Does anybody here remember the Nintendo 64? The Super Nintendo? The Atari 2600? The Sega Genesis? What did all of these awesome old school consoles have in common?
No, it wasn’t the fact that they all used cartridges (good guess, though.) Give up?
They were all nearly indestructible. Unless you opted to take a baseball bat to one, chances are they’d just keep on chugging away through whatever you could throw at them. My 64 has been dropped down a set of stairs and jostled around in a car. It’s even had a bit of water spilled on it (not by me, mind you). It’s still running and I’m on my third 360. As you can see, the old, nearly unflappable systems are truly a thing of the past.
I suppose it’s the price we’ve gotta pay for new tech, really. Sure, our games look better, sound better, and play better. At the same time, though, the consoles that run them just don’t have the same sort of longevity as their aged brethren. Whether that’s from shoddy workmanship or simply new hardware being daintier than the old stuff… it’s irrelevant. The fact is, you can’t just turn it on and go anymore.
You’ve gotta take care of your games. Here’s how.
Keep your console in a reasonably dry, well-ventilated area
This one should really go without saying. Consoles are like any other piece of electronic equipment. If they’re kept in a spot that’s too damp, the water could short out their circuits or corrode their inner workings. Too dry, and static electricity goes to work causing the system to blow a gasket. As an aside, I’m fairly certain that’s what happened to my old 360, which was lent out to a gaming club at the time.
Ventilation should go without saying. If you keep your console in a cramped, compact area, there will be nowhere for the fans to vent the heat. It’ll build up, and things might well start to melt. At the very least, the heat will wear heavily on your system and start to break down its hardware considerably faster.
Carpeting is bad
Don’t keep your console on the carpet. I’ll repeat that once more, with feeling: don’t keep your system on your carpet. Carpeting absorbs heat faster than wood or stone surfaces (and retains it). Basically, it acts as an insulator. I don’t think I need to explain why that’s a bad thing. What’s more, carpets tend to collect dust and loose fibers, which might end up clogging up your system’s vents. Again, you don’t want that.
Be gentle
You might be tempted to toss your bulky, beefy PS3 around, simply because it looks indestructible, but it’s really not. Modern consoles are more like PCs than a lot of folks know, and we all know what happens if you use excessive force on a computer – it ain’t pretty. Striking your console or dropping it are definite methods for ensuring you’ll be buying another system in the near future.
Don’t ever, ever, EVER move your system in any way, shape, or form when it’s running. Not only does this have the potential to completely bork your discs up, it can mess up the inner workings of your system. It’s akin to kicking a PC tower over on its side when you’re running it. It’s a bad idea.
Compressed air is your friend
And dust is your enemy. Every now and then take a can of compressed air and clear the dust out of your system by spraying it (in an upright position) into the vents. If you don’t and your hardware’s too insulated, you know what’ll happen, I’m sure.
Unfortunately, opening your console up to clean the individual pieces of hardware is generally out of the question, since it’ll usually void the warranty. Other than that little point, you’ve basically just gotta treat your console like a computer. That’s all there is to it, really.
Image Credits:[Kotaku]
Like what you read?
If so, please join over 28,000 people who receive our exclusive weekly newsletter and computer tips, and get FREE COPIES of 5 eBooks we created, as our gift to you for subscribing. Just enter your name and email below:
