Xbox 360 'Red Ring of Death' Abating?

Microsoft's hardware problems are well know. The company had to extend its warranty to three years on Xbox 360, and lost a billion dollars in the process. To this day, people still complain about the console's reliability and the so called "Red Ring of Death." A recent survey by magazine GameInformer found that 55 percent of respondents suffered through a 360 failure but Xbox Live and Xbox 360 director of product management Aaron Greenberg believes the hardware problems are now in the rear-view mirror at this point, since the company has continually made improvements on internal components.

Today, IndustryGamers received new survey data from SquareTrade, which claims to be the largest independent warranty provider in the world. The study compared the malfunction rates for all three consoles and found the Wii to be nine times more reliable than Xbox 360 and four times more reliable than PS3. That said, there has been significant improvement with Xbox 360 and the RROD problem. SquareTrade's data shows that the introduction of the "Jasper" chipset in late 2008 "has likely solved" the RROD problem.

[IcyJoker187]

OK so they are saying the failure rate is around 10% -_- Really?

Whats funny is most of the XDF will eat this up.

[Simon_Brezhnev]

its just more lies

[kapedkrusader]

...it'll only be cause more people are playing their PS3s.

[Strikepackage Bravo]

here is what they said

" During the first two years of ownership, 2.7 percent of Wii owners reported a system failure to SquareTrade, compared with 10 percent of PlayStation 3 owners and 23.7 percent of Xbox 360 owners.
Excluding RROD failures, which are covered by Microsoft’s three-year warranty, 11.7 percent of Xbox 360 owners reported a failure. "

Like I and a few others have said, the Jaspers are RROD free, the RRODs that are occurring now are older consoles.

@below You are incorrect, the company Square Trade responded to a survey using actual data of their own, Square Trade is a warranty provider, they don't have to survey anyone, they have the actual claims information for these consoles, thus any information they supply in response to a survey is the most accurate. OK well nevermind you edited your post.

[randomwiz]

You can tell Microsoft is trying to get rid of RROD. There's no reason they would release the jasper if they didn't care about rrod.

Jasper and Falcon use the same size chipsets
@below, you seriously believe that gameinformer survey was a better representation of the rrod problem than someone who actually fixes rrod's?

these people took the number of rrod's that they fixed, and the number of consoles that were covered by them, and divided those two to get a %

[Mu5afir]

RROD reports would go straight to Microsoft, NOT SquareTrade.. so their stats would not reflect the survey by GameInformer. It's a nice attempt at trying to refute the problem.. but anyone with half a brain can read between the lines and figure out that this data isn't accurate.

"Excluding RROD failures, which are covered by Microsoft’s three-year warranty,"

[deadreckoning666]

Apparently, failure rates don't matter since people r still buyin em. If I were in others shoes, Id get a Slim.

@Strikepackage- Exactly. PS3 fanboys are more vocal and distressed over 360 failure rates than any other group on the planet and most of them don't even own 360s! Wheres this hate coming from???

[Strikepackage Bravo]

why are you guys so determined to hate?

Mu5, it says the rate is 23.7% including RROD and 11.7% if you don't include RROD. MS underwrites the cost of the RROD units. Keep in mind these numbers are just for the consoles covered by Square Trade, no one is saying the 360 failure rate is only 10% wtf is wrong with you people.

[morganfell]

Is someone in here acting like the press writing a PS3 article?

And you are bending the truth Strikepackage. That 23.7 percent is only for the first two years of ownership.

[Silellak]

While this is far more reliable than the terrible, oft-quoted Game Informer survey, it really doesn't prove anything either way.

We'll likely never know the full extent of the RRoD problem. I doubt even Microsoft themselves know - they best they can do is estimate. It should be suffecient to say that such a serious hardware issue was and will always be unacceptable, and the XBox brand will be deservedly tarnished for awhile yet to come.

[IDetonation]

This coming from a person that believes 54.2% is accurate. xDDDDDD

[Christopher]

The RRoD issues have been abating for the last two years. The issue is that each individual issue is being compared against all 360s when actually it's the same system having multiple issues.

I would say that RRoD is down to about 20%. Not sure I'd go as low as 10%, especially since most Elite boxes don't carry the Jasper chips yet.

[darthv72]

If the numbers were down it wont matter to those who want to continually use the higher number as ammo. Honestly if you think polls and stats cant be messed with you are sadly mistaken. All it takes is someone with a purpose to falsify information. It happens.

I am reminded of the major releases recently that got all messed up user reviews on metacritic because they just wanted to lower the score. Yes that may be a bad example but it is an example of how easy it would be to skew information for or against something.

I expect the defect rate to decrease time over time. People looking for reason to hate find whatever they can. Thus the circle of life continues.

[marcus j]

*Gets popcorn.*

[eagle21]

SAD

[Anon1974]

And why would anyone pay for their warranties when the 360 has a 3 year warranty you don't have to pay for?

And what was with the huge spikes in RROD in 2008? What was that about?

[pixelsword]

That's probably people RR'ing their consoles to get the Jasper chips before their warranty ran out. ('05-'08)

;)

[dawgsfan117]

Ill be the first to admit that I have had a 360 RROD on me. But it was a release model that I bought at midnight and it lasted 2 years. I have had my elite for quite a while now and it works great and runs much quieter than my old one. It seems that the RROD hype from PS3 fanboys is like a defense mechanism they put up whenever something negative is said about the PS3 (which I also own and love by the way so chill out fanboys).

[really duh]

Are we going to see a RROD articles every time 360 sales articles gets posted?

LOL "gameinformer" vs "Square Data" of course PS3 fans go with *GI* ;)

http://www.datasquare.com/ A company that specializes in this matter *vs* http://www.gameinformer.com... A company known to lean towards Sony, with fanboys all over the place.

[don_ninja]

it would be better if it was "SOLVED".

