Microsoft XBox Next delay rumors abound

"SemiAccurate has been hearing about problems at Microsoft with their next console part since we exclusively reported the tapeout. The short story is that officially the PoR was December 2012 for production wafers in (Note: This is a specific term with a very specific meaning, if you don’t understand what it implies, SemiAccurate does do technical consulting) has not changed. The rumors however are growing much more persistent and frequent, so we spent the last month digging in to the details." - SemiAccurate

[Godmars290]

If there are production issues, hopefully MS will address them before releasing their system. Though if there's another "RROD" incident they could probably damage control their way out of it.

[Blankman85]

By damage control you're referring to paying 1 billion dollars to extend the 360 warranty to 3 years and paying back the money of those who had already fixed theirs out of pocket?

[nukeitall]

I know, unlike another company that got sued for a disc drive problem, dragged it out until the generation essentially ended then offered:

"Now a settlement has been reached which would give consumers who have recently bought, repaired or lost a PS2 with one of the specified model numbers a cheque for USD 25, a free PS2 game from a defined list, or a free or cut-price repair or replacement of their console - at SCEA's discretion."

http://www.gamesindustry.bi...

That is if you still had the receipt after all those years. The kicker is that Sony *may* only offer you a "cut-price" repair!

They didn't acknowledge the problem, didn't take care of their customers when it mattered and barely took care of them afterwards.

In comparison, MS offered 3-year warranty on all consoles, refund on all repair charges already paid and paid for return shipping and shipping materials. They also gave you a free month of XBL Gold for your troubles.

[gatormatt80]

Nukeitall, I had one those faulty disc drives in my PS2. I bought it in Feb. 2001 just a few months after they launched. My system quit playing the dvd games but would still play games on cd. This happened after owning the system just over a year. I emailed Sony and explained my situation. In the end they said, mail it in to us and we'll fix your PS2 at no cost to you.

I agree they may not have publicly acknowledged the issue, but as far as taking care of customers I personally cant complain.

[MrBeatdown]

@nukeitall

I love how you always have that PS2 settlement article ready to go any time anyone mentions RROD. Always gotta be ready for damage control, right?

Yeah, let's all praise Microsoft for having the least terrible response to their massive hardware and PR disaster.

Bravo, Microsoft! It only took a year and a half before you decided to give people who went through the official repair route their money back. The whole thing shouldn't have happened to begin with, but let's give MS props for supposedly being the best of the absolute worst.

@gator

I had a similar experience. I got my PS2 for Christmas in 2001. It was bought before then which took some time out of the warranty. It was out of warranty by the time I had an issue a few months later, but Sony replaced it for free. The replacement had a memory card slot that wouldn't completely close, so after sending that one back, Sony then sent me a brand new console with a new controller and everything.

[Ben_Grimm]

@ Mr. Beatdown

"I love how you always have that PS2 settlement article ready to go any time anyone mentions RROD. Always gotta be ready for damage control, right?"

Well Beatdown its for those people who always have to bring up RROD in MS related articles. But lets ignore that and go straight after Nuke.

[Oner]

@ Ben_Grimm ~ This article is about hardware issues and Microsoft...so to discuss MS problems is a topical reference in this specific instance since it's not just any old "MS related article". Sorry but it's quite clear Nuke is in damage control mode.

[MrBeatdown]

@Ben_Grimm

Then how about he keeps the "but, but, but... SONY DID IT TOO!" to places where it's actually appropriate, and direct it at people who are using RROD to troll in those other articles instead of bringing it up, TWICE, completely unnecessarily, in an article where discussing RROD is completely appropriate?

That would probably make too much sense.

RROD is relevant here. Sony isn't. "But let's ignore that."

[vega275]

i brought the ps2 when it first launched it broke down twice due to dre and had to come out of pocket 2 times and never received my money back or a free game from sony.

[Ben_Grimm]

@ Mr. Beatdown

RROD is relevant here? Why is that Beatdown, just because its an MS article? Did you even read the article? Nowhere is it stated that RROD is a rumor of the delay. Nowhere in the article does it even mention RROD or the original cause of it.

In fact RROD isn't even an issue anymore with the 360 as of late. So how is it relevant? And where is it appropriate to bring up the "BU BU BU BUT SONY DID IT TOO" if not for the poster who he's replying too and his subject matter.

But then again you did ignore him.

[MrBeatdown]

@DK and Ben

You guys really can't put two and two together can you?

It doesn't matter what caused the RROD issue. The problem was that it was released before MS could guarantee that it was up to generally accepted quality standards. Nobody wants that happening again.

Maybe I'm misinterpreting the article, but what I'm reading is an article about producing a component that as of right now, is giving MS trouble. Problems with components, whatever those components may be, lead to problems with the hardware if not dealt with properly.

