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Reports of bricked PlayStation 4s surface after launch

Reports of bricked PlayStation 4s surface after launch

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PlayStation 4 1024px
PlayStation 4 1024px

After its launch on Friday, the PlayStation 4 has come under fire from some gamers who say their units have been dead on arrival. The most troubling reports describe a so-called "blue light of death" syndrome, in which the console's light bar flashes blue but never outputs a video signal or boots up. Reddit's PlayStation hub has collected 91 separate incidents of console failure, but it's unclear how widespread the problem truly is. None of the Manhattan-based stores contacted by The Verge had seen any PS4 returns based on the issues.

Still, many of the reports are hard to dismiss. As of press time, nearly 40 percent of the PS4 reviews on Amazon are one-star reviews complaining of hardware failure. The official PS4 support forums have been overwhelmed by complaints of broken units, and Sony has since released a troubleshooting FAQ for those impacted. Speaking to IGN, a Sony representative said the company believes there are various issues in play, but less than 0.4 percent of units are affected. "We are closely monitoring for additional reports, but we think these are isolated incidents and are on track for a great launch."