Xbox 360: refused repairs, and really high failure rate?
By Donald Melanson 
posted Jul 3rd 2007 10:03PM
posted Jul 3rd 2007 10:03PM
It looks like Xbox 360 users in the UK suffering from the dreaded Red Ring of Death now have once less option to get their console fixed, as repair specialist Micromart recently announced that it'll no longer fix the consoles, calling the problem "endemic." While it will apparently still perform other repairs on the console, it says that the most common of all problems just isn't feasible for them to undertake, stating that it would end up costing them around $200 for each repair and still leave them unsatisfied with the result. In related news, DailyTech recently conducted a poll of retailers in an attempt to find out just how high the Xbox 360's failure rate was, one of which reportedly pegged it to be as high as 33 percent. That number comes from a former EB Games employee, who also said that the company was forced to nearly double the price of its over-the-counter warranty prices as a result. According to DailyTech, a Best Buy manager also claimed that the failure rate was "between a quarter to a third" of all units sold, although it seems that those numbers are based only on personal experience.
Read - DailyTech, "Console Service Center Refuses to Repair Xbox 360 RROD"
Read - DailyTech, "Retailers Estimate Xbox 360 Failure Rate High as 33 Percent"
[Photo courtesy of AnandTech]
Read - DailyTech, "Console Service Center Refuses to Repair Xbox 360 RROD"
Read - DailyTech, "Retailers Estimate Xbox 360 Failure Rate High as 33 Percent"
[Photo courtesy of AnandTech]
These problems still haven't been addressed? I had hoped these numbers of high failure rates were still limited to the first run of console production, maybe second... but they've got 3 SKUs out now and they still have this problem?
Think I'll be holding out on the x360 for a good while.
Here, here. And that Black Elite was looking promising. Oh well! I think its all about PS3 now. A nice price drop and we are in there!! Come on Kaz and Howie, now's your chance!!
Looks like MS screwed up and is paying the price.
These sort of numbers coming from Best Buy doesn't surprise me. I have heard from and even seen where employees intentionally drop consoles and PCs, then tell customers "see, you should have gotten the extended warranty!" and turn them out. EB Games is no better either. They resell the same broken console over and over (easy test.. buy one, return it as a "Red Ring" console, then have someone watch.. It will go back on the shelf.. to be sold again....).
Truth is, both of my 360s are still running strong, and both were acquired on Launch. Everyone has different experiences in the end. Oh, and MS doesn't built them, the same company bickering did. MS should have picked a better builder.
This is ridiculous...... microsoft needs to get their act together. i never had any problems with mine but if something did happen and if i end up having to waste time and money to get it fixed i'd be choked especially after paying 499 for it
Is that legal?
my first 360 (manufactured december 2005) died on me, even though i barely played it (maybe 100 hours total). i sent it in and got a refurbed unit (november 2005). even though i played that one even less than the first one, that one just died on me yesterday, so the reports of 1/4 to 1/3 of units being defective isn't wholly surprising.
M$ didnt take heat management seriously... the freakin blower (it doesnt have a fan) in the PS3 is the size of the Wii.
*It's all just a lie Sony cooked up, every single report of Microsoft failure is made up by Sony to discredit Xbox.
*My xbox never broke
* Microsoft said the failure rate is only under 5%
--just some of the excuses we will hear soon enough.
Just fess up to the problem and fix it, Microsoft, you are screwing your OWN loyal customers.
Exactly. I was the epitomy of the 360 user. I still had my original launch 360, wirelss controllers, wirteless headsets, HALO3 Zune, original Xbox, games and peripherals up the yang along with Vista, another version of HALO2 on that platform along with Shadowrun as well as 4 more 360 games prepaid including HALO3 Legendary. MS said, "We have noticed a higher than normal failure rate among launch consoles so any 360 purchased before January 1 2006 will be repaired free." Do you think they kept that promise? Nope. They told me "Pay $139 for a refurbished console that will break in a week." No thanks. I traded everything in on a PS3 and a PSP. Now I am a happy gamer. Screwing your most loyal customers is not the way to keep gmaers.
