Playstation 2 faults reported

Playstation 2 went on sale in November 2000

Scores of faults have been reported with Sony's Playstation 2 consoles just two months after they were released in the UK.

BBC One's Weekend Watchdog programme has received 60 complaints about faults with the consoles, many of which failed to work on Christmas Day.

Only 165,000 of the £299.99 console were released in November, while it has since gone on general sale.

The failure rate is less than the original Playstation which is amazing as it is a much more sophisticated machine

Sony spokesman

A spokesman for Weekend Watchdog said the majority of calls to the programme reported that the consoles either never worked at all or only for a short time.

David Monk, who bought one of the consoles, told Watchdog: "One morning my 12-year-old son was using the Playstation 2, but when he went to play with it again in the afternoon it was dead."

He added: "I had to hold on the Sony helpline for 15 minutes. I explained the problem and they said 'no need to go into details - we've had a few like that'."

A spokesman for Sony said some of the problems were due to users' misunderstanding instructions.

The company aims to replace faulty machines within two days.

Helpline understaffed

He said: "The failure rate is less than the original Playstation which is amazing as it is a much more sophisticated machine.

"Our helpline over Christmas was understaffed and we have now rectified that and apologise for any problems caused."

Playstation 2 has been touted as the most powerful games console availalble. The machine offers superior graphics and sound to the earlier Playstation model and can also play movies on DVD.

Last week Microsoft announced details of their Playstation 2 rival, called Xbox.

The Microsoft machine is not expected to be released in the the UK until 2002.

Weekend Watchdog is on BBC One on 12 December at 1900GMT.