IGN Editors 5th 360, 4 died so far...yikes

[Ocelot9]

http://blogs.ign.com/Matt-IGN/ (http://blogs.ign.com/Matt-IGN/)

Well, I walked into EB today and had my broken Xbox 360 replaced. I'm on number five now and I have every reason to believe that this baby won't be lasting too long. Bearing that in mind, would anybody like to make some bets as to how she'll last? The person who comes the closest will earn themselves a free Wii game of their choice. Let the games begin.

On a side note, the fact that nearly every Xbox 360 is doomed to break at some point in time has taught me to appreciate the system while it is working. Tonight, as a finish up an hour or more of Lost Planet (if I can get that much out of this unit), I expect to take a deep breath and thank the heavens above for the glorious bounty of functioning hardware. Unlike Wii and PS3, which keep on going, you just never know with Microsoft's system. So my advice to everyone is to enjoy your blessed time with the console and never say anything hateful to it for every play session could be your last.



This truly scares me. I just nabbed my 2nd 360 from Wallmart and luckilly I have 90 days to return it if something goes wrong. I'm always wondering (Fearing) if and when this one will die too.

[Ocelot9]

Another quote:

http://blogs.ign.com/Matt-IGN/ (http://blogs.ign.com/Matt-IGN/)

When you pay $300 or $400 for a videogame system, you'd like to think that, at the very least, it will work. Apparently Microsoft, however, does not believe this is a necessity for its Xbox 360 console. It's both insane and, at this point, really goddamned ridiculous. I'm not exaggerating when I state that 90 percent of the people I know have returned at least one broken Xbox 360. Many of my co-workers and friends have returned them multiple times. It's unfortunate because, while it is actually doing what it's supposed to, Xbox 360 is a fine system. But at the same time, if you look at the thing wrong, those freakin' red lights of doom shine and there's no going back.

Yesterday, I returned home with my fourth Xbox 360 -- the three earlier ones had all gone haywire on me, showing blinking red lights and error messages. By sheer luck, I got a warranty with the local retailer, which has really saved my ass. I've really come to know the people at my local EB Games because it seems that I'm there returning a useless, shot 360 every month.

Last night, Peer and I played Gears of War cooperatively. Really fun. Had a fantastic time. Today, I picked up the final version of Lost Planet and was all set to play through some of it tonight, but wouldn't you know it? Yep -- I turned on my system and got an error message. Wincing, I turned it off and on again and sure enough the error message returned. A blinking red light on the face of the console complemented this message. No way. Not again. This simply could not be happening. Not with a brand new system. But after I tried resetting six more times, unplugging the console and letting it set, removing the hard drive and video cables, and some voodoo magic for good measure, there was no denying it: yet another broken Xbox 360.

Total time used: about two hours. Seriously, two effin' hours!

Microsoft, you know how to make some truly quality hardware. I have to hand it to you.

Now that I'm through with four Xbox 360s and everybody I know has encountered similar issues with the machine, I have to wonder how Microsoft has the nerve to pretend -- even today -- that nothing is really wrong with its system and that only a very miniscule number of buyers encounter hardware malfunctions. Clearly, something is very wrong. Very, very wrong.

What I find most offensive is that -- had I not bought a warranty with a retailer -- I would actually have to pay for shipping to send this stupid, broken unit back to Microsoft for repair or replacement. When this mess first started so many months ago, Microsoft mailed me a box with return postage paid. However, I can only guess that after hundreds of thousands of people called for replacement systems, the giant realized that it would be too costly to keep doing that.

Tomorrow, I'm going to return to EB Games and trade in 'Blinky' for my fifth Xbox 360 in a year and a half. You know, I'd bet it would be more, but I got lazy and let my last broken one sit for a few months before I took action. It was the busy Wii holiday review season and so I just borrowed my mom's. (Incidentally, hers recently broke, too.)

Meanwhile, by the way, I've got three Wiis in my house and I haven't encountered a single issue. I've got a PS3 in my living room and it's performed flawlessly. These systems may not have Gears of War, but at least I don't need to cross my bloody fingers before I power them on.

