THE BORE

General => Video Game Bored => Topic started by: Eel O'Brian on December 17, 2006, 01:27:12 AM

Title: Microsoft, you incompetent bastards
Post by: Eel O'Brian on December 17, 2006, 01:27:12 AM
So I was playing some Viva Pinata last night (send Pinatas plz), and my screen started doing that thing where all the black onscreen  turns purplish.  Since this is my second Xbox 360, I know exactly what this means.  I turned the system off, then back on, and it went away, but it's only a matter of time, now.  I bought a BB extended warranty for $50 when I bought the first one at launch, and that shit the bed on me back in July.  I purchased another extended warranty with the replacement.  What this means is, the Xbox 360 doesn't cost $400, it costs $450 dollars, unless you want to roll those dice.  Without a replacement plan, you are fucked.  I wonder what the true percentage of failing 360s is?

I don't know if I'm willing to spend another $50 extra this time.  I may just get the replacement unit and put it on ebay along with all my games, I'm so goddamned mad right now.  Hardware failure after only eight months is bad enough, but hardware failure after four and a half months is refuckingdiculous.  I don't even fucking use the thing that much - maybe ten hours a week.  Maybe.   I will say this - I will sign on for any class action lawsuits I come across, now.  Especially after I called Xbox in July about the first one (not wanting to use my plan on what was still basically a new system), and the doofus chick wanted to charge me over $100 (I forget the exact amount) to fix it.  Fucking fragile piece of shit, and they know it.  I've enjoyed my 360(s) when they were working, but I'll be damned if I'm going to keep putting up with this hassle.
Title: Re: Microsoft, you incompetent bastards
Post by: brawndolicious on December 17, 2006, 01:31:53 AM
God damn, get a memory card to put all your stuff on if you don't have one.  Why don't you just get it from costco?  Bundle-rapeage?
Title: Re: Microsoft, you incompetent bastards
Post by: MrAngryFace on December 17, 2006, 01:33:57 AM
I havent had mine fail ever. I dunno what I would do if it did fail, probably use the 2 year I have on it from gamecrazy to get a new one.
Title: Re: Microsoft, you incompetent bastards
Post by: Eel O'Brian on December 17, 2006, 01:38:21 AM
Best Buy let me swap out the hard drive on the replacement the first time, since the Xbox doofus chick told me the red light code wasn't a hard drive failure.  I am not a Costco member, since I have no use for 2 gallon jugs of mayonaisse.  The official Xbox replacement plan is $69.95 (I think), but I don't want a refurbed unit as a replacement, and they don't guarantee you'll get a new unit back.  With Best Buy it's $50 for two years, and you just walk right out the door with a new unit.

That isn't the point, though.  The point is that in little over a year (it was only a few weeks after my first 360 started doing the purple thing that it failed), I will have gone through two $400 pieces of electronic equipment that's been used relatively infrequently (for what it is), and only in the way it was intended.  I've taken care of it, both in handling and in placement.  This is bullshit.
Title: Re: Microsoft, you incompetent bastards
Post by: demi on December 17, 2006, 01:42:03 AM
Mine is on for extended periods of time and I've had zero problems to this day. Bought my system in August.

KNOCK ON WOOD
Title: Re: Microsoft, you incompetent bastards
Post by: Eel O'Brian on December 17, 2006, 01:46:23 AM
I was one of those people saying "This 360 failure rate has got to be exaggerated, mine is working just fine, no problems whatsoever!" right before mine coughed and died in July.
Title: Re: Microsoft, you incompetent bastards
Post by: demi on December 17, 2006, 01:47:29 AM
I didn't get the warranty, so I'm pretty fucked when mine does croak.
Title: Re: Microsoft, you incompetent bastards
Post by: Tigerriot on December 17, 2006, 01:50:17 AM
I have a launch system that still works just fine, but i'm equally pissed at the pathetic reliability of the 360.  Even as I say my 360 works fine, i've still experienced a handful of odd situations with it, where the machine started acting up, but somehow went back to normal.  Soon after buying my machine at launch, I called Microsoft like a fool and paid them another $60 for their 2 year warranty.  :(  I had NEVER bought an extended warranty on a system before this one, but I realized quite early that it was necessary with this buggy hardware.