Now people like Holmdahl and even Peter Moore himself are refusing to say anything. MS is the new Sony and not in a good way. Moore actually stated, "Failures are a moving target. What actually matters to the customer is the way he is treated." Damn right.
MS had better be careful. They really don't have anything huge on the horizon after this fall. 1 Year is the period where devs start to get comfortable with a console's tools and the PS3 has better long distance legs in it. I have seen the PS3 version of GRAW 2 and it's graphics are easily superior to the 360 version. Such seemingly inconsequential signs should be harbingers of things to come. I wouldn't bet on Microsoft's plan on the Xbox division becoming profitable next year. If Sony drops the PS3 price at E3 it will be dark days ahead for Redmond.
You know, I hate to say it, but someone could actually sue for hardware deficiency and ACTUALLY get away with it.
MS, it's about time you either STOP manufacturing until this is resolved or start putting in those faster chipsets that will solve the problem because at this rate...people are going to want to go from a 360 to a PS3.
AKBlade13
Did they swap partners or manufacturing facilities or something? My original XBOX was brilliant, never had one problem with it - my 360 (YBOX) has intermittent red rings of doom but they've never stayed around long enough for my point of purchase to honour the warranty.
I'll sell my 360 get a iPhone and wait for Ps3 price to drop and games to come out.
I've returned a grand total of one 360, and that was wholly my fault - stuffed in a hot room under my desk, etc etc.
I haven't had any problems with my second, despite marathon sessions and extended use, and nobody I know has. It's really disconcerting to hear all these reports and to have never experienced it myself. Sad.
Crossing my fingers, I guess.
I'd even say thats not your fault, unless by hot room you mean the sauna you built in your house. The 360 is a consumer device, and it should support all reasonable operating environments within a house. No excuses.
That being said, my 360 is being repaired right now. The disk drive died on me (mechanical failure). I'll be out in DC while my 360 is being repaired--hopefully it'll be back when I arrive. The only frustrating part was the Indian lady on the customer service line. It took a while for her to understand the problem (I am an engineer, maybe I didn't use the correct lay terms). It took her a while to understand that I did not have the HD-DVD drive. But all is good, I wasn't on the phone for _that_ long.
I'd like to think that Microsoft would man up to the situation, though. While individual reports can't give an accurate prediction of systemic problems, we know that somethings up. There's just too much evidence out there that theres a problem. If they don't step up and fix the problem, this is just going to get out of control. Mainstream media is going to pick this up. Do you want your brand associated with shoddy quality? (They do have Windows... maybe they don't mind).
I'm shocked they're doing that to their customers overseas. I live in the states, and my 360 recently had the ring of death, and even though it was a month past warranty, they still fixed it for free. THANK GOD!
But there is no doubt they rushed the first gens out way too quickly, hopefully next time they actually pay attention to the disc drive noise and cpu heat.
Intercooler doesn't help the problem either. My friends 360 overheated even with an intercooler on it. I took it off and it made it MUCH quieter and it hasn't overheated since.
Guys dont be idiots i cant believe sites are reporting on this
the 33% report came from an EB GAMES EMPLOYEE!
Dear god since when do we start doing national and international standings as reported by your local dropout that works at EB Games!
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As for selling the 360 for a ps3 after price drop... with it dropping games left and right and getting worse performance... read that as ... NFL 07 60fps on 360 vs 30fps on ps3... and the fact that the beloved playstation exclusive Fatal Inertia, has been indefinitly postponed on the ps3, yet the 360 version is now releasing in what a month or 2 they said the release date already the same time they confirmed the indefinite delay of the ps3...
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I have my original 360 from day 1 purchase and it works perfectly ever since then, i got 1 rrod but it was cause my cat pulled the av cable out, i plugged it in better and walla back in action... i have 12-15 friends with 360's never have had an issue.... needless to say i take microsofts hardware figures alot more reliably than an EB Games employee, considering microsoft is the one that actually in the end has to deal with the returns/refurbs/dead units worldwide, not Jimmy Bob from eb games
true, the 25%-33% figure is probably much higher than the real figure, especially since the people who buy extended EB warranties might be less likely to treat their systems with care, but the number is probably higher than microsoft's stated 3%-5% figure. consider yourself lucky that neither you nor any of your friends have had a bum unit.
