A study by independent warranty provider SquareTrade has found that Nintendo's Wii is the most reliable of the current generation home consoles, followed by Sony's PS3 and Microsoft's Xbox 360.
For its newly released report, titled Game Console Failure Rates, SquareTrade analysed failure rates for over 16,000 new game consoles covered under its warranties.
The company found the Wii to be nine times more reliable than the Xbox 360 and four times more reliable than the PS3.
Looking at the first two years of ownership, 2.7 per cent of Wii owners reported a system failure to SquareTrade, compared with ten per cent of PS3 owners and 23.7 per cent of Xbox 360 owners. Excluding Red Ring of Death failures, 11.7 per cent of Xbox 360 owners reported a failure.
The most common types of problems seen with the PS3 and Xbox 360 were disc read errors and output issues, while the Wii had more power and remote control issues than the other two systems.
"Of the three major 7th generation game consoles, we can safely say that the Wii is the most reliable system on the market, with just one-fourth the malfunctions of the PS3 and Xbox 360. Even when adjusted for the lower rate of usage, the Wii leads the pack by a comfortable margin," said SquareTrade.
"Our study also found the Xbox 360 to have the highest rate of failure by far, largely due to the Red Ring of Death. While our data indicates that RROD continued to persist as a major problem through 2008, it showed signs of finally abating with the introduction of the latest Jasper chipset in late 2008."
I cant say i am suprised, Even though it has the lowest failure rate i still wouldnt touch one with a bargepole, I think i will stick with my PS3 !! (lol at 360)
I think it should also have an average duration of use statistic, because I understand most Wii owners only play them for a couple of hours at a shot rather than the 9-day marathons that the 360 and PS3 hardcore guys do
Unfortunately Dajmin, Walty had to get the fanboy-esque comments in, so you missed out before the war. -sigh-
Personally im tired of all the digs that the xbox 360 receives regarding the failure rate, ..that very same failure rate that has now been reduced considerably over the past year. I am also very tired of analysts using these kind of reports as a quick getout.
well i think i'll be playing my wii for a good few long stints over the next few weeks.Monkey island, Muramasa and the metroid trilogy coming out and all. then there's the silent hill remake and mario bros, yes i think my wiis going to be getting alot of play time over this holiday season.
I think it should also have an average duration of use statistic, because I understand most Wii owners only play them for a couple of hours at a shot rather than the 9-day marathons that the 360 and PS3 hardcore guys do
In before the fanbot war (more or less)!
It does take into account duration,
Even when adjusted for the lower rate of usage, the Wii leads the pack by a comfortable margin," said SquareTrade.
Still a pointless survey. 16000 new consoles all together or 16000 each? If it's 16000 consoles in total what was the breakdown? 10000 360's, 5000 PS3's and 1000 Wii's? Meaningless.
There's plenty to play on the wii. Just because its not all run and gun doesn't mean theres nothing worth playing.
I understand that you can only buy the games that get a lot of colum space and have an ad on the telly and thats your benchmark for whats coming out for you. But trust me the wii has plenty of great games to play.
Nintendo have always made the most reliable of consoles..its hardly surprising. Its just a shame that there is almost nothing worth playing on the Wii at the moment.
correct and fixed.
Nintendo have always made reliable hardware from my experience, my good ol N64 and original Gameboy still work, I have never had a problem with a Nintendo console. While my Sega Mega Drive broke down on me, my brothers PS2 has had quite a few disc read errors over the years, and my 360 has RROD 3 times already.
..theres plenty to play on the wii...super mario galaxy, super mario kart, smash bros, wii sports / resort, resi 4, house of the dead overkill, pes, fifa, grand slam tennis, dozens of classic gamecube games, dozens of snes/megadrive etc classics to download and plenty more coming out - super mario bros, red steel 2, new pes/fifa, silent hill, super mario galaxy2 etc etc.....unfortunately you just have to ignore alot of crap thats out for the wii...