[prunchess]

How many additional consoles has MS sold due to this fault. How much money have they made out of repairing the other design faults that appeared after the 360 release?

As for the RROD abating....

No one will ever believe that the RROD is abating because MS never owned up to the fault, denied it existed until it looked like they might have to do a recall. They've also never given out the figures for hardware failure rates and what these are broken down as.

[notpill]

that site forgot to mention:
"In a survey of SquareTrade customers with Xbox 360s conducted by
email, SquareTrade found that over half of our customers who experienced a RROD error reported their
problem directly to Microsoft without contacting SquareTrade"

So wtf?

and again

"First, it’s worthwhile considering that Xbox 360’s failure rate drops to 11.7% when you exclude RROD,
which then puts it on par with the PS3. If the RROD issue were resolved, we would anticipate future
Xbox 360’s to be only slightly less reliable than the PS3."

11.7% IF YOU EXCLUDE RROD!!

[sunil]

All electronic devices are prone to failure. Less than 2% is what the graph shows and that is well within the acceptable failure rate in the electronic industry

[caladbolg777]

I reckon Jasper didn't "fix" the RRoD problem. They just removed the three red lights from all Jasper models. Jasper models are still going kaput almost as often as the original 360 models. The original kits were designed to flash three red lights in the case of general hardware failure. You can't get the red ring of death anymore when the kits aren't hardwired to report the three red lights.

They "fixed" problems with the 360 by removing its ability to indicate that there is a problem. Jaspers don't RRoD because they CAN'T.

RRoD in Jasper models = E74 (which doesn't register three red lights)

[pain777pas]

Level with me there is not one person that I know that is not on their at least second 360 seriously. The only way that it has not Red Ringed is because they are scared to use cause they heard the engine sounding alittle strange got scared and is trying to avoid playing it too much which is what has happened to many of us and all I can say is glad to see the PS3 is back on its feet and ready to roll.

[Kleptic]

haha notpill...exactly...

they basically say...'the 360 is less reliable than the PS3, even IF you exclude the RROD fiasco'...and then trumpet it like some sort of good thing for the 360?...wtf?...

I don't know about the jasper, and if it fixed the whole thing...and I simply don't care anymore...paying for XBL coupled with the RROD thing are the ONLY reasons I don't own a 360...watched my poor little cousin pop two of them, one near launch...the other right after he received its replacement...the 3rd one ended up on Ebay...there is ZERO evidence of the new systems not popping...what about the youtube videos of gamescon 2 weeks ago with RROD'd 360's in kiosks?...just like every convention?...you think MS would put the 'best' 360 sku in those, wouldn't they?...you still read of new owners having an RROD or E74 problem, and claim to have just purchased their 360...People used to say the Elite didn't break as well...wrong...they were just as bad as every other 360...so what...ever...the 360 problems will make a better 720, be assured of that...but i'll wait and see how the 720 turns out, rather than participate in an ongoing public hardware beta...thanks...

[JokesOnYou]

JokesOnYou - 8 days 21 hours ago
-I say just keep the rrod stories coming, they aren't pointing out any new cases of a large amounts of current jasper 360's experiencing hardware failures and thus they only end up pointing out that despite past failures that the 360 is indeed STILL very popular among gamers...and based on the recent Nielsen study of 360 getting the most play time thats very much a testament to what 360 offers. http://www.n4g.com/NewsCom-...

JokesOnYou - 9 days 9 hours ago

PM
Track
Ignore27 - Of course the failure rate was too high...
Still, I have no doubt whatsoever any poll that doesn't require a verified Gamertag that has anything to do with 360 WILL BE TAINTED BY SONYFANBOYS.= Those who never owned one have the worst "OMG RROD Horror stories", lol. Anybody who seriously really doubts this hasn't ever seen n4g, just look at the sonyfanboys in this thread alone, by far the worst of the fanboys.

I read most of the comments, I have know idea like most what the past or current failure rate is, but its obviously significantly less than the launch models. Its funny when sonyfanboys try their hardest to overlook the fact that forum reports and website reports of gamers with actual Gamertags that have had rrod over the last 18 months have very few complaints, unlike when 360 launched.

So yeah the first 360's were indeed a disaster when it comes to reliability but they've been improved alot which is why no sonyfanboy offered links to a current forums or websites that contain 100's of users with Gamertags complaining like we saw in the first 6-12 months after launch on IGN, Gamespot, and almost every other website and 360 forum, because they can't all they will talk about is how everyone they know 360 has failed and assume that ANY 1 report of a 360 owner who's console failed means that everybody 360 has failed. I see some want to label those who still prefer 360 as "delusional", yeah OK so says the guy who's had 3 ps2's with bad lasers, YES sonyfanboys will do there best to make any poll about rrod worse than it actually is....if you don't believe that YOU are truly delusional
http://www.n4g.com/NewsCom-...

JokesOnYou - 10 days 23 hours ago
If you read the same forums 6-12 months after 360 launched, 360 owners were pissed and they spoke out, why would so many suddenly stop if there are so many owners still experiencing rrod?...That along with sites reporting significantly fewer complaints, along with my own experience from friends is WHY Iam convinced that the changes micro made to the motherboard while not perfect has reduced the defect % significantly. Any random poll that doesn't require at least submitting a gamertag(verified 360 owner) is tainted by fanboys and other than this the rrod stories from 2007 use to contain 100's of folks who emailed IGN, Gamespot, Gamepro etc about problems, now its just stories of 1 guy who's 360 broke 15x's, why is that?
http://www.n4g.com/NewsCom-...

-gdammitt, I'm right, AGAIN....don't worry, I'm use to it, lmfao

JOY

[IdleLeeSiuLung]

You will take a number from a survey done by a gaming magazine over a company that provides warranty as a business! The latter has money invested where it's best interest is to have as few issues as possible, while the latter, a magazine that would thrive on sensationalizing gaming related news.

If so, I think you can kiss your credibility good bye to everyone except your cohort fanbois!

[All-3]

That there was a 10.6% failure rate for the PS3 because of the YLoD - so does that mean that 10.6% of all PS3s sold up till then fail?

The GI survey also showed that only 3.8 percent of Xbox 360 owners said they'd never buy another Xbox because of hardware failures.

http://consumerist.com/5338...

[INehalemEXI]

So they are saying the failure rate of the console for the first 2 years is at 23.7%, They also say the # could be higher due to not everyone going through them which I would imagine is a considerable #, I didn't go through them.

I would hope the consoles would last longer then 2 years, whats the failure rate if were talking 0 to 3 years the percantage probably would be 33% and overall it still could be around 50%

every single 360 I had failed that is a 100% had 3. There never has been a console in my experience that failed on me 100% of the time and were talking the longest they lasted was a year and a half. Trying to paint the failure rate in a positive light is just ridiculous, there needs to be accountability. For one they should cover all failures under the extended RRoD warranty. This shows that 50% of the fails are due to something other then RRoD so ...if a console goes RRoD instead of , something else your lucky....WTF is this sh!t.

You can play with statistics to make things look pretty but nothings going to change your still going to be shoveling faulty product onto customers.

[Oner]

From the so-called "report" by SquareTrade that certain types seem to omit....

"First, it’s worthwhile considering that Xbox 360’s failure rate drops to 11.7% ****when you exclude RROD****, which then puts it on par with the PS3.[/quote]

And just a bit below that we have

"Second, ****Microsoft’s policy may result in an underreporting of failures**** by Xbox 360 owners to SquareTrade, relative to the other two consoles.

****Because the RROD problem is so widely known to be covered by Microsoft’s warranty, we believe that more customers bypass SquareTrade and reported failures directly to the Microsoft****

In a survey of SquareTrade customers with Xbox 360s conducted by email, SquareTrade found that over half of our customers who experienced a RROD error reported their problem directly to Microsoft without contacting SquareTrade. Email survey respondents tend to be a self-selecting group, so the data should be used directionally rather than definitively, particularly because we did not survey PS3 and Wii owners with the same question.

****With that caveat in mind, applying the survey data to the analysis shows that the Xbox 360 failure rate could be as high as 35%****.

While Microsoft initially claimed in February 2007i that the “return” rate on Xbox 360s did not exceed 3-5%, they later published an open apology on July 5th, 2007 and announced a $1.15 billion fund to be set aside for Xbox 360 repair and replacement.ii The money would fund repairs for up to 2.5 million consoles, and thus they implicitly anticipated a far higher rate of failure than their stated 3-5%."

So spin it however you like but those words came from the same report everyone is "claiming" to use to show the 360 has a low fail rate....Yeah OOOOHHHKKKAAAAAAYYYY

[edgeofblade]

What's really sad is that the non-RROD failure rate is so high.

[IdleLeeSiuLung]

It is quite an eye opener. The newer Falcon and Jasper consoles are far less likely to receive the RROD and SquareTrade expect it to be well under 4%. In fact SquareTrade says:

"Furthermore, when looking at over 500 units purchased in 2009, fewer than 1% of customers have reported a RROD error as of Aug 2009."

Basing it on the numbers of hours of usage relative to defects, the Wii is still the lowest. However, this is not corrected for the fact that the more you use the same console the more likely it is to break. In this regard, the PS3 has an impressive low defect rate.

On the other end, a lot of MS data is skewed due to the earlier units having a high failure rate. Furthermore, it has almost 5% disc read error problems. Mind you these are basically off the shelf standard DVD-ROM drives for PCs.

Bottom line, when I bought my Xbox 360 I made sure to purchase a 3-year extended warranty at Target that cost $30. Why? I was afraid of RROD, but figure it was mostly fixed with the newer units. In my experience, what almost always fails is the disc drive. This is further substantiated by this report. I suspect that MS console has the highest rate of disc failures due to the higher speed of disc rotation than other consoles including the PS3. It also seems to abruptly change speeds too (I notice cause it is so freakin loud)....

Neither of the consoles in my house has had any problems:

2x 360 Pro (Falcon)
1x PS3 65nm
1x PS3 90nm (60GB BC model)
1x Wii

Both the 360 and the PS3 get's heavy use, while the Wii get's a lot of dust!

[F N A Pepper]

actually i still have the one i bought the first month they were out its at my brothers house doing fine running fine and he has three kids who play it night and day so no i've never experienced the RROD, But i did just install firmware 3.0 on my ps3 and now none of my games will play, go playstation whoo hoo!!!

[usern4g]

@1.1

"more lies"

From *WHO* exactly? This is another piece of data from a 3rd Party Warranty firm.

The **MOST** interesting thing from this?

Jasper from Late 08 has a **4%** failure rate.

That's less than the PS3s 10% failure rate.

Square Trade is the *ONLY* piece of reliable data regarding failures. That nonsense poll was just ridiculous.

Bottom line here? The general hardware failure has been fixed.

RROD is history.

[TotalPS3Fanboy]

RRoD is still a very very big problem, and it's not going away any time soon. 360s are still failing everyday.

[mrv321]

What about E74?

Also, just because it's going down doesn't mean it's any better after all Microsoft released a faulty product which everyone just accepts.

[militant07]

E74 is same as RROD, not new error or anything!

both of them caused by heat

[Kleptic]

uh?^^ really?...I thought for a while E74 issues where not covered by the 'general system failure', represented by 3 red rings...MS initially tried to claim they weren't, but then enough people experienced the E74 also that they extended the warranty to include that as well...E74 is caused by heat, but to my understanding it was not the same as a 'general system failure'...