Well Chris, my local EB where I do all of my business and am in a clan with the manager gets 5-6 consoles back per week. How does that average out?
By my count, I've had a 100% failure rate over *four* Xbox 360's (three in the last seven months alone). #4 arrived DOA from the service center almost two weeks ago, and it took Microsoft a week and a half to get me another shipping box (via UPS "3 day" shipping)
And don't give me any crap about how my systems are poorly-ventilated, turned from horizontal/vertical while playing, etc. I've been a gamer and consumer-electronics buff for almost 30 years; I know how to properly care for them.
The 360 is, bar-none, the biggest piece of sh!te I've ever had the misfortune to deal with. Having a service contract doesn't guarantee speedy resolution either, Microsoft's in particular has gotten significantly worse to utilize since launch.
Wow...you must be Mr. Common Sense from another forum. You sound like the typical blind 360 fanboy. You're the typical consumer that M$ just loves to screw over again and again. Good for you that you're still on your original 360. Many of us are not as fortunate. Whether you choose to believe it or not, the failure rate is much too high for anyone to accept. You being the exception of course, since you're so blinded that you cannot open your mind for a second to look at both sides of the story.
Three words: CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT
These issues are, at this point, the primary reason I have not bought an Xbox 360. MS had better get their act together if they want to stay in this race.
I'm not saying people are gonna start paying $600 for a PS3 instead of $400 for a 360 because of reliability. But they might look at the $250 Wii and have a different reaction. It's hard to justify $400 on a console that you're worried might break. Even all else being equal, it's easier to justify $250 assuming the reliability was the same between both systems. But Nintendo's got a reputation for quality, and that makes the choice just that much clearer.
This issue is getting a decent amount of play in the press, and I have no doubt it's costing MS sales.
But what about the iPhone?
I wonder if this is MS's sneaky way to boost its sales figures - count the replacement units used to replace the ones that can't be repaired...
Microsoft definitely needs to get their act together and start working on the hardware issues in the 360. If they don't, they will eventually pay for it.
Is that legal?
i shall make it legal!
LOL
"Intercooler doesn't help the problem either. My friends 360 overheated even with an intercooler on it. I took it off and it made it MUCH quieter and it hasn't overheated since."
Sorry to bust your bubble their buddy... but dont even let microsoft hear that or they'll really start cussing and possibly say you voided the warranty, microsoft has said on MANY occasions that the intercoolers do more damage than anything else because they leech power from the console itself and in most cases end up hampering cooling more than they improve it.
They've said it quite a few times and made it clear.
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As for the buying the 360 for 400 vs the wii at 250... if you buy a 360 for 400 your pretty idiotic at this point considering u can easily find a premium for under 300 hell
http://www.overstockdealz.com/products.asp?id=XBOX360-PREMR
that premiums 220$ maybe not the best retailer, but theirs others and many places that you can get one for under 300$....
Not to mention the real point is that unless u want a kiddy game or some puzzle game, maybe some kiddy sport games as well, then the wii might work, but otherwise its the 360 game wise... i mean the other console is the ps3 that has adultish games and ... well it doesnt have many, alot less than the 360.
On top of that what i find funny is some new games for the wii are being rumored to be on their way to the xbl arcade LOL
No! no! no!
I would strongly advise against buying any discount xbox 360. The chance that any of these could be refurb units is just too high, and the failure rate on refurb 360s is much higher than on new ones.
wow, Chris, getting a "Condition: Like New, in Original Packaging." is soooo reassuring.
If i wanted to check out that site, you better believe I would remove your referral code.
this is such a load of crap. i own a first-wave 360, and many of my friends have 360s, and many of their friends have 360s...etc, and I have NEVER personally heard of one failing. either the estimate is way too high (i would guess MS's 5% may not be correct, but is closer than the 33% given by a highschool dropout EB employee), or the ppl w/ these boxes are treating them like crap (ie poor ventilation).
You sound like a Marlboro smoker who hasn't had any friends die from cancer yet.