As with all technology really. When the quality goes up, the reliability goes down.
You could say throw a brick phone back in the day at say a wall and chances are it'd still work where as now even if you accidentally drop your iphone on the floor you panic that something might've of broken.
The Wii has plenty to play so thats not an issue. Also it has more than twice the installed base of the PS3 and probably 1.7 times the installed base of the 360. When you take that into account it does show the Wii to be reliable. Nintendo have always made solid reliable consoles, even my old Nes & Snes still work including the original pads. Sadly it is the case that the xbox 360 is just plan unreliable until they released the newer Jasper version late last year. I'm on my second unit and its been breaking down for the last couple of months and is heading back to MS soon. Even my PS3 i bought in March is starting to fail already.
I'm on PS3 #2 right now, first died shortly after a year with that disc read error. Yet my ancient ps2 still runs smooth what's up with that Sony? And for the record my 360 is doing just fine.
well from what i understand the single dedicated n64 chip the wii uses to power the wii’s immense processing capabilities to output the low res blurry graphics does not need a cooling fan. Hence no overheating problems. from what i hear the wii's full potential has not even been scratched.
I'm on PS3 #2 right now, first died shortly after a year with that disc read error. Yet my ancient ps2 still runs smooth what's up with that Sony? And for the record my 360 is doing just fine.
The same thing happened to a mate of mine, took his spanking new PS3 out of the box, turned it on worked for 5 minutes then died. He's currently on his 3rd machine. As for the wii having plenty of software...sure it does if you like crappy party games and shovelware. Don't even go there...
By far the worst console I have owned was the PS1. I went through 5 of those machines because of the cd skipping issue. Great console, reliability was s**te.
I'm on PS3 #2 right now, first died shortly after a year with that disc read error. Yet my ancient ps2 still runs smooth what's up with that Sony? And for the record my 360 is doing just fine.
The same thing happened to a mate of mine, took his spanking new PS3 out of the box, turned it on worked for 5 minutes then died. He's currently on his 3rd machine. As for the wii having plenty of software...sure it does if you like crappy party games and shovelware. Don't even go there...
Agreed that Nintendo's systems have always been reliable, although I would say that it applies to a lot of older consoles (my fat PS1 still works as well). Then the PS2 came... It was the first console that ever broke on me, but even that took six+ years of hard gaming. My original Xbox, while reliable in itself, had a tendency to damage the discs (you can see on my Battlefront 2 disc where the laser has burned a big ring), but even that was minor since to get that I pretty much played BF2 non-stop for several months. It's only really been in this gen where we have had widespread failure. It's almost like we have had to live in fear of our advanced hardware exploding on us (or being hit in the face with a Wiimote, if some stories are to be believed).
it's true though- everybody I know with an XBox360 (which is quite a few people) has had some form of failure, usually the red ring of death or disc read errors
I think it should also have an average duration of use statistic, because I understand most Wii owners only play them for a couple of hours at a shot rather than the 9-day marathons that the 360 and PS3 hardcore guys do
In before the fanbot war (more or less)!
Well Dajmin, let's help you fuel that fire. Cos I read this piece of news the other day and it did mention the usage rate. Here's a piece from the piece:
As well as looking at failure numbers, it also compared usage amounts, which concluded the PlayStation 3 was the most used of the three home consoles.
Owners used the Sony console for an average of 19.9 days over 24 months, compared to 17.6 days for Xbox 360 and just 8.6 days for Wii.
Full article: http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/report-wii-is-most-reliable-console-360-has-highest-failure-rate
I've had 5 red rings across my 2 Xboxes, and one of them has finally run out of warranty and is effectively bricked, I'm not paying Ł80 to fix it when it'll break again. Will pick up a new one to replace it when the Natal bundle eventually launches (got my HDMI enabled Jasper unit still).
