Love them or hate them, Nintendo has historically built consoles that last . My SNES is still going strong, and I’ve lost count of the number of knocks taken by my poor DS Lite. Like a spurned, abused lover, it keeps coming back for more.
Hence, warranty provider SquareTrade’s new study hasn’t surprised me in the least. According to the report, imaginatively titled “Game Console Failure Rates,” the Wii is the most reliable current-gen home console out there, beating Sony’s PS3 and Microsoft’s Xbox 360. SquareTrade used a sample of over 16,000 new consoles covered under its warranties for the study.
The Wii came out especially well, proving to be nine times more reliable than the 360, and four times as reliable as the PS3. This kind of chimes with my personal experience. While this is only anecdotal, I lost two – TWO! – Xbox 360s in one night earlier this week. My Wii – though admittedly less used – simply soldiers on.
Anyway, here’s a man from SquareTrade, saying some words:
“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.
“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.”
[Via Edge]