Mine just died tonight. The irony...
http://www.nintendoh.com/prateeko/ign/360d/DSC00522.JPG
Best Buy Product Replacement Plan for teh win!
(Sadly, form there on out I'm buying my stuff from Costco).
Got to love Costco, no questions asked on returns. And you can return it when ever you want as long as you keep your membership active.
No wonder they are not called microhard.
At the end of the day all that matters is whether I buy your product or not. People can give Sony shit for lack of games, too expensive, etc. and those are valid reasons not to buy a system.
But so is piss-poor hardware quality.
Fact is: I don't own an Xbox 360 because of this and I never will until Microsoft admits to the issue and fixes it. All the cool games in the world won't change the fact that you are ripping customers off.
Apparently the "360" actually stands for the approximate number of consoles out of 1000 that will RROD.
Microsoft, although considered a Software Company, is a lot better at making hardware. I mean, 33% failure rate, that's a lot better then Windows XP.
and @ kingofwale:
You say, "Upset Microsoft's loyal customers"? Dude, Microsoft isn't the kind of company that has "loyal" customers. Not over the age of 16, anyway.
I must say that it has some loyal enemies though.
In that spirit, if anyone here wants help moving to Linux and such, I'd be very glad to help. ethana2@gmail.com
I Think its time we all stood as one, and sent Microsoft Directly a formal complaint about this issue. After 18 months on the market it seems clear now they do indeed have a problem, and all the winging on forums is NOT doing any good, I am sure they are not reading half the gripes on any forums around the world. You are all wasting your time and effort complaining on boards that MS dont read. So its time to make a stance and get hold of the head of xbox 360 product development, and send them directly some sort of formally worded complaint (not a law suit or legal thing), just let them know on behalf of the 3 million people who have or had broken xbox 360's we are NOT happy, and we would like to know what they are doing to fix the problem! So who can get hold of contact at MS that we can send a complaint to? and Maybe a professional to word up the content of the letter. ENGADGET, can you help???
look at this forum if you think people are mistreating their xboxs! They are faulty people, and the millions now complaining prove it! Just cause it has not happened to you, and a few of your friends.. doesn't mean it wont!
http://forums.xbox.com/91/8347347/ShowPost.aspx#8347347
dude. me and my friends have had ours since launch. if they haven't failed yet, they probably never will. in case you didn't know, theres a failure rate curve that works for just about everything. it starts out high, because any defects will cause a failure early on (if its gonna fail, it'll fail soon after you get it). the curve then bottoms out, and after a long flat period, it starts to raise as it reaches the products lifetime.
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(approximately)
That does not explain what is going on with all the reports. Myself I had one five weeks , then it died. The second one lasted 14 months, and is now dead. Your "THEORY" does not hold up. There is no evidence to support your conclusions.
..ps.. I am NO ONES "dude" and the proper english grammar is "my Friends and I". Why am I pointing this out, it makes you sound foolish if you can not construct sentences in a proper manner.
Guess that explains why it blows, eh?
Ahh...Bad puns.
People mistreat their consoles.
This is yet more proof of the days of battered consoles surviving until their owners lose interest are over. The X360 does need better cooling, but the "Upgrade" which is due will fix that problem with 65mm process. The thing is, people, you can't treat these things like a NES, you can't stuff it away in a closed in space with other electronics and cords.
You can't stuff it in a cupboard, you can't stack it on top of the VCR, it's essentially a powerful computer in a small space. My friend, who treats his right, has had the same X360 since launch, he doesn't even have one of those nifty attached coolers either, he just treats it right.
Stop mistreating your consoles and they'll stop mistreating your gaming.
I have had all 3 xbox 360's in a dust free , air condition cooled cabinet just for the 360 . EXPLAIN to me how thats mistreating it. Get a grip, there are many many many people complaining around the world, and if you did your research, and not use the argument " my mate hasn't had a problem, so the rest of the world shouldn't" and actually done some hard fact research from shops that sell them, and got real stats you would find 20% or more are failing.
I am waiting for xbox number 4 to arrive (all under warranty) and treat it like gold, (as all of the others have been) and hope that this one doesn't blow up. Great games machine, crap build quality
Low ranked while every "M$" post gets high ranked, great way to look like unbelievable idiot sheep, people.
