Microsoft sued over 360!

[FabuVinny]

Man sues Microsoft over alleged Xbox 360 glitch

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A Chicago man who bought Microsoft Corp.'s new Xbox 360 has sued the world's largest software maker, saying the new video game console has a design flaw that causes it to overheat and freeze up.

The proposed class action claims that in Microsoft's bid to gain share in the $25 billion global video game market, the company was so intent on releasing the Xbox 360 before competing next-generation machines from Sony Corp. and Nintendo Co Ltd. that it sold a "defectively designed" product.

Robert Byers, who brought the suit, said the power supply and central processing unit in the Xbox 360 overheat, affecting heat-sensitive chips and causing the console to lock up.

Complaints about the problem surfaced quickly on gaming enthusiast Web sites after the Xbox 360 debuted on November 22.
Console owners reported that some systems had crashed during regular use as well as during online game play using the Xbox Live service. Problems included screens going black and the appearance of a variety of error messages.

At the time, a Microsoft spokeswoman told Reuters: "We have received a few isolated reports of consoles not working as expected."
She declined to say how many reports Microsoft had received and said that calls reporting the issue to the company represented a "very, very small fraction" of units sold.

The lawsuit, filed on Friday in federal court in Illinois, seeks unspecified damages and litigation-related expenses, as well as the replacement or recall of Xbox 360 game consoles.

Microsoft representatives were not immediately available for comment on Monday.

Interesting to compare Microsoft's customer service here to Nintendo's over the recent discovery of the Mysterious Dungeon glitch.

 

[Swifty]

Ha. The plaintiff needs a tin foil cap if he thinks Microsoft deliberately sabotages their own products. They only do that for Windows

But honestly, considering there's a warranty replacement available for guys like him, this lawsuit isn't going very far. Why can't he understand that there's no conspiracy in progress? Microsoft simply rushed the X-Box 360 too fast for the holiday season and thus have QA issues with their product, just like any other company that rushes its products out too fast.

 

[Doctor Oak]

He's not going to get anywhere with it.

For one simple reason, there isn't actually a design flaw with the PCU.

It overheats because air is not getting to the fans within it properly, that is not because of Microsoft, however, it's because of the User obstructing them.

It's obviously not a perfect design if it's possible to obstruct it so easily and cause so much problems but because the user is at fault over what they do with the hardware, Microsoft is in the clear.

I would expect redesigned PCUs to be available in later shipments though, and presumably a call put out to early adoptors to replace them online or something.

Interesting to compare Microsoft's customer service here to Nintendo's over the recent discovery of the Mysterious Dungeon glitch.

They're all still both better than Sony's behaviour over faulty Square buttons on the PSP:

"Gamers will just have to adapt" - Ken Kutaragi.

Thanks for that Ken.

 

[GrnMarvl14]

Didn't the Dreamcast have a huge flaw early on that resulted in a recall? Or am I just imagining things?

 

[evkl]

Well, if you consider putting the console on a flat surface user obstruction of the air flow, then I'll be damned. They didn't include a levitation device.

 

[Doctor Oak]

Well, if you consider putting the console on a flat surface user obstruction of the air flow, then I'll be damned. They didn't include a levitation device.

It's obviously not a perfect design if it's possible to obstruct it so easily and cause so much problems but because the user is at fault over what they do with the hardware, Microsoft is in the clear.

I would expect redesigned PCUs to be available in later shipments though, and presumably a call put out to early adoptors to replace them online or something.

It's still a user-end problem as there's no actual malfunction with the hardware - just bad design.

As I said, I'd say they're probably working on replacement PCUs to sort the airing problem out.

 

[FabuVinny]

Didn't the Dreamcast have a huge flaw early on that resulted in a recall? Or am I just imagining things?

The initial systems stopped reading discs after a while. Mine still lasted for a long time, though.

 

[Kadabra]

It's still a user-end problem as there's no actual malfunction with the hardware - just bad design.

Actually, evkl is right. It's not "just bad design," it's a flawed design which causes hardware malfunction. Also, what do you mean by "PCU"...? CPU? PSU? But either way, yeah, this lawsuit isn't going anywhere. As mentioned, warranty is there to cover for these things. Also, anyone who buys a console at launch is a moron in more than one way, so they can't complain about the added inconviniences afterwards (of shipping their console back, etc.)

 

[Doctor Oak]

I mean PSU.

And have absolutely NO idea as to why I've been typing PCU throughout.

....

*dies*

it's a flawed design which causes hardware malfunction.

It only causes malfunction in:

A) The minority of cases and
B) In circumstances placed upon it by the user

Like I said, it's obviously not perfect and definitely needs sorted, but the all the 360s shipped are not going to die as soon as they're plugged in.

Microsoft certainly do not escape fault for the problem, but it's easily fixed and doesn't effect everyone to begin with.

 

[GrnMarvl14]

Geez. The latest issue of Gamepro has their entire "Buyer's Beware" section dedicated to the XBox 360, pointing out 6 major flaws (one of which is the potential overheating danger). I've never been happier to NOT want one.