Doesn't suprise me the Wii is reliable, it's build off an old chipset, runs at sub-gigahertz speeds, and probably doesn't see the sort of intensive usage the others do. Just wish I had more incentive to fire it up
Did this survey include handhelds? I'd imagine the DS is pretty reliable.
Nintendo have always made reliable Hardware. HAving opened up the wii i can tell you that it does have a cooling fan, but a very small one. It actually uses this to push air round the system and cool a large metal plate which keeps the console relatively temperate.
The fact that its essentially a small motherboard and a dvd drive probable helps matters too. Oh yeah and the Firmwares pretty much bullet proof in terms of bricking the machine through software mods. Especially if you install the Homebrew channel.
Don't understand why people say theres no games for the wii. I've got tons. currently slugging through cursed mountain and monkey island episode 2. Fantastic console. If you aren't a mindless drone that only likes shooters and generic crap.
Having said that, my Wii gets a lot more play time than my 360. I only ever really play three games on the 360: GTA, Rock Band 2 and SF IV.
RB is in quick bursts of an hour once of twice a week. SF IV is pretty much the same when I play ranked matches and GTA gets a few hours online a few times a week when I play with my friends. In the beginning, I used to play on it loads with Dead Rising and Bioshock and then Gears. But I got sick of gears and the other two games I finished. No games for me to play now except Batman but I'm poor right now so can't afford it.
Whereas the Wii gets plenty of play whether its online with Mario Kart or along with other Wii games. Then there's the VC and Gamecube games that get played too.
Im on xbox 360 number 4, it ain't the ideal situation and it does bug me at times but it's the price I accept I have had to pay for the better gaming experience........and like a lot of other gamers, I would rather live with the imperfections of a superior/more fun/etc/etc/etc console than get a half assed attempt thats only marginally more reliable, for every xbox owner I know that's had a failure, I know a ps3 owner who has too, and from what I hear sony are a little less accommodating with warranties and customer care/ speed of service/charges etc...
But just to avoid my comment being removed I will refrain from suggesting where you should insert your six axis..
I cant say i am suprised, Even though it has the lowest failure rate i still wouldnt touch one with a bargepole, I think i will stick with my PS3 !! (lol at 360)
I wouldn't laugh if I was you as it looks as though the PS3 is starting to suffer with the same issues as the 360, what's known as the Yellow Light of Death. Apparantly it's down to too much heat being generated internally and though the 360 is more prone to this issue, constant use of the PS3 can lead to the same fault developing though over a longer period of time. The only difference is that Microsoft offer a 3 year warrenty to cover for this fault, yet Sony will charge you a fortune to have the fault fixed if it's over 12 months old.
dsi top vs all other handhelds IT IS INDUSTRY AND CULTURE KNOWLEDGE THAT NINTENDOS BUILD QUALITY IS SECOND TO NON
DID YOU ALSO KNOW (YOU SHOULD UR GAMERS RIGHT ROLLSEYES) THAT X360 AND PS2 ARE OFFICIALLY THE WORST MASS ELECTRONIC COMSUMER GOODS EVER MADE FOR RELIABILITY/BUILD QUALITY......
