XBox 360/ 3 Rings Problem

MS takes the hit:

A lot of you have consoles that have died this way, apparently. I’m curious – sound out if you have.

it’s always a good idea to wait at least a year to buy a console,so that major bugs are fixed…similar things happaned with the PS2

Good, it’s what they need to do. Mine died and they replaced it even though it was one day past it’s warranty. So that’s good. The reality is, if mine dies again and they don’t replace it I’ll get a Wii and never look back, and they probably feel that.

They are finally addressing the problem, which is good. I can look the other way on some malfunctioning hardware issues, esp. because MS essentially launched the 360 a year early [it can still hang with the visuals on any PS3 game right now].

But it’s taken way too long to start fixing these. It’s a crime how little MS spends on the physical assembly of each unit–I’ve heard that MS spends less than 10 dollars to assemble each 360, while Sony spends 45 on each PS3–and a lot of their problems would be solved by spending more on the physical components, imo.

Also, it kind of stinks that everyone knows that MS has a more reliable, 65nm chipset ready to go, but they aren’t using it yet because they flooded the marketplace last Xmas and there are still a few million units of the old chipset sitting in warehouses around the country.

So, I applaud MS for what they’re doing right now, but it’s at least six months late in my book.

I will cry if this happens to my Xbox.

I was infuriated when I got the 3 rings. I ended up contacting customer service who were very polite and helpful; they sent me a shipping box and were going to pay for the repairs.

Problem though: it would take 2 or more weeks to get it back based upon many other friends who experienced the rings of death.

Solution: the Gamestop I bought the console from allowed me to swap my broken box with a returned unit they had in stock. I purchashed their warranty which allows me to continue doing this for a year. I will NOT tolerate not having my console once Halo 3 comes around.

I have cursed Microsoft on all levels while this was happening, but when all is said and done, I now salute them for finally realizing their design is a piece of shit.

They are doing the right thing here by extending the warranties and being up front now with the subject (remember, they boldly stated that the returns were “normal” and within electronics industry standard; meanwhile a pole done on IGN.com indicated the failure rates were WAY higher than what Microsoft was believin’). I sincerely wish them the best of luck in ironing out this problem and coming up with a sound solution.

The 360 has so much potential; when it works, it is truly an outstanding experience. That coupled with the ease developers have programming for the console (versus PS3 which I understand is a REAL bitch to code for) and you have a ton of games to choose from.