Microsoft extends Warranty to THREE years (3!)

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http://www.gaming-age.com/news/2007/7/5-14

Microsoft Corp. today announced that it will expand its global Xbox 360 warranty coverage. Any Xbox 360 customer who experiences a general hardware failure indicated by three flashing red lights will now be covered by a three year warranty from date of purchase. All other existing Xbox 360 warranty policies remain in place.

As a result of what Microsoft views as an unacceptable number of repairs to Xbox 360 consoles, the company conducted extensive investigations into potential sources of general hardware failures. Having identified a number of factors which can cause general hardware failures indicated by three red flashing lights on the console, Microsoft has made improvements to the console and is enhancing its Xbox 360 warranty policy for existing and new customers.

Microsoft stands behind its products and is taking responsibility to repair or replace any Xbox 360 console that experiences the "three flashing red lights" error message within three years from time of purchase free of charge, including shipping costs. Microsoft will take a $1.05 billion to $1.15 billion pre-tax charge to earnings for the quarter ended June 30, 2007 for anticipated costs under its current and enhanced Xbox 360 policies.

"The majority of Xbox 360 owners are having a great experience with their console and have from day one. But, this problem has caused frustration for some of our customers and for that, we sincerely apologize," said Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft's Entertainment & Devices Division. "We value our community tremendously and look at this as an investment in our customer base. We look forward to great things to come."

For any customer who has previously paid for repair expenses related to the three flashing lights error message on the Xbox 360 console, Microsoft will retroactively reimburse them.
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Apparently the warranties for scratched discs, etc are still in place, but RRoD's are now covered by three years.

Wow.
 
Great news! About time Microsoft responded to the problem.

It would have been better if MS actually FIXES the problem, but I guess that's them for ya...
 
This is comforting to me (as a prospective 360 buyer).
One concern this leaves me with though is...
Does this indicate that MS is going to continue manufacturing the machines by the same standards and rely on warranties to cover the problem?
Or does this mean MS is attacking the root of the problem and the warranty is simply a way to ensure buyers know they will not be screwed?

My guess, MS isn't changing much and plans to use warranties as the answer to the problem.
Why change the entire production process when you can just let problems become found by the consumer (who will inturn use the newly extended warranty to get the problem fixed).
 
Kent
This is comforting to me (as a prospective 360 buyer).
One concern this leaves me with though is...
Does this indicate that MS is going to continue manufacturing the machines by the same standards and rely on warranties to cover the problem?
Or does this mean MS is attacking the root of the problem and the warranty is simply a way to ensure buyers know they will not be screwed?

My guess, MS isn't changing much and plans to use warranties as the answer to the problem.
Why change the entire production process when you can just let problems become found by the consumer (who will inturn use the newly extended warranty to get the problem fixed).
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Good question. IMO, when the 65nm chips are implemented (most likely this year), things won't be RRoDing as much. Will they redesign the console so that without 65nm they won't screw up? No. But the new chips will make things better.
 
I see this is their global warranty policy. That is good, but they have admitted, in a fairly indirect manner, that the 360 is essentially a faulty piece of hardware, or at least has too high a percentage of failures (Microsoft won't give a % on that).
But they didn't have to do this so kudos to them for making this decision. I only hope the changes they make will put right the flaws in the console (it still seems a bit odd that I have had no problems with my 360 even though my first PS2 had to be replaced after 6 months).
They're losing a billion dollars on this though (just for this year) so I wonder if they'll have a price drop this year? It seems less likely now.
And I wonder what stores who let you buy warranties think of this?
 
Well, the repairs are now free, so if they aren't fixing the consoles(the ones they are currently manufacturing), they will will lose even more money.
 
