Why Do Gamers Tolerate Faulty Consoles Now?

maybe this is a generational issue, but i've noticed that gamers in general are rather tolerant of the fact that microsoft and sony can't or won't build a reliable and durable console.

Sending a system back half a dozen times is simply not acceptable in my eyes. Is playing the latest games with their friends SO crucial that all logic is thrown out the window?

i was just reading something on a forum where they were discussing the UK's Sale Of Goods Act and how gamers should've persued legal action for microsoft selling an inherently faulty system. Anyway, some foolish human being stated that current systems cant be expected to last as long as say a dreamcast, because its a more complex and technologically advanced machine etc.

WTF!!! It clearly isnt advanced if it isnt durable. i dont care how pretty it looks or how many fps it is...if it dies after a year, it is a bag of crap.

If its such a reasonable notion that these modern systems only last a couple of years due to how amazing they are, then why dont sony and microshaft mention this in their promotion of the console?

its as though people these days are so enamoured with the graphics and hype that they forgive how cheaply produced their expensive console is. Am i mad or just forgetting some kind of crucial point here?

the xbox oe is useless pretty much without being online and once they stop supporting the xb1 online then thats it. you cant keep using it like yo can a dreamcast or a gamecube or whatever. it has a definite demise ahead. Plus, when you download a game too, you dont own shit. just a license to use the data you downloaded. no physical game you can resell. Gamers are getting shafted worse than drivers.

Sorry for ranting but modern gaming in general has been getting right on my tits...and my xbox one broke.

It's all things these days. They build things exactly as strong as they need too. Lots of this sort of garbage with cars as well which is just a bit more unacceptable and a lot more dangerous. I think most people have become used to to just bending over and taking it without a reach around, lube, or even a pillow to bite.

I would guess it's partly from electronics becoming more complicated and universal in operation, living in a society conditioned by prevalent designed obsolescence, and lastly having people tolerate mediocre quality control.

This is however just a guess from someone who hasn't purchased or played a modern console since the Dreamcast came and went... but all in all, it sounds like your typical first-world problem.

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Originally Posted by Andy

the xbox oe is useless pretty much without being online and once they stop supporting the xb1 online then thats it. you cant keep using it like yo can a dreamcast or a gamecube or whatever. it has a definite demise ahead. Plus, when you download a game too, you dont own shit. just a license to use the data you downloaded. no physical game you can resell. Gamers are getting shafted worse than drivers.

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and if that really is how video games today work (I honestly have no concept), then man, I must have been blessed by the Gods to have experienced video games at the time that I did... that all sounds terrible, haha.

My launch Dreamcast died just 2 weeks after the one year mark. It's not the most durable console Sega ever made.

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Originally Posted by gamevet

My launch Dreamcast died just 2 weeks after the one year mark. It's not the most durable console Sega ever made.

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It's not but I've owned about six Dreamcasts over the course of my life and the only thing that ever broke on one was the LED so at least in my experience its pretty durable. On the other hand I bought an Xbox 360 at launch and it's worked flawlessly so...

This isn't anything new. To date, there hasn't ever been a repeat of the PSX SCPH-1001 release, all consoles which commit suicide if you use them long enough.

My PS3 is still chugging along in its 8th year, and I haven't heard about many problems with the PS4 and Xbone from people who I know have them.

I will also add that cars are built to an excellent standard these days. People who remember Detroit steel with nostalgia glasses forget the instant rust, dodgy electrics, and rattles from a new car all too common in years past. The biggest problem now is lack of owner maintenance because the cars run so damn well.

The download-only model is trash, but a nice way to make profit.

Sure, consoles have become more complex, with more moving parts, and become more fragile as a result. But that's been true for over 20 years now, since the introduction of CD-based consoles. The biggest change in recent years has been how loudly the complainers are able to make themselves heard. Every tiny little issue is blown way out of proportion due to the pervasiveness of stuff that gets said on the internet.

