owner I've spoken with, but there seems to be no press on this issue.
3 - bill gates
my ps3 has been working with np at all since march its been in a room with 47 C while folding(high performance) without saying a word and the fan is damn silent.
awsome hardware go get it and dont be caught up in the fud bill gates ball lickers keep telling ya.
4 - LogicPTK
I have had a few minor problems, 5 lock ups 3 caused myself and all fixed by switching off and on again.
I've never heard of the controller issue you mention above, not that it hasn't happened to someone i'm sure.
i have also been running "folding at home" on the PS3 since it was available to test the machine as no game will work it as hard (and do my part for science) and it has flawlessly performed for 150 work units at 8 hours per piece = 1200 hours = 50 days = 7 weeks of running at the maximum currently possible.
This will change as more games arrive, but for now it's all about the folding (team: 63709) please run it if you can, it will help us all.
5 - Calem
hmmmm, my PS1 still works!?
6 - LogicPTK
lol Calem
Now that you mention it my ps one works still also, has done since 1994, 13 years.
Yeah, but sony isnt very good at hardware, hahaha...
unless we are just the lucky ones.
not that i need it now the ps3 plays both ps1 & PS2 games.
That Said..
My sega megadrive & SNES also work almost flawlessly i have had since new but wont get replaced anytime soon.
7 - Regret
I have PS1 since 1996, PS2 since 2002, PS3 since april, GameCube since 2003 and they still working smoothly. I have Xbox360 since last year and it doesn't work, anymore!
8 - @ #6
you'll be pleased to know then that it will cost you nothing to get the 360 repaired. and you'll have a warrany for 3 years. I'm seriously considering getting a 360 now I don't have to worry about incuring any charges if it fails.
9 - Andrew Ogier
Regret: you're very lucky then, especially with PS2.
My PS1 was bought in 1994 and died in 1999 (after many many months of turning the system upside down to load games). It was very well used though. I played it nearly every day, so fair enough it dying after 5 years good service
My JPN PS2 was bought in 2000. It lasted 8 months. I waited for the UK systems, and bought one on launch. It also lasted 8 months. UK PS2 #2 was bought immediately after... it lasted 18 months. UK PS2 #3 was bought in 2004, and still works. Oddly enough, I barely used PS2. I didn't really like the games. UK PS2 #3 has only been used a dozen times since I bought it.
My 360 survived a torrent of 15-hour-a-day gameplay sessions, every day, from launch till september (10 months) before my drive couldn't read discs anymore. I didn't get red ring of death.
My gamecube was used a fair bit, and still runs well. It was a japanese launch system.
My Xbox1 runs perfect, and it's probably had the most use out of all my consoles. It was a US launch system and was used 24 hours a day, every day for 5 years. I left it on as a linux server when I wasn't playing games on it, and it still works perfectly to this day.
10 - hella
i got my ps3 at launch and it has never failed on me ever. never has a game frozen up on me, or any other types of failures.
11 - Oscar
I've never had a promblem with my PS2 or PSP, don't own a PS3 yet. The first Xbox did have lots of problems; it scratched my games, erased my saved files, was loud as hell, freezed a lot, etc.. The hell that I went through with the Xbox is the main reason I haven't bought an Xbox 360 yet and probably will never buy one.
I've never seen the problems some people claim that the PS2 or PSP have (don't have a PS3, so I don't know), but the Xbox (the original, don't own an Xbox 360) ones are definitely real!
12 - Oscar
Andrew, they say that the PS3 and Wii failure rate is under 1%, the Xbox 360 is 33%.
13 - Larry
All you sony fanboys saying you'll never own a 360 or had an xbox - all I can say is you obviosly arent a gamer. I owned all four systems last gen and loved every one for their respective games (even the Dreamcast) went through 3 ps2s and 2 gamecubes 1 xbox and 1 Dreamcast. I own a Wii and a 360 and havent had any problems with either and even if I did I would get them repaired no matter the cost. When the ps3 comes out with something I want to play (final fantasy 13) I'll buy one - no matter what it costs. So all you fanboys snubbing your nose at other systems - your just missing good games. Game on!
14 - argg
MY PS3 has never locked up on me except for in oblivion... all other games work fine ocassionally oblivion is a tad glitchy but that has only happened to me 4 time over the last 370 hours i have clocked into oblivion
15 - jay
oh my god. i never tought i read an un-biased story like this before. everything u said is so true. thank you for saying what ive been thinkin about this whole time matt. seriously thanks for writting something like this. and im not a fan of either 3 game consoles but...it is true. good job
16 - Ken Edwards
I bought my 360 at launch and it died the end of May. Three red rings of death. I got it back refurbished (same case, different innerds).
I bought my PS3 at launch and it still works, hopefully I can say that in a year, I assume I will be able to - especially for what I payed for it.
My PS2 worked fine, just had the blue-bottom disc problem, also had issues when the dual layer games came out. I am on PS2 #2, a slim line. So I consider myself lucky as far as PS2 goes.
The PS1 I had worked fine, but I was late to the PS1 party because of the Dreamcast.
I never had a problem with my Xbox 1 or GameCube. My Wii has been tame and not had an appetite for my HDTV, either ;)
A friend of mine had PS3 controller issues, and I have heard of others having sync issues. However, I have not experienced this issue at all.
17 - Kronose
My PS3 has been a real trooper with no major issues, and I leave it on all the time for folding. I did not even have the common controller disconnect issues. The only issues I have had are a couple freezes, but this has only happened on me twice since December. Once on GOW2 and the other on Motorstorm. Sometimes I will get a black screen for a split second once every 2-3 weeks mainly go to and from BD playback. Other than that I have no complaints.
18 - DolphGB
I guess I'm just lucky.
Never had a problem with my PS2 or any disk I bought regardless of whether I bought it new or pre-owned - and that includes the disks I bought from the library which were scratched to hell.
Never had a problem with my PSP or any of its many pixels.
PS3 is doing incredibly. Less than 1% return rate at Game UK stores I hear - brilliant for the consumer and for the stores.
19 - Stryydr
Interesting how the author had to put in that last DIG about the software.
Mature well informed authors who are true gamer's would understand that software takes time to develop. That's been part of a new console release since the dawn of gaming.
Bashing Sony has been and continues to be fashionable. Even a supposedly positive article like this one seemed to have to END on a sour note. That really wasn't necessary.
The software issue will eventually end up like the hardware issue. Good games take time to develop and they are going to arrive soon enough.
20 - smoothn00dle
@ #6
U are funny guy.. I wouldn't recommend Xbox360 to anyone right now. What about the downtime that cost us? A week without gaming plus possible lost of data and the fuel that use drive to the shop and back. Three year warranty is the least M$ can do.