Roach infestations bug console gamers

The warmth in consoles makes them a breeding ground

GAMERS around the city have one more thing to worry about, and it is not pretty.

Cockroaches inside consoles.

Disgusting as it sounds, the bugs, which love dark and warm areas, are making themselves rather comfy in electronic appliances like the consoles of your favourite gaming platform, and even your TV.

A prime target for the little critters is Sony’s Playstation 4 ( PS4). Its internal power supply makes it warmer than the average appliance and its wide rear vents are set close to the bottom of the console, allowing easy access to these unwelcome guests.

The end result is every gamer’s nightmare. The console will simply stop working.

It happened to one PS4 owner from Cape Town. He said he was lucky to escape any damage. He asked to remain anonymous. “If the damage was serious, I would’ve tossed it away,” he told Weekend Argus. breeding

Xbox One players should also be concerned. It has been happening to Xbox consoles too.

Gaming website Kotaku has received information through Matt Zieminski of hardware repair site iFixit, which has been explaining the problems and the diagnosis.

“Roaches leave traces. Their poop colour is distinct and has a certain smell to it. We kind of know right off the bat if there are poop stains on the vent of the fan – we assume it’s bugloaded,” he said.

Mark Grace, owner of Con- sole Doctor – a gaming console repair centre in Bothasig – said there hadn’t been many clients coming into his store for repairs due to cockroaches. “It happens. Not very often, but it does happen,” he said.

Garth Gradwell, workshop manager at Western Cape Tele- vision, said it was a common problem at his store. “It all depends on the environment it’s in. Quite a bit of heat builds up inside the machines, and they (cockroaches) gravitate towards that.”

In the event of this happening, there are a few key things to be aware of.

Shipping your PS4 to Sony for repairs is expensive. Also, Sony won’t fix your console if roaches are involved due to health issues!

If a local repair centre does it, they’ll take the console apart and – depending on the extent of the damage – either sterilise or replace the power supply, then reassemble it.

Prevention is better than cure, so the advice from the professionals is to store your appliances in open areas so they can get plenty of light and airflow, these conditions are less appealing to roaches. Keep your appliances in elevated areas so the bugs don’t have easy access to it.

And last, but by no means least – keep the room clean and tidy.

Gamers need to protect their consoles from a cockroach invasion. This is not a game.