I've only had two consoles with reliability issues in the past 25 years: my SCPH-1002 PS1 had disc reading issues several times, which were resolved fairly easily, and it's been happily chugging along for years now. My PS3 had a broken drive motor at one time, which I was able to replace myself, and it's worked flawlessly ever since. Oddly enough, I never had any major issues with my early model Xbox 360, even though the statistics are against me. The worst problems I had with that console was some wearing on the disc tray, plus the fact that it's noisy and has a tiny hard drive. But no RROD's or other fatal errors. In fact, none of my consoles have had any fatal flaws. My guess is it's just as much a matter of how well you treat them.

thanks for the replies people...... to clarify, my xbox one wont turn on via the controller about 40% of the time. plus it restarts itself when i turn it off via the controller. it was opened brand new on christmas day and has been treated like fine china. i dont tolerate faulty stuff that costs so much money. i dont think im nitpicking. im sure there are some happy 360 owners and xb1 owners but there is a huge issue with microsoft's quality department. they use cheap shitty parts. they can have their shit back.

also, i meant drivers get shafted in the sense that petroleum is an outdated and expensive method of powering a vehicle in an age where you can run a car on water and air. drivers are fleeced by being charged and fined at every turn. gaming is going the same way.....you wont be able to buy physical games pretty soon i reckon. games will be the same price or more, yet will have no manufacturing costs.

cd based systems are definitely more problematic than cart based systems were. if i could influence anything, id have all games consoles cartridge based. mega drive FTW.

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Originally Posted by Blades

I will also add that cars are built to an excellent standard these days. People who remember Detroit steel with nostalgia glasses forget the instant rust, dodgy electrics, and rattles from a new car all too common in years past. The biggest problem now is lack of owner maintenance because the cars run so damn well.

T

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No nostalgia "glasses" here. Too many recalls cars catching fire etc. While I understand a car is so complicated that some sort of bug is going to get through it's still is scary. As they continue to evolve and get more complicated it's only going to get worse. Lets be honest they don't want owner maintenance anymore. You take it to the dealer. The owners always figure it out but it gets harder every year. The only dodgy electronics I have dealt with come from ancient British stuff equipped with old Lucas Prince of Darkness, anything with a damned Bosch logo on it old or new, and new GM stuff turning to dust.

I like it when people break their consoles or their consoles fail and "wtf manufacturing problem"

No. You just broke your console. Mine still works fine.

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Originally Posted by Iron Lizard

No nostalgia "glasses" here. Too many recalls cars catching fire etc. While I understand a car is so complicated that some sort of bug is going to get through it's still is scary. As they continue to evolve and get more complicated it's only going to get worse. Lets be honest they don't want owner maintenance anymore. You take it to the dealer. The owners always figure it out but it gets harder every year. The only dodgy electronics I have dealt with come from ancient British stuff equipped with old Lucas Prince of Darkness, anything with a damned Bosch logo on it old or new, and new GM stuff turning to dust.

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From what I understand, you are a person who likes and thus takes care of his cars. In this context, most cars will behave well.

The luxury makes don't want owner maintenance, but they never have. FWICT, the new Toyotas are just as cheap, maintainable, and reliable as they used to be 20 years ago. Likewise, the new Hondas are just as dodgy as they used to be. The only place where they've gone down in quality is interior materials, probably for safety. That said, there have been so many leaps in technology that I'm ok with this tradeoff.

Bosch has always been trash. I have no idea how they stay in business.

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Originally Posted by Gogogadget

I like it when people break their consoles or their consoles fail and "wtf manufacturing problem"

No. You just broke your console. Mine still works fine.

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There have been multiple known manufacturing problems with Playstation 2 & 3. I'm not saying there wasn't with old consoles though, nor they are more frequent now.

Of course it doesn't excuse bad use.

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Originally Posted by Gogogadget

I like it when people break their consoles or their consoles fail and "wtf manufacturing problem"

No. You just broke your console. Mine still works fine.

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i broke my console? by taking it out the box and using it properly? i broke it? no i didnt its an inherent fault. are you aware of the 360 fail rate? a lot of careless mofos there wasn't there? they probably pissed on their consoles didn't they? the animals!

i must've misused it real bad for it to show a fault after about 40 days after being bought brand new. theres no damage to the outer casing of the xbox, so how has something damaged inside? tell me more oh psychic console lord from planet retardia where all faults are the customers fault and manufacturing defects do not exist.

