Did Chinese Drywall Kill Your Game System?
Did Chinese Drywall Kill Your Game System?
July 14, 2009
If the Red Ring of Death didn't kill your Xbox 360, maybe Chinese drywall did the dirty deed.
Business Report advises that a dozen class-action suits in 33 states have been filed against builders and suppliers who used drywall imported from China in recent construction. Much of the drywall suspected of contamination was installed during 2006 and 2007. Louisiana was particulary hard hit due to heavy post-Katrina reconstruction underway in that time period.
So, what are the symptoms and why is this posted on GamePolitics? Because your video game system or gaming PC might be affected by contaminated drywall, which among other nastiness, corrodes wiring. Here's what the Consumer Product Safety Commission recommends to watch out for:
- persistent rotten egg odor
- respiratory or other symptoms alleviated by leaving a building and worsened on return
- blackened and corroded metal, including copper, nickel, silver and/or stainless steel
- premature failures of central air-conditioning evaporator coils
- blinking lights or power failures
- arcing or sparking
- intermittent operation or failure of appliances such as refrigerators and dishwashers and electronic devices such as televisions, computers and video-game systems
If you suspect you have a problem with contaminated drywall, check the CPSC website for advice on how to proceed.
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Posted 02/09/10 at 03:51pm
DarkSaber: I think he just goes round the internet copy+pasting the same bollocks to get attention.
DarkSaber: I think he just goes round the internet copy+pasting the same bollocks to get attention.
Posted 02/09/10 at 03:41pm
Valdearg: @DS: I have to admit, I chuckled when I saw the 4 Feb 2010 on that post.. >.<
Valdearg: @DS: I have to admit, I chuckled when I saw the 4 Feb 2010 on that post.. >.<
Posted 02/09/10 at 03:31pm
DarkSaber: Hm, Bioshock. Not that Zippy likes to beat the dead horse by ranting about it for TWO $&%£ING YEARS!
DarkSaber: Hm, Bioshock. Not that Zippy likes to beat the dead horse by ranting about it for TWO $&%£ING YEARS!
Posted 02/09/10 at 03:30pm
DarkSaber: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.173063-Bioshock-yet-another-zippy-rant
DarkSaber: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.173063-Bioshock-yet-another-zippy-rant
Posted 02/09/10 at 03:20pm
DarkSaber: Although, unsurprisingly, he's just being called an idiot alot and criticised for being as illegible as always.
DarkSaber: Although, unsurprisingly, he's just being called an idiot alot and criticised for being as illegible as always.
Posted 02/09/10 at 03:18pm
DarkSaber: Oh good lord, I just found Zippy on The Escapist.
DarkSaber: Oh good lord, I just found Zippy on The Escapist.
Posted 02/09/10 at 03:14pm
Valdearg: IE: Male body/Female Mind or Female Body/Male Mind.
Valdearg: IE: Male body/Female Mind or Female Body/Male Mind.
Posted 02/09/10 at 03:13pm
Valdearg: @Zip: TG == Transgendered/Transsexual.
Valdearg: @Zip: TG == Transgendered/Transsexual.
Posted 02/09/10 at 03:09pm
DarkSaber: Forget it Zippy, it's an abbreviation of a big word and so would be wasted on you
DarkSaber: Forget it Zippy, it's an abbreviation of a big word and so would be wasted on you
Posted 02/09/10 at 03:07pm
ZippyDSMlee: Vlag:....TG?
ZippyDSMlee: Vlag:....TG?
Posted 02/09/10 at 03:02pm
Valdearg: @DS: Im sure that's what they'd do if it wasn't legal to just tell Gays/TG's to "Screw off," just because they're who they are.
Valdearg: @DS: Im sure that's what they'd do if it wasn't legal to just tell Gays/TG's to "Screw off," just because they're who they are.
Posted 02/09/10 at 02:50pm
DarkSaber: Whoever told him/her/it that is dumb. They should have done like most companies and made-up some bullshit, yet legal, reason for it not getting the job.
DarkSaber: Whoever told him/her/it that is dumb. They should have done like most companies and made-up some bullshit, yet legal, reason for it not getting the job.
Posted 02/09/10 at 01:16pm
Andrew Eisen: Shouldn't be. Spirit of anti-discrimination laws would seem to include sexual orientation (and eye color). Plus there's always equal protection and such. Never know until you try.
Andrew Eisen: Shouldn't be. Spirit of anti-discrimination laws would seem to include sexual orientation (and eye color). Plus there's always equal protection and such. Never know until you try.
Posted 02/09/10 at 01:10pm
Andrew Eisen: Should have sued (unless that wasn't an option given her financial situation or something). Might have won.
Andrew Eisen: Should have sued (unless that wasn't an option given her financial situation or something). Might have won.
Posted 02/09/10 at 01:00pm
Valdearg: Story about a Male to Female TG who was expressly told she wouldn't be given a job because she was TG. Its not the main point of the story, but explicit, perfectly legal discrimination like this exists.
