Hi my name’s Loz and I have a problem.
I love my Xbox 360, not an unusual statement for anyone browsing these pages, but yet again I find myself calling its reliability into question after being witness to another red light attack on a friend’s machine. Having been through the treacherous experience of losing a console twice (R.I.P consoles one and two) even the slightest glimmer of a technical failure for my latest machine leaves me cowering in the corner like the world is going to end. A slow loading cut scene or pause in the action has me breaking out in a cold sweat. Quite ironic for a machine that has a well known history for over heating.
So why is it, three years since its release, that owners of a next gen console such as the 360 still find themselves subject to questionable hardware and even costlier warranties, or lack of as the case may now be. Officially speaking, Microsoft has been rather generous with their statistics on the subject of hardware failures, while outside sources, have at one time, listed the failure rate as one in six. From personal experience, closer to five in six friends has suffered the untimely death of their machine.
The word on the street says the new chipsets released in October 2008 should be cutting down the amount of casualties in time, but what about us folk who have a console that predates the newly upgraded models? Unfortunately short of donning a soldering iron, screwdriver and scouring the now rather large selection of Do It Yourself videos gracing YouTube to fix the fearsome Red Rings of Death and beyond, the answer is: not much.
The Xbox customer support team now hardened by the barrage of irate gamers constantly phoning to repair consoles have, from my own recent experience, become rather blunt. In late November last year after finding my ‘replacement’ console dead to the world, I was told “no red rings – no repair” not without a price at least, followed by the courtesy thank you for calling and have a nice day of course. My argument is, with such obviously faulty equipment, when will this never ending cost for continuing our gaming experience end?
Like many, and with the aid of a very generous beau, we opted to get a brand new console (rather begrudgingly I might add after finding out that my replacement console was a matter of weeks past its free repair deadline) rather than pay Xbox to issue me with a second replacement and limited one year warranty. With epic games such as Resident Evil 5 and Final Fantasy XIII on my must own games list due for release very soon, I can’t help but wonder if I will find myself on 0800 I’ve-got-the-lights-again on a lunch break, just through wanting to enjoy the games I’ve waited years (yes years!) to play.
The only immediate prevention seems to be questionable cooling fans which inevitably void the warranty, or outside companies imbued with industry secrets to repair the consoles themselves once they do reach the end of their lifespan. Unfortunately for the time being, replacing consoles seems like an inevitable nightmare for those unlucky, or hardcore, enough to wear one out. Time to start saving the contingency pennies!
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