[morganfell]

Correct. Initially MS would not cover E74. It is funny they agreed to do so only after the number of rising questions over whether an update provided by MS changed the way a 360 reports errors. It was proposed that this was an attempt by MS to find away out from under the 3 year warranty issue.

[oohWii]

You clowns should be happy for the RROD had it not been for the RROD the PS3 would have been dead and buried a year ago.

It's typical that any information given about the 360 that is negative is taken in by you freak without question. But the minute something positive comes up, it got to be a lie.

These are the 28 years old educated males on PSN. I rest my case.

[edgeofblade]

The idea that Microsoft was trying to weasel out of the warranty is... cynical at best. I've heard just about every Microsoft conspiracy theory out there, and most of them don't have even one leg to stand on.

I know you would love that though... any reason to hate Microsoft is a good reason to you freaks.

And I totally agree with oohWii. Have a bubble for truth.

[usern4g]

What about E74?

The Jasper -- late 2008 till now -- has a 4% rate OFF ALL TYPES.

4% < 10% (current PS3 rate).

[MetalGearBear]

it great story for xbots.

[The_Beast]

there ganna be so happy until their jasper chipped box rrods

[IDetonation]

Dont get mad now.
;D

[Darrius Cole]

How about that on the day PS3 Slim officially releases someone just happens to have new study that says that the 360 is now more reliable than it used to be.

My favorite part is how the 11.7 percent of Xbox 360 owners report having failures IF YOU DON'T COUNT RROD. But RROD is what happens in the vast majority of 360 failures.

This story comes from a biased sample just like the GameInformer study, even though it is probably a better measure of the poplulation that it covers (people who bought their warranty and not someone else's warranty.

[Sir Ken_Kutaragi]

They get this Story back on the Front page(on this site)again!!! ;-D

Nothing you say or do will stop the PS3:Slim!!! ;-P

[Kill Crow]

when they believed that bogus story about 30 million PS3's sold !!!

HAHAHAH, now they believe 54% by some silly user poll .... Dumbassses desperate for any negative xbox news ....

[v1c1ous]

you can accept gameinformer's informal and error prone survey's results, but not squaredata, a company that HANDLES warranty issues?

wow....the cult like attitude of the SDF is amazing

[commodore64]

exactly!

How is it that a reputable company which publishes proven data is discredited, while a completely flawed 'survey' is taken as holy gospel by the haters?

The report shows that the RROD warranty items are heading to 1%.
...certainly a far cry from the claims of 54%.

On the whole, we should trust the real data in this report, as it represents a fair statistical sample and is a clear and accurate indication of real-world data.

No doubt there will be countless hater stories in this thread of individuals who relate anecdotes of claimed 13 rrods every 3 months (cue darkride66 comment) disputing the real facts in preference to their own opinion and biased surveys.

Will they prove me right?

[Anon1974]

I even said to you, I don't believe the 54% failure rate before and yet you still call me out. Obviously I think that the problems I've had with my 360 are in the minority, I've said that time and time again. The majority of 360 owners don't have any problems, I've never said anything different.

Don't put words in my mouth.

As for squaretrade, Microsoft themselves have questioned the accuracy of their data. Here's what Microsoft had to say about Squaretrade in the past.

"Microsoft does not comment on hardware failure rates, nor do we comment on speculation...We have not seen the report, and are unfamiliar with the agency that filed it. Based on the enthusiast community's feedback yesterday, the methodology of this report is suspect."

Microsoft doesn't even know who these guys are. How much of a "reputable company" can these guys be? Do a little digging. The company has actually been investigated in the past and linked to internet scams.

[commodore64]

Don't be lying now, darkride66!

Any one who doubts Darkride's agenda can see in his posting history that he has made the same comments over and over relating his exceedingly high personal experience of RROD over the years in no uncertain terms.

Not once, not twice, but about ten times... the same story!
Clearly, he has an axe to grind, and wants other people to listen.
again. and again. and again.

Come on now, darkie. Quit telling porkies!
If the shoe fits, then wear it!

Oh, and nice of you to quote MS out of context for this article
You do that very well.

By the way, thanks for proving me right.
Didn't take long, huh?

[rhood022]

If he's taking the quote out of context, shouldn't you put the quote in context?

It's easy to say that the quote doesn't fit but you add no credibility either by telling rather than showing.

[Cenobia]

I thought MS handled the RROD issue. Isn't that why this data makes no sense? I don't know why anyone takes any of this data seriously. The fact is that a lot of 360s have died due to RROD or other hardware failures. No data is going to change that fact.

They have obviously gotten better hardware in the new 360s, but that doesn't excuse the past.

@commodore
Why do you feel the need to begin an argument with someone who has personally had bad experiences with the 360? You start an argument because you don't like the fact that he has had multiple RROD incidents? If you don't want to read his comments then just block him. There is no need to start sh!t just because you hate it when people talk about 360s crapping out on them, and to call someone out personally says a hell of a lot more about you than them. Grow up.

[Anon1974]

If you're interested in my views on RROD, just look at my posting history. I've always been up front about the issues I've personally experienced, and I've always stated that I'm in the minority of Xbox 360 owners, that most Xbox owners won't have an issue. I've even arranged to buy a 360 for a friend and he loves it, although he did have it RROD on him and ended up selling it on Ebay for parts, keeping the harddrive and buying an Arcade.

Commodore can say whatever he wants, but anyone who's interesting in where I stand is free to look at my posting history to see that.

And, just for fun, look at some of Commodore's posting history. They're full of such nuggets as "Every single PS3 multiplat is gimped," making up lies about PS3 causing Sony's losses that he can't substantiate, especially considering Kaz himself has confirmed that the PS3 is a profitable platform, and again and again bringing up Ghostbusters, a game he's never played, and pretending it's some unplayable disaster. And then there's his dogging my every comment and calling me out even when I haven't made a comment. Yesterday he was posting on an article about the PS3 and the media written by an Australian gadget site, claiming that it was my blog and condemning it, showing that he A) Never read the article and B) doesn't have a clue even what he's arguing.

Edit: As for the quote being out of context.. I said that quote about Squaretrade was in the past. I was the one who told you it was an old quote. This isn't the first time Squaretrade has put out one of their reports, and that Microsoft quote was from the last time they put out one of these RROD stories.

[caladbolg777]

BWAHAHAHA.

Commodore you got frikken ROCKED!

BWAHAHAHA!

[Bucky Sligo]

BWAHAHAHA.

darkride66 you got frikken ROCKED!

BWAHAHAHA!

[caladbolg777]

Ehhh... not so much Sligo.

[edgeofblade]

There's a cult like attitude... disagrees on the OP.

[usern4g]

"No data is going to change that fact."

The *FACTS* are in the *DATA*.

And, since Jasper -- late 2008 - the rate has been **4%**.

Square Trade is the _ONLY_ source for data on hardware failures that has _any_ credibility (other than the unpublished data at Sony/Nint & MS).

As we *all* know, the heat failure was fixed a long time ago.

And, MS handled the situation with class -- for those who had failures, they got fixes. And, they fixed the problem in Late 2008.

This entire topic is just **OLD NEWS** and only gets attention because of the hate agenda by a few loudmouths.

[powerfulally]

My 360 gave my Halo 3 game a real Halo of burn in on the disc due to my malfunctiong disc drive on my 360. I called Microsoft, and all they could tell me was I can *BUY* a replacement disc of Halo 3 for 20, and pay for a repair to my 360. I told the guy that my 360 had problems and I felt that Microsoft should at least give me a replacment halo 3 for free and repair my 360. All they could say is sorry sir, you have to pay... Like WTF!!! Never buying a 360 after that. Shame because I loved my 360... :(

[presto717]

Thats why I went with ps3. MS warranty on rrod is not enough. I think the most annoying issue is the disk scratching. My cousin and I called to complain once, and the asshole on the phone was like "the only way the disk got scratched is if you moved the console"

We were like WTF?!! I still dont know why people flock to the xbox 360. Its multiplats are no longer better than the ps3's. Most of its exclusives are on pc. And even though I have never used xbl, I feel psn is just fine.

Someone tell me why you love xbox so much. If you had not invested so much in Microsoft's hardware this gen, would you consider switching consoles?

[Poopface the 2nd]

My PS2 worked great, but I do remember my ps1 had some problems sometimes. Many people like xbox because of its games and how it is really geared around playing online. People say that live features like netflix or party chat arnt important, but it doesnt hurt to have microsoft constantly trying to add more value to LIVE. I play with my real friends on LIVe and having ways to be in contact with them and ignore the others is great. This is important because most of the people on live have a headset, as most 360s come with a mic.

I really like my 360 because I use it to play with my real friends and it is really simple to get together even though they are casuals and dont play that many games online like me. Also, most of the multiplatform games still preform better on 360, and they also seem to receive more/faster support.

regarding your last question, hahahhahhhahahahaaa, what? Ive invested a whooping 260 dollars into my 360. And even if it broke id still have it repaired for free and keep using it after getting it back. It doesnt hurt that I also have a PS3 to keep me occupied if that ever does happen. For most gamers its not one or the other, its about getting any system they want regardless of what consoles they already have. I dont see why so many fanboys on this site expect people to choose only one console just because they themselvs have a blind loyalty to one console.

Its funny so many here see it only as 360 or ps3 and completely forget about the possibility of owning both.

[dawgsfan117]

Just becuase you asked Ill tell you why I love my 360. 1. I do like the exclusives on it such as Halo, Gears, and Forza (while I know many of the exclusives are available on PC I dont have the $$$ for a gaming rig). 2. Xboxlive has a more vocal community which is largly do to the fact that it comes with a mic. While this isnt always a good thing (annoying little kids) it makes games like COD4 more fun when I can talk to teammates. 3.The controller is the most comfortable to me.

Keep in mind though that I also have a PS3 which I know on this website is like blasphemy. I like it for its exclusives, free online, and bluray.

Oh and if you dont like my reasons or whatever please keep in mind I really dont give a Fu<k haha.

[ceedubya9]

Saying you can always trust playstation is a bit of a stretch.

The PS3 (and maybe the PS2) is the only really reliable console they have put out.

Now if you're talking about games and not console reliability, then yes the playstation brand has been trustworthy of proving a console that helps deliver great gaming experiences!

[GiantEnemyCrab]

Right, you can always trust Sony to stick you will a bill when your PS2 stop's reading disc's because of DRE. Ah, the short term memory of Sony owners.

This is from someone who had 2 PS2's with issues that Sony refused to fix even though the problem was common.

I hate the fact that the 360 has RROD but at the very least they've come out and said they will cover it up to 3 years. No, it doesn't excuse it but to act like Sony does no wrong is bull.

[JonnyBigBoss]

I don't believe it. Owners are still getting RROD left and right.

[Strikepackage Bravo]

all the old ones are gone they will continue to get RROD right and left, they sold millions of Falcons you know, the point is the newer Jaspers are good to go, and that is all I care about cuz mine is a Jasper LOL!

[caladbolg777]

Jasper owners aren't getting RRoD anymore.

They're getting E74.

Which is the same thing, and just as common, except you don't see any red lights.

[ForROME]

I think the lesson to learn from all of this, MS software is great hardware not so much, they made a bad move by rushing and now have felt the burn both in the wallet and reputation and now are trying to rebuild the reputation the OG xbox game them that was built like a tank and I loved =( if only they built it like that again.

[TheBand1t]

MS had kickass hardware last gen. The original Xbox was built like a tank.

But unfortunately it cost MS craploads to build, so.

[DJ]

And never gave me problems. Goes to show that trying to save a few bucks on engineering and design can lead to Billions of Dollars in losses down the line.

[hmmmm]

While i really liked the original Xbox, my launch box always had trouble reading new games..if i put Halo CE or Rallisport challenge in, it would read it first time every time, but if i tried to put in any games that came later in the Xboxs life cycle like Ninja Gaiden or Halo 2 i would have to continually ejct the disc as it said it couln't read it...i thought it was so strange!

Did anyone else have this problem? or was it just mine...

Oh and why oh why didn't they make Ralliport challenge 2 backwards compatible..easily the best racing game on the xbox!

[StrboyM]

seems someone thinks if an article can put the failure rate on the map, that another article can get em out....

[Colmshan1990]

Is this just because about half the 360s in the world have been replaced? I mean, is the 50% failure rate going to rear it's ugly head again in 1 or 2 years time?

[wxer]

RROD: only on xbox360

[Trevorthenerd]

I thought the ps3 slim did everything lol

[cliffbo]

maybe we'll see some positive spinning for Sony soon...

...yes, i held my breath

[B00M]

I just bought an Elite. How do I know if its a 'Jasper' model? If it breaks its going right back to the shop to get my money back XD

[Silence]

it's been 4 years and "RROD" is still being mentioned. 4 years. History is writing itself here.

[Obama]

"GameInformer found that 55 percent of respondents suffered"

The failure rate has rose up again. 55% > 54.2% :3

[IDetonation]

You could post an article saying the 360 has a failure rate of 80% and Ps3 owners will believe it.

If theres a positive 360 article, all Ps3 ppl start hating.

[commodore64]

dude, you hit the nail on the head.

I just don't get it.
This is a positive 360 article in the 360 section, yet it is full of ugly Ps3 fanboys disputing its veracity and doing their best to hate with doubtful personal anecdotes of FUD and plain lies.

A reduction of rrod is great news for 360 gamers.
Indeed, this is great news for the industry as a whole!
Why aren't we seeing more positive comments?

IS it so hard for the ps3 fans to let go of the 'hate-habit'?

[Carlton Banks]

Jesus can you guys cry any harder?

[commodore64]

perfect example: above.

[FlipMode]

How about M$ tell us the Failure rate? Until then gaming mags and gaming websites will keep saying 54.2%

* lol at the disagrees ok then the 360 failure rate IS 5% Happy now?

[Rockstar]

Exchange 360 with PS3 in that line and you'll have something that reminds me of being on N4G when the PS3 launched.

[IDetonation]

Thanks for proving my point, Carlton.
:D

Bubblessss for commodore64.

----------------

EDIT:@FlipMode

Honestly, i think that even if MS released the real failure rate, most Ps3 fans wouldnt believe it and stick with a false 54.2% rate.

[WMW]

an 80% failure rate from MS wouldn't be hard for anyone to believe with all the crap they have released (xbox 360, zune and windows vista)

[tha_meat_beater]

RROD will hover over the 360's head like a swarm of flies hovering over a steaming pile of dog sh1t.

[IDetonation]

You know this for a fact?
Omg.

You must be Jesussssssss.
:DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

[cliffbo]

he's not Jesus but my son is

[tha_meat_beater]

and that my good man is 54.2% a fact

[IDetonation]

Surveying 5,000 out of 31,000,000 360 owners is accurate?
Since when?
Maybe the majority of the 5,000 just HAPPEN to have failure problems, which makes it NOT a 100% accurate result.
Even if the real percentage is off by 0.01%, that makes 54.2 not accurate.
Your truly a moron if you believe 54.2 is 100% true.

[talltony]

I believe 100% failure rate is a 100% true. Now how many different chips have their been? and did they continue to fail???? yes I think they did. How you could have faith in a jasper chip is just stupid as hell at this point.

[robotnik]

OMG IDetonation you are so stupid, please go back to school and learn some maths.

[Socomer 1979]

Looks like the blue collar factory workers churning out xbox 360's are sending us a message.

[DJ]

And it was unreliable within days of being unboxed. Her eldest brother had three Xbox 360s RROD on him as well. And i won't even get into my bro's six friends who all got RROD.

I really wouldn't be surprised if 30~50% of all 360s sold are just replacement units. The telltale sign is that PS3 is selling a lot more software, despite having a smaller userbase.

[Strikepackage Bravo]

no its not, where on earth did you get that idea?

[Poopface the 2nd]

my uncle's neighbors grandma's dog walker had his PS3 break after only being on for an hour. It was the brand new PS3 slim too. I guess those things are terribly unreliable.

[Emperor PlayStation]

I will now deliver a message to the many people of the internet.
We are the Holy Empire of Sony.
We are a AAA company, which employ the home consoles, the PlayStation.
The purpose for which we, Holy Empire of Sony, exists is...
To end all console warfare on this planet.
We do not seek to fight for personal gain.
In order to eliminate the strife of console war on fanboy's hearts, we stand.
As I am doing presently, we shall announce our intentions to all companies & consumers.
RROD, Bribery, Monopoly, no matter what your justification may be...
We will go to any console battle and quell it.
In this way we hope to reform the industry.
No matter if it is a developer, publisher, or retail store. If they support console war, they will come to know us all too well.
We are the Holy Empire of Sony.
We exist for this purpose of ending console war, as a AAA company.

[mrv321]

RRoD was Microsoft biggest success this generation.

Forget the online
Forget the DLC
Forget Gears

RRoD should have forced Microsoft to issue a recall, but somehow it got turned into a joke with people just accepting it. Microsoft increased the warranty (for RRoD only not the OTHER major problems) and everyone just went ah well that's great let's forget about it.

When Sony increased font size in 3.0 everyone complained but Microsoft got away with RRoD because they are like a puppy, they are not old enough to prove themselves like Sony who are being hated on left right and center.