For the first time in my 20 years as a gamer, I own a system that I know will die prematurely, as it's not a matter of if, but when my Xbox 360 will fail.  Microsoft deserves everything it has coming from this, as they have continually denied the problems are as bad as well all know they really are.

It's rather sickening to see them all play us for fools.  Denying the failure rates are any higher than previous consoles for months, only to later admit that just the launch units had serious problems, and finally deciding to extend the warranties only on those systems.

At some point they're gonna have to just come clean on all of it, and it's not gonna be a pretty picture.  The real shame of it is the sham of a gaming media that refuses to truly call them out on this, as it would mean the loss of future support from Microsoft.  Our gaming "journalists" are owned by the very companies they pretend to cover fairly, and honestly.  That is the true shame of the videogame world today.
Title: Re: Microsoft, you incompetent bastards
Post by: brawndolicious on December 17, 2006, 01:51:09 AM
Quote from: Eel_O_Brian on December 17, 2006, 01:38:21 AM
That isn't the point, though.  The point is that in little over a year (it was only a few weeks after my first 360 started doing the purple thing that it failed), I will have gone through two $400 pieces of electronic equipment that's been used relatively infrequently (for what it is), and only in the way it was intended.  I've taken care of it, both in handling and in placement.  This is bullshit.
ah, I see.  My plan is to hold on to this one (which crashes at least once a week) and return it in a few years.  I've had all the signs of imminent console death like clicking hard drive and disk read errors so I'm not sure if it'll last that long.
Title: Re: Microsoft, you incompetent bastards
Post by: Tigerriot on December 17, 2006, 01:59:45 AM
Quote from: am nintenho on December 17, 2006, 01:51:09 AM
Quote from: Eel_O_Brian on December 17, 2006, 01:38:21 AM
That isn't the point, though.  The point is that in little over a year (it was only a few weeks after my first 360 started doing the purple thing that it failed), I will have gone through two $400 pieces of electronic equipment that's been used relatively infrequently (for what it is), and only in the way it was intended.  I've taken care of it, both in handling and in placement.  This is bullshit.
ah, I see.  My plan is to hold on to this one (which crashes at least once a week) and return it in a few years.  I've had all the signs of imminent console death like clicking hard drive and disk read errors so I'm not sure if it'll last that long.

That is the other little untold story of the Xbox 360 right now.  The number of people out there that are simply dealing with shoddy hardware, but the system will works enough that people put up with it.  It's gonna be real interesting to see where this story goes in the coming year, as people like myself enter year 2 with their machine, and those units start dying. 

The funny thing is that like any scandal, the truth will eventually come out.  Microsoft has been in denial mode for most of the past year, but I can just imagine how stupid they're gonna feel when some mainstream media source really gets a hold of this story, and blows it wide open right as Halo 3 is launching next fall.  How fucking stupid are the Microsoft execs gonna feel when that happens? 

At some point they're gonna have to admit the initial year of the hardware was a shoddy mess, and offer 4 year warranties to all those customers.  Then, they're also gonna have to promise to not send out any of the old hardware as replacement units to the unfortunate customers who got a shitty unit to begin with.  Then they'll probably be forced to offer a longer warranty with the hardware as the consumer confidence in the product will be greatly damaged by the media reports, and they'll lose even more money than they would have if they simply addressed the problem from the beginning.
Title: Re: Microsoft, you incompetent bastards
Post by: Eel O'Brian on December 17, 2006, 02:06:51 AM
I just don't get it.  My original Xbox was a horse.  I played the shit out of that thing, from 2002 to right before the 360 launch, and never had any problems with it.  The disc drive got a little finicky with a couple of games in the last couple of months I had it, but that was it.  Never crashed, nothing.  But I've felt from the start like the 360 is built out of eggshells.  I know that systems with a disc drive inherently have a finite life span, but again, this is ridiculous.  Like I said, I don't even play it that much, so I wonder where the problems are stemming from.
Title: Re: Microsoft, you incompetent bastards
Post by: max_cool on December 17, 2006, 02:23:57 AM
I haven't bought a new console yet. 360 dies, Wii waggles and PS3... god knows what's going to happen with that. Maybe I'll just get a new gaming PC instead.

