How come game consoles now are so unstable compared to earlier consoles?

[- v e t -]

they're definitely more fragile but theres a lot more going on in a console of today... the increased complexity increases the risk of failure...

am i pleased about it? absolutely not... but its the price i pay for having the stellar games we have now...

i hooked my n64 up to my 57" tv when i got it and was like

they games of old are great... but so are the games of new

[amysmith28]

I support the third memeber's opinion.

[blaze778]

I don't know, the NES I had when I was a kid was a glitchy piece of shit.

My Sega Genesis and old school Game Boy were rock solid though.

My PS1 was another fragile piece of garbage. I think I went through 3 Playstations before I quit playing video games for a couple of years.

The PS3 I bought in 2007 runs great. I did have to replace the hard drive within 6 months though. I have problems online from time to time, but hey the PSN membership is free.

[ИATAS]

The other factor is related to the spread of information. You bought an NES in 1985 and it breaks down in three weeks, what do you do? Take it back to the store, get a replacement and carry on. You get an Xbox 360 in 2005 and it breaks down in three weeks what do you do? You go online to forums and bitch about it, finding dozens of other people complaining of the same thing, it becomes a news story for networks struggling to fill 24 hours with novel coverage and suddenly a few failing Xboxes becomes the lead "tech news" item that week...

while some of that is true xbox 360 had about a 40% fail rate at one point. That is far beyond anything normal.

[Grand Champ]

Older consoles were glitchy and just as prone to breaking as their modern counterparts. You're simply looking at things through the glasses of nostalgia.

I've burned through multiple new gen consoles but my old ass Sega that've been pushed, lost, dropped, wet, dry AND kicked still works to this day....

There's no comparison. my Xbox I have to babysit constantly.. They're fragile as hell Squeal everyone knows that.

[.G.]

more stuff in these consoles hdd , disc drives and what not. prone to overheating

[MetalVomit]

more technology crammed in the console=more unstable

[Mersey]

Same with alot of things. Cars for example. Something that used to be a simple fix is now a major problem with all the technology in the cars these days.