14 DAY TRIAL // After this week both the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One are officially available in many parts of the world, with Sony's console debuting in North America, while Microsoft's device is ready for purchase in 13 countries globally.
Unfortunately for loyal fans and gamers, both consoles are apparently encountering some severe issues concerning hardware.
First up was the PS4, which last weekend got its first major hardware failure, in the form of the Blinking Blue Light of Death.
After a few broken units that were shipped early to certain fans, many North Americans who got their consoles at midnight on November 15 started reporting that their PS4s became stuck in an endless loop, as it just froze with a pulsing blue light.
Some solutions were offered by Sony but, in the end, it recommended that owners should just ship their consoles to the official office, so that it can be replaced free of charge.
Now, after the Xbox One launch on November 22, another hardware failure is quite common, relating to the console's Blu-ray drive. Apparently, game discs can't be properly introduced into some Xbox One units and when the console tries to play them it generates a rather scary noise.
Microsoft has tried to offer a comment for this seemingly major problem but it didn't mention any solution. This error has already gotten new users rather upset, as they can't play any retail games on their expensive console, just digital ones that are downloaded via Xbox Live.
Another major issue with the Xbox One is the Green Screen of Death, which displays a green screen and the Xbox One logo while the console is completely frozen. Again, no statement was offered by Microsoft so it's unclear what users who encountered the error should do.
Both these serious hardware errors demonstrate that being an early adopter, especially when it comes to products that haven't been given enough time for testing and error-proofing, is a bad thing.
While there are certainly many gamers who encountered no problems with their PS4 or Xbox One, those who did will probably refrain from buying gadgets at launch and just wait to see if any big errors appear.