Well like you I still got a working snes and ps1 I take care of my systems but there is one system that made

thenumberone :

I love my flattie Ps2. It has been very reliable as well. Hope it stays so.

legacyme3 : More than likely you’re right about EA. They did pick up the rights to the UFC franchise. EA made a couple of wrestling games years back, they were ahead of it’s time so it will be interesting to see them do that again on the next generation consoles. Far as Crazy Li: being out of luck that’s pretty much the case.

The place I took my phat model to get serviced told me that all they would be able to do is get the console operational where I could power it on and transfer my data over to a new console but as far as gaming I didn’t even bother with it. It took me six months to be at a point where I could afford a new console so that also goes into why I would rather buy a new hard drive and put it in myself than buy a new console all together. I really think it was nothing more than a strategy to try and boost console sales for Sony during the holiday season in a strained economy in a recession. I don’t think it was right if that is the case but I kind of see their thinking if they did do that. As I said for the price they charge they should make it where these kinds of things don’t happen or at least don’t happen on a regular basis where it seems like there is a pattern.

I’ve had many consoles as I said going back as far as Atari. All of them were in perfect working condition many years after I had them and after countless hours of use. It’s odd how those consoles are pretty much legendary yet the ones with better technology and with all the supposed advances seem to have problems. Advances in technology doesn’t necessarily mean more stable and durable product. It’s just my opinion but I believe these companies have a responsibility to the consumer for the price they charge for these consoles.

bvd1022 :

I'm not looking forward to EA buying the franchise, EA ruins a lot of things, and I have a bad feeling about them getting this one. I dislike the UFC games so I don't have much faith I'm them.

WWE 13 is probably the last good WWE game in a while.

legacyme3 : I happen to like the EA games especially the ones on combat sports, (Boxing, wrestling, MMA etc.) their MMA game was very well done and in most ways surpassed what THQ was doing with the UFC games. The main issue I have with the EA games concerns online play and spammers and such. I wish they’d get rid of the ability for someone to spam. There’s no skill involved in that and it really takes away from those who do play clean. Just one guy’s opinion. I have beat a few spammers in my time and always send a message afterwards saying something along the lines of “Good fight” and then “Spammer’s Justice”

I haven’t been able to play the most recent UFC or WWF games hope to be able to buy them once I get my hard drive. Hopefully I’ll have it in time for the newest MLB release.

legacyme3 : EA's mostly bad when they're doing the developing because they're fairly lazy with it, churning out the same game year after year with minor changes or if it's sports, updated rosters. They're not good at giving new content and like to fake it by REMOVING features one year and then bringing them back later as if they're giving us something new.

As long as Yukes is developing, the series will probably be about the same... maybe they'll even have better testing with EA's budget.

Man, that stinks, I just bought an NES toploader from the most awesome game store on earth, and it works great, and completes my collection of the first three nintendo consoles!  It is amazing for how long some will last, and short of lives others have. I have been playing mario and paper boy as long as I can remember.

Funny, leggy says that he has'nt heard of many PS3's dying. But I have heard of them dying very often, especially the older version, my cousin bought a ps3 on launch day and a deck of cards fell of the tv stand on it and it broke. I have had an Xbox 360 for a year and a couple of weeks now(Got it for Christmas last year) and it has worked fine.

Crazy Li : I wonder how the games would be if somehow Acclaim was still around. I always liked their games. Their boxing games were kind of hit and miss but the HBO one they did for PS1 was pretty good. Far as EA I think one thing they put an over emphasis on with some of their games is the analog controls. They kind of got rid of it with the last Fight Night game but it can feel complicated if analog is the only option.

With Acclaim, Midway and now THQ seemingly gone I wonder who will be the next to step up or emerge as a power when it comes to video game development. It isn’t really my area of expertise but I do read up on what goes on with these companies regularly and given the economy and such it really seems like EA may be the last one standing eventually minus of course the console developers who release games under their own labels. When it comes to those and how they match up against EA I vote for SCE as solid competition. Sony’s MLB games are the most advanced and realistic that I’ve ever seen.

bvd1022 : THQ and midway seemed to be very popular in the handheld generation of gaming, mostly GBA.  But suprisingly, THQ has many popular games out on the market right now: http://www.thq.com/us/games/x360?pg=1&sticky_menu=20369
Sadly, midway filed bankruptcy in 2009, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midway_Games

farmboy8 : I’m aware of what went on with Midway. I’m a writer and I use to cover pro wrestling when I was younger. A lot of what went on with Midway and Acclaim was reported by wrestling media due to it’s ties with wrestling games and such. As for me, as I said it isn’t really my area of expertise but I do keep a close eye on what goes on with the video game industry because I am a gamer and no matter how old I get that’ll never change. If I had expertise beyond being an avid gamer and were convinced I could make some money I would consider adding it to my resume. I primarily cover Boxing when things are normal but I’ve done Wrestling and MMA as well.