I still love Xbox 360. But Microsoft, you really, truly suck. You have a great console and yet your hardware is ****.


360 is doing well, I'll agree but this is one hell of a problem. I'm actually afraid to keep this thing. Yet I have no fears with my PS3...none in the least:(

[Fats]

Admittedly, I'm a little worried about my 360 myself. On Gears, it tends to stall now and again when cutscenes come up and it's stalled a few times so that I had to turn it off. I'm not impressed, and hopefully, it won't get any worse.

EDIT : Microsoft are offering a years warranty right? So if it dies on me it's just a case of reporting it to Microsoft and they're fix it or replace it?

[The Dude]

I went through 4 PS2's in a 2 year span. Shit breaks these days.

[masteratt]

My brother had his since launch but every time we play it gets stuck.

Mostly happens when he tries to go to "blades" (or what the hell ever it's called) during game.
Truly frustrating.

[D3adcell]

I've had mine since launch and no problems. Everyone that I know personally that has one has had no problems. Sounds more like Matt doesnt know how to take care of his shit. I know stuff breaks even if you do (I had my ps2 break twice DRE, and 2 xbox 1's have DRE). But there is no reason you should go through 6 consoles just from manufacturer error. If it happens to him that often why has it not happened to everyone atleast once?

[speed stick]

Yeah this guy definitly does not know how to take care of it. My launch unit did die but it was made in Oct 2005, while my new unit was a Jan 06 unit and it works flawlessly. I play it so damn much too. 5th unit, what a moron.

[Fats]

Well, let's not jump to conclusions here, there's every chance that he takes care of his systems full well and this happened regardless.

[speed stick]

But his 5th. That seems way high. I can see maybe him going on to his third, but fifth.

[Fats]

Well, what was he doing to the 4th 360 in the space of two hours for it to F up again?

[BruceWayneIII]

^^ but how is even 3 units acceptable?

[Hrama]

It's kind of interesting. Where I work, the only problem we have with our Xbox360 are one of the controllers (One has frayed wires on the inside because people abuse them so much) But I swear... one way or another, we end up with more PS2s that don't read disks than anything. Old ones, new ones, it seems to be a recurring feature of the PS2 and I don't mean just "disk read error" I mean not even recognizing or spinning the disk at all. We have 8 used PS2's (Four slims, four regulars) and every last one of them has the same problem. Kind of funny, because none of my friends have ever had to return their's and I've had mine since launch myself and never have had it get testy with me. On the other hand never seen an x360 returned to our store, nor a PS3 or Wii for that matter.

[IEatFriedPikmin]

mine has froze once. but other than that, nothing has gone wrong.

[venomv]

I though MS has most of the problems ironed out.....

[gljvd]

I had a launch unit also made in oct . Oh wait . I still have it and have no problems !

Perhaps he is simply plugging it into a bad outlet or a bad power strip that is killing it .

Or perhaps he has the worse luck in the world

[D3adcell]

Yeah i read that alot of time people that have problems are not using surge protectors.

[Xer0]

That sucks, and on a similar path, my friends Xbox began to combust on him once, it was kinda cool.

[koten]

That's what you get for buying hardware from a software company.

[speed stick]

^^ but how is even 3 units acceptable?

Going on the idea that the first died just because the launch units had problems. For the second dying just because he got unluckey and he obviously would play it alot considering the company he works for. That leaving him being on his third 360 which would definitly have all problems taken out.

I always have my 360 hooked up to one of those monster power bars along with my HD LCD TV and sound system. Gotta keep my nice electronics safe.

That's what you get for buying hardware from a software company.

Its not like Microsoft was the company that made the hardware. They made the amazing software in the 360 which makes it stand out above the others.

[TheGreenElf]

I don't know what's worse...the old large PS2 model or the 360...seriously it is nothing short of pathetic on the side of these companies.

[VG Aficionado]

My history of console working status:

GameBoy (original 1989 model): never failed. As a matter of fact, I turned it on recently and it still works fine!