You complained that consoles only last a 'couple of years'

There are PS3's in the wild from 2008, and my Xbox 360 has been going near on 5 years now. Electronics break, it's the nature of them. I've replaced countless stuff like TVs, Microwaves the lot, don't know why a console that broke deserved a big epic rant about how much everything sucks now days (because of course it does, sure).

The only consoles i've ever had that actually didn't crop up any issues is a launch model Megadrive and a SNES (not sure how old). I've had broken Amigas, NES, Playstations and a Dreamcast (actually i've had 3 different Dreamcasts all because of the drives). It happens all the time, don't see how it's Sony and Microsoft's fault.

Plus if it's 40 days old it's in warranty right? Get it replaced. Inconvinent but not really the end of the world?

And yes the RROD was a very real problem with the 360 that was a piss take, but hey it was fixed eventually, and Microsoft we're nice enough to try and rectrify the issue for problem consoles by offering repairs.

if my xbox one being faulty is due to my misuse. how come my gamecube has worked flawlessly since 2003? my ps2 from 2005? my mega drive and mega cd are both like 25 years old and still work? do i just mistreat the real expensive consoles?

im talking about people buying brand new systems and them being faulty early on....not three or four years in. that could be due to misuse.

Shit happens. I'd be thankful that your console broke after 40 days. I ended up taking my Dreamcast to Walmart and telling them that it was given to me as a gift, because the console died 2 weeks after the 1 year (extended) warranty had expired.

That's complete B.S.
I would not tolerate a faulty system no matter the generation. Thankfuly all my current gen systems are working flawlessly. I've heard the same shit about 7th gen consoles. I've yet to encounter a problem.

The only real issue now is HDD space. And that has only been a problem with the PS4 past the 2TB mark. Thankfully, I've yet to surpass the 2TB mark in my PS4 collection.

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Originally Posted by Blades

Bosch has always been trash. I have no idea how they stay in business.

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It took a guy who used to work for me 4 burned up 18v cordless drills, 1 set of glow plugs that were shit, and a dishwasher that almost burned his house down before he came to that conclusion.

I sincerely would like to see the statistics for 1st year hardware failures per console. I'd be interested to see if there is a trend. However I must say that electronics do seem to be more fragile before. How many screens have been shattered on smartphones? Probably more than there are smart phones on earth.

I've heard a lot of shit about PS2s as well, but my slim has been working fine for years. Some disc read errors every now and then, but it hasn't failed me yet. I can't say how much longer I have with this fortune though. The one time I had a console fail on me was when my softmodded original Xbox blew out the fuse box inside the system, the one that the AC is connected to. It can be fixed, of course. But so far, I've never ever had a console actually die on me.

It's quite interesting to describe this a first world problem, which for us it is. The poor buggers digging minerals from the earth earning a pittance may see things differently.

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Originally Posted by Andy

maybe this is a generational issue, but i've noticed that gamers in general are rather tolerant of the fact that microsoft and sony can't or won't build a reliable and durable console.

Sending a system back half a dozen times is simply not acceptable in my eyes. Is playing the latest games with their friends SO crucial that all logic is thrown out the window?

i was just reading something on a forum where they were discussing the UK's Sale Of Goods Act and how gamers should've persued legal action for microsoft selling an inherently faulty system. Anyway, some foolish human being stated that current systems cant be expected to last as long as say a dreamcast, because its a more complex and technologically advanced machine etc.

WTF!!! It clearly isnt advanced if it isnt durable. i dont care how pretty it looks or how many fps it is...if it dies after a year, it is a bag of crap.

If its such a reasonable notion that these modern systems only last a couple of years due to how amazing they are, then why dont sony and microshaft mention this in their promotion of the console?

its as though people these days are so enamoured with the graphics and hype that they forgive how cheaply produced their expensive console is. Am i mad or just forgetting some kind of crucial point here?

the xbox oe is useless pretty much without being online and once they stop supporting the xb1 online then thats it. you cant keep using it like yo can a dreamcast or a gamecube or whatever. it has a definite demise ahead. Plus, when you download a game too, you dont own shit. just a license to use the data you downloaded. no physical game you can resell. Gamers are getting shafted worse than drivers.

Sorry for ranting but modern gaming in general has been getting right on my tits...and my xbox one broke.

