[Malacite]

Game Informer: Xbox 360 at 54.2 percent failure rate

Game Informer: Xbox 360 at 54.2 percent failure rate

by Griffin McElroy { Aug 17th 2009 at 4:01PM }

The latest issue of Game Informer contains a surprising statistic for anyone who's ever loved and lost their Microsoft-branded home console – according to their survey, in which over 5,000 console owners participated, the Xbox 360's current failure rate due to the Red Ring of Death, E74 or other hardware failure is 54.2 percent. They also calculated the relative death toll for PS3s due to the Yellow Light of Death (10.3 percent) and Wiis, due to ... well, we're not actually sure what color the Wii's light turns to upon its demise (6.8 percent).

Unfortunately, for having the highest failure rate, survey participants also pinned Microsoft for having the least helpful customer service representatives. Not that it matters – later in the survey, only 3.8 percent of participants said they'd never buy another Xbox 360 due to its high failure rate.

Speaking of which, we're not sure what future techno-utopia this poll was conducted in, but a 54.2 percent Xbox 360 failure rate sounds awfully low. Had the survey's participants been comprised entirely of Joystiq staffers, it would have been a bone-chilling 100 percent.

Man, I knew the thing was a piece of crap in terms of reliability/stability but god damn;.

Also I was totally unaware of this "Yellow Light of Death" or even that the Wii had any problems what so ever

Come on M$. All that fucking money and you can't build a half-decent console that will last? (Or make XBL lag less for that matter... and NO IT IS NOT MY CONNECTION all my online PS3 and PC gaming are lag-free. Well, except FFXI during a besieged but even that is rare now.)

[TheGrandMom]

I have three 360's and never had an issue with any of them. One of them is a release day system too. Now as for PS3's....ya.....not very good track record there and I'm not too damn happy about it either.

[Pwnagraphic]

Everyone I know with 360s are on their 3rd or 4th. I am on my 2nd PS3 (but I got the YLOD after taking it on a plane) but 3 of my buddies had recently sent their PS3's in with YLOD or some driver issues. One of them had to send theirs in 3 times in about 2 months.

[Durahansolo]

I have to be one of the only people I know that is still on my first 360. It has never RROD'd or had any type of failure. I honestly don't see how it couldn't have because I leave my systems on sometimes for a week at a time. (Don't ask why, I don't even know why myself.) I think I've had it since February 2006 IIRC.

Originally Posted by Malacite

Come on M$. All that fucking money and you can't build a half-decent console that will last? (Or make XBL lag less for that matter... and NO IT IS NOT MY CONNECTION all my online PS3 and PC gaming are lag-free. Well, except FFXI during a besieged but even that is rare now.)

I've not really ever experienced much lag and I play both CoD and Battlefield online. I make it a habit that everytime I get on XBL after downloading something big I reset my internet connection. If I happen to get in a game that is extremely laggy, I just reset the xbox or get out of the game and get into a new one. I think some of the time Battlefield is just laggy because of EA's servers instead of XBL, but I could be wrong.

[Skoal]

I am still on my first PS3. My brother and two of friends are on their second Xbox.

[Tickmeoff]

My 360 still lives as far as I know. I bought it when Tales of Vesperia came out, and I haven't touched it since I finished Star Ocean 4, so it may have managed to brick itself in the last 5 months.

I mean, it's sitting next to a Wii that gets played 10+ hours a day, I would be trying to commit suicide too at this point.

This is also the first I have heard that the other consoles have failure rates at all.

[Neverslip]

I'm on ... my third.

1st RRoD couple years ago...
Replacement RRoD'd couple months ago... out of warranty, I think. Haven't sent it in. Should though... just to sell it when it's "fixt".
Now I'm on my 3rd ... bought a arcade and tacked my HDD onto it. It's a newer model date on the factory sticker so I'm just crossing my fingers.

... most my friends if not all are on 2nd and 3rd Xbox360.

[DakAttack]

Certain 360s come with specific hardware that will greatly lower the chance of the console RR'ing. There are guides out there that tell you how you can tell what's in your 360. If I remember correctly, some, but not all, of the black elite models, and all of the red special edition models come with the latest hardware.

[Skoal]

Originally Posted by DakAttack

Certain 360s come with specific hardware that will greatly lower the chance of the console RR'ing. There are guides out there that tell you how you can tell what's in your 360. If I remember correctly, some, but not all, of the black elite models, and all of the red special edition models come with the latest hardware.

My friend sought out the black elite model to minimize his chance for the rrod. His lasted a month before it died. I know that nothing is perfect but he at least thought it was funny since he spent time trying to find one that had a lesser chance of dying.

[Malacite]

I'm on my 1st PS3, which is a 1st generation 60 GB model (got it during the summer clearance sale. Was open box too so they knocked off almost $200 just b/c of that and it'd only been in use in the store for 2 days)

Also, this; How to Kill a PS3 Console - is it Really Possible? | PS3Vault

TGM you must be the extreme exemption to the rule here lol given you have 3 consoles with an aprox 54.2% fail rate, but the one with a 10% fail rate is the one that gave you issues

[InuTrunks]

I'm also still on my first and only 360, Launch system. Manufacture date of 11-12-2005.

My baby is almost 4 years old.

It's also been moved: Several thousand miles (atleast 10,000 miles) over the course of it's life as well.

[Feba]

Originally Posted by Malacite

Also I was totally unaware of this "Yellow Light of Death" or even that the Wii had any problems what so ever

Electronics die.

This is sort of like buying a car and then complaining that it should never ever break down.

That doesn't excuse a company for manufacturing pintos, though.

[Durahansolo]

I've had my Wii since Late November/Early December 2006 and I've never had any problems with it. PS3 is probably used the most often since I play Blu-Rays in it all the time, but I've never had any problems with it either (it is a first gen 20GB). After thinking about what I said earlier, the only problem I had with the 360 was my HD-DVD drive getting stuck. I ended up opening it up and fixing it myself.

Back to what Mal said though, I didn't know that PS3 and Wii had problems. Other than people bricking Wiis from mods.

[Takelli]

Dang. Glad I didn't invest in a 360. I knew it was a PoS. I've had my PS3 since it came out as well, and never had any issues (I run into video lagg in DW6, but who doesn't in that game? lol).

54% fairlure rate on the 360 though... DAMN! Microsoft has a decent operating syste, but they build a PoS, but has a ton of good games. They just want money IMO, they don't care about their customers.

[Yellow Mage]

Old news is olds [sic].