July 5, 2007 -
Let's give credit where credit is due.As recently as this morning, GamePolitics has been beating on Microsoft over the massive Xbox 360 hardware failure rate. But today, in an interview broadcast on the Major Nelson podcast, MS exec Peter Moore announced a stunning - and very consumer-friendly -warranty policy.
Moore has also posted an open letter on the Xbox.com site explaining the new warranty:
You've spoken, and we’ve heard you. Good service and a good customer experience are areas of the business that we care deeply about. And frankly, we've not been doing a good enough job...
...we are announcing today a three-year warranty that covers any console that displays a three flashing red lights error message... Microsoft will repair the console free of charge—including shipping—for three years from the console’s purchase date...
If we have let any of you down in the experience you have had with your Xbox 360, we sincerely apologize. We are taking responsibility and are making these changes to ensure that every Xbox 360 owner continues to have a great experience...
I want to thank you, on behalf of all us at Microsoft, for your loyalty.
GP: Aw, Peter, you big tattooed lug, you had us at three year warranty...
Comments
You're slamming his opinion. So what if his opinion is that that other guy's opinion sucks? Yes, I'm slamming your opinion that he needs to shut up.
Your logic is glaringly flawed.
But I guess this is to be expected from the creators of the "Blue Screen of Death"
We're not actually going to acknowledge the failure rate or sort the problem out at all, but we will continue to fire fight 3 times longer than before... and now with a dwindling supply of companies willing to fix them too!
Colour me unimpressed, and you still arent having my money for one. FESS UP AND SORT OUT THE DAMNED PROBLEM MS!
Bravo Microsoft.
Right now I'm tied between the 360 and the Wii. I've been playing the Wii lately (RE4), but I really like how the 360's online service works and what it has.
Granted, I would have preferred that Microsoft just build a better machine. You don't hear about these kinds of failures with the Wii, or even more surprisingly the PlayStation 3.
And slightly off topic, that picture has always made me laugh. Just something about the expression.
ouch :P
last I checked they had it all ready to roll out and ninvida changed thier minds about the BWC thing a few months before launch.
GoodRobotUs
I'd say design flaw,they are not making the process easy enough for low qauilty factories thus you get a high number of fail rate.
I don't know if this is a design flaw, a power supply problem, or MS just mis-judged how long the machine was going to be used at one time, but as long as they are taking steps to erase the problem, that, I guess is what is important.
I only wish that this included disk drive problems, but C'est La Vie(Such is life).
The letter says so:
"We will also retroactively reimburse any of you who paid for repairs related to problems indicated by this error message in the past."
Anyways, this is all music to my ears. Now I won't have to watch my 360 with one eye open while I'm sleeping. :)
Um? Nvida could have taken them for everycent they had made on the box.
They would have given trade secrets to ati. Even then It might not have been enough.
I like some competition between the Graphics card makers.
@ZippyDSMlee
@sqlrob
http://www.destructoid.com/circuit-city-advertises-100-ps3-price-cut-to-...
well, it does sound like Sony may just be doing a $100 price cut... no actual confirmation from them, but that's what circuit city is advertising, right after E3 no less.
If it's true than it does make you wonder wheather or not MS will follow them. Afterall, despite hardware failure, at $400, the 360 is still the cheaper console and with a stronger library it has a rather commanding lead. The 360 may not see a price cut until the PS3 starts looking like an actual threat... though if Sony really is placing in the price cut so soon, we may see a $50 cut for the 360 come the holidays
...once I have a job.
Extending the warranty doesn't mean it's stopped breaking. Once they've fixed the problems, *then* I'll consider one.
@ZippyDSMlee:
If Sony is doing a price cut, I don't think MS will be far behind in order to keep the lead.
As for people saying that "this isn't good enough", it is really STUPID of Microsoft to not have a revision ready and announce this, since that means they'll spend more than $1B on the future sales. They must have done something to the hardware finally to fix this, otherwise this will just cost them more.
