Sony: faulty hardware rumor of 40GB PS3 baseless, reeks of shoddy journalism

8:22 AM on 11.08.2007   |   Gameboi

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Acting quickly to quell the nasty rumor originating from the Dutch gaming site Gamed.nl that the already somewhat controversial 40GB PlayStation 3 has a whopping 40% failure rate, comes official word from Sony (along with a not so subtle jab at the site) that nothing could be further from the truth:

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) can categorically deny that there is a 40% failure rate on the newly release 40GB PLAYSTATION®3 (PS3) as has been reported on a Dutch website. Having launched in October, the 40GB PS3 has encountered the same industry leading, very low failure rates, comparable to the low level failure rates of the 60GB PS3.

“We are very proud of the quality and reliability of PLAYSTATION 3 and are disappointed that such extremely sloppy journalism has resulted in this totally inaccurate story,” said David Reeves, President, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. “Since launching the 40GB PS3, we have experienced a fantastic jump in sales and the failure rates have remained at the very low level that we not only strive for, but have been achieving since the launch of PS3.”

Since hardware reliability is one of the things that currently set the PS3 apart from the competition, such a swift response is hardly unexpected. At this point, we have no reason to believe this is anything more than an isolated event (if even true) coming out of a single website, but we will keep you posted on new information as it comes in.

At any rate, this is the last thing that Sony needs at this point. Are we about to witness Sony's version of the red ring of death? Let's hope not, as the PS3 finally seems to be on the cusp of picking up steam -- and I don't think we need another round of console failures to part us from our hobby.

[Thanks Justin]