Now, if I'm wrong on that, and Godmars is too, maybe you guys have some greater understanding of chip manufacturing than the rest of us simpletons. If that's the case, maybe you DK, maybe you Ben, and maybe nukeitall should be correcting Godmars and explaining to him why the issue described in the article has no bearing whatsoever on the quality of the final product, instead of playing cheerleader for the guy that wants to troll the one that you all claim is a troll just for mentioning RROD, which, hypocritically, drags the comments here far more off topic than Godmars' comment ever did.

But I suppose that wouldn't provide for an opportunity to drag Sony down, and prop up MS for their ever-so-wonderful response to a hardware fiasco that never should have happened in the first place. It speaks volumes that Godmars' and my comments are the only ones you two take issue with, and nukeitall's gets a complete pass. I guess it's okay to go into full-blown troll mode as long as there is a comment that might, sorta, kinda look like "borderline trolling".

[ash_divine]

@DK286K

Why are you so afraid of someone talking about RROD?

Do you think that if you don't acknowledge long enough it'll suddenly stop existing?

Besides, no has really even used RROD as an insult (or whatever) here. You're kind of over-reacting.

P.S. The article is about hardware issues at Microsoft. No matter how you spin it, RROD is completely relevant.

[MrBeatdown]

***"That's a pretty convenient position to take. That way, you can bring RROD into ANY MS hardware discussion, regardless of how irrelevant it is to the actual topic of discussion."***

You really will cling to just about anything won't you? I didn't bring up RROD in "ANY MS hardware discussion" but that won't stop you from spinning what I'm saying to make it sound like I'm setting the stage for some long term trolling. You just need to resort to that kind of BS because you don't have anything better to respond with. You have to imply some shady, ulterior motive that you pulled out of your ass, because you can't find any better way to spin what I'm saying.

Fact... this is an article about production issues relating to chip performance. In a broader sense, it's dealing with MS's response to quality issues. RROD specifically isn't what's relevant... it's MS's handling of quality issues that's relevant, and RROD is a prime example of that. But for some reason, you need everything spelled out for you because you can't (or refuse to) put two and two together.

***"This article deals with chip performance. RROD had nothing to do with chip performance"***

It doesn't matter if RROD isn't related to chip performance. What matters is MS's quality assurance. They shipped a product with a horrible design flaw. And it's not like the 360 was infallible in every other regard either. Chalk it up to MS knowingly doing it, or being oblivious to it. It doesn't really matter. What matters is that in the end MS failed to properly handle an issue during console development and production with their last console. It's perfectly reasonable to question it again, especially when you have an article pointing to an issue like this which suggests quality concerns in a core component of the hardware.

I guarantee you the rest of the gaming world isn't as naive as you. The rest of us aren't going to wait and see how well MS handles the chip placement in their next console. They're going to wait to see if the damn thing holds up, regardless of underlying issues.

***"you & Godmars are searching desperately for any reason to bring MS down. You have no high ground here."***

More spin. I point something out... something fairly obvious... RROD was bad, even with MS's eventual resolution for it, and you have to treat it like I'm trying to "bring MS down". God forbid someone do anything but lavish praise on Microsoft for their handling of their colossal hardware ****-up in the presence of DK, even if it is directly related to the comment being replied to.

Like I said, it speaks volumes about you that you're here, taking issue with just me and Godmars.

nukeitall mentions Sony's response to disc read error... you give it a complete pass.

Godmars mentions RROD... you call it "borderline trolling" and attack me for my relevant responses.

It's fine and dandy when nukeitall drags Sony into this purely to troll, but you make it sound like I'm the one with an agenda. We all know why.

You're a hypocrite, plain and simple. You take issue with the mere mention of RROD, but you're perfectly okay with a guy that brings up Sony's response to a hardware issue in an article that you claim has nothing to do with hardware reliability.

You can tell yourself whatever you want about how I have "no high ground", but at least I don't have to apply double standards like you are... ignoring obvious off-topic trolling, and saying others who are "borderline trolling" are "searching desperately for any reason to bring MS down."

[Lvl_up_gamer]

@ ash_divine

"Do you think that if you don't acknowledge long enough it'll suddenly stop existing?"

The PS1 and PS2 both had SERIOUS hardware issues where Consumers had to sue Sony http://www.consumeraffairs.... yet nobody on this site seems to remember or acknowledge them. They existed yet on this site you would think thet it never happened and Sony has never released a gaming console with a high percentage of failure rates.

I agree that RROD was an issue on the 360, but that is a pretty broad comment. What caused the RROD was just placement of the parts and not the actual parts themselves. BUT, at the end of the day when you go to turn on your 360 and it doesn't turn on....nobody is saying "golly! I can't believe the parts are put too close where they can over heat causing my 360 to RROD"....If the 360 doesn't turn on, then you say it's the 360 that is broken.

