Heat is definitely the killer, I won’t disagree there. As far as I’m aware, that’s -the- reason the RRoD issue existed earlier on. In an attempt to make the consoles as attractive as possible, they end up being as slim as possible. When we’re dealing with rather powerful processors under-the-hood, that’s a deadly compromise.

I really hope both Microsoft and Sony learn this with the next-generation, because heat has been an issue on both the 360 and PS3. My first-gen PS3 sounds like a jet engine after just a couple of minutes, even when it has plenty of room around it.

When CD and DVD drives were implemented, failure rates started to climb. PSOnes are still around, mainly because there were so many produced. The lasers would often start to have issues after a number of years, prompting the whole “turn the unit upside-down” trick to get them working. The more adventurous could tweak the preset pot to allow more power into the laser, allowing them to last longer. Dreamcasts, PS2s and the original XBOXs had higher failure rates due to the added complexity, as well as moving parts.

With the last generation (PS3, 360), there were even more mechanical parts. DVD and BD drives, hard drives, fans, they could all fail. However, the single biggest issue that modern consoles have to deal with, compared to the originals, is not complexity, but heat. These new consoles run seriously hot and use way more power than the older generations. Even though the power requirements have steadily dropped over the years, the chip density still means the chips get seriously hot. It’s the heat that will kill electronics.

Modern electronics also have significantly more red-tape to deal with than years past. RoHS, WEE, power safety, FCC, CE, RF and EMI emissions, and all the various safety and environmental standards that need to be met in order to be sold. This has caused quite a serious casualty as far as electronic longevity is concerned – the removal of lead-based solder. Lead is a toxic metal, and the number of electronics thrown away into landfill is mind-blowing, but lead was extremely useful, electrically speaking. The solder had better conduction, required less heat to plasticise, but most importantly, it was malleable. Why is the latter most important? Thermal shock and fatigue.

As things get hot, they expand, when they cool, they contract (for the most part), basic physics. What happens in electronics when you turn a unit on and off? High heat during use (60-100C), then cools to room temp after (15-30C). Repeat 1000s of times and things can become brittle. Modern, lead-free solder, is much harder than the original leaded, and much more prone to thermal fatigue, causing micro-fractures in the solder joints. This is where the whole reflow trick sprung from. Heat a device up high enough for the solder to plasticise again so that the micro-fractures can be filled. It’s this that caused PS3 units to brick and be fixed, as well as a contributing factor towards the ubiquitous RRoD for the 360. Leaded solder could take the thermal fatigue much better due to its malleable nature.

Okay, that’s enough physics for now, but to summarise; Heat, safety standards, moving parts and the switch to unleaded solder, are the main reasons for modern hardware failing prematurely. So much for a ‘quick’ reply…

I am mostly speaking as a classic gamer though. For my PS3, I own way more classics from the PS Store than I do actual modern games. I got more backwards-compatibility use out of the machine than what Sony actually had designed it for. So it does kind of bug me to think that down the road, some games might no longer be playable. Maybe not everyone feels this way, I’m not sure. I think it’d hit the younger generation 10 years from now when they realize how much they cherish some of the current games on the market.

Just a few weeks ago I was reading about this guy talking about his PS3 ~200 game collection on some gaming article comments box. I wonder how happy he must be when he realizes all that investment has gone down the drain simply because the console manufacturer actually engages in the practice of killing their own products.