Report Claims Xbox 360 Failure Rates at 16%

1UP reports: "There's been a lot of press about Microsoft's red ring problem. Estimates of the problem have been all over the map, and when he was working for Microsoft, Peter Moore referred to them as a moving target. Company estimates pinned it at a fairly normal 3%, while some retailers have put the percentage as high as 1/3 of all systems.

A new report claims the truth is somewhere in the middle. SquareTrade deals in selling warranties for electronics, and has amassed their over 1000 warranty claims to come up with some interesting data. The findings were a 16.4% failure rate of Xbox 360 systems, versus a roughly 3% rate for the Sony PlayStation 3 or the Nintendo Wii with sample sizes in the high hundreds. The well-known "Red Ring of Death" error accounted for about 60% of those hardware failures, and thus most system-breaking problems are covered by Microsoft's extended warranty plan".

[toughNAME]

but until Sony and Nintendo step it up...it seems the 360 is still the best console out there

I have no doubt the PS3 will outsell its competitors in hardware and software sales in 2008, and as soon as some quality is added in multiple areas I'll throw Sony my $600

[socomnick]

Yea I agree that that percentage is too high . I have to disagree with you concerning Ps3 outselling its competitors. The wii continues and will continue to the the #1 sold console in the world. The Xbox 360 needs a price cut to boost the sales in Europe the US is all sold out of the systems.

[-EvoAnubis-]

Of course, by then, it won't be $600. Hell, it's not even $600 right now.

As far as Sony stepping up is concerned . . . you did see this year's line up for the PS3, right?

Now, on topic, I'll say that 16% is a hell of a lot better than 33%, but still unacceptable.

[InYourMom]

The percentage is better but still too high. These are all based on "rough" estimates anyway. MS would never admit to the true failure rate, but at least we know it's getting better. The old systems are still prone to failure so there will always be someone crying about their RROD.

But yes, the 360 is still a damn good system and everyone I know with a 360 will continue to go thru the hassle just because they really like the system(games, featureset, community). None are entertaining the idea of purchasing a PS3. I've even said to a couple who were mad about the RROD to go buy a PS3, there answer was "no way!" and they've all played mine. Just something about it they don't like whether it's the controller, lack of features or just don't like the games.

[Archaeox]

But thats still obselete technology, I mean seriously, how could a huge company like Microsoft alow something so defective onto the market and just for competition?

[season007]

Since this is a news i consider this rough estimate is taken from recent sales.....

and i guess the 3% for both wii and playstation 3 is a damage control make up...hell, i don't even think PS3 and wii get 1% in failure rate.

[actas123]

16% percent is better than the 35% the fist year of 360s release. However, I really thought the newer 360 systems are around 2-5% failure rate. 16% for the newer consoles is just a rip off.

[Silver360]

they say that 16% is for the older boards. It is the older boards that have that failure rate.

[moparful99]

You guys cant read, this article is refering to "purchased warranties" This in no way takes into account all of the 360's returned directly to microsoft as outside companies cant track this number without microsoft giving it out. So 16% percent is the number of consoles with a purchased warranty being returned back to the retailer. Again someone trying to spin this in microsofts favor. Im so sick and tired of everyone and their mothers taking up for this piece of crap console.....

[Statix]

They can spin it as much as they want, but even if the true failure rate is higher, the 16% figure still looks bad.

[reaferfore20]

Way too high of a percentage. But then again I'm on my third PS3. The first one screwed up within two days of be buying it, and the second about a month ago. I sent it in and a brand spanking new (refurb) PS3 arrived at my door in about a week. Microsoft could learn a thing or two from Sony's Warranty service. All in all though I see nothing but good things for both consoles by the end of this year.

[Bnet343]

Once they get rid of this problem, I wonder what will be complaning about next. This is the only really bad thing about Xbox 360.

[Kyur4ThePain]

For me the remaining problems are:

- It's not an all-in-one package (wi-fi comes to mind).
- Noise. It just makes it come across as an unprofessional piece of equipment.
- Lack of built-in HD format. I never thought of this as a selling point until Sony included Blu-Ray.
- Having to pay for LIVE.
- The controller. I just don't like it.