Valdearg: Story about a Male to Female TG who was expressly told she wouldn't be given a job because she was TG. Its not the main point of the story, but explicit, perfectly legal discrimination like this exists.
Posted 02/09/10 at 12:53pm
Valdearg: Lol, I don't know. It may very well be legal to do so. Though that might able to fall under the "race" restriction, depending on how that point is argued.
Valdearg: Lol, I don't know. It may very well be legal to do so. Though that might able to fall under the "race" restriction, depending on how that point is argued.
Posted 02/09/10 at 12:51pm
Valdearg: I don't think they do have any legal recourse. I'll have to dig around, but I seriously believe that if the law doesn't specifically mention Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity, they can still be discriminated against in those 29 states.
Valdearg: I don't think they do have any legal recourse. I'll have to dig around, but I seriously believe that if the law doesn't specifically mention Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity, they can still be discriminated against in those 29 states.
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Game Politics and Game Politics logo are trademarks of the ECA.
Game Politics and Game Politics logo are trademarks of the ECA.
Comments
China involved in a dangerous sub-standard materials scandal? Whoulda thunk it.
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I LIKE the fence. I get 2 groups to laugh at then.
Every country has quality control problems, but China's is particularly serious due to the bizarre (and frankly, unethical) way in which Capitalism was introduced into the workforce of the country. I know they call themselves Communist, but in truth their society is very much Capitalist, and incredibly cutthroat at that, with corporate takeovers and general stomping on the citizens by giant businesses being commonplace.
If you've ever read The Grapes of Wrath, with the shady car dealers that trick honest people into buying shitty cars that can barely run, you have about the kind of environment that China's in right now. I find it kind of sad, really... in an effort to catch up as a world power the citizens suffer.
No I can safely say the 360 was just poorly built, even to this day.
And before the fanboys start in,poorly built for heat dispensation and maybe how the HDMI/upscaling chipset was shoehorned into the unit.
I am a criminal because I purchase media,I am a criminal because I use media, I am a criminal because I chose to own media..We shall remain criminals until Corporate stay's outside our bedrooms..
http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com
I find the upscalling on the 360 to be pretty good, though I do agree with you on poor heat dispensation.
http://www.magicinkgaming.com/
He didn't say it was bad, just that it was shoehorned in. That doesn't help with the heat dissipation, it just throws more in the tight space.
sqlrob
I have also heard that bandwidth and such for the HD features could have been implemented much better, but like the other guy said it dose work, and for the most part it works well enough. Its just the more I read about the 360...the more laughable its tech/build is...... I mean bad heat dispensation design, poor drive design(the unit was not first built to be ran as a upright), waiting for the new chips to fix the heating issues, skipping out on 10$ worth of heatsink and fan to make it not bake itself into a comma,ect,ect
Don't get me wrong I can share the love, I can pick on sony for making the PS3 accessible only to the rich at frist...but sheesh past that all I can scrounge up are BR drive unit issues that seem more frequent than they should be....well I take that back building such a introvertedly complex unit then making it so costly devs could not afford to make software for it untill tis price fell...ya...that too.... I mean sheesh people you put billions into R and D and this is the best you can do?
I am looking at the WII I am looking at rumors and facts and the most I can come up with is a imprecise motion control system based on line of sight lazes.....er infra red.... why was it so hard to put10$ more tech in it so it knows front and back on the controller itself(which I am still not clear on how much locational data the control has if you remove the lazer dongle from the equation) and be wifi/blue tooth based?.... why? you'd still make a huge profit and the WII would not get so many giggles when people say anyhting that have real games and the WII in the same sentence....
I am a criminal because I purchase media,I am a criminal because I use media, I am a criminal because I chose to own media..We shall remain criminals until Corporate stay's outside our bedrooms..
http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com
WII FANBOY ALERT!!! (I'm talking about me).
A lot of the problems with imprecise motion controls have more to do with lazy developing than the controller itself, even though the controller does have problems. If a light is shining on the front end of the remote, it will get totally screwed up. It is Bluetooth enabled, but only for sending the signal, not for any motion capability. Also, I, like you, feel that the Motion+ peripheral that recently came out should have been included at launch. However, I don't believe they were even working on such an idea at the time, so of course it wouldn't have been there. Motion+ will fix all of the motion capture problems they've had, but only in games programmed to use it, as there is no backwards compatibility.
Doesn't change the fact that, graphics aside, the Wii is the undisputed winner of this console generation. Best control scheme, a lot of good games, best pricing for what you get and the highest quality build.
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Freedom of speech means the freedom to say ANYTHING, so long as it is the truth. This does not exclude anything that might hurt someone's feelings.
Lazy Developing....... Are you serious?!
Not even nintendo could make the damn thing to work at launch. Heck not even to this day you can make the motion sensor work properly. You want proof? Look at the new Punch Out. Controls are lethargic and as you progress and go up on divisions the sensor can barely keep up.
