5 Screw-Ups Worse Than the ApocalyPS3

Editor's note: Did last week's PS3 debacle leave you staring blankly at your TV screen, slack-jawed and unsure what to do with your life? Check out Alex's list of similar game company screw-ups for some solace. -Brett

Sony did its best to ruin St. David's Day (Monday, March 1) for Welsh gamers with the "ApocalyPS3" -- clearly an anti-Celt effort to overshadow Wales's national day. While the problem -- due to faulty internal clocks on older PS3s -- fixed itself in the end, it got me thinking: How have other game companies dropped the ball in the past?

The World of Warcraft "Corrupted Blood" Plague (Blizzard)

This one was actually fun to watch. A glitch caused a disease intended to be confined to only one area to spread to the entire world of the World of Warcraft. It gradually reduced players' health -- not a big problem for higher-level players, but it killed others in seconds flat. Good Samaritans spent their time setting up virtual clinics and directing people away from infected areas, while pranksters (or assholes, depending on your point of view) deliberately spread the disease until Blizzard reset the servers.

Games That Hate Other Games (Namco, Capcom)

Soulcalibur 3 and a demo for Viewtiful Joe 2, both for the PS2, actually had the nerve to fuck with saves from other games. Viewtiful Joe deleted all data on any memory cards that happened to be plugged in. Soulcalibur 3 did the same sort of thing -- there's even a massive FAQ solely dedicated to avoiding it.

Imagine losing your GTA: San Andreas save after 20 hours because of a silly demo. Not being able to access Home for 24 hours doesn't sound so bad now, does it?

Digital Rights Management That Breaks DVD Drives (Ubisoft and others)

Starforce, a program that covertly installs itself along with several PC games, can actually harm hardware. It's supposed to prevent pirates from copying their games, but it punishes everyone in the process. In short, Starforce installs itself without your knowledge, slows down your DVD drive (sometimes causing permanent damage), and opens your PC up to viruses.

The company that produces Starforce threatened to sue a BoingBoing blogger over his article detailing the serious problems with this nasty DRM.

The Red Ring of Death (Microsoft)

You couldn't play your PS3 for 24 hours? Boo hoo! Every year, I have to send my shoddily produced 360 to Germany in a little cardboard coffin I keep around for the occasion. I then have to make do with Bejeweled Blitz for a couple of weeks -- or worse, go outside. Anywhere between 24 and 54 percent of 360 owners have had their consoles turned into expensive bricks due to hardware failure.

Consoles that Kill (Microsoft)

Nothing says "go outside and get some fresh air" like burning someone's house down. Apparently, Microsoft has the health of a handful of gamers at heart, because the power supplies of select Xboxes have a tendency to overheat and combust. Unfortunately, one of these fires may have led to the death of a baby.

So yes, Sony messed up, temporarily inconveniencing millions of PS3 owners. But let's put things in perspective: It wasn't really the end of the world.

Tags: World of Warcraft, DRM, Red Ring of Death, apocalyPS3, Viewtiful Joe 2, soulcalibur 3, starforce

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Sandy Morley

March 07, 2010

Corrupted Blood really -added- to the game though.

"Healers spent their time setting up clinics; others directed people away from infected areas or deliberately spread the disease until Blizzard reset the servers."

Don't know about you, but that sounds like fun!

Also, that RROD article is well out of date. Try: http://www.squaretrade.com/pages/xbox360-ps3-wii-reliability-08-2009/

This is a more recent report, spanning 16,000 consoles. It shows that the PS3's failure rate is far higher than the TG article suggests (10% compared to 3%), and indeed, that the 360's is, too (15%? Try 24!).

It's also worth noting -- though it doesn't detract from the initial issue -- that the current RROD rate is less than 1%.

Besides, the ApocalyPS3 is still the biggest single gaming-related bug at any given point in time, and that's worth remembering when shouting about how grand the PS3 is.

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Luke Flora

I had to send in my third 360 on Friday because of the RROD. There's no way I will believe a study that says the failure rate is that low. The one that I sent in wasn't one that was sent back that had red-ringed earlier, it was a brand-new, updated chipset one that I got as a more stable backup since the old versions were guaranteed to die eventually.

Alex Martin

Thanks, Sandy. I've updated the article to link to more recent surveys.

"Red Ring of Death" has a foreboding ring to it. It's better than "E74".

I bet the plague wasn't so much fun if you had a weak character.

I find it hard to believe, too. Although my 360 hasn't had any problems, my brother has suffered from RROD so many times that Microsoft have given him a lifetime warranty, and one of my friends has had at least four separate consoles.

You might be right, Alex, but surely it's just natural selection? :P

Jeff Grubb

March 08, 2010

Haha, perspective!

What are you doing bringing all the perspective to my life. I'm a gamer. I overreact!

@Jeffrey FANBOY!

@Alex I'm a FAN-MAN!

Sean Parsons

I'm glad someone wrote this and put the RROD stuff at least ahead of the ApocalyPS3, seen way too many stories knocking the PS3 for that. Which is worse given how much slack the same collective of journalists had given Microsoft over their issues.

Adam Bloom

Are we really going to turn this comment thread into 360 vs. PS3 war?

Fun article! Though I wouldn't really put the WoW plague in the same category as the rest of those (as much fun as it was). Personally, I would put the Pool of Radiance remake debacle in its place: for those who haven't heard of it, the uninstall process for the 2001 PoR remake had a tendency to remove your system files. That's right: it uninstalled so hard it DELETED YOUR OPERATING SYSTEM.

@Adam. Originally (before editing), it was kinda separated from the rest. And I couldn't have a list of four - that'd be madness.

I had heard of a game that reformatted your PC's hard-drive for you, but couldn't find any reference to it on t'interwebs. My Google-fu is low.

Kevin Xing

March 09, 2010

Oh, I remember the Corrupted Blood glitch. That was awesome. It sucked if you happened to buy the game recently and just started. It was definitely a cool glitch to watch.

Ed Grabowski

It always made me laugh when the Xbot's jumped all over the 1 day PS3 Glitch. However, whenever I kindly reminded them of the Red Rings of Death, or the fact that Xbox Live crashed for about 2 months following the release of Halo 3 (Microsoft gave everyone a free crappy game to apologize) they usually shut up.

Matthew A. Rivera

I happen to think that the Corrupted Blood "Glitch" is one of the most interesting things that has ever hit WoW. ;P It would be nice to see such world shaking player interactions more often possibly on "Veteran" Servers if they're concerned with scaring off new players. (Though at this point, you either WoW, or you don't. O.o! )