[Willio]

limited harddrive too. only 20g or 120g. no medium =(

[crck]

Paying for live
All the ads slapped on your Dashboard
Having to wait for demos if you don't want to pay for live.
Sh!tty DRM when your 360 does die.
Ridiculously overpriced proprietary accessories.

[Bnet343]

What you guys said isn't a problem. That's just you. Lack of built-in HD format makes me laugh because I don't watch movies, so why would I want the Xbox 360 to cost more? And if you have a PS3 you wouldn't be complaining about it Xbox 360 not having it since PS3 has one.

[Bathyj]

My biggest problem isn't the console, its the way M$ treats us like chumps. Denying the faults, shutting us up with warranties, and generally just thinking they can buy every problem off.

None of that compares but to dumping 25M customers, leaving them with no games to play unless they bought an expensive new machine, and then having the nerve to talk about choice.

I can forgive Xbox's faults (other than the shocking reliably, it really should be recalled) but if M$ dumps 360 the way they did XB1 I'm done with them, and that from a guy who likes to buy every console every generation. I'm sure if it happens I'll miss a few games I really want but a line has to be drawn somewhere.

[Mu5afir]

I am sorry if we aren't conformist, we like s&it to work.

[SKullDugger]

The 360 has other issues like a poor quailty DVD drive to loud and no HD DVD or wi-fi and the HDD's are way to expensive $179.99 for 120GB I just bought a 160GB for my PS3 for $89.99 I admit there are alot of games! but the PS3 is gaining ground and had MS taken more time and testing this could have been the killer system.

[princejb134]

until xbox360 failure rate goes down to 2% i wont buy another system
already went thought 4 systems
and ps3 is not $600 its $400
also ps3 has outsold the 360 in every country except for north americ
and north america is were it really counts to sell your system
and wii continues to be #1 system
but for how long till people figure out wii has no good titles out there
i have a wii and only bought it for brawl but its been collecting dust for the past 5 months

[Willio]

it will take time before parents finally realize all the games they are playing are accessible outside the house or in the past. With a limited 3rd party games and dependent on re-releasing 1st party games like zelda and mario all over again, the bubble will eventually burst.

[princejb134]

they say the ps3 has %3 failure rate right now
i wonder how its gonna change when the new chip ibm made will be put in the systems

[DEADEND]

Hey at least it went down by half.

[N4G_Dude]

which is still unacceptable

[ReBurn]

It's at 50% for me. My first one broke and I'm on my second one.

[Sayai jin]

That sucks. As far as next gen systems I am at 0% fir the 360 becuase I have two original launch console and they are still working, a little loud but they working flawlessly (LOL)...PS3 wise the failure rate is 50%. because I am on my second one and it is working like a charm..and the Wii I have is at 0& failure becuase I still have the original one.

[meepmoopmeep]

isn't there a law or something about failure rates?

[darkshiz]

Nobody is man enough to sue the second richest company in U.S

First is Walmart.

[actas123]

The Biggest two companies in the world are:
#1 Exxon Mobil (oil company).
#2 General Electric.

and since they are both American companies they are automatically the biggest 2 corps in America.

[ForTheFallen]

"The well-known "Red Ring of Death" error accounted for about 60% of those hardware failures, and thus most system-breaking problems are covered by Microsoft's extended warranty plan."

What about the other 40%, you bast-rds? And as for this 16% (which is a step up from 3 steps down)...I don't know if it's true...I mean, my friends who bought the 360 when it came out are all on their second one and one even got it again after that...
One of my friends had it's RROD and he didn't bother getting it fixed...He plays CoD4 on PS3.
So, technicly the fail rate did go down...Because all the bad ones keep getting replaced by new ones. Which still RROD at 16% supposedly.

[Figboy]

my roommate's 360 died on him, but not from the Red Rings, the video output just stopped working.

it happened the day Mass Effect came out. he brought it home, eager to play, put it in the drive, started it up, and while he was creating his character, the colors on the screen started to act crazy (think about when you install a new video card, and you haven't updated the drivers, and the screen gets all gray, green, and bluish colored). he turned it off and restarted it, and the screen was just black. you could *HEAR, but you couldn't see anything.

this happened with *ALL games after that. he called MS to see about repairing it, but since it wasn't an Red Ring, they were going to charge him for repair. he refused, and just ended up buying a second 360. he eventually folded, and got his 360 repaired, paying the fee, and then he sold me the second unit he bought, because the Gamestop he works at was only going to give him $150 bucks in credit for it.