Yes I believe that the Wii's motion controllers have sparked good things (and several broken TVs, people, animals, furniture, walls etc) But at the same time it has brought bad things like a insane proliferation of craptacular games and shameless ripioffs of first party titles. I own one and I like it (go virtual console!!!) but it is hard to love a console that little by little is losing it's soul and it's turning into a piece of furniture or exersise equipment (wii fit).
Lou
You have to admit lazy development is rampant in the industry nin and MS making sloppy hardware choices and sony making ridiculous hardware choices and software devs are even more lethargic and cheap....
And frankly the WII did not spurn on craptacualr titles it merely allowed the industry to focus on them more, I am sorry if I sound like a fany boy but gaming has become such a casual thing to the point multi million dollar projects are nothing but inept products meant as fodder for zomibes(fodder like consumers). Most flagship and high end titles I see are nothing but under development and unpolished titles that would be laughed out of gaming 10+ years ago but due to market conditions they can spam them out without worry.
I am a criminal because I purchase media,I am a criminal because I use media, I am a criminal because I chose to own media..We shall remain criminals until Corporate stay's outside our bedrooms..
http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com
jedidethfreak
Sorry for taking so long to reply, I think they simply did not build the WII for precision of any kind just enough to fill the need of a new control shceme and that IMO hurt them more than anything else. Its a sloppy device that devs poorly use, sloppy because that is how nin built it.
the plus is shore horned in as an after thought of a after thought and nin really should be ashamed of it, firmware fix to update the system should be able to apply the plus to all games but they again made a sloppy system that can not really be updated and on top of it can easily be hacked so despite it being a solid build grphics wise its more of a joke than it should be..
As for the WII being the undisputed winner I disagree, at least in terms of what the WII is to gaming, its like if Disney films made 10 times as much money as normal films would you call the the winner of films? not so much... the WII is truly in a world apart, it dose bring in the most money but I can say without reservation that it dose not bring in the best product nor the best talent of the industry............ that would be split between the 360 and PS3 leaning to the 360.
I am a criminal because I purchase media,I am a criminal because I use media, I am a criminal because I chose to own media..We shall remain criminals until Corporate stay's outside our bedrooms..
http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com
I totally agree to your first to points. I hope that Nintendo releases a firmware update to make WM+ backwards-compatible. As for the third, sales numbers are all that matter. The wii has consistently outsold the PS3 and 360, a lot of times combined. This, even though for the first year they couldn't produce them fast enough. Regardless of the library of games, this is all that matters.
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Freedom of speech means the freedom to say ANYTHING, so long as it is the truth. This does not exclude anything that might hurt someone's feelings.
jedidethfreak
The WII can not have such firmware updates, it was not designed for it. From my understanding the WII is very limited on what hardware can be updated via frimware. They basically made it set it stone.
PS3/360 have better individual software sales and that is more important to the industry than what profit can be made off hardware sales for one company.
This is why I say the WII is in its own world above the more traditional consoles of the PS3 and 360 that tend to or have greater potinail to make more money for the developers/publishers.
I am a criminal because I purchase media,I am a criminal because I use media, I am a criminal because I chose to own media..We shall remain criminals until Corporate stay's outside our bedrooms..
http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com
Considering that they are more than willing to say that a reason for a system failure is because it's plugged into a surge protector, it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if they started denying warranties because "the drywall in your house is substandard". Particularly if you don't have any drywall in your house.
Good god, contaminated with what? From those symptons of the drywall it sounds like some sort of airborne acid from the depths of hell.
Given all the health symptoms they list it's definitely one horrible chemical. Probably a mixture of things really. On the bright side at least it's only been identified as an extreme irritant and highly corrosive. It could eventually be shown to be a carcinogen/mutagen/etc. =/
It would take a few more years to come up with that, so don't count that out. It took decades to realize how bad asbestos was.
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Freedom of speech means the freedom to say ANYTHING, so long as it is the truth. This does not exclude anything that might hurt someone's feelings.
The good part of being Brazillian is that we don't use that chemical crap in our walls... Only the really good old sand, clay, stone...
criadordejogos.wordpress.com
So you have no inteior walls, how comferting...then again...you don;t really need insilation....
:P
I am a criminal because I purchase media,I am a criminal because I use media, I am a criminal because I chose to own media..We shall remain criminals until Corporate stay's outside our bedrooms..
http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com
At the risk of sounding like one of the tinfoil hat brigade, I've somtimes wondered if China has been trying to covertly attack and sabotage us over the last few years. First there was software viruses in digital picture frames, then lead paint in the toys, then poisoned milk and dogfood, and now this. If I didn't know any better, I would think China was secretly probing or vulnerabilities to find the weakest points in our infrastructure so they know where it hit us if they ever decide to attack.
Like I said, I didn't want to come off like a tinfoil hat conspiracy theorist, but still one has to wonder.
Next thing you know, they'll be invading Alaska...
Why blame drywall? Why not just say that 360s die because they are MADE in china?