Well based on the below link it seems Bach confirmed the RRoD is in fact a design flaw, as opposed to a mfr'ing one:
http://www.firingsquad.com/news/newsarticle.asp?searchid=16360

* Bach also said the issues were a Microsoft design problem and not an issue with assembly and manufacturing at the plants where the console is made. Bach would not say specifically what design issues were found but did say, "It's really our responsibility, not anyone else's"
* Bach also would not comment on what the Xbox 360 return rate is, saying only that "It's a meaningful number."

However we can try to calculate the magnitude of MS's FU by making a conservative assumption that each repair/return costs MS around $300 (just to try and pick a fair number). If that is anywhere close, they seem to be expecting to process around 3 million+ returns :crazy: Notice I didn't state consoles as there's no way to know how many will be processed multiple times, but regardless this gaff is inexcuseable. Especially considering that MS has known about this "flaw" for sometime and has been actively obscuring this fact for just about as long.

Anyhoo... no customer deserves this kind of shoddy treatment, so I hope the 360 owners feel some sense of relief knowing that their purchase should be adequately backed up by the mfr now.
 
Its nice to hear that my Best Buy warranty isn't the only thing I'm riding on these days. Then again, if I were to have returned it, they would have likely given me a new one anyway.

Its stuff that should have been done a while ago, and I'm glad Microsoft has stood up to the plate.

Sure, Sony fanbois can laugh, but no one is buying their console, so we have no idea if they're problematic or not.
 
Yep... heard it on the news. Funny **** IMO.

ROAD_DOGG33J
Well, the repairs are now free, so if they aren't fixing the consoles(the ones they are currently manufacturing), they will will lose even more money.
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As the news said... M$ knows it's not going to make money on 360 hardware, it's their software that does. So they can afford to lose money "a little". :dopey:

I don't see them changing anything. I see them doing ****ty business and giving people like GT the short end of the stick, it's less work for them. :rolleyes:
 
YSSMAN
Sure, Sony fanbois can laugh, but no one is buying their console, so we have no idea if they're problematic or not.
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Let me put it this way: After doing a bit of research beforehand I felt confident enough to not buy one of these:
Its nice to hear that my Best Buy warranty isn't the only thing I'm riding on these days.
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Heck I don't even get the extreme heat and fan noise complaints that I occasionally hear about. I get some warm air coming out of the vents, but my Wii is much hotter in comparison and my PS3 is almost always on running Folding when I'm not gaming/watching a movie. I think the longest it has been off was a few hours when the power went out while I was at work.

My friends with 360's on the other hand: one is on his third and the other is scared his will go at any time. And despite that, I am still trying to find a way to get a free 360.


My thing is that people are making a huge deal out of this when I thought the faulty power cords starting fires was a much bigger issue, even if it was less common. This is purely an annoyance and I think Blog talk of an eventual class-action suit is over the top. If Microsoft were ignoring the problem then I could see a lawsuit, but in very non-Microsoft manner they are implementing very good customer service. Perhaps their OS division could learn a few things from the entertainment division.

The only thing getting me about thsi is that this whole console war thing does not work like a typical consumer electronic. Usually if someone buys a radio from, say, GE and it has tons of issues and quits working, no matter what kind of warranty they get on it, they don't buy a GE radio again. It's why people don't buy Kia cars despite their warranty. A warranty is nice but I don't want to use it. Yet with gaming consoles, people will still defend the Xbox and try and insult Sony and Nintendo. And it works the same for all three systems. Why doesn't reliability issues put an end to fanboyism in gaming consoles?
 
FoolKiller
The only thing getting me about thsi is that this whole console war thing does not work like a typical consumer electronic. Usually if someone buys a radio from, say, GE and it has tons of issues and quits working, no matter what kind of warranty they get on it, they don't buy a GE radio again. It's why people don't buy Kia cars despite their warranty. A warranty is nice but I don't want to use it. Yet with gaming consoles, people will still defend the Xbox and try and insult Sony and Nintendo. And it works the same for all three systems. Why doesn't reliability issues put an end to fanboyism in gaming consoles?
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I suspect it's because of the time and expense that some people have invested in playing specific games on their consoles and thus do not want to see it all wasted by their console being discontinued. With a car, radio, TV, etc. all you have to do is sell your lemon and buy a different model, but if you get rid of your console you wont be able to play all the games you have spent so much time and money on. I suspect this, more than anything else causes many to blindly defend their console to the bitter end.