[akaFullMetal]

well 16 might be correct but you will see more of them break though, cause you will send out the broken one, they fix it and then resend it to someone else and that breaks, and then they do the same thing, and the cycle goes around and around, so the rrod is actually happening to that one but 3 people already went through that one so people think its alot more, but still 16 percent is way high, especially if its almost on its 3rd year.

[avacadosnorkel]

Who doesn't know the 360 breaks? I had 2 break on me. That's all I needed to know - end of story. I sold it after the second replacement. My favorite game was Dead Rising. But I cut my losses. There's nothing like NOT having to worry if the system isn't turning on because my controller is acting up or because it's broke again. But anyway

Save face...or, misery loves company.

Tell all your friends how awesome the 360 is. They don't have a lie detector test for you.

[power of Green]

Getting close you can feel it, the PS3 fans going out of their way looking for 360 news.

GDC is almost here.

[XBOX 360]

Why don't you care about 360 fans going out of their way to find bad PS3 games.

GDC 08 is approaching indeed.

[darkshiz]

XBOX 360 your getting out of Character.

Power of Green is your Iron knight (360 slave)

[Tyrael]

I just yesterday sent my launch console away for warranty repair of the RROD. Anyone know what the repair center does specifically to fix the 360? The reason I ask is because I know people who have sent it off only to have it break on them again. If this is going to be the case, I would rather take it to be permanently repaired by a friend of mine who knows exactly what the problem is and does the fixes for $40.

[akaFullMetal]

i believe they actually send you a different 360 that has been refurbished, i could be wrong though

[Mu5afir]

They send you a different refurbished box, it could be older or newer.. just have to be lucky I guess.

[Sev]

I know way too many people with multiple broken 360's to believe that the percentage is only 16%

Obviously I am over exaggerating here but from what I have seen its more like 16% success rate.

I have one friend who has gone through 6 360s.

Everytime I said to myself "Im gonna go buy a 360" another friend would tell me his broke.

[boodybandit]

It's 1 "report" from one warranty service provider. I didn't see any mention to when these units were covered. Are they launch units or falcon units with the faster chip and heat sinks?

Most people don't purchase extended warranties. I sent my unit back to MS in McAllen Texas (U.S.). MS covered it themselves. We are never going to know an accurate number and at this point it doesn't matter anymore as long as the failure rate is a thing of the past in the newer models.

I know that's not very reassuring to those that have older models but hopefully if they do have problems it will fall under the 3 year warranty. Hopefully MS learned from this and it wont be a problem in the "Next Box".

The last 2 units I got back from MS (after they started using the new heat sinks) are still working fine. I also own an Elite and so far it's working great. *fingers crossed* that it stays that way.

[power of Green]

I have a friend that had 100 RROD 360's top that.

[cokzilla23]

ha pretty funny line about microSOFT's 16% success rate instead of failure rate!

[Bathyj]

Even the reports 50% wrong.

[SlappyMcTaint]

16% ??! Yeah right!! I know of ONLY 1 person with a 360 that hasn't had a RROD -and he hasn't turned it on in over a year (ever since he got a PS3)

[Says you]

they claim! that the failure rate was still! 13% and plus why are you going to believe these guys considering this isn't microfony themselves reporting it and not them!? oh so this is 1up that is reporting oh that makes sense considering only a moron would believe that the PS3 and the Wii has a 3% failure rate considering its only 1% and they said that the hardware failure rate is 60%.

[DaNoCiDe]

I seriously question the accuracy of the numbers of defective product that can be reported. I think it is unfair to say 16% of consoles were or are defective, with an install base as large as microsoft boasts that figure is still incrediby high. That is somewhere around 2000000 defective consoles which no matter which way you spin it is very bad. However seeing as it was up around the 33% figure at one point means that newer 360's are far less defective and are in some small way addressing the problem.

The problem is as PS3 and 360 become price comparable there are far more negative connotations than positive for 360 (RROD, HDDVD, lost developers) and the reverse can be said of the PS3 (reliable, blu ray, first party dev). Wii has revealed to us that a great software lineup is not a dominant factor in driving sales, and the ps3 outselling the 360 in 2007 reinforces this.

