Xbox 360 is the worst video game console in the world
Game Guy has had enough. His patience with Microsoft’s Xbox 360 video game console, thin at best before the weekend, dissipated entirely during the Daytona 500 on Sunday.
He was playing “NASCAR 09″ and living the racing dream through his console when … well, you can guess what happened.
The details constitute Xbox 360’s legend.
Since the console’s debut in late 2005, it has acquired almost as many detractors as fans at a far faster rate than reasonable for anything man-made. That’s because Xbox 360s have the remarkable ability to die on their owners without effort or provocation.
All anyone need do is power up an Xbox 360; the console’s flawed architecture does the rest. The now-iconic “red ring of death” — three of the four status lights in front showing red instead of green — announces that the box has turned from gaming system to dust bunny faster than you can say “general hardware failure.”
Speculation that the problem is a heat-sensitive mother board, or that the glue or solder used to affix components onto the board is defective, has been difficult to assess; Microsoft isn’t forthcoming about the console’s problems. When criticism about the system began drowning out praise, Microsoft extended the console’s warranty and reduced its price.
Now, the warranty’s running out on those people and the repairs on or replacements for the faulty consoles are questionable at best: A lot of owners claim their “repaired” systems are no better, and “new” consoles sent as replacements are in fact reconditioned systems.
Microsoft has said the failure rate for Xbox 360 is well within an acceptable range for technical products, about 3 percent of all systems manufactured. Last year however, a warranty provider for consumer electronics estimated the actual failure rate at around one in six units.
California consumers were so distraught they banded last fall to form a class action, alleging not only that Xboxes fail too frequently, but also that Microsoft knew the consoles were faulty yet shipped them anyway. Other legal action alleges the console scratches game discs, and that Microsoft knew about this problem as well.
Xbox 360’s supporters dismiss the complaints as mere kerfuffle. They champion the system for its wide inventory of games, some of which are worldwide best-sellers, and they praise Microsoft for easing the pain by knocking down Xbox 360’s price (The base system today is around $100 less than in 2005).
But in the time that Game Guy has played with one PS3 and one Wii, he has had four Xbox 360s. Working ones, that is.
No. 4 just died this past weekend. He wasn’t using it as a stepping stool, wasn’t using it to prop up broken furniture or hold open a heavy door — although that’s all the console’s good for now.
No, he was doing exactly what the user’s manual recommends, just playing games. Suddenly, the Xbox emitted a low metallic growl one might expect to hear if the thing was choking on bread crust, the TV screen went blank and the console’s green lights turned a fatal red.
Worse, this was an Xbox 360 “Elite,” the black Cadillac of Xboxes that Microsoft built in 2006 in part to address all the console’s ills. Game Guy presumed he received one on loan from Microsoft as apology for all the previous inconvenience. Now, he’s thinking Microsoft will just add him to the company’s long list of in-house jokes workers there tell around the water cooler.
Game Guy has used Xbox 360 not by choice, but out of necessity: Game reviewers are obligated that way. But how much pleasure from gaming is reasonably possible while one holds his or her breath, hoping that three quarters of the way through a game the console doesn’t choke like someone in need of the Heimlich maneuver?
If Microsoft wishes to send yet another replacement console to test Microsoft-made games, that’s fine; he will appreciate the gesture. Barring that, Game Guy must now forget about trying some of Microsoft’s best products with one of its worst ones.
meh, it’s still better than the sega-CD…
Mine recently died also. I’ve had it for just over 3 years, so now it’s out of warranty. MS wants $100 to fix it, while a new “arcade edition” (with included controller) is only $199. I’ve also heard that their “fixes” are nothing more than reconditioned 360’s which do a macabre merry go-round into MS for repair, and back to victims for their inevitable death.
The aggravating thing is the games I’ve bought for it. Each of them ran between $50-$60, and now are coasters. I either pay for a “repair”, buy another 360, or cut my losses and sell the games and accessories on Ebay. I haven’t decided yet – but washing my hands of the 360 is looking more attractive everyday.
PS = I don’t buy the “acceptable hardware failure rate” of 3%.