Whatever the reason is the 360 wasn't turning on, we as consumers don't care as to why it not turning on, we just know the 360 was RRODing.

All manufacturers have had their mis-steps. People still bought a PS3 after bad experiences with the PS1 and PS2. People are still going to buy an Xbox 720 even with RROD on their 360.

[Gildarts]

I still have my Xbox 360 elite from launch.

[BDSE]

As it is I'll wait 18 months before getting the new XBOX so that any issues with hardware become apparent. I really can't be bothered to continually send back units for replacement.

[nukeitall]

If there is one thing a company is really good at, it is to react to something they got hurt really badly from.

I doubt MS will ever have another RROD incident, just because it is within their control and it freaken cost them a billion dollar, a lot of bad publicity and lost many customers.

If it did happen again, I would trust MS to handle it more gracefully than other companies that dismiss it, settle the lawsuit later, doesn't acknowledges it and gives you a swift kick in the ass years later.

http://www.gamesindustry.bi...

Nintendo though has been pretty good, they had a problem with the graphics chip in the Wii and they fixed it for free. They even sent out free jackets for the Wii mote.

[morkendo23]

oh, lawd here we go again with NEW "possible" RROD, E74,Disk tray malfuctions,I hope for MS this is ONLY a rumor.

anyone planing on buying 5-10... X720's??? @ 499.00 a pop (possible price range)...
for 6,000.00 that is a decent used car price.

we dont need that fiasco again.

[DeadlyFire]

Looks like Microsoft is throwing itself at rushing its console production again. I foresee RROD 2.0! Unless well they change the color.

[Gildarts]

This is a problem with the PRODUCTION of the chips not the chips themselves.

[GribbleGrunger]

If it's delayed, it won't be a production issue. Both Sony and Microsoft are waiting for the final specs of the Wiiu and the specs of their respective competition. This is just normal procedure to maximise impact on release.

[andibandit]

Having worked for several companies that produce hardware/software, at no point have we ever just been waiting for what the competition releases.

what you are implying is a deadlock.

[karlowma]

Wait, can you delay something that hasn't been announced?

[Blankman85]

Just because they have not yet announced it does not not mean they don't have a schedule they are following.
Pre-production and production all happen according to a worked out timeframe and if there are problems, delays occur.

[bobshi]

I love that this comment has a high ratio of disagrees.

[Bathyj]

How can it be delayed?

Has it even been officially announced yet?

[Dms2012]

I suppose this is here to compliment the Gamestop article about there being only one next gen console in 2013.

[optimus]

Well the "delay" is obviously based on pure speculation given the lifespan of past game consoles... And yes, you can delay something without announcing it TO THE PUBLIC... If their engineers and developers say "we're not ready, we need more time." then it indeed is considered a delay in product development...not that the public would hear that part of it.

[theWB27]

Gotta love the articles about items you BARELY know anything....wait nothing about. Hell we know the WiiU is coming out this year and still waiting on final specs.... Chalk this rumor up s nothing at all.

[AngelicIceDiamond]

A delay huh, Wait hold up? who confirmed the new Xbox is coming next year?

[Mkai28]

This reported low yield, this would mean that the Xbox next is one big chip of a monster scale, since all three foundries are having trouble producing it. It could very well mean that $M appointed time will(when ever that is) delay. What in the world is Microsoft trying to do, triple source the chip?

[tehpees3]

I bet its going to be November next year. How long would they delay it for if they didn't meet their supposed September date?

[ChunkyLover53]

We haven't even had a next Xbox announcement, nothings been confirmed, and now we already have a delay...lol

Gotta love the rumor mill.

[bobshi]

I flew out to see my father as a surprise.

I had a plane ticket for the 1st at 9PM.

The airline delayed the flight for 12 hours. I got there a day late.

He knew not of my delay as he was not aware of my arrival time, but I arrived late and was delayed as I was aware of my intended arrival time.

We know not of MS's intended arrival time, but - if you believe the article - they have fallen/are falling back on their planned schedule.

In other words their plane was delayed and the surprise visit will happen later than they anticipated.

Get it now?

[MRMagoo123]

basically what bobshi said

[ChunkyLover53]

Its not like I didn't get it, its the fact that there probably isn't anything to get. If we simply believe rumors, then they started producing actual Xbox 720 units earlier in the year.

I live off facts, not hearsay. I seriously doubt Microsoft lets Nintendo have two full years or two full holiday seasons on the market with no new console to compete. We are a year and a half away from when I believe the Xbox 720 will launch, which is a lifetime.

[BitbyDeath]

Wouldn't be the first time, i remember when GT5 received a similar article.

[greenpowerz]

Nonsense. Suddenly we know about delays but nothing else about the console and release. I think this is anti MSFT/xbox fear mongering so fanboys like #1 can stead lies and condition the way gamers feel about the xbox(like media and republicans) mixed with wishful thinking.