Little bugs, a pest in next gen consoles

It seems like neither snow nor rain, neither heat nor gloom of night would keep people from lining up to buy their console of choice. But what’s the downside of being the first person in your neighborhood to own a next-gen console?

The recently launched units of PS3, Xbox360, and Wii are the first generation of next-gen consoles. When the Xbox360 launched in 2005, it was plagued with hardware bugs. Those who managed to buy PS3s complained of systems crashing, while the Wii was flamed for the defective straps that sent Wiimotes flying across the room.

For techies, bugs are the price to pay for first generation systems. Marketing strategies dictate product releases, how many consoles to release, where to release them, and when to release them. Glitches in the system are often fixed later on through system updates.

As some people jump at the chance of owning first generation gadgets, bugs and glitches are dismissed as minor annoyances and not as problems. Owners of first generation gadgets become unwitting guinea pigs, and their complaints are like beta testers’ feedback. This issue is not limited to game consoles; it happens to just about every first generation technology around.

Anyway, isn’t product testing supposed to be top priority for console makers? In a perfect world, it should be, but then how will they meet the set release dates and consumer demand?

Oh well, let’s cut them some slack. First generation things – as the name suggests – are the forerunners of a certain technology. If growth is to be forever addled with bugs, the techno savvy (read: willing to equip themselves with first gen gadgets and whatnots) will always be there to volunteer their services as unpaid beta testers. And we can always hope that bugs would be minimal in the future.

It seems like neither snow nor rain, neither heat nor gloom of night would keep people from lining up to buy their console of choice. But what’s the downside of being the first person in your neighborhood to own a next-gen console?

The recently launched units of PS3, Xbox360, and Wii are the first generation of next-gen consoles. When the Xbox360 launched in 2005, it was plagued with hardware bugs. Those who managed to buy PS3s complained of systems crashing, while the Wii was flamed for the defective straps that sent Wiimotes flying across the room.

For techies, bugs are the price to pay for first generation systems. Marketing strategies dictate product releases, how many consoles to release, where to release them, and when to release them. Glitches in the system are often fixed later on through system updates.

As some people jump at the chance of owning first generation gadgets, bugs and glitches are dismissed as minor annoyances and not as problems. Owners of first generation gadgets become unwitting guinea pigs, and their complaints are like beta testers’ feedback. This issue is not limited to game consoles; it happens to just about every first generation technology around.

Anyway, isn’t product testing supposed to be top priority for console makers? In a perfect world, it should be, but then how will they meet the set release dates and consumer demand?

Oh well, let’s cut them some slack. First generation things – as the name suggests – are the forerunners of a certain technology. If growth is to be forever addled with bugs, the techno savvy (read: willing to equip themselves with first gen gadgets and whatnots) will always be there to volunteer their services as unpaid beta testers. And we can always hope that bugs would be minimal in the future.