Master System II: cables ended up failing, replaced them and never failed again.

Megadrive / Genesis: It failed the first week, got a new one and never failed again.

Super Nintendo: never failed.

PlayStation 1: small issues reading discs before I stopped using it, but it always worked. The last time I used it, it worked fine.

PlayStation 2: bought in 2001, no issues whatsoever, it does work like new!!!

PSP: bought at launch, works like new.


So far, I never experienced any failures with Nintendo and Sony systems.

[Boggy700]

I like how they're taking bets on when this one will break, with a free Wii game winner reward.

[gljvd]

Funny


Intellevison 1981 -2002
Nes bought at launch , stoped reading carts .
Master system , stil lworks fine
genesis still works fine dispite being droped down a flight of stairs twice
super nes still works fine (though it changed an ugly yellow over the years )
turbo graphics 16 , works fine but the carts started to wear out
turbo graphics 16 cd works fine
sega cd , first one died on me but the side loading one worked fine
cd x from sega (it was the mini genesis / sega cd ) works fine
cdi works fine still
3do works fine
saturn works fine
n64 works fine
playstation 1 died 7 months after i got it
playstation 1 part 2 died 2 years after we got it
psone works fine
dreamcast works fine
ps2 stoped reading dvds after about 2 years
slim ps2 works fine
gamecube works fine
xbox 360 bought at launch works fine

gb , gba , gba sp , gbc and ds fat and ds lite all work fine
nomad and game gear work fine
wonder swan works fine

[Blaksmoke]

My GameCube had the crap beat out of it for 5 and a half years and it never so much as skipped on a disc. My GoldenEye cartidge had cheese shoved in it and left in the rain and it still works.

......

*leaves thread*

[HolyPaladin]

I have never ever had a problem with any of my Nintendo hardware, and I've owned plenty over the past two decades. My NES, SNES, N64, GCN, Wii, GB, GBP, GBA, and DS have all worked without a hitch (aside from a few brief freezes on GCN and Wii; not nearly as bad as having to replace them). None of my brother's Nintendo hardware has given him issues over the years, either. My PS2, Xbox, and 360 have all experienced freezes (again, not a big deal unlike replacing the system), but my PS2 quit reading discs about ten months after I bought it new. It wasn't an early unit or anything, as it was one of those slim ones introduced later on down the road. I pamper my stuff, so the PS2's failure was no fault of my own.

I haven't yet had any major issues with my 360, but I hope it stays that way. I've had mine since launch. I hate reading all these comments about 360 hardware woes.

[NoZ]

Launch day core system, working as fine as ever. Its always in an open space and not closed in.

None of my systems have ever died apart from.

PS1 - my brothers fat ass friend sat on top of it.
Xbox - LAN Port died in a storm.

[frosty]

^weren't you having some problems with the HDD a while back?

As for my consoles.

NES - still kinda works, however it can be considered defective
SNES - works most of the time (still defective)
N64 - still works though all the controllers stopped working right after about a year (shitty analog sticks)
genesis - worked until I lost it (got put in a box and never was seen again)
Sega CD - died. just straight up bricked on me for no reason at all.
32x - worked until I lost it
PS1 - worked until I sold it to a friend in 99', though started having disc read troubles in 2002.
PS2 - I never owned one, though my friend has had his since about a year after launch. Still works perfectly.
PC - Works fine, of course, though it's been through many revisions

All in all, I've had problems of some sort or another with almost every console I've ever owned. However I don't hold it against that console's respective manufacturer. I know that one mistake doesn't mean a company is doomed to repeat that same mistake forever. After all, look at PS3's BD drive, hardly a single DRE reported, and it even reads discs that the 360 and most set top DVD players won't from being scratched. However one wouldn't think that based on Sony's history of optical drives in their game consoles.

[Phoenix]

To be fair, they do play it a lot and they've had it about a year longer than the other two.

[venomv]

Yeah, they probably never give it a rest, it is obvious the 360 wasn't made for daily 12 hour sessions, no console is, but 360's seem to run hot a lot.