If Microsoft was in the same position as Sony media wise they would have issued a full recall and justly to, but instead everyone gave them a free ride. 54% may not be real but you wouldn't have to look far to hear about another failure. 33% is dreadful, 40% is crutical, 54% is unbelievable.

How did Microsoft not notice these problems, they released the console early and cost gamers but no one minded.

[Jigga69]

Mu5afir said the truth in message

1.5 - For those who can't read between the lines,
RROD reports would go straight to Microsoft, NOT SquareTrade.. so their stats would not reflect the survey by GameInformer. It's a nice attempt at trying to refute the problem.. but anyone with half a brain can read between the lines and figure out that this data isn't accurate.

"Excluding RROD failures, which are covered by Microsoft’s three-year warranty,"

----

Yes ROD is still the same, that just a way to cover it, just read.

[creeping judas]

"23.7 percent of Xbox 360 owners.
Excluding RROD failures, which are covered by Microsoft’s three-year warranty, 11.7 percent of Xbox 360 owners reported a failure."

So fair trade reported 23.7% failure rate for the 360, then they excluded the RROD's that are reported MS, and that left 11.7% with problems other then RROD.

Reading comprehension is a wonderfull thing.

That said, 11.7% failure rate (not including RROD) is quite high!!!

[DocHoliday]

My brother-in-law had this 360 Rrod on him the minute he plugged it in after the unboxing. Then he went ahead and bought another one, which Rrod on him a week later. He only tried to get a 360 because his friends had them too. Well unfortunatly his friends 360's Rrod on them also within a few days.

[a_cold_soul]

Lmao Is your brother-in-law slow? If he had just brought that system then why not take it back to the store and exchange it for another? Why buy another whole new system?

----------------

Or are you just spreading FUD because if you are then thats just sad.

[ForROME]

I agree, how this didnt turn into a recall I will never know, Only blind loyalty would make some follow a company into the fire. SONY or MS have one thing in common, business that equals money, they arent in it to love you, so get over it

Grown men dont buy broken hardware multiple times, you move on about it if it were a car or tv or dvd player you would never buy it again.

And I agree history is writing it self 4 yrs later and its still mentioned, no fan boys needed to flame that fire.

[GiantEnemyCrab]

However if you get the RROD you should never have to buy one unless you've modified your box. MS replaces them for free for up to 3 years if you suffer the 2 most common failures which are RROD and E74.

Grown men can also read and understand what kind of warranty is available to them. If you went out and just bought another and didn't use the warranty that was provided you are an idiot.

[a_cold_soul]

I can't help but to lmao at the sad lonely SDF...... RROD or no RROD either way the 360 is still selling pretty good and the article that said the Xbox 360 sales went up 43% since the price drop is even more proof to that..... So SDF just keep on hating and spreading FUD but just know your wasting your time because it won't stop the 360.... hell even I know about the RROD and yet I still want a 360 :)

Anyway why hate on a inanimate object O_o?

[Jigga69]

Sorry man but PS3 is right now killing Xbox in Europe/USA/Japan. 43% in UK doesn't mean something

[IDetonation]

Yeah thats for now.
Whos to say Ps3 will all of a sudden gain 8mil more consoles than 360?

[GiantEnemyCrab]

"Sorry man but PS3 is right now killing Xbox in Europe/USA/Japan. "

I will give you Japan, but you are FOS on EU/USA unless you can provide me some sales data. Because you see it high on the charts at Amazon and Best Buy doesn't mean jack sheet.

[PandemicPrawn0]

It seems that the Jasper chipset is doing it's job thats great.

And you would think that a true gamer would be happy about that wouldn't you?

Looks like we don't have many of them on N4G.

[GiantEnemyCrab]

Funny, this is the last place you will find gamers. They are a rare breed on this site.

[cheapndirty]

A place full of faboys that do not realize that competition is good for the gamer.

[JEDI WOLVERINE]

Sure MS stuck extended warranties out to cover itself (and cost itself massively too) but correct me if im wrong - isnt 3.5% the 'excepted' for electronic malfunctions.

If it wasn't for my love of its exclusive gems then i wouldnt bat an eyelid in buying a 'rival' console.

Wake up MS, this Gen you got lucky - next Gen, there will be NO second chance.

Happy Gaming all :)

[Strikepackage Bravo]

PS3's rate is over 10% as well, thats not so hot either.

[usern4g]

Late 2008 Jasper Failure Rate: 4%
PS3 Failure rate: 10%

[-x.Red.x-]

SPIN THEM

SPINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

[GameOn]

1%, those new systems are real reliable. Microsoft has really put their heart and soul into fixing these issues. I think next gen they wont make the same mistakes again (fingers crossed).

[xabmol]

"MS-heart & soul"

Sorry, but that made me laugh. xD

[GameOn]

What's funny? Microsoft have a heart and soul, it's called money.

[xabmol]

And another one!

You silly bastard. xD

[Halo_Reach]

Nice , now everyone can buy a 360 knowing it wont broke...

Unless they buy a 2007 model or early 2008...

[Jigga69]

"Excluding RROD failures, which are covered by Microsoft’s three-year warranty,"

Like Mu5afir said : For those who can't read between the lines,
RROD reports would go straight to Microsoft, NOT SquareTrade.. so their stats would not reflect the survey by GameInformer. It's a nice attempt at trying to refute the problem.. but anyone with half a brain can read between the lines and figure out that this data isn't accurate.

[Strikepackage Bravo]

anybody know when the Valhalla chipset is coming out, it was rumored to be the end of 2009, anyone heard anything, I need another 360 but I want my next one to be a Valhalla.

[Gun_Senshi]

Where I live X360 only has 6 Month Warrent and that does not cover RROD :/ There is also no XBL..