You're telling me you have an air conditioned cabinet for the X360? I find that unbelievable, but gosh, what good would that do? The problem is it's not dispersing heat properly for how much it produces. The proper thing to do is get a little fan thing like my friend did, though I should have mentioned that in the first post.(Not that it would have mattered score-wise)
These comments are pretty disgusting, by the way, every asinine attack on MS or Xbox users is getting highest ranked while any defense is getting low ranked.
I am sure that microsoft will screw up and PS3 will win the war again.
I'm using my 4th Xbox 360 and I'm getting "to play this disc put it on xbox 360 console" error and it's getting worse.
I will buy a PS3 this time 600$ better than wasting my money on another xbox 360 console.
I have a Xbox 360 and the system has given me the ring of death....
Of the 5 other friends I play with, they have all gotten red ring of death as well.
What is more interesting is that they ALL died about 6-8 months after the purchase including mine.
And people say the PS3 isn't worth the price. If you go with the 360 you'll waste money and time.
Oh man, I get the red ring of death all the time on my pc. It's a pain... Not.
Seriously. Even I did, I'd return the gpu and have plenty others to choose from. This is just one of the reasons the inflexibility of consoles sucks- and I still don't think people get it.
Now you want your console to play music. Now you want it to browse the internet. Now you want to add a keyboard. Good gosh, how obvious can it be? Start with a pc, and work to unity and ease of use to there. The first step, naturally, is to ditch Microsoft.
If they had used third party hardware based on open standards, the production issues, both scarcity and most of the quality too, would have been nonexistent.
I mean, why not? They screw you into getting more expensive pc hardware for Vista anyway. Not that I ever intend to use it in my life (Ubuntu w/Compiz fusion is better.)....
Yeah, I know, it would kill their business models. If I could be sure it wouldn't kill the economy, I would just take them out to get it over with. All they and the MaFIAA can do is pull crap against the consumer, sue people, and slow down progress in general. The prices they tag onto consoles are unnaturally set, and things shouldn't work that way.
But I'm an extremist.
Funny thing is my local Taget, Tanasbourne near Hillsboro OR, has a red ring 'demo' box sitting there!
The root cause and fix of this is interesting:
http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=595746
It appears to be fixed with heatsink clamping, and seems likely to be a problem with the CPU and GPU becoming physically disconnected from the mobo, perhaps due to poor soldering, excessive heat for the design spec of the interface, or some physical problem with the heatsinks in the first place.
It would also seem to me that running the console vertically will make this worse and place more stress on the chip interfaces.
Considering the simple, physical nature of this problem it's pretty abhorrent MS has done nothing, and the new revisions fail just as often. I wonder if I'll even be able to play all these 360 games I'm buying in 5-10 years. Somehow, I have much more faith in my PSP and Wii lasting a while.
It's also weird given the vast majority of PCs stand vertically, thus placing the same "strain" on the system....
Quote:
"Considering the simple, physical nature of this problem it's pretty abhorrent MS has done nothing, and the new revisions fail just as often."
By no mean I protect M$. But.
You have to consider two things.
1. "Consumer Electronics" might be seldom produced in large bulks - to minimize costs. One faulty shipment can easily make up visibly large number of faulty units.
2. Xbox business unit of M$ has to be - sooner or later - profitable. No way they would start revocation program since it's too expensive. As long as it would be cheaper to resolder the boards and refurb the units - they would do it.
I personally do not beleive in "30%" digit. At that rate M$ would run out of money simply supporting the handling of the matter. Even considering that you have to pay for unit shipments by yourselves.
If "30%" number is true then expect M$ to drop Xbox division anytime soon. Very soon. But I do not see happening. And consequently believe "5%" figure from M$ much more.
