That's why I think its more relevant to know "the number of people USING a console". We have a 360 here at work - mainly for testing purposes (although it does get used occasionally to play games) - should this be counted?

What happens to a console when its repaired? (assuming a "new" machine was handed over for an exchange)? Is it resold? What about units traded in / 2nd-hand stock? (if a repaired consoleis then sold out again, is it counted as a new unit?)

...

What about consoles that have "other" primary functions - such as playing movies (PSP)? What % of these are *never* used to play games (i.e. the user bought it solely for non-gaming purposes)?

(sorry - I don't have any answers, just a bunch of questions - just trying to make the point that its not *just* returns that distort the figures)

Even if every PS2 owner would have bouht a new console (it's pretty close to PS2 owners i know) PS2 would still have had 50% market share. Starcraftmaniac: It's the pan-EU law about how stuff must work (at the monent i can't remember what it's in english). If you buy a product, it has to last a certain time (equal to equal products), if not, you can have it replaced, dispite the warranty. But when replaced, the product is count as the original product (you have 2 year warranty and your product breaks at 1.5 years, you get a brand new product instead, but in law, it's 1.5 yrs old). I have one good example how the law works. In Finland someone bought 10 year old car, which was driven 50000 km. It broke and the owner went to court about it (seller/importer refused to fix it). Court decided, that it still had its warranty, because it should have lasted longer, since other cars do.

Don't make conclusions on your own experiences only..

I got my first 360 at EU launch November 2005, and it is still my only one.

I plan to get a new one late this year, hopefully after a pricecut, and a cooler more silent version.

Because my lauch 360 is very loud, both DVD drive and the cooling system, when I'm sitting close and the sound/music is moderate. It has been a bit unstable at times, but I have played a lot resently, without a single error.

no one knows, just kiddy speculation. 

 my PS2 going onto its 8th year, launch version.

Hus, your answers don't help.

Granted I have a PS2 from Sept 01 which in the last 6 months has only just decided to stop reading Blue discs(despite trying to adjust the laser). It still plays games fine. And I prefer Sony (yes I admit it). However I'm willing to accept that it will have a reasonable failure rate from launch, also considering down to it's age more than anything else...

As a rough guestimate I would say you would probably see a failure rate of around 5% to 10% per year that the system was owned for; this would put the number of Launch PS2 systems that still operate in the 50% to 70% range.

 I'd say my PS2 is 70% operational.