Every Single Person I know who has had one of these has had it die – often repeatedly. MS is used to releasing buggy products, but unlike software, you can’t fix a bad machine design with a “patch”.
The sad thing is that this is still the best gaming console out there. I own all 3 consoles and still prefer the 360 over the other two for gaming. I prefer the PS3 for Blu-ray video and Wii for social games when friends are over.
Since you didn’t buy the console, I don’t really feel bad for you. I bought mine New Years 2008 and have no issues (360’s were then being made with smaller, cooler Falcon chipset). You will continue to have issues if you have an older 360 with the older chipset…that is the cause of the RROD issues. I don’t believe they swap out the chipsets in the refurb units.
The newer 360’s are perfectly fine with the very small and cool Jasper chipset. As with any other big purchase, you need to do your research.
We bought a 360 2.5 years ago and got a 2 year warranty with it. We are on our third unit and it broke around Christmas. No more warranty, no more 360.
Wow your article sounds like I wrote it! Your story is exactly like mine and what a shame. Like the one post says what do you do with all the games. Can’t play them without the console. Shame on Microsoft once again they take advantage of the American Public and they don’t do a thing about it!
i heart my ps3.
Oh boo-hoo.
What should I do instead? Buy a PS3 and play the 3 good games for the system, and not worry about the fact that their ocial network aspect has been a belated horrible disaster. Perhaps instead I should play the Wii so I can play on 16 bit graphics (yes I am exaggerating). Both systems game line ups are weak at best. Couple that with their answers to XBL (almost nothing) and there is no choice.
I understand that the author is mad his crapped out. That sucks. But you got 3 years out of 400$? That is 133$ / year or about 11$ / month. Considering how much I play my XBox 360, and moparing that to the price of renting movies or paying for cable, that is quite a bargain when you consider the entertainment value for dollar spent ratio. Yea it sucks, but you know you lvoe 360, and you know you are going to replace it. ANyone who claims to be such a gamer that they are a game journalist (a medicre one in this case) knows that without the 360, the gaming industry would be a joke.
I guess that I am a little confused about those that stated that they bought multiple counsoles because of failure and Microsoft said that they would charge for repairs. if they were never opened then they warranty the RROD for three years after purchase. I too bought mine 2.5 years ago, and am STILL dealing with the RROD issues but I have not paid a dime in shipping or repairs. I have checked the SNs of the unit every time a repair has been attempted and received MY console back each time. Unfortunately, this is the 3rd time I have sent it off within a month because of in game lockups. Believe me, I am not happy with them either but i’m also not about to dump my console for one with a processor that gets to hot or a system that can detect movements but lack the entire graphic aspect, the main reason a person plays games.
I don’t care if it is one game that fails or 50 games that fail. If it locks up it locks up. Microsoft allowed this game to be released on their console and therefore, they indirectly make the statement that the console can support it. Fable 2 and Oblivion have been the cause of my RROD as they are very graphic intensive and been played extensively on my system. You can literally feel the heat rising when moving in the game. I know computers well enough to know when a system is getting to hot and the old Xbox 360 was simply not designed to dissipate heat appropriately. the newer versions do not have this issue which tells me that despite the denials of failure, they have corrected the issue in new models.
This doesn’t change the fact that I still want the console and play it for long hours. So long as they keep fixing it for me, it doesn’t really matter. I agree with Ray to a point. If you think about it, how long is the predicted life span of your plasma TV? If you say more than 5-7 years for it then you are crazy.
Had mine for a year, no problems yet. With the excellent multiplayer setup on Xbox Live and the incredible game selection there is no way I would trade it for a PS3.
Xbox 360 is the worst video game console in the world, only to uninformed non-gamer pencil pushers like this guy. Admittedly, Xbox 360 has a higher failure rate, at least publicly, but in the occasion of the RROD (red ring of death) the console is fixed for free for up to 3 years from purchase. Replacement consoles sent to you have an additional 3 years once they are sent back to you. What do you think Sony PS3 repair’s cost, I know they aren’t free, at least not for 3 full years. Aside from all of this, the game lineup on Xbox 360 alone more than makes up for the questions about craftmanship.