The great thing about Microsoft is they will fight to stay in the market the way sony has and the winners will be us!

[Dr Pepper]

Welcome to N4G!

[Silellak]

What Pepper said, welcome to N4G! I'm fairly new here myself. Always glad to hear from people who have solid, non-fanboy opinions.

[Keowrath]

Welcome to N4G! Nice first comment! We could do with a few more level headed people around here. I'm also giving you bubbles because I fully agree with your Avatar! =)

[Silellak]

Honestly, as a 360 owner and borderline-fanboy who thinks it's a great system in many ways...16% seems way too low. It's a well known fact at this point that there is a serious design flaw in ALL 360's manufactured before a certain date that will likely lead to a RRoD after prolonged use.

Even if it WERE only 16%, it would STILL be unacceptable for a company with the resources of Microsoft. But I say 33% is far closer to the truth.

[IcemanK2]

Lets face it if the Xbox was made by Sanyo/GE/Panasonic/or any other electronics company the failure rates would be unacceptable by the public and they would get sued to no end.

[Silellak]

I can't agree, and don't really see why you would think that. It's not like Microsoft is exactly high on the Public-Opinion-O-Meter. If anything, they get harsher criticsm than most other companies, not less.

Do you think Microsoft extended the warranty for RRoD to 3 years out of the kindness of their heart? No corporation does ANYTHING that costs billions of dollars out of the kindness of their heart. They did it to avoid the PR damage that an inevitable class-action lawsuit would cause.

Not only that, but they've been sued several times for the 360 already.

[IcemanK2]

What you are saying really falls in line with what I am talking about.

If it was not microsoft they would not be able to pay/handle the cost of the extended warranty which would then lead to major lawsuits.

I would like to see if any past game systems have had a failure rate this high and if so were they successful.

[Kleptic]

n/m...iceman said what I was thinking...

[Silver360]

Put up for the failure rate of the PS2? Come on you guys can't have it both ways. Sony had to be sued in England to fix PS2 disk read errors. But that doesn't matter because it was last gen. At least MS stepped and took responsibility.

[Silellak]

Well, you said it would be "unacceptable to the public". I think it already is, Microsoft is just going the extra mile to avoid making a PR nightmare any worse.

The only system I can think about with a fairly high "failure" rate was the PS2. I know mine died, and I've heard of many people going through several PS2's due to the DRE issue, but no solid numbers were ever released. I'd guess the failure rate was still subtantially lower than the 360's, though.

@17.3 -

If the PS3 had a failure rate that high, then the already high price tag would become absurd. Also, I'm not sure Sony would have the same sort of warranty policy MS does. They weren't exactly helpful when PS2's started dying with the DRE issue, although as I said, it certainly wasn't as much of a problem as the 360's RRoD.

I've had my 360 a little over a year, and it died once. I was without it for about a month. Annoying, but overall I don't regret the purchase at all. I still understand if people are reluctant to get one, but at least you know if yours dies, you're covered for 3 years and the worst that happens is that you're out of a console for a month. Still, I have to admit I was pretty pissed when it DID happen. I can't imagine still feeling "OK" about it after going through 3, 4, or even 5 360's as some people claim. At that point I'd probably burn my 360, sell all my games, and get a PS3 or just go back to avoiding console gaming entirely.

[moparful99]

Ok here we go. PS2 laser read issues were not a defect, the lasers just simply wore out after prolonged use especially if you played dvds alot. I had my launch ps2 for 4 years and the laser had disc read problems about the third year but I just bought a laser cleaner and kept the laser clean. Microsoft RRoD is an entirely different issue, it is essentially a hardware failure that completely bricks the console in a very short amount of time. Hell even the 360 has disc read errors.

[Guitarded]

The PS2 had a high failure rate with disc read errors. As with 360, no one knows exactly how high, but I had 2 fail within 5 months of purchase, and I know of 3 other people with similar expieriences. And not one of them was covered under any warranty. 120mil+ PS2's, many DRE replacements not paid for by Sony. Microsoft fixed my 360 18 months after I bought it. Why is MS getting so much crap for this when Sony, even after losing a class action law suit for yhe DRE's, seemed to skate by on a free pass for PS2.