GAMECUBE AND WII ARE TANK LIKE BUILD QUALITY PS3 IS BETTER THAN USUAL FROM SONY BUT STILL HAS ISSUES
X360/PS2 STINK BAD
WII IS A GAMECUBE HUH HMMM AH-HHMMM
GAMECUBE 24MB MAIN RAM 2.6GB BANDWIDTH 16 MB 8BIT ACCESS RAM 81MB BANDWIDTH NO DIRECT CPU/GPU ACCESS GEKKO AND FLIPPER GPU
WII 24MB FAST RAM 4GB BANDWIDTH
64MB GDDR3 RAM 32BIT BUS 4GB BANDWIDTH DIRECT ACCESS TO GPU CPU AND SOUND PROCESSOR
4GB BANDWIDTH 32 BIT VS 81MB BANDWIDTH 8 BIT (BUT WII IS A GAMECUBE)
GAMECUBE 24MB 1TSRAM ON MOTHERBOARD
WII 24MB 1TSRAM-R ON DIE
BROADWAY UPGRADED SPEC TO GEKKO AND UPED CLOCK AND NEWER MANUFACTURING PROCESS INCLUDING SILICON ON INSULATOR
HOLLYWOOD UPGRADE OF FLIPPER ALSO NOW INCLUDES A WORK CPU ARM 9 DUBBED (STARLET BY HACKERS) A WORK CPU TO TAKE BACKGROUND OP SYSTEM ETC AWAY FROM CPU ALSO ACTS AS THE WII CONNECT STANDBY CPU FOR ONLINE IN STANDBY MODE
Weirdly, though, he's right about this, although personally never had any much trouble with my PS2 or original Xbox. Sony have always had good build quality imo, and my fat PS1 still works while my N64 doesn't.
101CVGadin, if you read my post I said that you were right. In response to your blind idiocy, why are you mentally ill if you buy a PS3 or 360?
Most people who's 360 breaks is repaired by Microsoft, now i'm not the biggest fan of this company but even I acknowledge that their customer service is excellent in this regard.
The PS3's loading times aren't that bad, especially if you install the game. Loading on some games is near instantaneous.
PS360 owners do not 'worship' their controllers. It's a pad, both of which are comfortable and easy to use. I would say that you, my friend, worship the Wiimote more than I worship my Dualshock 3. Patches also aren't bad, and they happen on the Wii as well so this point is moot.
You claim that Nintendo's build quality is 'second to none' as a fact, yet you cannot back it up. I could say that Sony's build quality was second to none since none of my Sony systems have ever broken, while my N64 and GBA both did, but it wouldn't be a fact.
I have never seen a NES/SNES for sale on a car boot, however I often see PS1s, PS2s and Xboxes for sale, along with games, which cannot be said for N64 games which had a tendency to burn out (that's what happened to my Rogue Squadron, Mario 64 and Bomberman 64). I do, however see Game Boy's so i'll grant that.
You spelled 'depressants' wrong.
And why is a PS360 'old gen'? Just because Sony and MS went a different way to Nintendo doesn't mean that they are last gen. By that reasoning you could say that everything other than the Wii was the same generation of consoles.
It's reliable because it's a squashed GAMECUBE for F sake! It's a 2001 console with fancy controls, no denying it.
It's like saying an old Toyota Carina is more reliable than a modern day BMW, but does that mean you should buy one?
I'm still miffed with the Wii, I'm probably not gonna sell it but I probably won't buy another game for it either...Hardly anything on it has kept my attention for long enough to complete it aside from one or two Ninty own releases and feel every release is a remake of some sort. Some games the die hard Nintendo fans keep bandying about are probably going to be ok but I'm not willing to fork out my hard earned cash to find out (given that I'd probably only play for a day or two...like my last 5 games on the Wii).
As the more components and complexity increases the risk of a problem increases because there's simply more to go wrong. The Wii should have the failure rate of a calculator by now.
dsi top vs all other handhelds IT IS INDUSTRY AND CULTURE KNOWLEDGE THAT NINTENDOS BUILD QUALITY IS SECOND TO NON
DID YOU ALSO KNOW (YOU SHOULD UR GAMERS RIGHT ROLLSEYES) THAT X360 AND PS2 ARE OFFICIALLY THE WORST MASS ELECTRONIC COMSUMER GOODS EVER MADE FOR RELIABILITY/BUILD QUALITY......