I would not be the least bit surprised if Microsoft is even counting on their blind defenders to support them despite continuing problems with the X360 well over a year after it was released.

Format wars involving electronics where consumers must buy content that is supported by the format unfortunately have a tendency to be breeding grounds for "fanboyism". We've seen it through out the history of consoles, VHS vs BETA, Apple VS PC, and now with HD DVD VS Blu-Ray... although Blu-ray is close to winning that war. Some people will defend their choice and investment no matter how bad a choice even they feel it was.
 
DWA
Yep... heard it on the news. Funny **** IMO.

As the news said... M$ knows it's not going to make money on 360 hardware, it's their software that does. So they can afford to lose money "a little". :dopey:

I don't see them changing anything. I see them doing ****ty business and giving people like GT the short end of the stick, it's less work for them. :rolleyes:
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Thing is... the XBOX program has had only losses, including game sales, of around 2 billion dollars or something. Its already not profitable for them at the moment, and this just makes it worse.

OF course, it is a good thing they are actually agreeing to fix their crap for free and for longer.
 
How could they be losing money on anything other than the hardware!? You have to buy ****ing Live all the time and there's no overhead for that. There are for the lack of a better word idiots that buy these overpriced picture packs, that's like giving money to M$. Games are in some way or another buy M$. They got money coming in from everywhere.

Oh and for you guys about the PS3. Lets put it this way. I'd be more confident to get a PS3 without a warranty and more confident that when I put GT5 in it would NEVER freeze up or chew up disks. :dopey:
 
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,288313,00.html

A friend of mine sent this link, it may have some different information in it. This is definitely great news to me though, as now I do not have to worry about having a $400 paperweight if the thing were to red-ring of death on me without a warranty. The biggest reason in my purchase of a 360 over waiting for the PS3 to come out is the price announcement. When Sony came out and said the PS3 would be sold for $600, I just could not justify spending that much on a console. My decision to buy a console was much easier knowing I had over $200 in sell back bucks to Gamestop.
 
So does anyone here read the WSJ (wall street journal)?

Today (July 6) in the "Leading the News" section on page A3 there is a article titled...
Microsoft's Videogame Efforts Take a Costly Hit
The same news about 1.1 billion pretax for repairs is mentioned. However, it is also mentioned that MS has lost 3.08 billion over the past three fiscal years because of the "Home and Entertainment Division." (division responsible for the xbox)
It also reveals that MS will not say how many are failing other than "an unacceptable amount" and that the losses represent $100 on every 360 sold. The article also goes on to say it is between 1 in 5 and 1 in 2 units that are failing (goes along with the rumors of 1/3).
Most suprising to me is that this issue alone is causing MS's earnings to drop by between 7 and 8 cents a share.

Although losses like this aren't something to kill MS, it is obvious that the issues are now becoming too much for MS and the finacial world to ignore. :ouch:

So, who else read this in today's paper?
 
DWA
I'd be more confident to get a PS3 without a warranty and more confident that when I put GT5 in it would NEVER freeze up or chew up disks. :dopey:
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Wait, what's freezing and chewing up discs? My Die Hard DVD is sitting in the PS3 right now. :nervous:

VashTheStampede
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,288313,00.html

A friend of mine sent this link, it may have some different information in it.
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That was where I first heard it.