[gljvd]

what i don't get is this guy states he brings them back to gamestop for new ones .

So that means he's gone through 5 brand new consoles ? I think there has to be something wrong on his end. I can understand if he was sending them to ms and getting refurbished ones and they were dieing . But 5 brand new ones ?

Damn he has the worse luck in the world

[koten]

To be fair, they do play it a lot and they've had it about a year longer than the other two.Yes, but I can pretty much gaurtentee that they won't have to replace either of the two systems once in the same peroid, let alone 5 times.

[gljvd]

why ? its not like sony and nintendo never had production problems . Do we have to remind everyone of the nes slot loading or the ps2 laser dieing and so on .

[Garfunkel]

ps2 and 360 both have shocking records.

i had a ps2 fail on me, slow painful death for it, got a replacement and it works fine since, ps1 still worked fine till i sold it a year or so ago.

[gljvd]

don't forget that run of early psones that had huge problems.

Or the discoloring run of super nes systems .


I simply don't buy that this guy has had 5 brand new systems all of which have died and its allways the systems fault. Many early adopters are on second units and some getting refurbs from ms are on 3rd or 4ths . But 5 brand new units from a store is hard to believe.

Personaly i haven't had an issue with my 360 and its a launch unit

[Garfunkel]

honestly, i think 2, from any system is completely unacceptable, 1 is ok, nothing is perfect, but more then that and you don't get your money's worth.

I have to say, i never liked the 360 original warranty, glad to see they have improved it but the damage has already been done.

They should have offered 1 year right from the start IMO.

[dork]

i've heard that matt uses his 360 as a pillow.

[TheGreenElf]

honestly, i think 2, from any system is completely unacceptable, 1 is ok, nothing is perfect, but more then that and you don't get your money's worth.

I have to say, i never liked the 360 original warranty, glad to see they have improved it but the damage has already been done.

They should have offered 1 year right from the start IMO.

Agreed. Anything less than a year is unacceptable on something so expensive.

[Mr. Coww]

I miss the good old days where if my system was acting up i could physicaly repair it.. like my C64(which me and my dad added ram to make it a C128).

I cant rember how many 8Bits NES ive repaired and such.
Even my saturn and dreamcast had some repairing done to them but these new systems im freaking scared of opening. The DS was a pain to toy with and i finaly gave up worring i wouldnt get the case back together.

Its funny the only major problems ive had with systems are sony ones and the rare almost self inflicted pot pie melting problem with a DS.
Ive helped fix a number of ps2s suffering from the drive problems, some times it seems the gears just strip themselves.

Edit I forgot to count the number of systems ive killed from overplaying
1 saturn 1 gamegear 2 Dreamcasts 1 Gamecube 1 Nes

[Phoenix]

Yes, but I can pretty much gaurtentee that they won't have to replace either of the two systems once in the same peroid, let alone 5 times.Probably not, but you never know.

[Cofey]

My brother and I split a 360 at launch (I have since sold him my half of it), and he's on his third...no fourth now. I think it's four...

There was the launch system that scratched my games
Then Microsoft replaced that one with another that had the same exact problem.
Then Microsoft sent us a third, which he had to replace at EB about two weeks ago...it scratched his Gears of War.

Yeah, my bro is on his fourth. And believe me, we take care of our video games in this house. It doesn't surprise me at all that Matt's on his fifth.

[Phoenix]

My brother and I split a 360No wonder you had to replace it. Be a little less violent with your other ones.

[gljvd]

My brother and I split a 360 at launch (I have since sold him my half of it), and he's on his third...no fourth now. I think it's four...

There was the launch system that scratched my games
Then Microsoft replaced that one with another that had the same exact problem.
Then Microsoft sent us a third, which he had to replace at EB about two weeks ago...it scratched his Gears of War.

Yeah, my bro is on his fourth. And believe me, we take care of our video games in this house. It doesn't surprise me at all that Matt's on his fifth.


Yea but your only on your second store bought one . Matt claims to have gone through 5 while returning them to gamestop/eb . Its a very diffrent story as ms was sending you refurbs