Show and Tell: Things are cracking up all over

Usually, this is a happy space, wherein we show off things we've made or lovingly put together, things that celebrate our gleeful fan-person ways. Today, however, we have a sadder story ... a story about hinge cracks. It's been a while since we talked about crack-related issues, so it seems fitting that when we revisit the issue, we go with something devastating. But wait! We know what you're thinking. This doesn't look so very bad, does it? Head past the break to see the extend of the damage ....

Reader Jeff assures us that this DS (which belongs to his younger brother) has been through no particularly heinous accidents or abuse, and it's only been in use for about a year. All we can do is shake our heads. Poor, poor DS. We hardly knew ye.

Remember, if you have something to show off (even if it's a little depressing), we want to see it. From crafts to cakes to collections ... whatever you've got, if it has a little Nintendo flavor, we'll take a look. Just take some pictures (or copy your web album links) and send them to showmeit [at] dsfanboy [dot] com. We'll take care of the rest.

Reader Comments (22)

hmmm. i have a ds lite, and witing the few hours of just opening the package and setting up all the settings, i acidentally stepped on my cats tail, causing me to throw my new black ds into the wall, a table, a heater vent, then the floor.

there are no scratches. and my ds has lived a healthy life since then.

I kind of have a hard time believing that the hinge cracked because it was... breathed on or whatever.

And an even harder time believing that a DS Phat has only been in use for a year.

I just sent my hinge-broken DS off to Nintendo this morning.
It will be missed until then.

This looks like my red DS... same hinge broken on the same side... same looseness. That was from a drop, more than super breath. Though later, the top screen of mine has a permanent red tint. So something to look forward to, I would imagine. The calibration on the bottom screen is off to, but it was always like that. For a few minutes I actually thought DS Fanboy had found me...

We're watching you.

Um... in that case... just leave the swag at the door and all is forgiven. Well, it was worth a try.

The same happened to my sister's phat DS. Same exact place

I'm calling shenanigans.
Opening and closing your DS gently won't crack the hinge.
Also, don't open it ALL the way. It's likely to take stress damage while open. That's probably what happened. If you don't want it to crack, don't open it to the widest setting. Just open it to the "snap" before the last.

That could have been it -- a forceful opening, or a lot of them, over a long period of time. But no matter what happened, I feel sorry for the poor DS. RIP.

That's a lousy fate for a DS to suffer! Lucky for me, I opted to abandon my phat for a lite shortly after they were released in one of those trade in sales. Too bad the L button works only when it feels like it now, just a few months after the warranty is up.

On the other hand, I have a friend who has a phat with an exterior that looks like it's gone through a blender, but operates better than my lite. Go figure.

My 5 year old had the same problem, just put some super glue on it. We haven't had a problem with it since. Just make sure the super glue doesn't get in the left or right buttons.

I had to send my lite back once and I've had to put a new case on my phat twice. Three hinges total.

I am VERY careful with my things. I still use my second gen. Ipod(talk about fragile garbage). I still have a Gameboy and a Sega Nomad, working perfectly and I've never broken a cellphone.

The plastic Nintendo uses to make DS hinges is not strong enough, it's cheap quality. They wouldn't offer a free replacement if it wasn't true.

Another person with a Sega Nomad? Strange, I thought I bought the only model.

Nope, mine's done this too. It's still in the "loose" stage, as opposed to actually falling off. Again, I've been careful with it, it wasn't caused by a drop, etc.

*shrug*

lol I found this on eBay.

Hurrah for the Lite hinge redesign! Oh wait, it cracks too. Only trouble I've had is with the shoulder buttons yellowing, I hope it ends at that. Ol' cinder block Game Boy is still fine after 18 years, somehow I doubt my DS will last that long. (lithium battery aside)

What the hell?

I would show pictures of my launch day DS but both imageshack and photobucket are ridiculously slow at the moment. I will therefore describe the pictures.

There are no cracks on my DS's hinges. I never bother to keep it in a protective case like my PSP because the DS's screens are covered by default when the DS is closed. I believe that the hinges have failed to crack because my coordination is proficient enough that I don't drop it down stairs and I make use of tactile feedback when opening the system so that I do not open it further than it is designed to open. Thus far it has proven successful in preventing the system from breaking, and it has also proven successful in the same regard for my six year old brother's DS Lite.

Same thing happened to my Phat. I miss it so...

No probs as of yet

DS hinges dont break on their own. Normal use, highly doubt it. Ironically hinges are usually cracked on the "same side" because most people are right handed so thats where the stress is put. Nintendo only gives repairs for free on this situation in extreme cases..by extreme i mean extremely irate costumers blaming poor design at the hinges caused their 6 year old to open it up carefully and crack!!two pieces..."watched them open it". Nintendo just cuts liars a break. Dont know any other company that would take care of you like them.

If this was a serious issue, nintendo would have had a recall by now. There are just too many DS's out there in the world now.

Hey, I'm the guy that submitted this, and no, My brother's left handed, so the stress would have been on the left hinge. I'm not quite sure what happened, but I'm not begging nintendo for a free replacement, we're going to send it in and pay for a reasonable repair.

It needed it anyway, as you can see.

I have 3 DSs, a pink, black and white one. The newest one (white) was used a few days and the hinge cracked. The pink one has been through hell and back, my 5 yr old daughter uses it heavily. The black one has been dropped and used heavily. All of them have been opened and shut moderately fast, opened all the way, etc. The DSs do not seem to even be made of the same parts. Each one has a different feel.

Show and Tell: Things are cracking up all over

Reader Comments (22)

Posted: Jan 24th 2008 3:58PM APV said

Posted: Jan 17th 2008 6:24PM Roto13 said

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Posted: Jan 18th 2008 1:18PM Jacksons said

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Posted: Jan 18th 2008 1:25PM Jacksons said

Posted: Jan 18th 2008 3:16PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jan 18th 2008 9:58PM igorponweed said

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