[Video] How Hard is a Nintendo Game? (Literally)

[Modax]

So your conclusion is based on a single datapoint around an engineering failure? The biggest issue in common with modern consoles is firmware bricking, not 'MS designed a crap box therefore modern tech is vulnerable'.

You seem to be confused. I will make this simple for you. The more moving parts a system has, the more things can go wrong. Hard drives are fragile, optical drives have tiny motors and sensors which can malfunction. The NES, SNES, and N64 don't have those, and they also run much cooler than Xboxs and Playstations do. (if memory serves, those earlier consoles didn't even have case fans) Heat is the enemy of electronics, as we all should know. Every time you use turn a computer on or off, the chips expand and contract with the heating and cooling. Over time, this causes damage, just as seasonal temperature extremes create cracks and potholes in roads (in countries blessed with such climates)

So it's not that modern technology is unreliable, it's that modern consoles aren't designed for longevity. The EEE-box, and similar low-wattage, low moving-part count devices should last just as long, if not longer, than the SNES et al.

[Stark]

I'm not seeing how relevant that is to the statement '360s break and NESs still work, ergo modern technology doesn't last'. People have already pointed out the NES is built around a horrible design flaw that always fails (mine broke inside a year), but that doesn't mean old tech 'doesn't last'. Grif was engaging in childish one-dimensional analysis; if he'd said 'bearings are bad' or 'little bits of plastic snap' he might have had a point. 360s are likely the most unreliable console in the last decade, a fact that has almost nothing to do with 'technology level' or even moving parts; most of them die due to bad cooling design (this is proven by the fact that redesigned not-fail cooling layout = reliability skyrockets). Most dead Wiis and PS3s are due to firmware flash death. If you put a 360 in a plastic bag for 15 years, it would almost certainly still work; this proves... nothing.

Hell, talking about something that 'still works' after fifteen years of sitting in a cupboard not being used is hardly 'longevity'; it's storage time. A fucked a girl who for some reason had a C64 in it's box on her porch; it'd been exposed to the weather for years (most of the box was rotted into the polystyrene) and still worked. This proves... nothing.