Will the Xbox 360 survive past Christmas?

Davey Winder
Monday, 06 October 2008 20:08

Your IT - Entertainment

In response to my questioning, here is the official comment from a Microsoft spokesperson, received this very morning:

"Prompted by what Microsoft viewed as an unacceptable number of repairs to Xbox 360 consoles, a year ago Microsoft announced an expansion of its Xbox 360 warranty."

"Effective July 5, 2007, any original retail Xbox 360 customer who experiences a general hardware failure indicated by three flashing red lights is covered by a three year warranty from date of purchase, with all other issues remaining covered by the standard one-year warranty."

The spokesperson continues "The company conducted extensive investigations into potential sources of general hardware failures and after identifying a number of factors which can cause the general hardware failures, Microsoft has made improvements to the console."

Apparently, Microsoft insists, "The three flashing red lights error message does not signal a single issue and can be caused by a combination of factors."

And concludes "We encourage anyone who is experiencing issues with their Xbox 360 console to call the customer support centre. Our customer service team is well equipped to ensure that all Xbox 360 repairs go smoothly."

I did point out that suggesting that "all Xbox 360 repairs go smoothly" when I was asking specifically about one that had not would appear to be a bit on the bizarre side, as far as sweeping statements go.

Microsoft may have made improvements to the console, all I can say is that they have not worked as far as this one year old Xbox 360 Elite is concerned.

To answer my original question, right now my Xbox 360 is most definitely not fit for purpose and I have huge doubts as to if it ever can be in the current hardware incarnation.

Perhaps the Xbox 720 will truly solve the problems. I will not find out, as my father always told me never to throw good money after bad. So with Christmas coming up, it looks like Santa will have a Nintendo Wii in his sack for me...