Anyone remember the ps2's disc read error? I knew several people that had their ps2s die on them. Last gen I owned 1 Dreamcast, 1 Gamecube (which finally died on me last year), 1 xbox, and 3 ps2s. I wasn't happy with the ps2's failure rate, but that didn't stop me from going out and buying another - because I love playing games. And all you people that are saying you're not going to buy a 360 (had mine for 8 months now with no problems) or selling yours to get a ps3 - well, I'm sorry that you're going to miss out on great games like Bioshock, Mass Effect, Halo 3, Fable 2 , etc. I personally am not going to miss out on any I want to play. As soon as something I like comes out on the ps3 I'll be buying one. Game on!
You are right these games makes me want to buy a new one, but this is insane if i'm going to buy a new one this going to be my 5th console 5*400=2000$
Yeah that wasnt coincedence, Sony inbuilt obsolence, in their case a faulty DVD drive, in the fat PS2 then released a cheap, sexy slim version for people to buy. They may have sold 100million but it was probably only to 60million different people. I wonder when the Xbox 360 slim is coming.
The PS2 disc read error was nowehere near as common as the 360 problems, it affected early (first 18 months), units.
Also, you look at the numbers of PS2 sold (over 10 times more PS2 sold, that Xbox 360s).. Mine has been perfect fot 5 years, 100% reliable.
Have to admit, mine apparently overheats from time to time, even in a cool room. There is no way I can put it in the cabinet under the TV or it'll overhet within 2 minutes.... and that just from navigating the dashboard!
I would invite any Microsoft employee to come to my house and experience this issue first hand.
Oh but they won't because they deny that there is an issue.
Come on Microsoft fess up!
im on my 4th repaired 360 now.
i really wish the ps3 had some games to play...i would buy one asap...even at the high price.
I JUST WANT TO CLARIFY SOMETHING - this place still fixes xbox 360s - just not the 3 ring of death ones.
To all those wo say its fake it for 100% sure aint fake maybe not 33% faulure rate is very high or it wouldnt be shown on popular new sites and the x360 forums got 1000+ with problems.
Also in France when your x360 go down u get a new cooling system for it why would they give that if its fake? I dont own one so havent had any problems but after reading 50+ post online about it im sure MS needs to do something soon.
The game Forza Motorsport 2 is also been reported alot on MS/x360 forum that it takes down the x360 and MS dont repair them all. And they are starting to delete the posts to ignore the problems.
Mine failed...
Of course it failed 3 mths after the warranty expired. Also, it was manufactured on Jan 18 06, which is incidentally 18 days after the other condition to replace expired.
M$ - Brace yourselves... I'm going to send you an email to give you the opportunity to do the right thing and fix my box. Failing that, I will unleash a fury of postings on every blog I can find via google, to highlight your unwillingness to do the right thing.
'Vocal Minority' you say? You have one part right - I am certainly gonna be Vocal.
Some people are just unlucky I guess, I have 4 xbox 360's, live in the tropics and don't use air-cons in the rooms they are in - no problems here.
Wonder how much of these are people putting them on carpets, 'chipping' their xbox's or running them in a confined space, None of my friends have had any problems either.
Mine are all Asian xbox's though, perhaps they are made in a different factory or manufactured differently?
I took those x-clamps out and followed that great guide where I put in new screws/washers....Bam! Good as new!
It is purely a design flaw and Microsoft should stop putting the clamps in there. Though, it's never going to happen....
Oh, I took my crappy x-clamps and use it as my rear view mirror ornament, just to remind myself how Microsoft screwed up, when I enter my car. :)
Hmmm.. my xbox360 started freezing this week. I contacted Microsoft two days ago and no reply yet. I hope it can be fixed. Oh - it is out of warrenty and I'm in the UK.
Mike
I bought my console the week after launch. It worked flawlessly for the first 17 months, and then experienced the 3 ring of death failure. Thank God for Best Buy 3 year warranty. It went away for repair and came back 21 days later. Unfortunately it only worked for 10 minutes and then the same problem returned. I brought it back again, and then was gone again over 21 days. I then heard back from Best Buy saying that the repair center didn't have the parts necessary to repair the console, so I was able to pick a new replacement off the shelf. Certainly happy about that, but not so happy about having to buy another 3 year warranty for the replacement.
While the console was away for repair for almost 2 months in total, I bought a Core system so that I could still participate in the Halo 3 beta. Now that I have my Premium back ... anyone wanna buy a Core system?
