Christmas songs are on the radio again, Santa is back on every other commercial, and it’s the most wonderful time of the year for gamers – especially console gamers this season. The war of the next-generation consoles has begun, and Sony’s Playstation 4 has struck first.
The PS4 opened up with a record-breaking 1 million systems sold on its opening day, yet as it almost always is with the first wave of new consoles, there are mixed reviews and worries about the consoles functionality. Although Sony Computer Entertainment’s President, Shuhei Yoshida made it clear that the company is not worried about the Playstation 4’s future.
Yoshida released a statement addressing the somewhat common issues of the console not powering on or connecting with the television, stating “Be assured we are investigating PS4 issues… The number is very small compared to [what was] shipped, we believe they are isolated incidents.”
Supposedly, these “issues” have been reported in less than one percent of the consoles sold so far, but its enough to make me suspicious. Everyone remembers the infamous “Red Ring of Death” on the early versions of the Xbox 360, and the disc jamming problems with the first line of Playstation 3s. As it is with the first edition of many technologies, the Playstation 4 has its problems that stand in the way of the customers getting what they paid for.
The PS4‘s “Blue Light of Death” is essentially the equivalent of Xbox’s red ring, and is doing its part to scare potential buyers in the future – maybe even more so than deserved. If it is true that these malfunctions are not as prevalent as some may think, than this may be no more than a hiccup and Sony’s console will prosper.
That is pretty much how I think it will play out. Yes, consoles in the past have been less than perfect on their first go-round, but it has been nearly a decade since the last generation of consoles came out and I can’t imagine that the glitches and screw-ups will be half as significant as what we’ve seen in the past. While I have little evidence to base that claim on, I will also stand firmly behind it. Playstation 4 will overcome, and a couple months from now – or couple weeks, possibly – the “Blue Light of Death” will be a thing of the past.
In my next article, I will shift my focus back to the Xbox One and try to find out what I can about it before it hits the market. As usual, thank you for reading, and feedback would be nice.
Related articles
- Sony addresses PlayStation 4 ‘blue light of death’ (wtkr.com)
- PlayStation 4 users suffer Blue Light of Death — Sony may have a fix (betanews.com)
- Blue Light of Death Plagues PlayStation 4 (games.slashdot.org)
- Blue Light of Death (BLOD) Bricks Sony PlayStation 4 Consoles (hothardware.com)
- Some PlayStation 4 buyers complain of blinking ‘Blue Light of Death’ glitch that leads to console turning itself off (business.financialpost.com)
- PlayStation 4 Blue Light Of Death (4umf.com)
Fight of the Consoles 