The biggest reason in my purchase of a 360 over waiting for the PS3 to come out is the price announcement. When Sony came out and said the PS3 would be sold for $600, I just could not justify spending that much on a console. My decision to buy a console was much easier knowing I had over $200 in sell back bucks to Gamestop.
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I had a lot more decision making in my buy, but I also wasn't looking at it as just a gaming console. My whole point was the fanboyism defending the 360 by people who were actually waiting to get their system back from Microsoft. You know they would say something like, "I can't believe you paid $600," and I would just come back with, "I can't believe that since you bought it Microsoft has had your 360 longer than you have."

Maybe it is because I am a multiplatform kind of guy in the end. I have no strong allegiances. I already have a Wii and PS3, and, if Mt Dew comes through like it did for my XBox, I hope to have a 360 sometime this summer.

Kent
So does anyone here read the WSJ (wall street journal)?
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Only if the A-hole at work doesn't steal it from the break room and take it to the toilet. I tend to prefer to watch CNBC and Bloomberg more.

So, who else read this in today's paper?
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Not me, but I did hear an analyst report about how Microsoft has yet to earn a full penny on the XBox and how their claims that it will be profitable by 2008 really means that they will not be losing money, but that to truly be profitable they would have to regain all the money they have lost. His main question was to ask when Microsoft will give it up.

It looks like the WSJ has combined that story with this new loss story and it just makes another billion Microsoft must make up before they can actually call it profitable.

I'll have to watch Jim Cramer tonight to get his take on this. I imagine it won't be to hit the "sell, sell sell" button. He seems to like when a company does right by its mistakes, especially when they have a loyalty base.
 
FoolKiller
I had a lot more decision making in my buy, but I also wasn't looking at it as just a gaming console. My whole point was the fanboyism defending the 360 by people who were actually waiting to get their system back from Microsoft. You know they would say something like, "I can't believe you paid $600," and I would just come back with, "I can't believe that since you bought it Microsoft has had your 360 longer than you have."

Maybe it is because I am a multiplatform kind of guy in the end. I have no strong allegiances. I already have a Wii and PS3, and, if Mt Dew comes through like it did for my XBox, I hope to have a 360 sometime this summer.
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I was mainly looking for a gaming console and really only a gaming console. I cannot take advantage of the HD parts of any of the new systems, and when I bought the 360 would not have even been able to consider buying a HDTV for over two years. At this point, a HDTV is at least another year away before it is even remotely a possibility.

The biggest thing is I could not and still cannot yet justify spending $600 on a gaming console and as of right now, my choice has been a good one so far because of the PS3s lack of good games, though that may change in the future and it may not. I still would not rule out getting a PS3 and trading in the 360 for it, but right now at this moment it does not really seem like something I would want to do; though I may also be wrong about that, I do not really know, as I have only played a PS3 once and only for a little while online.

I would also consider myself a multiplatform guy, except that I do not have the time to have more than one platform, so I decided on one console and constantly question my decision. Until I had to send my second 360 in to get replaced, I had not even thought of touching the PS2. Well while I was waiting to get the 360 back, I started playing GT4 again and have not even really touched the 360 because of it. It is not because the 360 is not good console, because it is a good console when it does not have problems, but I have refound a passion for GT4, as now I am only playing it in bits of time, instead of doing an all day binge and it has been thoroughly enjoyable.

And that was a long, all over the place post . . . :lol:
 
Personally, if I had stock in MS I wouldn't sell it for any reason and at a time like this especially... In fact, I'd buy stock the second I saw a loss (because I know the company as a whole will make up the loss).

I must say though, I'm in the same boat as Fool Killer (sorta).
I'm a multi-system guy. I currently have a N64, Gamecube, PS2, and Xbox. So with that in mind, I don't have loyalty to one or another.

However, I do feel like continued losses at this level, combined with the growing trend to use Blu-Ray over HD-DVD may eventually lead to a nasty failure for the MS gaming division. I wouldn't be suprised if the talk of the PS3 being the last Sony game system was the exact opposite of what will really occur... :ouch:

You never know and I'm not saying that the above will surely happen.
However, I'm willing to bet that the big-wigs (major stock holders and board members) would quickly let go of the gaming idea if it proved to be un-profitable. It's not like MS started the xbox because they had a passion for gaming... It was because they saw potential to provide a good and service that would be profitable (simple as that).