[IcemanK2]

Because of what Moparful99 stated above you.

You have had yourself and known about quite a few failures with the 360 but yet you want to give them credit for taking care of it. Why is is acceptable?

They are not getting "so much crap" for this because if they were people like yourself would not keep going back to the system and buying games to support it.

How about "taking care of it" throught the R&D phase before releasing it?

[Evil Zhuk]

they also originally said it was 3%. I woulnt trust thier word. Retailers say its 33%

[Bnet343]

You didn't read the article:

"SquareTrade deals in selling warranties for electronics, and has amassed their over 1000 warranty claims to come up with some interesting data"

[power of Green]

Retailers as in a few people in one chain made the claims.

[Superiorrior]

This just in, report claims Xbox 360 still sucks, no one is surprised.

[PSWe60]

That's still too high

[DRUDOG]

No offense to current 360 owners, but anyone even considering purchasing a new 360 should have their head examined. I'd love to have one and probably will someday (yes I own a PS3 and could afford the 360 and all it's rather expensive add-ons), but can't and won't even consider it until MS can prove that they've fixed the problems. I also didn't care for the way I was treated by MS when they just dropped all Xbox owners when the 360 came out. MS has enough money and won't be getting any of mine until they prove to system won't fail.

True story: 360 owner friend of mine finally decides to get a PS3 today. He calls me up and says where the hell do I put the batteries in the controllers. I explain that batteries aren't necessary. He then complains about having purchased a $50 charger base for his 360 controllers. Next he tells me that he's got it all "wired up" for the internet. I laughed and said that he didn't have to hard wire it since it's got wi-fi inside. Incredulously he asks that he doesn't need to get an adapter for it?!? My buddy wasn't too educated about his purchase, right? Then I reminded him that he's now got BD and can start getting movies for it. Finally, he asks me if he needs a credit card to set-up his PSN account and I said, bro, it's free, you don't need a credit card unless you want to buy something off the Store. The "light" finally came on for him and he started counting off all the extra "sh!t" he bought for the 360. A wireless adapter for $95, HD-DVD add-on for $200, batteries for controllers until he got the charger and his Live Gold account. That's when I said, Dude been trying to tell you all this for over year and you didn't want hear it. He's on his fourth 360 BTW...

[Silellak]

I really wish you hadn't started your post with "No offense to current 360 owners, but anyone even considering purchasing a new 360 should have their head examined.", because the rest of it makes plenty of good, interesting points with an amusing story. Unfortunately, because of that opening, the rest of your post just reeks of Fanboy.

There are many reasons for getting a 360 right now - assuming, of course, you like the game line-up - even with the current issues. Worse-case scenario is that you get a RRoD and go without a 360 for a month...which isn't much different than not having one at all.

Once again, the failure rate for the console - especially given that a multi-billion dollar company is behind it - is unacceptable, but that doesn't change the fact that otherwise, it's a solid system with a great selection of games.

[moparful99]

Silellak your comment reads like this. "You make totally valid and indisputible remarks but considering I was one of those people that foolishly wasted my money on a faulty product I take offense. You know aside from the fact that the system has horrible durability issues its still a really dependable console. I know this doesnt make sense but microsoft has found a way to make us tirelessly defend a broken product that they knew was broken but because they are greedy and want to beat sony they said screw our customers they'll buy anyway." I give up on the american public, they buy into hype too much instead of being wise with their money. Hence why we are headed into a recession.

[Silellak]

Where did I call the 360 a reliable console? I said quite the opposite. I just also think, other than the horrible reliability issues, it's a pretty good console, due to the features and the selection of games. Which is, you know. An opinion.

I'm sorry your fanboy filter read the post differently, though. Next time I'll just post about how amazing the PS3 is and how worthless the 360 is and explain how no one with a single active brain cell would even consider purchasing a 360.

Would that make you happy?

Seriously, it's almost as though you saw that my post had some positive things to say about the 360 and - despite hammering home Microsoft's unacceptable failure with regards to the console's reliability - suddenly I am "tirelessly defending it." Christ, Sony fanboys can be fanatical.