GAMECUBE AND WII ARE TANK LIKE BUILD QUALITY PS3 IS BETTER THAN USUAL FROM SONY BUT STILL HAS ISSUES
X360/PS2 STINK BAD
WII IS A GAMECUBE HUH HMMM AH-HHMMM
GAMECUBE 24MB MAIN RAM 2.6GB BANDWIDTH 16 MB 8BIT ACCESS RAM 81MB BANDWIDTH NO DIRECT CPU/GPU ACCESS GEKKO AND FLIPPER GPU
WII 24MB FAST RAM 4GB BANDWIDTH
64MB GDDR3 RAM 32BIT BUS 4GB BANDWIDTH DIRECT ACCESS TO GPU CPU AND SOUND PROCESSOR
4GB BANDWIDTH 32 BIT VS 81MB BANDWIDTH 8 BIT (BUT WII IS A GAMECUBE)
GAMECUBE 24MB 1TSRAM ON MOTHERBOARD
WII 24MB 1TSRAM-R ON DIE
BROADWAY UPGRADED SPEC TO GEKKO AND UPED CLOCK AND NEWER MANUFACTURING PROCESS INCLUDING SILICON ON INSULATOR
HOLLYWOOD UPGRADE OF FLIPPER ALSO NOW INCLUDES A WORK CPU ARM 9 DUBBED (STARLET BY HACKERS) A WORK CPU TO TAKE BACKGROUND OP SYSTEM ETC AWAY FROM CPU ALSO ACTS AS THE WII CONNECT STANDBY CPU FOR ONLINE IN STANDBY MODE
BUT ITS A GAMECUBE RIGHT (GET A GRIP MORONS)
GAMECUBE 2.5 YES GAMECUBE NO
Funnily enough the spec of the Wii is WORSE than the original Xbox!!!!
P.S. CVG are having trouble getting rid of this nut job aren't they...Like a bad smell...
At times in these forums you begin to wonder if some people have insecurities about there console of choice (and I have to say I'm mainly looking at 360 owners followed by PS3 owners). It seems blind stupidity rules at times as no matter how many times it explained shown etc that the Wii is not a gamecube in a difference box they still seem to bang the same old drum. You've got to ask yourselves why it is you choose to spend your days waiting for a article about the Wii to come up (especially if its a article about its success) and slam it and its owners as much as possible. Fact is Nintendo do make reliable machines, where as the others haven't quite matched up to them in this department. My xbox 1 and 360's have all broken down and needed repairing/replacing, as is the same with PS1/PS2/PS3 yet all my Nintendo machines still all work. For me I like all my consoles they each have a benefit, why can't we all just get on with enjoying them and look at the good points of having them rather than wasting days away coming up with new ways to rant about the ones you probably don't even own to make yourself feel better about you choice of purchase.
"There are no games for the Wii, it's a waste of space."
"Wait, what about all these?"
"I can't be bothered trying them, I'm too content sitting here moaning about there not being any games to actually venture out and look for something I might enjoy."
"Oh well, carry on friend, you do that, I'll be getting on with playing games."
Geez, I'm sounding like a broken record...It's not that I can't be a*sed to buy the games but I have given up on the system. I just feel so let down by it. It's not that I haven't tried, I have bought about 15-16 games for it and I honestly feel very underwhelmed by them (to put it politely) and don't feel I have experienced anything on it that has genuinely blown me away like the Nintendos of old, like the first time I played Mario World on the Snes (innovation, gameplay, graphically excellent and longevity) and Mario 64 on the 64 (same) but no title bar Mario Kart has kept me playing (and even that has huge flaws) and maybe Galaxy but even that left me underwhelmed...
I'm trying not to bash the Wii too much but this is just my humble opinion and I honestly think a huge raft of Wii owners feel the same but i'm sure some feel the same way Xbox 360 and PS3.
I had all 3 until last week, as I got rid of my Wii for a slim PS3. My 360 I only use for the HD DVD drive add-on and a bit of PGR4 or Forza 2. So mine may be reliable atm, as it is hardly on. Plus it will never be online as I ain't paying Ł60 for the wireless adaptor or Ł40 to go online.
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from what i hear the wii's full potential has not even been scratched.