One thing that's worrisome to me (as I don't want to see MS fall out of the gaming industry)...
If the Xbox 360 will not be profitable until 2008, what are the chances of them ever really getting enough profit to warrant development of another system in the future?

Fact is, the game console generational cycle seems to be about 5 years or less. That means MS will have to recover billions in just 2 years if they want to keep up with the industry. :eek: :scared:
 
Kent
You never know and I'm not saying that the above will surely happen.
However, I'm willing to bet that the big-wigs (major stock holders and board members) would quickly let go of the gaming idea if it proved to be un-profitable. It's not like MS started the xbox because they had a passion for gaming... It was because they saw potential to provide a good and service that would be profitable (simple as that).
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Something along those lines. I think if they dropped out of the console race next-gen, they'd probably put their games on the PC (Halo, Forza, Fable, the Rare games, etc), so they'd still have some form of a gaming service.

One thing that's worrisome to me (as I don't want to see MS fall out of the gaming industry)...
If the Xbox 360 will not be profitable until 2008, what are the chances of them ever really getting enough profit to warrant development of another system in the future?:
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That's the thing that could be worrisome to me as well. Really, it depends how the Wii and PS3 sell. If the PS3 kicks its butt, they might drop out entirely. If the PS3 doesn't, but the Wii kicks its butt, they might follow suit and release a low powered console with waggle, and profit from every system sold. If the 360 kicks everyone's butt (probably won't happen, but just to think theoretically), I'm guessing they'll suck it up and make the 720 now that they have momentum on their side.

But nonetheless, losing 3 billion already on the 360 is really... surprising. I knew they were losing some amount of money, but not that amount... :eek:
 
Here is the analyst's Web page where he trashes Microsoft's business angle while admitting the 360 is an awesome piece of hardware.
http://ce.seekingalpha.com/article/32642


I think the problem Microsoft is suffering here is the key difference they made in making the next-gen jump from how Sony does it. They left behind their profitable part. In other words, there is little, if any, XBox support and all attention is devoted to the 360, which is creating losses for another six months or so. Now, Sony, while suffering losses on the PS3, combined with a slow start, is still making money. How, where? Why? Playstation 2. They never dropped their PS2 support. I can buy a PS2 version of most new multiplatform games. I can still buy a PS2. My brother-in-law bought his first gamiong system, a PS2, about six weeks ago and has bought six games. He handed Sony almost pure profit and judging by PS3 sales there are more people putting money into PS2s than there are handing Sony losses on a PS3.

If Microsft hadn't dropped XBox support where would they be now? I bet they would be working on covering their debts. I think Microsoft was so determined to jump on Sony this time that they made a system lacking features (and I am ignoring BD movie playback) and dropped their previous system prematurely. Then a year later it becomes obvious that they have a major design flaw. They may be winning at the cash register, but they are losing at the bank. Fortunately for them Microsoft can afford it.
 
WSJ July 6
But Microsoft's game efforts have been a consistent money-loser for the company. In the past three fiscal years, Microsoft has reported a cumulative operating loss of $3.08 billion from its home and entertainment division, of which the Xbox 360 is the dominant product.
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Word for word, quote copied by me from the original source. I kept that section of the paper this morning. :p

Indeed they have lost that much and I suspect they will continue to lose.
When they say it will not be profitable (or rather, running without loss) by 2008, I suspect it is without consideration for any further losses due to service.
If by chance, the systems are not changed at the manufacturer level then there is a possibility that the systems will continue to need repairs and inturn the 1.1 billion set aside might not be enough. It's just a matter of whether or not the malfunctions will stop or if the 1.1 is enough to cover the repairs of systems until 2008 or whenever the repairs are no longer needed.