[Strife Lives]

And me and Kiki 4ever ! ! ! 3yrs and counting. Woohoo. My angel. Oh, sry.off topic. Bad Ms. Bad

[Tsalagi]

So if the Zephyr model had a 33% failure rate and the Falcon model has a 16% failure rate does this mean the August '08 motherboard revision will bring the number down to 8% failure rate?

[Tsalagi]

I guess you don't want a more reliable 360 then. As for me, i hope what i said is true. More reliable hardware is always welcome.

[Covenant]

Still too high, if true...but certainly better than 33%.

The article's sample seems to come mostly from pre-Falcon models, so that number could (hopefully) improve with time.

It can't get any worse for me; I'm on my fifth console in less than 18 months. (And yes, I have the receipts to prove it).

[Charlie2688]

Why do I find it SO hard to believe its so low as in 16%

I mean only in my GS profile I have at least like a minimum 1-2 people getting RROD a WEEK and that is people in MY friendlist that actually wrote a blog about its even worse in the 360s RROD thread how each day there is a new member of the club and lets not even go to others peoples blogs and friends of friends or dedicated sites to the RROD

In more "real" approach every single people I know personally either friend or from the school had their 360 die at least once, mine has already died twice that is 2/3 and that is only 3 months since I got the third one which hopefully wont die again or at least will take a few more months...the fact that when I went to send my 360 coffin the guy there was very familiar with what it was doesn't help at ALL

now the question is 16% of RROD failure or other kinds of failure? from my experience its either the "other failures" or the failure rate of the new ones cuz the "old" ones I see a rate of at least 40-60% considering people that were all happy and what not that their launch unit was working fine had the 360 die recently (I have 2 of them in my friendlist this month alone) we also have the increasingly popular DVD failure that while is not new it has recently been increasing in numbers this last year

for example the new units have great improvements in increasing the lifespan of the 360 and I don't use the term "fixing the problem" cuz the main reason behind the RROD the GPU is still badly placed and is still 90nm, but the improved ventilation will aid the units last longer, a 65nm GPU and even better ventilation might drastically reduce the failure rate but more testing will be required to see if it actually fix it but in the worst case scenario the 360 will last you a LONG time

but as of right now its hard to see a noticeable decline in failure rate because the majority of 360 users have older models or refurbished ones that are still old models and the new ones are still failing but its too early to know the rate considering the new ones improvements only add life span towards an unavoidable death since like I said before the source of the problem is yet to be addressed

[gamesR4fun]

on the first batch for sure I mean no one I know who bought a first year 360 has escaped rrod.
My dad's on his fourth my brother on his second and has had rrod multiple times.... The only people I know with a working 360 that hasnt rrod'ed is our friends who bought one of the falcons for their kids. But they've only had it since xmas so I say give it a few more months...Such a waste i mean a working product would've been a good start but with their money i guess its optional.

Imo they did a great job with the interface and live and the controllers with the break away dongles are great or at least were until the ps3 included a wireless rechargeable one... I just dont get why they didnt wait a bit to get the hardware right and how they coulda decided not to include a standard hd after doing it in the xbox... Let alone standard hddvd might of won the format war and given their console a big leg up....
But hey their not a hardware company or into the movie buis so I can understand no hd dvd standard but the rest... What is it with morons and high powered/paying positions?

[OC Shock Value]

Damnit people if you dont like Microsoft or the 360.. Then simply purchase a different console and play that 1.. Thats what i did..

Now stop crying over it

[Gantrfaxx]

Yeah M$. We believe you.

[Strife Lives]

3 crappy dvd drives. All samsung.and everytime i got it swoppd, i got 1 with a samsung drive.even my current 1 ,says manufacturd october 2006? Got a damn samsung drive. So i play.til it breaks.gt a new 1 with a benq drive..hopefully

[captainjy]

This just in, DomUltra sucks and he knows it because he spent $599 for a movie machine. Get some games first before you start spouting off.

