mytzplyx

I was having an argument with a friend of mine. I told him that overall, PS2 had the most problems out of the 3 major systems (not counting x360). He's the type of guy that needs hard evidence of everything. Even if you give him statistics, he questions every single little thing in order to try to show that you are wrong or are prematurely claiming what you're claiming.

This approach is fine sometimes, but can be VERY annoying with certain subject matter. Now imagine someone doing that for EVERY thing you say. "Hey, it's a pretty good club with a good crowd." "prove it. Show me professional reviews." That's what I mean.

Anyways, i was wondering if any of you had any links to possibiliy prove or unprove my point. I know the old PS2s had a bunch of problems and I've read this on multiple forums and seen it first hand, but this is, of course, not enough evidence for him. All right. That's all.

V-ism

Sorry, I've never seen data in that regard. Honestly I have never had any problems with any of my consoles except the NES, but everyone had the same problems with that console. But I've seen people have failures with their PS1, PS2, and Xbox. Maybe I'm just lucky I didn't get the first gens of the playstation consoles, they work perfectly for me, and I use them a lot. I have a first gen Xbox, and I had the dirty disc error a couple times, but it hasn't happened anymore.

kgrogers1979

http://www.ps2settlement.com/

Some people filed a lawsuit against Sony. They claimed that Sony knowingly released the system knowing that it was full of bugs. That is the only "proof" that I am aware about. It is pretty much common knowledge that the "big" PS2 had a lot of disc read errors. A lot of people experienced it. The new slim PS2 is more stable and better quality. I haven't heard any problems about it.

darkside

There is not going to be any proof of this because the companies will keep it quiet. The PS2 disc read error was very widespread though. The settlement and the coverage by game magazines, websites and G4 will show that. However, the Xbox360 may be right up there with the PS2 at this point. Its hard to know exact numbers because the people with problems are always the loudest. People with perfectly working systems probably won't say much. I will say I saw the PS2 disc read error many, many times on my own hardware and that of friends so I know it was real. I have also witnessed the Xbox360 freeze ups and its pretty unpleasant when you are trying to show off the console to people. My brother-in-law got so angry with his Xbox360 that he returned it.

PixyJunket

There's a non-chain game store near me that does systems repairs and the manager has told me they get at least one PS2 in every week. I've had a great experience with mine personally but I will say that the PS1 was much, much worse. I'm so glad that the PS2 was backwards compatible because not one person I know still has a working PS1 (a few that *almost* work, but none satisfactory).

Giantrobo

Anyone remember the old days of Cartridges on Super Nintendo when you had to clean the contacts with an eraser?

Anyway, and I don't know if this make a difference, are we talking problems right out of the box or problems due to age and many years of usage?

Josh H

Think people are talking mainly problems out of the box.

Dirty contacts isn't a problem, just a fact of life with cartridges. And hardly broken as the just require cleaning.

The orginal NES was flawed though, due to the way dust would always get in it and muck things up.

Mine got goofy were it would get lines on the screen that would go away if you smacked the side of the NES a couple of times.

Other than that I've never had any console problems and I've owned (NES, Gameboy, Gameboy Pocket, SNES, N64 PS1, Gameboy Advance, Dreamcast, PS2, Gamecube, X-box, DS and DS Lite).

But since the SNES, I've not gamed as much and have owned multiple systems which spreads my gaming out and cuts down on continual wear and tear on any one particular system, so those (along with luck) have probably helped me avoide problems.

Giantrobo

I know. It was just an amusing memory.

The Bus

AFAIK, the only evidence you will get is anecdotal.

The only console which has ceased to work for me is the Xbox 360 (bad optical drive), but that's also the first launch unit of any console I've ever gotten.

kgrogers1979

This is why backwards compatibility is so important, and Microsoft needs to learn that. I doubt there will be many Xbox systems that still work in 10+ years. I know there are some Xbox games that I will still like to go back to play in 10+ years. If it is nearly impossible to find a working Xbox or if future Xbox systems are not fully backward compatible, then we wouldn't be able to play these games.

chess

It's all anecdotal, but my suspicion is that if you hear about more problems with PS2s, it's mainly because there are a LOT more PS2s out there. Mine hasn't given me any problems at all. Some games freeze up periodically, but I think that's more of a software problem.

boredsilly

Looking back on it now, it's almost charming how I had to blow my NES cartridges and do really this whole ritual when a game wouldn't work right. It sucked ass then, but it was part of my experience (as I didn't keep my games in the best condition - not to mention trading games around the way).

Maxflier

Yeah, those were the days when you had to blow on the NES cartridge and make it rub all the way against the front of the console when you pushed the cart down.

spainlinx0

You did that too? I made it bang against the front inside, and that always seemed to work great. I never had any of those problems with the SNES like Giantrob mentioned. I had a PS2 a year after release, and I haven't had any problems with it. The Xbox since day one and now I'm starting to get some dirty disc errors and lockups. Never a problem with GC, N64, PS1, or any of the portables I owned. Cartridge is still the best.

Maxflier

Yeah, another method that worked pretty good for me was to push the cartridge down and then slide another game cartride into the gap over the top of it. You could only get it in there about halfway i believe but that would make the game you wanted to play work sometimes too.

PixyJunket

Heh, little MacGyvers in here. Isopropyl alcohol + Q*Tip solves 99% of cartridge problems.

maxfisher

About a month ago I read an article somewhere that was evaluating how Microsoft was doing with the 360 that went into some detail on the reliability of the past generation. From the information they culled, the authors were of the opinion that the PS2 had the most failure issues, followed by the Xbox, with the Gamecube having far, far greater reliability than either of the other systems. I could've sworn the article was on either Gamespot or IGN, but I can't find it now.

Anecdotally, I picked up a PS2 in 2002 and have never had a problem with it. I had a Gamecube something like 2 months after launch and it crashed and burned on me after about 3 months, but Nintendo was good about providing a replacement. I never had an Xbox, but one of my roommates from a couple years back did. He bought it in 2003 and it went belly up within a year. I can't recall the details of his experience in getting it replaced, but I know they eventually sent him a refurbished one.

Birrman54

It seems like I know at least 5 people that have Xboxs with DVD issues

Michael Corvin

This is quite possibly the first time I have read about anyone having issues with the GC.

I bought an xbox a year after release. It died about a year later. Bought a 360 on launch and it died 6 months later. So MS is 0-2 with me.

PixyJunket

The game store I mentioned above does get Gamecubes in from time to time but it is very rare when compared to PS2/Xbox, but it does happen. The most common problem was something like kids ripping the discs out and bending a mechanism in the drive.. but actual bad drives were pretty uncommon even in what they received.

maxfisher

Yeah, Nintendo defects seem to be pretty rare, but they do happen. With mine, they had me take it to some Nintendo certified local electrician who took care of sending it in to Nintendo and getting my replacement. If I recall correctly, he said there was an issue with laser calibration in some of the Gamecubes at launch. He told me he could fix it pretty easily himself, but it'd void the warranty, so I just went ahead and had him send it in. It was only around a week to get the new console.