Far as THQ I think it had more to do with the economy than anything else. They certainly made a good chunk of money off of their WWF licenses and were making good money off of their partnership with the UFC before the UFC opted to go with EA; it is a shame because THQ was always really good when it came to wrestling games. I remember when it was THQ going against Acclaim and how there would be debates as to which made the better wrestling games.

Much like the wrestling industry though things aren’t what they once were and things change. Hopefully there will be another development company who will step up and provide some competition to EA. I doubt that we will see one of the console developers be able to seriously compete under their own labels beyond obviously their own platforms. Sony has done very well with their MLB franchise which they somehow managed to take from EA prohibiting EA from doing any MLB titles for a certain period of time. This is why you saw EA release a college baseball game under their Triple Play franchise years back. I never got to play that game but I heard it was done well.

I still stick to my stance that the console developers for the price that they charge the consumer have a responsibility to ensure that the consoles are reliable and durable and will last. It’s only right considering that the first incarnation of PS3 was $600. A game developer can come along and be the greatest thing since sliced bread but it won’t make any difference if the consoles continue to be faulty.

I was browsing Amazon yesterday looking at hard drives for the PS3 and I started looking at the Superslim model. One thing that some of the reviews said was that the newer model was quieter than the previous two and uses less power. This might be very good but again why send out a firmware update (4.21) that coincidentally crashes thousands of consoles HDD’s the same day you release the newer model? It’s not right as I said if they did that but I can see their motivation. Either way the consumer one way or the other suffers. Since the firmware updates are so vital to the console’s performance you’d think they’d release something that would make all those supposed improvements rather than releasing a sleeker, slimmer model at as much as $300 a pop to the consumer?

Crazy Li : I was wondering did you have your console in a vertical stand? After my second phat model got the YLOD I did some research and everything that I was able to read up on and ask around about suggested that if you keep your console vertical it tends to ventilate better which reduces the likelihood of getting the YLOD. I bought a stand before I got my slim model and it seems to keep things running smooth. With my luck though I’ll get my hard drive replaced and then I’ll end up dealing with another issue. It’s all about the $ with these companies.

bvd1022 : No, I do not have a vertical stand. I am gonna experiment with some techniques to get it temporarily working again long enough to eject my disc and backup my data before sending it into Sony. I know Sony's gonna wipe my data if I give it to them :/

Crazy Li : Hmm, rough situation. If worst comes to worst, you might try unscrewing the system, to get the disc out. But then, that might void any warranty. You should ask "the google".

Crazy Li : The first time I had a problem with one of my phat models. (I’ve had three PS 3’s) it had the no read disc problem. They wanted me to pay them to fix it or to take it up with the retailer which I bought it. This is one reason why I have not used my PS 3 since around August when the firmware update did what it did. All I get when I turn my PS 3 on now is a message that says “Cannot start, system storage not found.” After reading up on things and knowing that it was the firmware update that did this, I made the decision to just get a new hard drive and do it myself. Sony will replace your console but be certain that you are getting a new and not refurbished console. I’ve read some stuff on their procedures when they replace consoles and some people have claimed that they got refurbished consoles.

Like I said before I’m a writer and I research all sorts of different things and not just for when I’m working on material and such. Knowledge is truly power. I don’t know how reputable those comments about refurbished consoles being sent out as replacements were but based on the track record of these consoles and the suspiciousness of how they sent out a bogus firmware update on the same day they release a new version of the console, I would be careful.

Best advice I can give you on this is to be insistent on making sure you’re getting a new console. I would go as far as to try and get the newest model of the console. Be polite but let them know that this is unacceptable. I live by the philosophy that the customer is always right and even though people can be rude, if you get your points across in a diplomatic way the problem gets resolved quicker. As for my experience with Sony they were extremely polite with me and apologetic in regard to my issue. I just think it’s always better to research and to be as aware of things as you can be.

