Microsoft faces second class action lawsuit over scratched discs
In the second such lawsuit to be filed this month, Microsoft is facing legal class action due to the Xbox 360's reported inclination to scratch game discs. According to InformationWeek, the suit alleges that "Microsoft improperly and/or negligently manufactured the Xbox 360 console in a manner that causes the expensive game discs ... to be scratched, rendering the games unusable."
Though this would normally come as a relief to owners of Tenchu Z, plaintiff Christine Moskowitz was most displeased when the Xbox 360 she purchased for her son wrecked copies of Gears of War, Crackdown and Saint's Row. A second plaintiff, Dan Wood, claims that his system ruined a Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell disc. The California court filing hopes to see no less than $5 million in damages go towards affected Xbox 360 buyers.
The suit blames the Xbox 360's "numerous hardware defects"on "Microsoft's rush to market," a decision that is said to have been detrimental to consumers. While the recently announced 3-year warranty program covers general hardware failures (signaled by the Red Ring of Death), it does not cater to issues of disc scratching, which Microsoft insists are not significant in number.
