Funny-acting lights = TROUBLE

The culprits: XBOX360's "Ring of Fire" and the NES' blinking power light

With the recent news of Microsoft's hardware failure in its XBOX360 console, I am reminded of one of the other infamous illuminations to come out of video game consoles: That dreaded blinking light on the "toaster" NES console. So, I decided to match the two lights head-to-head in a deathmatch, or at least lightmatch, to see which represents a better, or worse, issue.

Round 1: What it does
NES: The power light on the NES console blinks on and off when the power is turned on.
360: The ring on the power button turns a pretty red color when turned on.
Round goes to - 360: A ring beats out a square any day.

Round 2: Why is it doing that?
NES: The contacts on the cartridge aren't making full contact with the 72-pin adapter inside the console. Or, the contacts on each end may be corroded.
360: HARDWARE FAILURE!!!!! These problems range anywhere from general hardware failure to overheating to the console scratching that disk you just shelled out 60 bucks for and so on and so on. It could actually be any one of these things... really.
Round goes to - 360: Keep in mind that other than mice, keyboards and other small peripherals, Microsoft is a software company, which means building complex hardware hasn't exactly been its forte for the past 30 years.

Round 3: Annoyance factor
NES: Fairly low. See why in later rounds.
360: Mind-numbingly high. See why in later rounds.
Round goes to - 360: See why in later rounds.

Round 4: Percentage of consoles affected
NES: Every single one of them. Due to the toaster NES' "zero force" loading design, all consoles face this fate at one point or another.
360: 3 to 5 percent. Of course, this is Microsoft's estimate. Others have reported the percentage as much, much higher.
Round goes to - NES: Because all is more than 3 to 5 percent.

Round 5: Number of games affected
NES: Most, if not all, especially if the problem is on the console's end.
360: Every single one if the hardware dies or overheats. Can't play games on a console that won't power up now, can you.
Round goes to - 360: At least if the NES problem affects all games, it doesn't affect them 100 percent of the time.

Round 6: How do I fix it?
NES: Contrary to mythological belief, blowing on your games won't do anything. Actually, it can make the problem worse. What does help, though, is cleaning the contacts on your carts and console. If cleaning the 72-pin connector doesn't fix the problem, you can buy another one online for less than $15 and change it out yourself. There's no soldering required!
360: Kiss your console goodbye! At least temporarily. After calling 1-800-4MYXBOX, you'll have to mail your console in, and they'll fix it. They say you should have it back within a couple weeks. Meanwhile, you have to sit and watch while your buddies play Final Fantasy on their working NES consoles.
Round goes to - 360: Having to send off your console to be fixed sucks, which makes it great the NES has minimal parts inside, all of which can be switched out without having to be a master electrician.

And the title of "Light That Symbolizes the Most Gut-wrenching Problem with a Video Game Console" is... the XBOX360, by a 5-1 margin! When you fork out that kind of cash for a console you expect it to work for a long time. Look at the original NES: It carried a $250 price tag when it was introduced, but at least they still work!