=D
I thought I was lucky, as mine has always been pretty good, It's about a year old, and worst I have ever suffered, is reboots and freezes. However I bought Forza 2, and last night is locked up, but when I rebooted, I got the red ring of death.. Microsoft want to charge me $130 to get it fixed..
Looks like 2,500 failed 360's are arriving EVERY DAY at the UK repair centre. This is just from UK 360 owners.. Ouch...
http://xbox360.qj.net/2-500-Xbox-360-units-sent-for-repair-daily-repair-can-t-keep-up/pg/49/aid/96076
However Microsoft continue the lies...
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=22776
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=25864
How long will people believe their lies? What other lies have they told us? What other dirty tactics are they using to bruteforce their way into the gaming industry? (GTA IV bribes, Halloween Documents, Vista Blogger free laptops)
Why does this not mention anything about the iPhone?
MAYBEE, Because this story is about xbox 360's ! !?!?!?
gotta love micros... erm, sony
I purchased my XBOX 360 6 months ago and barely managed to complete two XBOX 360 games when the "Rings of Death" lit up in all their glory.
Personally, I am saving for the PS3 - I believe that with the passage of time, the quality (richness of content and graphical prowess) of the PS3 games will exceed anything that the Wii or 360 will provide to the gaming community. As more PS3 games get developed, the learning effects / experience gained from coding for the PS3 platform will grow exponentially. By 2010, Xbox 360 / Wii games will look and behave like dated PS1 games in comparision to games developed for the PS3.
The funniest thing? (or saddest thing), is that everyone is actually thinking that a move to a 65nm processor will fix the problems.
The FACT is, the problems are not just caused by the current 90nm processor, it's due to the flawed design, cheap components, and cheap workforces...
A 65nm processor alone will not fix the 360, it needs a new design, a new manufacturing process, quality components. Obviously if Microsoft do all of this, then the result is a HIGHER PRICE TAG (or bigger loss for Microsoft).
Not going to happen people. Nobody will accept a price hike of the 360, just to fix it's reliability issues...
Well it looks like Ms has finaly fessed up. They anounced that they will cover the ring of death for three years, yes you read correctly, three years from date of purchase. They claimed it took them time to go over all the data. They also stated that units bought now should not have this problem.
With the extended warranty costing MS 1+ Billion USD, and the report from MicroMart saying it cost them 200 bucks a piece to fix the 360 that equates to about 5 million dead 360s......
Ok now use the official sales data that pins 360 sales at about 11 million.
11 million 360's sold
+5 million dead
=16 million total
Outta that 16 million total 5 million are dead, that is damn close to 33%.......
_____________________________________________________
Some of you might think that it should break down like this.
11 million sold
5 million dead
45% failure rate
But, that is incorrect since many of the dead systems were "replaced" for 80 USD, therefore they aren't "sold".
I am currently an Active Army soldier seving in Iraq and I have had my XBOX 360 for about 6 months and I have constantly had problems with it. The disc drive gets stuck and wont eject. When I got my 360 the harddrive wouldnt work and I was forced to order a new one. Now I am getting a error message for every single game I own that says: " To Play This Disc, Put It In An XBOX 360 Console". What is really going on? Anyone have any advice on how to fix this issue or should I send it in under warrant and have it repaired?
My friend and I have the same problem and we are stuggle with Microsoft help line to get this fix until we read XBox 360 - 3 light fix.
http://alanchansg.gamerbots.hop.clickbank.net/
It take me an hour and I managed to fix the 3 RED light Error with the details steps provided in the XBox 360 - 3 light fix manual. With this guide, I am helping few of my friends to get their problem fixed and each of us save $140 each for getting it repair by Microsoft!!
Xbox 360 is at a very bad time of its carrer. They should of took their time making the system. The ring of death can SUCK IT
hello
I have been debating about whether or not to get a ps3 or a 360. after hearing about all these failures i think the ps3 is the right way to go. Plus i dont think that microsoft really cares about their customers because then they wouldnt have brought these problems onto the customers. they should have waited to release this console so it wouldnt have broken down so easily. m$ is all about the money