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Gamecube failure rate?

P

Polari

Member
Does anyone know where I can find figures for the Gamecube failure rate? I've read that is as high as 40% after 3 years, which seems a little too high to me, but the higher the better in my case. The reason I'm asking is that my Gamecube recently died, and I'm going to try a get the retailer to fix it under the Consumer Guarantees Act here. Any data on this would be MUCH appreciated.

Thanks.
 
1-800-255-3700

tell them you're a loyal nintendo fan and that you wont buy any nintendo products if they dont fix it for free
 
100%, from a content perspective. but 40% sounds way too high. and i don't know of a source that publishes that data.
 
I remember a New Zealander asking about getting his Cube fixed but couldn't call customer service because of his location but I thought it was at another forum not 3 days ago. They gave you some pretty good replies in that topic iirc.
 
drohne said:
but 40% sounds way too high. and i don't know of a source that publishes that data.
Click to expand...

Yeah, 40% is incredibly off. We're talking more like 0.4% after three years of regular use. XBox and PS2 can't even be close to that, and they're dozens of times more likely to fail than a Cube.
 
No company in their right mind is going to publicly give out their failure rate unless its something like 0.00%.

Anybody that claims any number on failure rates is basing it on anecdotal evidence because you will NEVER get the true percentage from a company.
 
DirtyHarry said:
The catch is I'm in New Zealand.
Click to expand...

then you are fucked. seriously. is it still under warrantee? otherwise you need to call monaco corporation (NZ distributor) don't be surprised if they don't sound like they know what a gamecube is.....
 
40%? Good grief no. You can say what you want about the Cube, but it is the most durable console I've ever owned.
 
Sometime in January, I thought my Gamecube was about to die. Both MP2 and RE4 crashed for me in the middle of the game. It turned out to be that the discs were smudged, and it hasn't happened again since I wiped them off.
 
My Gamecube fell off my TV once, about a six foot drop. The impact broke a little piece off the corner but it's still going strong. It's had a disc read error or two in its life, but nothing consistent or even recent.
 
I have a hard time believing a 40% failure rate.

I have 0 broken GCs, 3 broken Xboxes and 4 broken PS2s.

PS2s are very sensitive to dust, but cleaning fixes a very high percentage of them. Xboxes I have zero success cleaning them. When the disc read errors start, it's the begining of the end. Thought I had my first broken Gamecube. It gave that warning to consult the manual, and the manual said send it in for servicing, so I decided to take it apart. The drive wasn't working. Put it back together the next day and now it works perfectly. I have no idea why though.

In spite of the fact that the Gamecube doesn't sell nearly as well as the Xbox, or PS2, I still feel it is the most reliable out of the current systems. PS2 and Xbox are about equal in my experience.

^w^

Ps. GC controllers are much more prone to break downs, and PS2 controllers are tanks.
 
I remember watching this video of some guys dragging a Gamecube down a road via a rope tied to a truck.

After the whole fiasco, Super Mario Sunshine booted up without a hitch.
 
SaitoH said:
Ps. GC controllers are much more prone to break downs
Click to expand...

Yeah, what's up with that? I've gone through 3 GC controllers this gen. Either the joystick became loose and started to "stick" in a direction even if I wasn't pressing it, or a button would stick and not come out. Oh and one had the rumble not functioning for awhile. Yet I'm still on my original PS2 and Xbox (Controller S) controllers and they're working like a charm.
 
50% in my experience. Only because the first Gamecube I bought died a week out of the box :). Only console I've ever owned that died that quickly. Isn't anectdotal evidence grand?

Seriously though, 40% is far too high. A failure rate that high would result in class action lawsuits at the very least.
 
If there is one thing that even the most die-hard Nintendo hater can admit, it's that no other console manufacturer makes as durable products. It's not even close.
 
Meier said:
If there is one thing that even the most die-hard Nintendo hater can admit, it's that no other console manufacturer makes as durable products. It's not even close.
Click to expand...

Its true.
However I think sony providing a one year warenty on its products now (starting with PSTWO and moving on to PSP) Is a step in the right direction.
MS better step up to one year standard, they are the only ones left with 90 days.
 
I remember the original gameboy as having incredible durability as well. When I was a kid, I had a gameboy game that somehow got left outside for a few weeks in the rain and then I found it. The sticker on the cartridge was all fucked up, but it still worked. also, I once put in the batteries backwards and eventually they exploded inside the gameboy (though it worked with the batteries backwards). After the battery stuff dried out, again it worked. Pretty well-made products.
 
i seriously doubt that even the PSP can claim a 40% failure rate, even using a single dead or otherwise non-standard pixel as criteria for "failure". That's four in ten systems, nearly half of them, being defective. That's crazy.
 
My Gamecube fell down a fleet of stairs and bounced off the 6th or seventh stair from the bottom and hit the hard ceramic floor below.

Not even a scratch, and it functions perfectly.

No, it funtions better!. The graphics are Xbox quality now and loading times are 2X faster!

Okay, that last part was a lie.
 
aoi tsuki said:
i seriously doubt that even the PSP can claim a 40% failure rate, even using a single dead or otherwise non-standard pixel as criteria for "failure". That's four in ten systems, nearly half of them, being defective. That's crazy.
Click to expand...

What about the original playstation? It seemed like half of those suckers failed from overheating.
 
AtomicShroom said:
Yeah, what's up with that? I've gone through 3 GC controllers this gen. Either the joystick became loose and started to "stick" in a direction even if I wasn't pressing it, or a button would stick and not come out. Oh and one had the rumble not functioning for awhile. Yet I'm still on my original PS2 and Xbox (Controller S) controllers and they're working like a charm.
Click to expand...

I am having the same problems. My ornage controller sticks to the right even thought I am not moving it in that direction. My black controller sticks either up or down, and my wavebird just doesn't respond. Even after I perform the trick to fix the controller it does not help a thing. It is making games like Smash Bros a real problem to play.
 
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