It's long been know that Microsoft's Xbox 360s haven't been all that reliable.  In fact, it's become sort of a running joke with its RRoD (Red Ring of Death).

Long story short, the consoles have a staggeringly high failure rate.  Most gamers know this.

Now SquareTrade, a warranty provider based in the US, have revealed that their research has shown 23.7% of 360s have suffered complete failures.  As a comparison, Sony's PS3's failure rate is 10% and Nintendo's Wii is just 2.7%.

How much is this hurting Microsoft's bottom line, we don't know.

I contacted Microsoft yesterday as I wanted to know what their position was on the 'disc eating' issue (that's where the Xbox 360 console's DVD-drive mechanism takes its toll on the media placed inside it, rendering the game unplayable).  Here's their official line:

There are millions of Xbox 360 consoles in use today worldwide, and it is important to us that our customers enjoy the best gaming experience we can offer.  We encourage any Xbox 360 customer who believes they have an issue to contact local customer support or www.xbox.com/support.

 

It is important to emphasize the following points.  The Xbox 360 is designed so that it will not damage game discs during normal operation.  Scratches on discs can be caused by a variety of things, and are all unique.  When the Xbox 360 console is physically moved during operation it may damage the disc.  Accordingly, there is an appropriate warning sticker on the face of the disc tray, which a user must remove before first using the system.  We also provide similar warnings online and in the instruction manual that comes with each console.  We encourage consumers to follow all instructions to ensure proper operation of the Xbox 360 console.

My thoughts on this:

• No other console I've ever used has scratched the games that are inside them
• Both the Wii and PS2 that my sister's young ones have, have had the usual knocks and spills that kids are capable of dishing out. None of their games have been damaged in either machine even when knocked over in use!
• I will hold my hands up and say that I was guilty of turning the console over on the first occasion this is what led to the first disc getting 'the ring'. Such things DON'T damage the discs inside either the PS2 or Wii (incidentally the label MS mention only gets seen by the person setting up the console for the first time, which in our case wasn't me)
  
• Do Sony or Nintendo put similar warnings on theirs or is it not necessary as they've been better designed and/or made to a much higher standard?
• The second 'eating' incident on my niece and nephew's 360 involved nothing more than the game being played in the console whilst stationary and in the horizontal position.  Surely that should be good enough?
• MS should insist their consoles are used in an earthquake-proof room, set up on dampeners and made level to a nano-degree (or something!)

Looks like the 360 will be going back to the shop for an exchange (although I'll recommend that the kids go for a full refund and cut their losses).  An Xbox 360 isn't suitable for use in any normal household.  It's far too 'delicate' for adults and children alike.  PS3 here we come...

PS - can anyone recommend some family friendly games for the PS3?

During the week I helped my eldest nephew 'pen' an email to Microsoft's Xbox 360 support team.  I had a chance to read through their generic reply and their generic advice.  Neither helped but it at least taught my nephew a valuable lesson... Don't waste too much time typing up an email to such companies as they probably won't even take the time to read it!

So what's our beef?  Well my niece and nephews got their 360 for Xmas and as much as they like it, there's one slight problem.  What is it?  Their...

...Xbox 360 eats games!

It's 'eaten' two so far, and they're rather expensive treats that we can't afford to keep feeding it!  I kinda blamed myself for the first one, even if it was something that had never happened to games in either the PS2 and Wii that we've used extensively over the last couple of years.  The second one, however, was 100%, without a doubt, the console.  How am I so sure?  Check out these posts on the subject and you'll see that we were far from the only ones suffering SDS (scratched disc syndrome)...

Kotaku:

Microsoft sued over scratched Xbox 360 game discs

N4G.com:

Microsoft knew about all of the 360's problems in 2005?

CVG:

MS accused of ignoring scratched disc problems

...and again in EDGE (they're both owned by Future, which I didn't realised until now!)...

EDGE:

MS accused of ignoring scratched disc problems

Shacknews.com:

MS - Xbox 360 disc scratching affects 'less than 1% of owners'

Microsoft, seriously dude, what the fudge?  We love your console, as do clearly millions of others, and yet it's made in such a way that those 100-in-1 console/controller thingamajigs they sell for a fiver down the market are produced to a higher standard!  I mean, how difficult is it to make a console that doesn't scratch to death the expensive games we place into it?

Now we have to figure out what to do next.  Do we RMA it, lose all that's on it and have the kids' forgoe theit console for a few weeks/couple of months?  Do we take it back to the shop and get an exchange/refund?  Anyone?  Right now I'm tempted to suggest that we get a full refund, flog the games off at CEX and plump for a PS3.  Sure it's expensive.  Sure it has far less games.  Sure it's not perfect - but, as far as we know, it can do the job of playing video games without er, damaging them!  It's the B&O of consoles, whereas the 360 is the Matsui!

Since Christmas, two Xbox 360 games have been scratched whilst inside the console.  Both games are now unreadable.  Previous to the arrival of the 360 (back on the 25th Dec) I can't remember even one time when a game for any other console of ours has had this happen to them.

What gives with the 360?  What makes it damage them?  What's so different about it compared to the Wii, PS2, Gamecube, Dreamcast and original Xbox?  Many, many hours of gaming on them, plus being shuttled from house to house yet never has one damaged a game that's inside it!

So, anyone else out there with a similar problem?  Is this a known issue with Microsoft's latest console?  Will it keep happening?  And will we be able to get replacement games at no extra cost?  My nephew only started playing on his (nearly) £40 Call of Duty: World at War one Wednesday, could no longer play it on Sunday!

They've been looking at my posts on the Hutchison Whampoa 'spin off' an awful lot (and aren't interested in the rest of my content!)