My other piece of advice is before you get your new console get a vertical stand. The one I have is a Nyko that I got off of Amazon for $10. The pictures that I’ve seen of the newest version of the console have it in a vertical stand but oddly I haven’t seen any vertical stands on sale for it. The console is considerably slimmer and lighter than the Slim model so I doubt the stand I have or any of the stands on the market would fit it. Perhaps Sony is including a stand now with this new version? I guess it couldn’t hurt to ask.

bvd1022 : I'm sure Sony does send out refurbished consoles actually. What do you think they do with the bad ones that get sent in? They're not gonna just throw them out. No, they repair them and send them to the next person who sends in a broken one and needs a replacement.

They'd probably send you your exact one back fixed... but that would take a while, so to speed up the process, they send you someone else's fixed console instead. That way, you don't hafta wait for your console to be repaired and then sent back.

This is also why they wipe the hard drives. If they're giving your console to someone else, it'd be wrong to leave your data on it. They're also not nice enough to do a data transfer to the new HDD you'll be receiving in your replacement console (and it's Sony themselves doing it so you know they know how to properly transfer the data).

I'd be surprised if Sony ever sends someone a brand new console at this point. The only way that could happen is if they literally have no refurbished models of equatable value on hand at the time.

I've had a few consoles fail on me, so I can relate. I think I went through 3 different Gamecube consoles, and I'm on my third Xbox 360.

The Gamecubes just eventually quit reading discs. I imagine it's 'cause they got played fairly often. Everyone in our neighborhood would come over to our house, and the Gamecube was a pretty big entertainer. The last one that died was tough, though. It stopped working the day my dog died. It was a pretty bad day.

The 360's dying on me weren't that big of a deal. We just shipped 'em in, 'cause they were under warranty, and got another one.

That's a shame about the hard drives, though. With the 360 we sent the console in without it, and got a console without one. Then just popped it in and everything was back to normal.

Crazy Li : Oh I completely understand what they do and why. I’m speaking as a consumer though who is leery of refurbished products. (Have purchased my share of refurbished electronics.) When it comes to the maker of the product though again given the price charged to the consumer I’d be insistent on making sure I got a new console because you never know what may happen with a refurbished one. About I want to say two years ago I bought a Sony DVD recorder that was refurbished off of eBay. The main reason I bought this recorder was it had the capability of recording up to twelve hours on a single disc. I cover a lot of Boxing cards per year so the ability to fit twelve hours on a disc appealed to me. I got the recorder and within a day of having it, it stopped functioning. I returned it to the business I bought it from and was refunded.

I’m not saying every refurbished product is like that, all I’m saying is it’s better to be cautious and insist on a new product. I’ll give you one more example. The first HD television I ever bought was a Sony Bravia 32” LCD that was capable of a 1080p Resolution. This television was great I loved it. After having it for about a year one night all of a sudden the LCD panel went on it. I had both a retail warranty on it as well as a warranty from Sony on it. I first went and tried to get it repaired at a Sony authorized service center. These people were very good to me but they told me that for what needed to be done it would cost less to just get a new television. I was a bit irked for a while because I live on a limited budget and it isn’t easy for me to just get up and get a new television most of the time. I use my television to do my writing so it is also a necessity to a degree. The people at the service center contacted Sony for me with my other warranty and explained everything. They sent me a brand new television free of charge. The only drawback was it was a television that could only get 720P resolution but to be honest I didn’t really notice a difference.

I don’t know if you’re covered under a warranty or if you’ll have to pay them but I would just make sure you’re getting a new console and see where it goes.

soxfan849 : I wish you could do that with Sony systems. If I sent the system without the HDD... they might not even accept it for one... and even if they did, the one they give me back is going to want to reformat my HDD to accept it and thus erase all my data anyway, defeating the purpose.

I seem to keep my consoles in okay condition its my handhelds...
I'm admittedly a bit clumsy and yeah... I drop things a bit to often.
And since my most recent death of my 3DS I think I'll stick to my consoles.

Crazy Li :

Ah, I didn't mean to imply you should try that. With Microsoft they tell you to remove your hard drive before sending it in. But it's odd that a hard drive would need to be formatted to be used on another PS3. I wonder why it's done that way.

soxfan849 :
The ps3 will reformat it even if she keeps it, according to Sony the machine automaticaly tries to do it. Iv seen people say they kept there HDD, and that they put it in the ps3 they got sent back, and it reformatted it.
I dont know why they do it. They allowed you to put in normal HDD unlike xbox so its weird that theyd lock it like this, there must be a reason.
She wont have warranty so the best they'l do is replace it for a price. For whatever reason they rarely give you your own ps3 back.
The company that I was insured with never wiped it.