Is it just me, or is the current generation of consoles the most poorly made ever? The Xbox 360 is clearly the worst console ever made from a reliability standpoint. I literally don't know anyone with a 360 that hasn't had to replace at least one. I'm on my second, my brother is on his fifth, my buddy Sean is on his second, my friend Don is on his second or third, we had a stack of eight dead systems in an office at GameSpot.... I could go on and on

While Microsoft's issues are well-documented, there are a growing number of people that are experiencing problems with the PlayStation 3. You can now count yours truly among them.

My girlfriend and I have been watching the Harry Potter movies on Friday nights in preparation for the release of the sixth film. We own the first four on DVD, but I guess my girlfriend was feeling saucy at Best Buy one day and bought the fifth on Blu-ray. That meant that I had to move my PS3 from its usual dust-gathering spot out in my office and into the living room where it would play just its second Blu-ray movie ever. Or at least that was the plan.

We bailed on the movie about halfway through because we were so tired. On Sunday, after hiking up a mountain we sat down to finish the flick and enjoy a nice, hot meal. I skipped ahead to the part where the trio was whining about not being able to learn any spells in their Defense Against the Dark Arts class and then as quick as you can say "Avada Kedavra!" the PS3 froze up like Hermione after she saw the basilisk.

I rebooted the system, but it wouldn't recognize that there was a disc in its tray. My delicious meal got colder. I put in a PS3 game and then a DVD, but each time I got the same result. My food continued to get colder. I hoped that a firmware update might do the trick, and because Sony sends out pointless updates seemingly every other week, there was one waiting for me. The firmware took an absurd 45 minutes to download and install; it of course did nothing. At least I got to eat my room-temperature meal while I waited for it to download.

I'm furious, and I'm not alone.

Message boards are filled with tales of people with the same exact problem. I'd love to know why Sony isn't acknowledging that this is part of a manufacturing error -- the official Sony page says to do a few basic troubleshooting things like make sure the disc isn't screwed up, reset the system and stuff like that, and then it just says "Send it in" -- but what I'd really like to know is why the hell are the 360 and PS3 about as reliable as a $10 counterfeit Rolex?

I've used the PS3 for a whopping 10 to 15 hours since I got it last October (my first system was stolen). 10 to 15 hours and my "good as new" system straight from Sony's repair center is already broken! Thankfully I was wary enough of purchasing a "refurbished" system to buy a year warranty (I needed a backward compatible unit and you can only get them used), or else I'd be out $150 or more to get it fixed. What a load of garbage.

I'm tired of buying warranties, calling customer service, shipping off consoles, losing game saves, redownloading online content, and reinstalling games. I'm tired of spending hundreds and hundreds of dollars on consoles that don't work. The next console of mine that dies isn't getting replaced.

End of story.