spoiler (click to show/hide)
actually I just can't afford any new console, let alone a new PC... but I'll probably buy a new PC in 2007 and just put it on my credit card.... I'm so fucking american it hurts!
[close]
Title: Re: Microsoft, you incompetent bastards
Post by: MrAngryFace on December 17, 2006, 04:05:07 AM
Welcome to the era of Next Gen, where consoles resemble PCs so much you get ALL the crap that comes with PCs. The only time ive seen the PS3 in action was at a friends house, and in that 5 minutes it was unable to play a game he put in due to some obscure 8 digit error code.

Go figure.

Also, my Xbox died lol. 360 i think ive used more in a year than the original the entire time I owned it. Maybe SOLAR FLARES! lol STATS OMG MAYBE MASS EPIDEMIC.
Title: Re: Microsoft, you incompetent bastards
Post by: bork on December 17, 2006, 05:42:33 AM
Is your 360 in a place where it can be well-ventilated?  Do you keep the room its in dust free often?  That may have something to do with it.
Title: Re: Microsoft, you incompetent bastards
Post by: The Sceneman on December 17, 2006, 05:53:02 AM
Quote from: Eel_O_Brian on December 17, 2006, 01:38:21 AM
the Xbox doofus chick


I really want one of these. Do you need to feed them? Or can you just keep them in the closet and pull her out when you need her?
Title: Re: Microsoft, you incompetent bastards
Post by: Diablos on December 17, 2006, 08:14:46 AM
Damn, MS certainly has no problem catching up to or perhaps even surpassing Sony when it comes to faulty consoles.

WTF, MS?
Title: Re: Microsoft, you incompetent bastards
Post by: Eel O'Brian on December 17, 2006, 12:03:34 PM
Quote from: lyte edge on December 17, 2006, 05:42:33 AM
Is your 360 in a place where it can be well-ventilated?  Do you keep the room its in dust free often?  That may have something to do with it.

Yeah, it's on a separate stand beside my entertainment center.  I vacuum the living room often.  It has plenty of breathing room.
Title: Re: Microsoft, you incompetent bastards
Post by: The Fake Shemp on December 17, 2006, 12:20:54 PM
The original Xbox was a piece of shit.  I went though three - that's right, I said three! - units.  Their customer service is laughable and the charges for repairs are fucking disgraceful.  I hope that class action lawsuit wins out and they're forced to repair everything.
Title: Re: Microsoft, you incompetent bastards
Post by: MrAngryFace on December 17, 2006, 01:54:53 PM
I went through MANY dreamcast and PSOnes and PS2s so there ya go.

Also, to answer LyteEdge's question, yes. I do dust regularly and keep the place clean. Taking good care of what you spend hundreds of dollars on is important :p
Title: Re: Microsoft, you incompetent bastards
Post by: Van Cruncheon on December 17, 2006, 02:15:52 PM
Dreamcast still has the highest failure rate for me -- I have my FIFTH in a box and I'm half-scared to unpackage it. My 360 hasn't been heavily used, and one of the USB ports is wonky, but so far, so good.
Title: Re: Microsoft, you incompetent bastards
Post by: MrAngryFace on December 17, 2006, 02:17:56 PM
I had 5 dreamcasts as BACK UP I was so paranoid. PS1 was broken right out of the box launch day, my replacement had to be put upside down to play fmv without skipping, the ps2 I had stopped reading cds then stopped reading dvds entirely.

People tend to have selective memory around here ;)