PS4 Overheats at Sony Event: 'Red Rings of Death' Part 2?

By Justin Sarachik, Christian Post Reporter Tuesday, October 15, 2013

A PS4 console at a European Sony event may have been overheating until an employee quickly took action upon seeing the consoles warning signs.

Typically the LED running across the PS4 is blue, but in the picture an event goer snapped, the display was red. This draws memories of the Xbox 360's Red Ring of Death that laid the console useless.

A message on the display next to the Playstation 4 said the console's internal temperature was too high.

According to Geek.com, a Sony employee went to the box containing the console and unlocked it. Just a few seconds later the light returned to blue and worked as normal. This suggests that the enclosed box with no ventilation was causing the overheating.

This is a good sign for the PS4. With the console knowing when it gets too hot, gamers will be able to immediately act on that information and prevent damage to the console or a malfunction.

So far there has been no indication of the light doing anything else, or any other colors representing different functions.

Microsoft released a statement about the Xbox One that said it would not follow the same path as the Red Rings of the 360. They said it will not overheat, but rather just get slower and louder.

A PlayStation executive recently revealed that the PS4 initially had a totally different design than the one that is coming out in November.

Tetsu Sumii, PS4's chief designer, made this revelation on the PlayStation blog.

"When we started the product design for PS4, we didn't start by thinking about what the shape would be," Sumii said. "It was more about how we were going to create a new brand identity through the product."

He did not elaborate further on the old design, but did state he felt the Playstation brand needed a bit of a revamping.

"I think the PlayStation brand image needs to be changed a little bit, as it's a new console, and we have to show what we're pointing towards for the future," he continued. "So I thought it should be one of the most smart, cool, and intelligent products from Sony. Not just from Sony Computer Entertainment, but the company as a whole."

Sumii really focused on simplicity and making the design of the console look good from every angle, according to IGN.

The PS4 is set to launch on Nov. 15 for $399.