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Is the Game Boy the Toughest Product Ever Made?
An anonymous reader writes "CNET is running an article about tough technology, which aptly includes the Nintendo Game Boy, a device so tough that mine still works after many years. 'There's no two ways about it: the original Game Boy is one of the hardest gadgets ever conceived. Rumor has it this beige behemoth isn't made of plastic, but from the skulls of fallen Gurkhas. If you ever saw one that was broken, it's because it lost a boxing match with a nuclear bomb — on points.' So do you agree that the Game Boy is the toughest consumer electronics device ever made?"
...but I do think a "blackbox" comes instantly to mind.
I never owned a Game Boy, but I did own a lot of other things that held up well over the years.
My first camera was a Canon Snappy 35mm. It held its own for many years. By comparison, the non-digital Elph2 I got afterwards made it through a single summer (of near daily travel and use).
The only phones that ever survived abuse were my old Nokias. I dropped them countless times and they always worked.
As much as I dislike a lot of Sony's corporate policies, their consumer products I've bought have been sturdy as hell. My Sports Walkman worked flawlessly for a decade, and the CD-Walkman I got afterwards made it through a summer of constant traveling unscathed.
It is too early to tell, but I think the 2nd-gen iPod shuffles will hold up well. There's not much to them, after all.
Something has to be said for hardware designed in the 80s. I think the new small, sleek, shiny designs lend themselves to not be as reliable over the long run; any cosmetic defects would be more apparent.
My parents have an old IBM XT. Ten years after they got it, I was using it for word processing, programming, and who knows what else. I booted it up a few weeks ago and it was running like I remembered it, over 20 years later. An old wood-paneled Kenmore TV also lasted about twenty years.
What I've heard is that in certain types of consumer electronics (especially ones where form factor, not software is likely to change), the first-generation products usually hold up extremely well. These are things like the $1000 CD players and $500 DVD players. They become cheaper as they reach a mass market due to economies of scale, but the components usually get cheaper too.
Small potatoes make the steak look bigger.
You just can't argue with a keyboard that has a 2mm steel plate.
You make that sound like a bad thing...
Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos
But at least your Gameboy doesn't wet the carpet.
"No! Bad! Bad Rock! We do that outside!"
I bought the first Gameboy, and I still have it to this very day. I bought the external battery pack (filled with 4xC NiCad) and the carrying case that looked like a gigantic Gameboy.
It still works. All of it. I have had to replace the batteries in the external battery pack, but that is it. I mean, the damn thing is almost 20 years old. It still turns on just fine.
Also, the guys with the blowing in cartridges and stuff... Well, if you didin't carry the thing in your pocket like a goober then you woulden't have to do that. Mine works, and it has been sitting on my shelf for the last 10 years.
I just pulled it out of the plastic bag, put some batteries in it, and stuck in both Quarth and RC Pro Am into it. No corrupted graphics at all.
Sure they are toys. But they are also MY toys. I want them to work. I have all my consoles, and they all still work. Even the Virtualboy... Which was a good idea, but just failed in the execution.
Nintendo knows its market. They realized that kids are a lot harder on consoles than adults--and their market is kids. So, all of their stuff is remarkably hardy. Except for the Virtualboy. That thing broke if you dropped it hard enough. Well, it did have rotating mirrors... Lets not mention the VB again, shall we?
"I made the mistake of putting the majority of my gameboy and gamegear games into the same drawer as this 8" speaker magnet that I had and none of them work anymore."
I wasn't aware that gameboy or gamegear games had any sort of magentic-recordable material in them. I think you're making this up.
They knew that kids would be using them and if our experience was going to be anything like the NES there was going to be some serious controller slamming. Only this time the controller is also the console. I have to say that my DS Fat is still kicking after having it for several years and using it a lot. Now that it has the R4 in it I use it more.
Can I bum a sig?
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
http://tabo.aurealsys.com/archives/2006/10/04/ibm-model-m-keyboard-still-working-after-killing-a-man-with-it/
Mythbusters-style. You did say "hypothetically", right?
I still own one. My original Gameboy had the LCD screen get lines in it, and stops working unless you jiggle the AA batteries just so and then power comes back on.
The Atari Lynx uses more batteries and eats more power than a Gameboy, but it is more durable plus it came with a color LCD. It also weighs more, and has the graphics and sounds of an Amiga 1000 in a hand-held case. Plus the carts for the Lynx are wafer thin and don't need to be cleaned as often as the Gameboy carts.
Also I have a few Game.com units by Tiger, the original touch screen handheld, they last forever as well. Except when I lose the stylus pen, but a finger or retractable ink pen works just as well as a stylus. As a bonus the Game.com has built in PDA like software.
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Toughest bit of electronica I ever had was my old Ironman wristwatch. After 12 or so years of constant use, I had to replace it only because the buttons had worn down and couldn't make a connection anymore.
The crowning compliment ever given this model was from a guy I knew who jousted on the ren faire circuit. He wore his under his gauntlet every day for well over 6 years: mud, horsecrap, and beatings from the other jousters never fazed the thing.