PlayStation 3 failures?

Lately, I've begun to hear a lot about PlayStation 3 systems failing with a "yellow light of death", similar to the early Xbox 360 red ring problems. Has anyone else noticed this as a growing issue or experienced it directly?

Well... I know a person who had a dying PS3. They merely traded it off for a new PS3 slim and paid 50$ instead of 299$. SO far, I haven't had any problems, and as far as I know, guy I know who has a PS3 from a month after they were released isn't having any problems either.

From my research, PS3 failures are few and far between. Sure, every once in a while a PS3 unit will fail, but again, those are rare.

Now, I know recently that some people are making a fuss over the 3.0 firmware update apparently killing their consoles (at worst). Heck, one person is suing Sony over it, but those issues seem to be isolated and not an epidemic of failures.

However unlikely, a failure is still possible, of course.

Well, I should've joined into this one sooner.

Out of my lack of experience with a PS3, I have not heard of a single case of a malfunctioning unit. The probability is there, as with many things, but from what I've seen, it's a solid system.

Now then...moving onto what Captain Spyro said there, (And by the way, nice name.), this thing concerning the recent firmware update. Would you happen to have some information on this? Because I smell bullcrap coming from some of these claims, myself.

Why? Well, let's look over at Nintendo. Their updates supposedly "Brick" Wiis that are loaded with mods, like the infamous Twilight Hack. I've never run that risk personally, so I wouldn't know. And so, to use that train of thought over onto the PS3, it could be that someone's modded PS3 just got killed off, not some normal, untampered system. And if that's the case, then they can just shut up and put the lawyers away.

I haven't heard much about PS3 failures lately either, other than a few rumbles regarding the firmware thing. It's good to know that there do not seem to be widespread problems with the console after all.

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_i ... tory=25526

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2009 ... nsoles.ars

I don't know what's with the claims myself. When it comes down to it, you basically update at your own risk.

Saying that, I have updated my PS3 to 3.0 and my Wii to 4.2 and have experienced no problems whatsoever.

The problems with the Wii seem to be more widespread, considering the amount (and attitude) of the complaints at the Wii technical forums. While it seems that most Wiis are unaffected, there are some who are complaining that their Wii was not modded and after updating, the Wii died. The update was intended for illegal modifications, so...I don't know if these guys are legit or what else.

As for the PS3 case...something just doesn't seem right there...

(Oh, and thanks DrkTr14ce. )

Captain Spyro wrote:

lf. When it comes down to it, you basically update at your own risk.

Thing is, if you don't update, you can't access the PlayStation Store and PlayStation Network. Heck, there goes all online multi player.

Atlinsmere wrote:

Captain Spyro wrote:

lf. When it comes down to it, you basically update at your own risk.

Thing is, if you don't update, you can't access the PlayStation Store and PlayStation Network. Heck, there goes all online multi player.

That's a good point, and I believe it's the same with the Wii Shop Channel if you didn't update to 4.2.

If I were to give an opinion, I'd say the reported problems have definitely been blown out of proportion. I can't speak for any legit issues, but in the grand scheme of things, they're likely a small number.

I recently read an article in Game Informer magazine regarding the X-Box 360's "Red Ring of Death".

the 360 has more failures than the PS3 & Wii combined...

However, PS3 owners play their system about 2-3 hours a day more than Wii owners play their Wii.

And X-Box 360 owners play their system about 2 hours a day more than PS3 owners. It's argued that this is the cause of so many RRoD's.

That seems likely. From what I know about the red ring of death, it's caused by the system overheating from being played too long or stored in an environment that doesn't provide enough ventilation for it to cool down.

I guess now it's necessary to take periodic breaks not only for one's own health, but also for the health of the game consoles.