Topic: Fanboy euthanization station

[NWR_insanolord]

I'd love to see how TJ Spyke will respond to that.

[pokepal148]

I've got more sources for that story also incase he deems this one unreliable

We should probably get this whole ordeal on a seperate thread just in case things get nasty tbh.

[TJ Spyke]

Read past the headline, its Engadget with headline baiting. Nintendo didn't "fess" up to anything. Nintendo is well known for fixing a lot of things for free. And 0.02% failure rate is so low that it can not be considered widespread. Nintendo likes to have good will with fans, and it's easy to get them to fix hardware for free or cheap because it will make fans stay happy and buy more games.

So, no, that is not Nintendo saying there was a hardware defect. It's Engadget putting words in their mouth in order to bait people into clicking the link. Even read the article, where Nintendo would replace any DS with even just 1 dead pixel (something no other company that makes electronic products would do).


Nice try. But I read the article and not just the headline, so I know Engadget was baiting people in.

[Shaymin]

This is why Ty confined himself to the Famicast.

[pokepal148]

a quick Google search makes 0.02% seem a bit small

[TJ Spyke]

Like I said people with the problem will be more vocal than those without. And based on how many DS and DS Lites they sold, 0.02% actually seems about right. Look at Xbox 360, where the RRoD was one of the biggest failure rates in games ever and it was 17%.

[nickmitch]

Square Trade has a page about failure rates, but they're selling insurance (or something like that).

[UncleBob]

Guys, TJ's right.  I was reading about this court case the other day that proves what he says is true.

[pokepal148]

because admitting that there is a widespread problem with your system worked SO well for Microsoft

Nintendo released that statistic not even 2 months after the DS lite was released in any region that isn't known as the land of the rising sun. considering for most people the problem developed in the span of several months if not years 0.02% seems very slim.

also to put it into perspective basic mathematics
(if I'm doing this right)
0.02/100 * 100
2/10,000  ÷ 2
1/5,000

it can thus be concluded that at the very least (if Nintendos statistic is actually accurate which i highly doubt) 1 in 5000 systems developed this issue, a pretty bad blow to nintendos so called gold standard in handhelds

[UncleBob]

Seriously - I will say this.  Nintendo will not fix scratched 3DS screens for free.  But they'll fix fix cracked hinges for free?

[pokepal148]

well not anymore :/

[pokepal148]

Guys, TJ's right.  I was reading about this court case the other day that proves what he says is true.

you wanna tell me about these 'past cases'

[TJ Spyke]

1 in 5000 is VERY low, especially as typical failure rates in electronics are 1 in 50 (or higher).

[UncleBob]

Guys, TJ's right.  I was reading about this court case the other day that proves what he says is true.

you wanna tell me about these 'past cases'

Well, I can't find anything about them right now. Sorry.

[BranDonk Kong]

1 in 5000 is also bullshit, if it was 1 in 5000 Nintendo probably wouldn't give two shits. And please tell me where 17% defective XBox 360s comes from, that's not even in the ballpark. I'd say it's most like 17% (again, pre-October 2008 Jasper consoles) that have not had the RRoD.

[BranDonk Kong]

I just want to explain something...

The Xbox 360 gets the Red Ring of Death (and the PS3 gets the Yellow Light of Death) because they were manufactured with lead-free solder, have poor cooling systems, and are allowed to run hotter than they should, and the boards do not have proper standoffs like PCs (and the original Xbox) do. The constant hot/cool cycle causes the lead-free solder to become brittle and crack over time, causing a cold solder joint, which leads means the GPU cannot get power (the RSX chip in the PS3) and you get the 3 flashing red lights (typically with 0102, 0020, 0110 secondary error codes which mean GPU failure, PS3 does not give secondary codes). This is fact. All pre-October 2008 Xbox 360 consoles (and all pre-PS3 Slim consoles) were manufactured with these design flaws, thus every single one is susceptible to failure, and the majority have failed or will fail at some point. Newer Xbox 360 consoles and PS3s have upgraded GPUs which do not run nearly as hot, and are able to withstand more heat than the original models.

[TJ Spyke]

LOL, you really think more than 1 out of every 5 Xbox 360's manufactured prior to October 2008? That is ludicrous.

As for the DS, maybe it was more than 1 in 5000, but still very low.

[BranDonk Kong]

You think it's ludicrous? Then please explain Microsoft's 3 year warranty specifically for RRoD and E74 (same issue). Oddly enough, it went from November 2005-October 2008, imagine that. They knew what they were doing - they knew exactly why the consoles were failing, and they new the timeline when the 45nm chips would be cheap enough to replace them in all future consoles. It's also the same reason they put the extended GPU heat sink with the heat pipe in their 2007 consoles and refurbished non-HDMI units.

I just explained how and why the RRoD happens, now please tell me how if 100% of the consoles manufactured for 3 years had the same design, that only 17% would fail.


Number of consoles with RRoD manufactured before October 2008 that I've repaired - at least 1,500. Number of consoles manufactured after 2008 (Jasper or Opus motherboard) that have come into our shop with GPU-related RRoD - zero.


We have actually gotten 2 or 3 Xbox 360 "Slim" units with GPU failure as well.

[UncleBob]

Because.

That's why.

[TJ Spyke]

I just explained how and why the RRoD happens, now please tell me how if 100% of the consoles manufactured for 3 years had the same design, that only 17% would fail.

A crib manufacturer recalled more than 1 million cribs after THREE failed. That is a .000003% failure rate. Microsoft did it to avoid a lawsuit since a lawsuit would be more expensive. Potential for failure doesn't mean failure rate will be high.

[BranDonk Kong]

That is in no way comparable to the Xbox 360, in any way shape or form. That's one of the worst non-explanations for anything I've ever read. If Xbox 360 only had a 17% failure rate then a Google search for Xbox 360 RRoD Repair probably wouldn't have over 5 million results (or what now, 3 out of 1 million). That's more than one result for every failed console.


The Xbox 360 was also not recalled.

[TJ Spyke]

Really? Trying to use a Google result as evidence? "Wii repair" gets 20 million results, does that mean Wii had four times the failure rate as Xbox 360? Under your logic it does.

[BranDonk Kong]

According to your favorite site, someone who actually worked on the design team said the consoles had a 68% failure rate in their tests. Your favorite also reports that retailers put the console at a 33% failure rate (and they want to actually sell them).

[BranDonk Kong]

No, under my logic it does not, but Wii GPU repair only gets 363,000 results.

[BranDonk Kong]

Now, this certainly isn't scientific, but a Game Informer survey in 2009 puts the XBox 360 at a 54% failure rate (http://blog.seattlepi.com/microsoft/2009/08/19/survey-xbox-360-failure-rate-is-54-2/). I've owned 4 Xbox 360 consoles, 2 of them have gotten RRoD - so 50% of my consoles have died. In fact, much like your "no one with a DS that I know has had any problems" - I don't know a single person that owns the Xbox 360 who has not gotten the RRoD at one point.