If 2008 comes and goes and repairs are still being done it will be a matter of how much of the 1.1 billion has been used.

I suspect that if MS is still doing repairs on systems in 2009, the Xbox will die and all of the games will become properties for distribution to other console manufacturers (as well as the PC market).

Bottom line:
None of the news for MS right now is good.
This is going to be a matter of how well MS can control damage.
If they've failed to accurately predict the number of future problems and/or do not properly care for existing customers, I fear "xbox" will be "dreamcast." :indiff:

Edit:
FoolKiller
They may be winning at the cash register, but they are losing at the bank.
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Excellent quote. +rep.
 
Kent
If by chance, the systems are not changed at the manufacturer level then there is a possibility that the systems will continue to need repairs and inturn the 1.1 billion set aside might not be enough. It's just a matter of whether or not the malfunctions will stop or if the 1.1 is enough to cover the repairs of systems until 2008 or whenever the repairs are no longer needed.
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From the Fox News Article:
Bach said the company made some manufacturing and production changes that he expects will reduce Xbox 360 hardware lockups, but he declined to identify the problems or say which others might remain.
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It seems like they think they have it fixed, and I bet that the repairs involve making this physical change to teh older systems as well, instead of just putting a new old version of the bad piece back in. This is probably how they have estimated their cost - how much it will be to replace the problematic part(s) on the estimated number of future failures.

If after this reports of repeated repairs continue then we will know they are not "upgrading" during the repair, but just making the same problem unbroken.


I wonder how much of this is just another example of the Microsoft mentality of rush it out, hype it up, and fix it later (see one year+ estimate to fix Vista bugs).
 
Game Politics has a report on Microsoft's new line regarding the 360 deaths. Your surge protector did it.
http://gamepolitics.com/2007/07/08/surge-protectors-behind-360-failures-huh/

He doesn't sound happy.
GP
Surge Protectors Behind 360 Failures… Huh?

Could your surge protector be causing your Xbox 360 to go red rings?

Doesn’t make sense to GP, either. But as Mark Methenitis points out at Law of the Game:

My Xbox 360 died. And so, I called 1-800-4-MY-XBOX today… While I was on the phone, the rep… informed me that my surge protector had probably caused both of my 360 deaths…

The explanation… The Xbox 360 is highly sensitive to reductions in power, and even the slightest cut in power can cause things like the fans and even the DVD laser to malfunction. Surge protectors can cause this, and probably 90% of the consoles they see have all failed in 6-12 months of being plugged into a surge protector.

Well, my two systems did die in that window, and they were both plugged into a surge protector. But does this explanation even make sense? …Or is this just another misdirection?

GP: An MS rep told me the same thing when my 360 died a month or so back (still hasn’t returned yet, BTW). But frankly, even if this is true - maybe especially if it is true - it’s a disgrace. How many people don’t use surge protectors these days? In my office, I have one outlet with two sockets and several powers strips feeding four consoles, a PC, printer, fax, two routers, TV, Tivo, set-top box, iPod speakers, an HDTV, a cell phone charger, two cordless phones, PC speakers and a lamp.

So which device failed? The Xbox 360. If MS didn’t design the 360 to be able to deal with a ubiquitous item like a surge protector, shame on ‘em. And I can’t afford to devote one entire socket to a single console with poorly-designed electronics.
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:odd: Umm... yeah. What year is it again? Oh yeah. 2007... DVD drives that chew up disks and a surge protector that CAUSES failure??

uh huh...
 
Kent
Personally, if I had stock in MS I wouldn't sell it for any reason and at a time like this especially... In fact, I'd buy stock the second I saw a loss (because I know the company as a whole will make up the loss).
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Kent... look back at around 2000 for MicroSoft's stock value... my Dad sold his right as that started. They still haven't made it up, and that was 7 years ago. So don't go jumping on them too quick ;)
 
FoolKiller
Game Politics has a report on Microsoft's new line regarding the 360 deaths. Your surge protector did it.
http://gamepolitics.com/2007/07/08/surge-protectors-behind-360-failures-huh/

He doesn't sound happy.
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Roflmao...

