Game Informer: Xbox 360 at 54.2 percent failure rate

[BlkRb0t]

The latest issue of Game Informer contains a surprising statistic for anyone who's ever loved and lost their Microsoft-branded home console – according to their survey, in which over 5,000 console owners participated, the Xbox 360's current failure rate due to the Red Ring of Death, E74 or other hardware failure is 54.2 percent. They also calculated the relative death toll for PS3s due to the Yellow Light of Death (10.3 percent) and Wiis, due to ... well, we're not actually sure what color the Wii's light turns to upon its demise (6.8 percent).

Unfortunately, for having the highest failure rate, survey participants also pinned Microsoft for having the least helpful customer service representatives. Not that it matters – later in the survey, only 3.8 percent of participants said they'd never buy another Xbox 360 due to its high failure rate.

Speaking of which, we're not sure what future techno-utopia this poll was conducted in, but a 54.2 percent Xbox 360 failure rate sounds awfully low. Had the survey's participants been comprised entirely of Joystiq staffers, it would have been a bone-chilling 100 percent.

http://www.joystiq.com/2009/08/17/ga...-failure-rate/

http://games.slashdot.org/story/09/0...s-542?from=rss

I don't have an Xbox yet but plan to get it, but why buy such a system when there are better alternatives?

[AlexGold]

I can't see the point of buying something that is more likely to break down than your car,TV and PC put together ???
The PS3 is a better investment if you ask me.

[Fail Whale]

as long as you buy an xbox with a production date of after September last year then the the breakdown rate is much lower. I think it is actually lower than the PS3. I think this is when the moved over to the more efficient Jasper CPU so removed the problems with overheating.

[Ze-Tomb]

Originally Posted by AlexGold

I can't see the point of buying something that is more likely to break down than your car,TV and PC put together ???
The PS3 is a better investment if you ask me.

I cna see that this poll is skewed. 5000 people on a few websites. Bad news and opinions travel faster than good ones. The people who have no problem say "Bleh, my Xbox is fine and I don't care." but the people who have had RRoD say "The Xbox is crap it breaks, I must rage!".

Therefore, the poll is skewed. Negatively.

Originally Posted by Fail Whale

as long as you buy an xbox with a production date of after September last year then the the breakdown rate is much lower. I think it is actually lower than the PS3. I think this is when the moved over to the more efficient Jasper CPU so removed the problems with overheating.

Exactly, the Xbox is fine, mine is from X-mas '08. Only problem I had was overuse on our hottest day of the year (it was HOT) and I had to turn it off to cooldown.