Rings of Red

No. The crashing is due to a poorly manufactured piece of hardware that overheats when put under pressure. FORZA is simply stressing the 360 and it's breaking.

 

I wonder how MS will response to these ... " We continue to say the vast majority of the people are really happy with it. " ?..

 

70% is still a majority

 

Yeah, but not nearly so "vast." Notice no one ever says "a plurality of the people are really happy with it!"

 

well just because a console gives someone the rings does not mean that they would not be happy with it.

I know plenty of people who are enjoying the system (and the games) so much that when it failed they just got a replacement under warranty or bought a new one.

because they are happy with the 360 system and you know... things break.

if mine crapped out tomorrow I could not get a replacement here fast enough.

 

Hmm... Maybe people are just SO happy and careful that they all did like this guy?

 

yep youve prolly noticed ms have not mentioned the 3-5% figure for a long time, instead all responses are non specifically worded or else evasive.
to the guy whos had 11 failures (if hes reading) if it breaks again, dont complain to much.
a common technique if someone cant win an argument is to resort to character assassination

true im sure theres heaps of ppl that will just buy a new one, whats $400 seriously to a alot of ppl thats chickenfeed, perhaps this was ms's strategy, you know like the lightbulb makers (joke), its certainly inflated the sales figures

 

yea I'm sure that was the 80,000/mo difference between that and PS3 in NA the past few months.

this thread is so funny in that many who post in it (continually) do not even own a 360 and I'm sure some of those are thinking that "the Red Rings!" should slow down sales.

conversely, I think the problem is less significant than most think, the warranty is decent and the system is so cool and fun to own that it really is not impacting sales (to a measurable degree) at all.

 

Yes things break down but not this much! If mine broke down I would get a replacement because I'm not just going to say goodbye to an expensive electronic when I have warranty on it. But it's not something I would take with gusto. It does not mean I won't be annoyed as all hell having to get my x360 replaced, even more so if it happens more than once. Thank God I've so far had good luck with my x360.

 

see... there you go me too

happy ... and if it broke... walk in, walk out same day at Game Crazy.. easy peasy.

 

Hehe , things break and when it fails just get a replacement under warranty huh ?..

Come and tell these to that who doesn't have a chance to get a X360 under warranty [ because MS officially does not sell it here ] :] ... They'll listen to you , believe.

 

Anyone think Sony PR is going to try and take advantage of this soon? I'm half surprised that they didn't already. A bad reputation as a faulty console could definately affect sales if that reputation becomes widespread.

It seems like MS is really, really close to having a PR nightmare if this issue gains momentum with the media. I think Sony's high price and poor sales are big enough issues to overshadow it a bit, but just barely.

 

Edit: Nevermind I see the DailyTech article has already been posted. I just saw it on Joystiq. My bad.

 

neoGAF has done an interesting analysis of failure rates there. It's quite conservative, although the sample size isn't ideal, but still large. Basically, without prior announcing that he was doing so, this guy counted how many people had a verified gamertag from a XBLA automated sales tracking thread. He then crossreferenced that against a thread on neoGAF reporting failed 360 units. Only people on the first list who reported a failed unit or units were counted. Where multiple 360s failed, he added those to his sample size. In the end, he found that 197 out of 775 units belonging to neoGAF members have failed - or, a 25% failure rate. The method is conservative, since people on the first list may have had 360s fail and not reported it in the other thread..so this is at least how many have failed among those 775. Coincidentally or not, those numbers are also in the same ballpark as those coming out of retail sources.

 

Even with such a small sample you can easily conclude that a confidence interval for the failure rate would certainly not include 5% in its lower estimate. I think this can have a serious effect on sales once the cassuals find out. I believe most informed people should be waiting for them to fix the situation (and a price drop too) I know my brother is. The thing is the longer they have to wait the more attractive the other cosoles become.

 

perhaps not that high, but as u said u know plenty of ppl who when their xbox broke brought a new one.
( hmmm so youre saying u know plenty of ppl that have had a xbox break, so u now imply the failure rate is higher than u talked about months ago, talk about putting your foot in it )

whilst there are some ppl when their xbox fail just buy a new one, i believe theres a higher number of ppl that will not buy a xbox until the current hardware issues have been solved.
notice, theres always been talk about the xbox reliability, but over the last 3-4 months its certainly been getting more vocal/press coverage.
perhaps correlates with the drop in xbox sales figures over the last few months (even with the introduction of a new model)

 

Seems like the momentum is building. Is full-scale backlash from the media inevitable?

Anyone think RoHS has anything to do with it? I heard that lead-free solder sort of sucks, and XB360 is probably one of the first mass CE devices with high thermal stress. I'm having difficulty finding any info about Wii/PS3's RoHS compliance, so it may only be in Europe.

Not really an excuse, but a likely explanation given that, as far as we know, Microsoft never had electronics problems near this scale before, especially with the original XBox.

(BTW, he updated the thread and said 20% is more correct due to complications of multiple failues. Not that this is any more acceptable...)

 

It would seem inevitable yhat some kind of backlash is about to occur. I know several die hard 360 owners who have had units fail on them repeatedly and have written complaints not only to trading standards but also to various media watchdogs.

Perhaps MS should stop buying exclusive content and invest in better QA istead?

 

Exclusive content is more likely to get new customers, which is what's really important for MS. If MS lost exclusives and so reasons t buy an XB360, the fact the machine's reliable isn't enough to sell it! After landing the customers, they can sort them out however afterwards. By then they'll be able to point their large install base to devs and hey presto.

Putting it another way, if the XB360 had launched at a higher price because of a better quality build, would it sell even as well, let alone better? Build quality is something people tend not to care about until after the purchase when it starts affecting them. If XB360 gains a reputation for breaking down amongst the general public, which I don't know that it has yet, it's still the cheapest solution for HD gaming and with exclusives people want. It still has key selling points that differentiate it and will see people 'taking their chances' and buy it despite the chance of failure.

IMO, the main reason for sorting out failures is to save cash on servicing! This must be costing MS a bundle. As came up in prior threads, those who doubted a 20% failure rate said it cost too damned much and MS would have fixed it if it was that high. Well, seems like 20% isn't too high and MS are losing that much money. Maybe they've been unwilling to redesign the system before 65nm components are out, and perhaps these have been delayed and delayed?

 

But if the damage is done and you end with a brand that is more known for its unreliability than the quality of the platform then you have a problem. It' that hi-tech I'm afraid to switch it in case it breaks, but the games look good in the screenshots...

Already locally there is at least one major outlet whose reps are educating customers over the reliability issues advising either waiting for it to be resolved or make different purchase. They probably see a couple of hundred people a day. Takes years to make a good rep and only days to destroy one.