[Superiorrior]

This just in - DomUltra spent $450 on his PS3 and is enjoying this long list of games:

CoD4
Uncharted
Heavenly Sword
Rachet and Clank
Genji
Unreal Tournament 3
Warhawk
Motorstorm
Superstar Dust HD
Folklore
RidgeRacer 7
LocoRoco
Flow
Armored Core 4
Time Crisis 4
Bladestorm
Super Rub-a-Dub
Resistance:Fall of Man
Rockband
The Orange Box
Burnout Paradise (which happens PS3 is the lead platform)

Not to mentioned anticipating titles coming out this year:
Metal Gear Solid 4
Killzone 2
Resistance 2
Haze
GoW 3
Ico 3
Gran Turismo 5
Final Fantasy whatever the number they're in
SOCOM: Confrontation

Get on your knees, and prepare to be blasted away.

[Superiorrior]

Oh yeah isn't it a b*tch that my PS3 comes with WiFi, so I don't have to pay for a bullsh*t 100$ adapter? How about the sh*tty failure rate huh Xbot, how about paying for Xbox Live that was down for a month? Best part about it is that you ALWAYS go back.

Sucks that I can use a keyboard and mouse to play my games too, man I could keep going all day how Sony 1UP'd Microsoft but I'm afraid I'd shred my fingers to a nub theres so much sh*t to say.

[kalistyles]

Why do you guys continue to put up with this problem? OK, I can see that the XBOX has great games. I get it. But reading some of you guys posts saying your on your 4th, 5th, or 6th console. Returning it and getting another one and having that one break and go through the same process over and over again. Just seems so redundant and annoying. I don't know about you guys but I tend to like quality over quantity. I mean would you buy a car and have it break down multiple times for the same problem and just say, oh well, it's a good car, I'll just keep bringing it back to get fixed. Of course not. You would be like, what a piece of $hit. I'm gonna look for a new one. I think you guys are so fixated on this Live service and achievements your forgetting about the good things in gaming. Which is the quality and games itself. I for one couldn't deal with that BS. I had the first XBOX, and it worked too. Then MS sold me short and stopped making games. I was like WTF. So I said screw them. Then they have this problem. I almost got one when it first came out, then i kept hearing about this problem and I couldn't bow down to such faulty hardware. That's why I always stuck with my Sony and Nintendo products. Never had any problems what so ever.

[Guitarded]

More games(fact). Better games(opinion). And I don't drive my 360 to get to work. Does that satisfy your curiosity? Oh, and you seem to be the one forgeting about the good things in gaming, quality games, not quality and games. I put up with crap hardware for the quantity and quality of the games just like I did last gen with PS2.

[Kaz Hirai]

This just in, Nazisoft are filthy FAILURES and cannot fix a 2 and a half year old problem, yet the PIGS continue to feed on their SLOP!

MWAH-HA-HA-HA!!!

[Sony Sniper]

Well said General.

Bubbles for you.

[mintaro]

good to see it's improving

[bizi6498]

Pete Moore's d!ck again in my red ringed ass!
Ouch, no lube, ouch!!

Still, I will obey, I will defend m$ against the evil Kaz!

[mintaro]

hmmmm, little off topic but im thinkng that at least the four of the first five posts should've been put in the open zone.....

[mintaro]

lol i just realized, were in the open zone

[ScottEFresh]

Xbox sucks.

[Scottama]

Oh very well written... /sarcasm :P

Mind you, it is the most effective way of explaining it.

XBox Sucks :D

[ISA_Scum]

That number is still too high to warrant confidence in buying an XBOX360.

[ip-student]

It seems that the failures relate to the original products that are failing. I wouldn't be surprised to see a real failure rate of close to 100 percent for the first set of consoles if the console is being used by a hard-core gamer that regularly plays games for extended periods of time. In that respect, the high cost meant that a lot of the people that first bought the 360 don't play for long hours at a time because they are too busy doing other things. But the people that do play long hours have 2 or 6 units fail because all the initial product was based on a crappy design and was unable to handle the ehat. But that is just my guess. The new design motherboard and the falcon chipset have addressed that so hard core gamers can now feel comfortable in know that their purchase is reasonably safe - assuming they don't get one of the old designs that are probably still floating around the system.

[ip-student]

First, I have a launch + 3 month XBOX 360 and it is still working great for me (I keep it well ventilated).

