Watchdog Tackles The PS3 Yellow Light of Death

This evening Sony came under the spotlight as part of a Watchdog investigation into faulty PS3 systems.

Like Microsoft's Red Ring of Death, the PS3 also suffers from a similar problem, the Yellow Light of Death. If the console is faulty, when turning it on, it simply will not boot rendering the system useless. Watchdog tackled the issue in tonight's live show and invited consumers who were experiencing the problem into the studio  to try and have it resolved by their crack team of repair experts. During the show five consoles were repaired by the team of two in the space of one hour.

During the segment, comedian and avid gamer Iain Lee took the repair team on the road and parked up outside Sony's London HQ, much to the annoyance of Sony security. Members of the public queued outside the van and waited while the team inside set to work on the repairs. The repairs involved taking it apart and placing the circuit board inside their 'special oven'.

Sony responded to the BBC and Watchdog saying:

You have informed us that this broadcast will include a report concerning faults alleged to affect PlayStation 3 consoles, and SCEUK’s policy on out-of-warranty (OOW) repairs. Most importantly, we entirely refute the suggestion that PS3 consoles have an inherent defect or other design issue which is akin to any warranty issue experienced by another console manufacturer. SCEUK has sold 2.5 million consoles in the UK since March 2007 and stands by the quality of its products. Clearly the allegations you propose to air in your program might have the potential to adversely effect Sony Computer Entertainment’s reputation for supplying high quality products and customer service and we take very seriously any issues that can impact the public’s or our customers’ confidence in those products.

Two years ago Watchdog also investigated the dreaded Red Ring of Death on the 360.

 Watchdog has already uploaded tonight's Yellow Ring of Death segment onto Youtube.