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Originally Posted by Andy

thanks for the replies people...... to clarify, my xbox one wont turn on via the controller about 40% of the time. plus it restarts itself when i turn it off via the controller. it was opened brand new on christmas day and has been treated like fine china. i dont tolerate faulty stuff that costs so much money. i dont think im nitpicking. im sure there are some happy 360 owners and xb1 owners but there is a huge issue with microsoft's quality department. they use cheap shitty parts. they can have their shit back.

also, i meant drivers get shafted in the sense that petroleum is an outdated and expensive method of powering a vehicle in an age where you can run a car on water and air. drivers are fleeced by being charged and fined at every turn. gaming is going the same way.....you wont be able to buy physical games pretty soon i reckon. games will be the same price or more, yet will have no manufacturing costs.

cd based systems are definitely more problematic than cart based systems were. if i could influence anything, id have all games consoles cartridge based. mega drive FTW.

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Put your Xbox One in offline mode, and it plays games like an old console would. The local game disc installs are then quicker because it installs without trying to pull and bundle the extra updates as one install.


Update your controller firmware, consider the RMA return. The Xbox gets new UI updates and features every few months, they're aggressive at fixing the buggy shit.
It sucks, but I think it's nowhere near the disaster that the Xbox 360 was for failure, or the PS3 for being an epic turd for constant updates.

My Launch PS2 has worked perfectly all these years even after I banged out a ton of gameplay out of it.

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Originally Posted by QuickSciFi

That's complete B.S.
I would not tolerate a faulty system no matter the generation. Thankfuly all my current gen systems are working flawlessly. I've heard the same shit about 7th gen consoles. I've yet to encounter a problem.

The only real issue now is HDD space. And that has only been a problem with the PS4 past the 2TB mark. Thankfully, I've yet to surpass the 2TB mark in my PS4 collection.

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Speaking of storage space. What would be the best external HDD for the Wii U? I know it can only go so high.

You inevitably wind up with a mix of systems which failed within the tested failure rate and anecdotal evidence saying one system is "built well" or not. All I saw were people talking about how the Xbox 360 was susceptible to the RROD, so I held off getting one until Microsoft launched its extended warranty campaign. That was 2008, and my system is still running great with no issues after some 1,000+ hours of use. My refurbished PS3 has died three times within 100 hours of play; I just sent it off to be reballed. My Dreamcast was even worse. I went through five of those, and the system currently hooked up to the TV does not read discs.

I'd say more heat and moving parts make modern disc-based systems more prone to fail, but failure is hardly exclusive to newer systems. I'm currently replacing the capacitors in my Super Famicom; otherwise the screen distorts and the system shuts off after some use. The Game Gear is prone to screen dimming and sound issues as well relating to leaking capacitors. You see things through your own experience and the bubble around you, which is fine, but that should not be an absolute gauge of how things truly are.

I wouldn't say I tolerate it, but I don't have much of a choice do I?

Well, actually I guess I do. I normally don't buy new hardware until it has been out for a couple years and hopefully had a price drop. Normally they work out the kinks by then as well.

Only console of mine personally I've had die on my is my PS2, which gave me years upon years of services until starting to have read errors last year.

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Originally Posted by Benjamin

You inevitably wind up with a mix of systems which failed within the tested failure rate and anecdotal evidence saying one system is "built well" or not. All I saw were people talking about how the Xbox 360 was susceptible to the RROD, so I held off getting one until Microsoft launched its extended warranty campaign. That was 2008, and my system is still running great with no issues after some 1,000+ hours of use. My refurbished PS3 has died three times within 100 hours of play; I just sent it off to be reballed. My Dreamcast was even worse. I went through five of those, and the system currently hooked up to the TV does not read discs.

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For sure.

It's the same way with laptops. I often have people ask me, "what's the best brand of laptop to buy? Which ones are the most durable and unreliable?" If you ever try querying for that on a search engine you'll see answers for every manufacturer, including, like you said, lots of anecdotal evidence. "Oh, well, my uncle runs a computer repair shop, and he says that, by far, the brand he has come in most often are Toshiba laptops!"

Even well-researched studies are inconsistent and yield different results. Their conclusions are almost always of tenuous value. And hell, with a laptop, most of the different brands ultimately have very similar guts anyway.