When I read this I first thought that it is obvious the failure rate will go up over time because all machines will fail so the failure if played long enough will be 100 percent for the xbox 360. The real question is the MTF. For the initial models it is pretty fing low. MS released a design that was unreliable and in heavy game playing would fail because there was insufficient cooling and the motherboard design could not handle the heat. Hard core gamers - especially the people that buy at launch - tend to play harder and longer and they got the worst machine possible. The falcon chip and subsequent redesigns of the motherboard have greatly improved things to the point where the quality is decent. So MS did a nice job with the games but the quality of the first two years of consoles was poor.

Next time, MS, make the first two years worth of consoles fing bullet proof, spend the money on making the product extremely reliable, and then figure out ways to pull cost out. Don't release a piece of crap hardware and then make it decent over the next two years.

Really, the only problems MS has with the 360 are the reliability (or lack thereof - which is probably fixed - but because MS doesn't want to talk about it we have to guess) and the loudness of the DVD - which seems to have improved but again MS doesn't want to talk about it so you have to resort to tricks to figure it out if you are getting a quiet or loud DVD player. The games are good, Live is well worth the price IMO, I don't care about movies because I only use a stand alone player for movies (and until there is a decent stand alone made I will wait to buy a bluray player).

So for current buyers the issue should be price vs value (which is a personal decision) but the original purchasers have a right to be pissed.

[djroberts]

Bogus, every person I know who owns or has owned a 360 has got the RROD except one who I haven't asked in months.

[memots]

I know(personally) a lot of people who had their 360 replace, and some of them had to get it replaced more than once. 16%? MY ASS. Even 33% seems low to me.
It has to be way more than that .. You actually believe M$ is gonna give the real %number??
No corporation would willingly give out real data if it hurt their bottom line or business . Thats just reality.

[zonetrooper5]

The newer 360's are actually alot more quieter than my one which is from Feb 2006 and is still alive (portal song ^_^). Buy games which you find fun and you think is worth the money on whatever system. XBL content from the marketplace can be accessed for free if you got an XBL Sliver account, hell you can play Halo 3 in only unranked matches and custom matches if you got a Sliver account.

The 360 is not that pricey either, is alot more quieter and cooler before but is still prone to breaking down, has an excellent online service with alot of content to choose from and a a big library of games to choose from as well.

[Sarick]

(!!sarcasm alert !!)

It's only high if you use your console. Otherwise you'll never know. So if you don't want RROD the simple solution is to not use your console.

In any case these 16% are all wrong. I'm sure this is a base on the 1st year failure rate or by consoles that have lower then average use. Everyone knows all man made machines have 100% failure rate it's just a matter of time before they fail. Nothing last forever, the good thing is when hardware outlives it's usefulness before it breaks that makes it high quality.

You can slap a 1% failure rate on anything but if its suppose to last 1-5 years and it breaks in the first month I don't care how low that number is spun, you got a lemon!

I don't believe this because everyone I know that has or had a 360 watched it break multiple times within 1-2 years. Based on the percentages of <MY> friends their at 100% failure rate. All launcg consoles died within the 2nd year or less.

So to put it simple if you have a 360 that was baught at launch it's going to break. It's just a matter of time till it does. Yours hasn't broke? Well, you where one of the lucky people whos 100% failure rate hasn't surfaced on. If you don't play your console a lot it'll last longer and MS can assume those barely used consoles aren't part of the RROD consoles that are not going to break. This is why those numbers are probably off. If you have rarely used your consoles of corse it'll the RROD pool

..... Yet.....

[Gamingshouldbefun]

Only people with 33% of their brain working would buy a xbox.
and if you need explanation why then you are proving my point.

oh and also 3% failure rate on ps3? nice try, officially its under 0.40% you misleading retarded fackheads.

[blade402]

Ironic, my bros 360 just broke.

[Ridrick]

.

[joeynox]

I have 2 launch models and they work perfectly fine. I believe the rate as of now to be around 10

[Ridrick]

Whats the point of having more than 1 360's ?

Just in case if one goes down ?

[Gamingshouldbefun]

I see they try to make xbox look better with that 16% crap but bullshitting people about 3% ps failure is just god damn pathetic, I mean cant sony sue them for spreading wrong information publicly about their product?

[TwissT]

This is still too high when the failure rates hit around 0-3 percent than I will go pick up my 360, hopefully an elite =D.

[ddamaged1]

Xbox sucks. I agree as well.

[Rice]

too high...