http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2011/12/xbox-36...

gay.

Not binding. I'm pretty sure that standard BS is in every one of those long-as-shit-so-nobody-reads-it consumer contracts.

That's definitely not how you spell "confidence".

Everytime Microsoft starts looking good, they do something stupid to mess it all up.

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/12/ob...

fucking stupid!

I dont' really trust any company, but we'll have to see if Microsoft turns around for the next console.

I understand they need to protect some of their stuff but (here comes the broken record) not at the expense of the consumer, especially if they are shipping shoddy products.
Have you ever seen a company advertise their gaming console as one that is guaranteed not to break for more than a year? Well, if console gaming doesn't die (unlike some are claiming... everything will go to the "cloud", ugh, shoot me when that happens), you're going to.

edit
It's not until these guys are hanging by their balls that they reach out to you for your business, like Sega once had to do.
i agree with Grift that it's amazing how consumers will put up with and support such half-assedness.

You have a great controller, with the worst d-pad ever.
you have a great console, with the highest rate of failure ever.
you have an operating system release roller coaster that seems to be created to sucker everyone into buying what the previous iteration should have been.
GFWL is a fucking broken joke and shouldn't even be a thing (plus they don't release games for it).

God, I could on and on. All they have is Halo and Gears of War, some well placed thumb sticks, a superior graphics solution to the PS3, and maybe a decent UI for the 360 (though I still think it's terrible).

Windows 7 is about to be dropped once 8 starts catching on for the noobs that don't know what a Start button is, and it's all over.

I'm back to collecting G.I. Joe action figures.

Oh yeah, and Forza, which is fucking awesome.

Absolutely true, but you can't fault Microsoft for wanting to protect themselves from some of the legal idioticy that people throw at them.

Microsoft's Enforcement Team has been banning people like crazy lately. And these aren't profile bans either, these are console bans, which means if that person wants to play on LIVE again they have to buy another 360 and establish another membership. These bans are over everything from racial and sexual harassment to using modified software or gear to enhance gameplay and/or avatar profiles. When they are given the boot they launch lawsuits. Apparently there are people who want to be able to cheat, harass and send threatening messages of murder and rape and still remain active members.

Then there are the parents whose children use their credit cards on LIVE and rack up charges in MS space point purchases. I'm sure you heard the latest case of the woman whose 11 year old son racked up £1,082.52 over a six month period on his mom's debit card. There are MANY cases like this one, and they all get angry and sue Microsoft when they won't refund the purchases. And this is going to remain a problem in the age of digital purchases. It doesn't matter whether your kid knew what he/she was doing or not, the content was already downloaded, you can't upload it back to Microsoft the way you take an unwanted purchase back to a retail store. But this really speaks more about how parents allow their children to have hours and hours of unmonitored access than anything else. The 360's parental controls would have blocked all of these unwanted purchases, why won't parents use them?

Then there are people who basically feel that once they've purchased something it's basically theirs to do with as they please, so they knowingly violate the console's TOS by tampering with the 360's firmware and then become incensed when Microsoft bans the console from access. There's even case out there right now where a guy is suing Microsoft for fraud because he doesn't believe the space points system is financially accurate.

Sure, go after Microsoft over RRODs and privacy issues, but suing them because your kid took your credit card or likes to threaten people is ridiculous.

that's all something else. I appreciate the effort though, and people should be aware.

Yep... i'm pretty sure Sony have done this to in there new PSN contract.

i had 9 360s, i bought 1

I'm a Muppet for tolerating it as long as i did, but I'm not that much of a Muppet.

Dave`s just got a silver tongue rofl! When the lady on the other end of the phone learned that he`d go round and
`Fix` her washing machine, she soon got his 360 repaired lol.

Some of you are talking as if MS wanted this to happen, I agree that we shouldn't really expect these things to happen but its been a pretty common trend in most first production consoles, especially ones with CD/DVD drives. PS2 had a lot of DVD problems from what i remember.

I'm almost certain that MS won't cheap out in the same way they did with the 360, and yea like others have said it cost them a lot of money.

Yup PC parts go wrong all the time but thats something much easier to solve. (you could say that some GPU's don't even come with enough cooling these days)

FWIW my launch Japanese 360 is still working fine, I do like an ironic story.

It was something to do with the heat causing the CPU to lift off the motherboard and the V-clamp not holding it down or something.

The D-pad is not faulty grift its more a design flaw and them being cheap again, for them to provide a PS3 style d-pad they would have to pay royalities or so the story goes.

BTW I never praise MS I think they are shit, I did lose a lot of respect for them over the RROD but it happened, I can only hope they don't repeat the same mistake next time.Well any company is not afraid to cut corners and cheap out if they can get away with it.

I trust SOME companies like AMD, Intel, nvidia, Sennheiser, Samsung, Nintendo etc

When was the last time AMD had a major CPU or GPU recall or even Intel for that matter? The products built by these companies are extremely solid

Did Xbox have a high failure rate though ?

People aren't saying that they do it from the kindness of their hearts. That's whole idea is just lame. I know they don't "care" about the consumer beyond their ability to consume, but I certainly don't think the company is nefarious or trying rip me off. I was just saying that they handled the situation like a good company should- preserving their brand by sticking by the product and doing what they can to keep the customer coming back. Hell, that's all I WANT them to do (beyond making a perfect product of course). If some company came at me and told me they'd sell me something because they loved me, I laugh in their lying faces.

I think anyone can personally identify with the frustration, but a flawless computer or game console that NEVER has any problems is a very rare thing.

This is why for every gamer's own peace of mind it's very important that they purchase a full (2 years at least) replacement warranty from whatever retailer you get your console. Something goes wrong, it's replaced without any hassles or headaches. Just as long as the console you bought isn't a special edition like the Star Wars 360 or MW 360, those are made in limited quantity and cannot be replaced when those units run out.

Once the manufacturer's warranty expires, it becomes our responsibility to cover the cost of repairs or replacement. **exits thread quickly**

lol yeah..

This is probably best rant about 360 failure lol:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRq4To9kxQA

I don't think there can be another RROD fiasco again. They shouldn't have rushed it and released it on 2006. Even PS3 was rushed and everyone said it 600$ BR player, has no games and what not.

They should take their time and have a really good upgrade to current gen console. I do not see anything wrong with 500-600$ console. But with motion control, casual market and making cheaper console for masses is definitely a important criteria I guess.

Insane numbers for the 360! 1.7million in nov!!, 7yrs old and still selling crazy numbers, i hope MS don't rethink there next-gen strategy and delay it.

http://twitter.com/#!/majornelson/status/145281603...