Last night whilst watching the Superbowl (I'm English, so it was an evening event for me), I got nattering to my friend about retro gaming. Last year I went on a mental GBA frenzy and played all the games I couldn't afford whilst growing up; The Minish Cap was a particular highlight. This led off onto another topic that I brought up previously in my last post: remember when consoles used to work forever?
 
Old consoles: they were analog, they felt cheap...some of them were spring loaded and required additional impliments to help them run*. But you know what, they worked. And they still work. I plugged my N64 a few days ago and it worked. Not only did it work but its didn't drop frames or struggle, it didn't mis-read anything or just crash out at random. And it was bloody good fun too. My GBA still works. My original GameBoy still works. My GameGear still works.
 
I know systems these days are a lot more complicated, with more components to help them screw up, but is that any excuse for them to conk out after just a few years of ownership? I don't think that it is.
 
My PS3 YLOD'd a few months ago and I was gutted. So gutted, that I took to it to bits with a screwdriver and a heat gun and fixed the damn thing. It won't stay repaired forever though and sooner or later I will have to replace it. I think thats unacceptable, personally.
 
But is it now a standard part of modern console ownership?
 
*I always kept a spoon near my consoles, lost track of how many times I have used one to get my console running in some form or another!