The launch of any console is an exciting time as next generation hardware is generally pushing the boundaries of current technology and is designed to keep consoles relevant for years, if not a decade. Because of the way consoles are designed, typically most of the components are custom, which means there is a lot of room for components to fail, if not properly tested.

The Xbox 360 is likely the most relevant case of new hardware failing as the infamous Red Ring of Death (RROD) was such a pervasive issue, Microsoft took a massive-chargeback to fix the issue. While Microsoft was able to overcome their initial launch woes, it looks like Sony may be about to face similar issues with its newly released PS4.

The current issues seems to be related to the HDMI port, where users are reporting that the screen is flickering, or in severe cases, the console will not turn on and only shows a blue light of death or BLOD for those who like nice acronyms.

It is hard to gauge how widespread the issue is, as we all know the Internet tends to blow things out of proportion to their actual impact. But, a search on Twitter, using the hashtag #PS4broken, pulls up quite a few users who are reporting their console is DOA.

If you check out the reviews of the console on Amazon, it also appears that many users there also are facing issues with their new device.



It’s a tough issue for Sony as negative press at launch, especially before the crucial holiday shopping season, can be devastating to a product. While they will likely work quickly to fix the issues with those units out in consumers hands, admitting the first batch has a fault may have put off a lot of shoppers this year.

Sony has stated that they believed the PS4 incidents mentioned above are isolated. But the complaints about the console have persisted and it appears to be more widespread than Sony may be leading consumers to believe. We have heard of users whose consoles are working fine, so it's certainly not every console, but the problem is likely limited to a single run or manufacturer and we would hedge that Sony is diligently trying to track down the specific location.

Microsoft will be launching its console next week and you can bet that many will be watching closely to see if their console is plagued by any issues like the Xbox360 experienced at its launch.

Foxconn intern claims PS4 was sabotaged during manufacturing
By Steven Parker, 8 hours ago HOT! 83



According to a snapshot of a deleted forum post, interns at a Foxconn manufacturing plant in Yantai, China have deliberately sabotaged the PS4 citing working conditions at the plant.

The allegations first appeared on the IGN forums, which was locked shortly after. The author then tried to elaborate more here. Below is a snapshot of the actual post:



The intern noted that because Foxconn didn’t treat them well, they didn’t treat the PS4 well. Stating: “The ps4 console we assemble can be turned on at best.” which may explain the pulsing blue light issues that many people have experienced, mainly on Amazon shipments where about 33% of the total verified reviewers have reported the issue.

Although these claims cannot be verified, it's no secret that Foxconn has been in the news frequently for their alleged mistreatment of workers, and possibly comes as no surprise that this sort of retaliation is an easy thing for workers to carry out on the Day One release of the console.

In any case, we'll be keeping an eye out for any sort of verification on these claims as Sony investigates the issue themselves.