I figure this'll just leave the stigma that 360s break all the time and everyone will continue saying MS has shoddy hardware. I still have a working PS2 during the moments that people had theirs breaking... I'll be happy if the 360 I buy lasts that long :)
I wish MS would have broken IP/CP to put full BWC into it, they wouldn't have lost much money in a lawsuit and it could be offset from selling to the masses of BWC hold outs like me,oh well maybe they will refine a deal and make a BWC compilable new 360 for 100 more *L*
JC
I would like a 100$ off the new consoles by Xmas too,it could happen hell a 350 premium and a 400 elite is not to far out of the question but now that they have stated they are fixing the problem price drops wont come till late 08.
God damnit MS. You should have done this weeks ago and started offering refunds for every 3 ring error you have charged people for.
I think you should shut the fuck up. he's entitled to his opinion and so are you, but you shouldn't slam other peoples opinions just becuase they differ from yours.
In my opinion, in fact, it might as well count as factual. the Xbox360 has better games both of the next gen consoles combined. right now they Wii's top games are both on the Gamecube already, Zelda, and Resident Evil 4, and on the horizon theres not much other then Mario Galaxy, and Metroid Prime. the PS3's top game is Resistance Fall Of Man which is a great game but not ground breaking, and on the horizon is a lot of anticipated games that are also coming to the 360. due to Microsofts 1 year head start, they got games like Gears Of War, Lost Planet, Dead Rising, Forza 2, and on the horizon is a lot of great PC, and 360 only games that will be cross compatible, not only that some 360 exclusives like Too Human, and Mass Effect.
In all it looks like the 360 is the dominate market space for games.
(Notice i said games, not consoles, becuase the Wii is selling like crazy)
what is this 2 or 3 times as bad as the DRE PS2 fiasco?
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in any case like it or not the 360 is a viable console I would love it if they would make it BWC with the xbox because of that I put the console on the back of my to get list.
@Zippy
But will they still have a people willing to buy at that point? I love my 360, and I am lucky enough to not have had mine break but really, my faith in MSG as a hardware provider has been shaken.
Its worrisome, and really they should have said, "Shit we have a problem, time to offer free repairs on all systems"
Expensive? Yes, but the good will it buys them, and the experience could get them alot of fans in the generation to come. Short term might hurt the bottom line, but this is MS we are talking about, they can take the hit and make it up later.
Please note, this is why I will never run a publicly owned company.
@Zippy
BWC is a bitch on the 360 because of the change in GPU makers and the sheer fact that it has to be done on a game by game basis makes it rather hard.
They can't go to a dev and say "You have to make your old games BWC"
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Beat the PS2 game selection? The 360? How many REALLY good games are on that console people are always bitching about? 4? Maybe 5? Most of them being multi-platform games?
Please, do yourself a favour and STFU.
ya...even the GC has a better line up sure the 360 has 2 maybe 3 great games but the PS2,Xbox and GC have that many or more plus a ton of ok games.
chadachada
do us all a favor expand your horizons and play more than games on the 360......what you just said amounts to about the same as a PS3 fanboy claiming the PS3 is the best with all the ps3 games it has on it.....
While this is a nice gesture, it's not a fix. Three years is not all that long. Unless they're planning on releasing the 720 Varial Heelflip within the next two years, their failure-prone hardware will continue to conk out while people are playing it. They're just delaying the complaints by an extra few years.
I simply don't trust my 360 any more. My replacement failed within three weeks of being fixed. I carefully monitor its behaviour and try to limit the amount of pressure I put it under. By contrast, I think nothing of leaving my PC on overnight to complete some CPU-intensive task. The 360 is a console. It is designed to be effectively zero maintenance, standardised, and idiotproof within reason. I can't think of another consumer device with such a high failure rate.
"We have been following this issue closely, and with on-going testing have identified several factors that can cause a general hardware failure indicated by three flashing red lights on the console. To address this issue, and as part of our ongoing work, we have already made certain improvements to the console."
That would be bad, bad, bad...
We both got our answers, and they're both "NO"
http://www.joystiq.com/2007/07/05/peter-moore-tells-joystiq-about-the-ne...