How are red rings of death not a bigger issue for microsoft?

[RadarScope1]

I would imagine that if you're buying a 360 today it's much less likely to RROD than one made the first two years of the machine's lifespan. I think hardware tweaks plus MS warranties make it less of a hazard for potential buyers.

[kinn]

My 360 is currently at one of their repair centres. This is the third time for me. What I think is astonishing is how they just send out a refurb which will most like mess up even quicker.

If you have to send one in for repair more than once they should at the very least send you a new one.

[D.D.D.]

The only thing that comes close to this level of awful quality is the original playstation (remember having to turn it upside down and having massive skipping issues?) or the original nintedo (blowing cartridges and taking em out, putting em back in).

You're forgetting about the most analogous example: PS2's and the dreaded Disc Read Error. Just like Sony eventually fixed the problem, Microsoft has in fact fixed the problem. It's just that you have to buy the right 360. I'm pretty sure we will be seeing a class action lawsuit, the same way Sony saw one over the PS2.

There is a class action suit in CA right now~ There you go.

[kgcarini]

How is it that xbox 360 is still outselling ps3 when its pretty much a sure bet your system will fail? I don't own a PS3, but I am on my second Xbox 360, and it failed. I saw a poll on xbox-scene.org (not a unbiased source)where only 31% of people who anwered said they had not had a xbox 360 that failed. Thats two systems that have a failed. If you buy a xbox 360 and use it, it will fail. The only thing that comes close to this level of awful quality is the original playstation (remember having to turn it upside down and having massive skipping issues?) or the original nintedo (blowing cartridges and taking em out, putting em back in). Is it that people dont know about the red rings of death or that they dont care?

I've been asking myself this question too. I have students that have sent back thier 360's 5 times! I also only know of only two of my students that have never had an issue. Americans are idoits plain and simple. If this happened back in the genesis/snes days, the console would have failed because the publishers would not have supported defective hardware. BLAME THE PUBLISHERS! They are continuing to make games for crappy, defective hardware! X-BOX 360 = C-Box 360 (Crap-Box 360)

[RadarScope1]

How is it that xbox 360 is still outselling ps3 when its pretty much a sure bet your system will fail? I don't own a PS3, but I am on my second Xbox 360, and it failed. I saw a poll on xbox-scene.org (not a unbiased source)where only 31% of people who anwered said they had not had a xbox 360 that failed. Thats two systems that have a failed. If you buy a xbox 360 and use it, it will fail. The only thing that comes close to this level of awful quality is the original playstation (remember having to turn it upside down and having massive skipping issues?) or the original nintedo (blowing cartridges and taking em out, putting em back in). Is it that people dont know about the red rings of death or that they dont care?

I've been asking myself this question too. I have students that have sent back thier 360's 5 times! I also only know of only two of my students that have never had an issue. Americans are idoits plain and simple. If this happened back in the genesis/snes days, the console would have failed because the publishers would not have supported defective hardware. BLAME THE PUBLISHERS! They are continuing to make games for crappy, defective hardware! X-BOX 360 = C-Box 360 (Crap-Box 360)

Ya know, I'm getting a little sick of people saying the hardware is total crap. Yeah, the defective rate is high. Way too high. But obviously people see some value in playing games in the 360. As long as there's money to be made, publishers will make games for this hardware. I've been happy with my 360 -- there's plenty of great games to play on it, many of them exclusives. I'm not a fanboy, just a rational thinker. It's a market. People have the choice to play games on a lot of devices and the 360 is a viable choice for many people thus far for whatever reason.

When the OP asks the question "how is it not a bigger problem," I wonder if he's thought about how big a problem it likely already HAS been for Microsoft. Obviously it's held the hardware back. Isn't it conceivable that if the RROD problem never existed that MS would have sold millions more units, would have held off the Wii for a longer period of time, and would be absolutely crushing the PS3 right now, as opposed to merely beating it?

[MrPopo]

I think the question the OP was asking is why is the 360 a successful console with such a high defect rate? And I feel the answer is due to the fact that the original Xbox was a stable enough platform, and got enough exclusives, that Microsoft was able to get a good library of software onto the system. Thus, you're given the choice between Halo and getting your 360 repaired every 6 months, or no Halo at all. And unfortunately, it seems like people want their Halo.

[gradualmeltdown]

The 360 has turned out to be a fine system software wise for me. Hardware is another story. RROD happened once to me, not fun but decent repair service.

My concerns are 10 years down the line. I have something like 16 games. Hopefully MS continues backward compatibility support into the next few generations. Question is will they even have disc drives? Why not just copy them but what about copyright? Too damn complicated lets go back to cartridges!

[Ack]

Man, what's with all the "Americans are stupid" stuff in this thread? We're talking about a console here, one that's cheaper than the PS3(at one point by leaps and bounds), and still offers a better game selection than the Wii if you prefer games geared towards adults.

I've had two 360s, one of which had a faulty disc drive, the other I got free from a friend when it RRoDed on him. When I couldn't get the required info to ship it in to Microsoft, I opened up both, switched the drives out so the working 360 with the bad drive worked perfectly and the other got reduced to spare parts, and I installed a new fan for better cooling and quieter running. Now I'm waiting for an RRoD, but the instant it happens I'm planning on ordering the kit to fix it myself and simply handle it that way.

All in all, I'd say it's served as a great training ground for me, since I've never really opened a console before. Now I feel a lot more confident about it and I feel I can handle the faulty hardware no problem. My biggest problem has simply been the lack of titles I want to play.

[peace4myheart]

I have always been a loyal playstation fan but even I am not stupid enough to be loyal to a certain brand and deny myself of some gaming goodness. I really want to buy an xbox360 JPN for my shmups fix but the only thing holding me back right now is my fear of the RROD. I always look at my purchase as an investment. I still have my sega CDX and is working just fine. Of course if I drop $200+ on a system, I want it to last for a very long time. I am just going to wait awhile until all the inventories in Japan have cleared out and the new 360 with the new falcon chipset or something better is put on sale. I don't know how long I can wait cause I NEED to play those awesome shmups. Probably hold out by next summer. Who knows. It might be even cheaper by then.

[RadarScope1]

I share the concerns about "down the road." I always keep my stuff and I don't want to toss out my 360 games because of faulty hardware. I believe the next Xbox will feature some pretty good BC. I can see the focus shifting more to Xbox Live as a platform, with the hardware just a gateway. You'll be able to play the old games, keep your gamertag and gamerscore, etc. At least that's my hope.