Now, if you didn't have a surge protector and there was a real power interruption, Microsoft would be saying that it should have been plugged into one.

Edit: Even more hilarious being that I have a $120 Monster Power Center that is designed to keep power levels constant for low tolerance home theater equipment.
 
Azuremen... Point taken. :cheers: :D
Also, glad to see he sold when he did. :sly:

As for surge protectors and whatnot... :lol:
Yeah, that's about as funny as it gets. I certainly hope MS didn't actually do what was said. It would be a shame to see MS going through the "blame it on something else" game instead of just manning-up to the problem and fixing it with a bit of humility. 👍
 
Azuremen
Kent... look back at around 2000 for MicroSoft's stock value... my Dad sold his right as that started. They still haven't made it up, and that was 7 years ago. So don't go jumping on them too quick ;)
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Nor has Cisco, GE, etc, etc....

Really, we can't all expect every company to pull off an Apple thing.

Microsoft's issue, I believe, is related to the analyst report I posted. They are trying to be too much at one time. Between the console gaming, music players, creating whetever they can to compete with Google, and so on they are eating into their growth. The operating system was a solid place to be and was guaranteed profit. Since 2000 they have also spent billions on other things. I wouldn't be afraid of Microsoft's stock because they will either get their various parts working better or close them down.


Speaking of......Class Action Lawsuit time. This one's for you DWA.
http://gamepolitics.com/2007/07/10/xbox-360-lawsuit-gets-no-respect/
Xbox 360 Lawsuit Gets No Respect

A class-action lawsuit filed against Microsoft yesterday reminds us of an old Rodney Dangerfield line:

My old man, he wasn’t too smart. He worked in a bank and got arrested for stealing pens.

And so it is with Brouwer vs. Microsoft. According to a report on MSN Money:

The Fort Lauderdale law firm of Hodkin Kopelowitz Ostrow has filed a suit against Microsoft, saying that its Xbox 360 Video Game System scratches game discs.

The suit, which seeks class action status, was filed on behalf of Jorge Brouwer, a Broward County resident who bought an XBox 360 late last year. It says that damages exceed $5 million…

Let’s see if we have this straight. A class-action suit over scratched discs, while as many as one-third of all 360’s may be suffering the dreaded red rings of death due to faulty manufacturing?

Please
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I think GP has misjudged this lawsuit. No, scratched discs are not as bad sounding as having your $400 machine get red eye on you, but Microsoft is putting forward a good faith commitment to address the equipment failure. I have yet to hear Microsoft mention the disc scratching thing. It has been overshadowed by the system failure and a lot of people probably haven't heard the disc scratching isn't just their own systems.

Plus, when a 360 goes red ring it is just teh 360 that is at issue. When it damages other property, due to what may be a faulty design/part, then you have just become responsible for other property as well.
 
I heard about this afew days ago, if MS had just made the 360's innards abit better and spent abit more time and money that wouldnt be having these problems now, the number of units failing is way higher than MS is comfortable with so now they are just going to offer a longer warranty period! thats laughable as they should re-engineer the entire console... the quality is really poor.

To think that such a aerodynamically inefficient shape (inwards arranged) coupled with a pathetic heatsink can cool such a system is the sign of a rushed product.

Consumers shouldnt have to feel worried about using the console in a hot room or for long periods of time, it should work fine always.

Im sorry but in the design and enginnering stand point the PS3 wins hands down with the huge crazy heatpipe and fin arrangment round the large central fan and an outward curving shape to channel the heat effectively and give the components more room to breathe.

MS need to recall all of them and rework a better interior design, but ofcourse they will never do that, they have already lost a billon $ for this problem alone...

Robin
 

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