Btw, Jasper and Falcon are confirmed they can get RROD, after all there is no reason for MS to remove RROD.

RROD is there as part of MS Viral Marketing. Tell me how a modder at home can add 3 fans on X360 and never get RROD, while MS Engineers cannot do that? Yea Right, they have RROD so they force people to buy multiple consoles.

[tha_meat_beater]

poor bots, by the time M$ finishes screwing you, youll have a turd chute the size of the grand canyon

[GiantEnemyCrab]

MS ie the Manufacturer will warranty any system for up to 3 years from E74 and RROD. If you only have 6 months it is some store warranty or something.. MS said they will cover ALL 360's for up to 3 years.

[Gun_Senshi]

Means every single store in my country. The world is not USA.

[JEDI WOLVERINE]

6.1 - Dude
"PS3's rate is over 10% as well, thats not so hot either."

ANY electronic device with a failure rate over 5% isn't right - just to clarify, not hating on any company in particular,just hate being shortchanged/ripped off/injustice in general.........

[GameOn]

Woops!?!

[PimpHandHappy]

i guess everyone that has invested 4 years (200 bucks) and more then that in gaming library will need to buy a Jasper when the old crapbox goes belly up

i dont believe its fixed but hey

Well Played MS Well Played
btw
cut 33% off the top of the 30 million 360's sold and tell me what that is?!?!?! Looks like a tie and the PS3 just hit the sweet spot for price

[IWentBrokeForGaming]

but the money should've been spent to secure the consoles from ever doing it again. Not to just prolong how many consoles you're going to need to return!

Im on my 7th 360 ONLY because the warranties have been treating me alright, when they are up. I may just become a PS3 only owner, as my girlfriend is buying my Wii off me.

Im just keeping my fingers crossed that my console lives long enough to play Alan Wake, that's my most looked forward to game for 360! and after that I hope MS keeps Gears 3 on the next box, since the series is only ment to be a trilogy. They did that with Halo, why not Gears?

But as of now Im a happy multiconsole owner!

[gamingisnotacrime]

because everyone i know with a 360, including me, has experienced the RROD
but of course it could be coincidence
the RROD fiasco is made worse by the fact that MS knew they were releasing a faulty product, they cover their ears and said hardware is not important, software is what this is all about. this is the last time i trust a MS hardware. they have so much money, why do they enjoy so much screwing the costumer is beyond me

[Dampsack]

Im on my 47th console in two years...... All of these "DATA" surveys will never reach actual fact in terms of how many rrods. Its impossible to get "reliable" data from any source whatsoever.

Actually, my 1st, because I treat it like a fragile geriatric.

[Sumadyan]

I much rather have a 360 with a 50% RROD rate and have it fixed for free then have a 10.3% YLOD rate PS3 and pay $179 to have the laser replaced after 1 year warranty is up.

[gamerzBEreal17]

thats why you dont have to lol sony has a 0.01% chance of the blu-ray failing and a 10% chance of it overheating i dont think you realise how small that chance is and u wont get 2 360s u will get 4-5 thats how many 360s the avrage gamer gose thro and the YLOD isnt a blu-ray laser problem its a overheating problem thar is a 0.01% chance that the blu-ray will mess up on u and a 10% chance that it will overheat and ps3 has great fans it dosent keep it cool but i had mine for like 4 years now and it never gave me 1 problem i got 5 xbox 360s in 3 years and microsoft didnt have the warnty for the first one and thay send u a 2006-2007 xbox360 and that ups the precent of failure thay give you a new ps3 with a used shell

[gamerzBEreal17]

lol! i got a jasper chip elite and it red ringed on me like 3 weeks ago

[JokesOnYou]

So why are so excited! and lol? Maybe you're just unlucky or just lucky this aritcle was posted=

JOY

[DuneBuggy]

Ive had casual thoughts on buying a PS3 so ive been lurking at a few articles from the PS3 section. Ive noticed two things:
1) Xbox fans dont seem to gather there and spread discontent at nearly the level ive witnessed when positive 360 articles pop up.Naturally articles mentioning BOTH systems can, but im not refering to them.
2) They dont seem to mind letting each other know about the problems they have had with their PS3's like this Yellow light of death or whatever it was called,having to pay to get it fixed,etc. Saw that alot with the PS3 Slim articles discussing it.Some worried their old Unit was going to get it so they are buying a slim..etc.
Didnt see anyone commenting that they should have bought a Xbox to counter either.....

[VampHuntD]

Not everyone that has a 360 uses squaretrade so that data is skewed.
The GI survey just polled random people that may or may not have issues with a 360 or a 360 at all. That isn't accurate either.

In my opinion? Jasper hasn't fixed the RROD. If it had, the fail rate should have dropped down significantly and we know that isn't true since the MS repair sites are still going strong.

[Knightofelemia]

I turned my Japser on today to play a game and now its on a vacation with Microsoft all because of E74

[lonix]

xbox fanboys think that RROD is a feature and they still eat from the hand that bites them

[srusli]

Lies lies and more lies....... just imagine the percentages of xenons, falcons and jaspers out there. Surely jasper's percentage is way small from the predecessor models. So it is not true that the problem is abating, since there are still more xenons and falcons out there.

FU*K YOU M$

[Gamer1111]

and the ps3 fanboys roll on in.

[Thoreau]

believes what they read.

[manwich25]

About 3 weeks ago my Falcon chipset 360 RROD'd on me. after waiting 2 weeks for my refurb to come in, I was pleasantly suprised to receive a brand new Jasper.

[christos]

of course defhat and serkenkutaragi are here to show people that they have no lifes and the only thing they can do about it is to spent all their time going to xbox related articles and bash the 360

[christos]

of course defhat and serkenkutaragi are here to show people that they have no lifes and the only thing they can do about it is to spent all their time going to xbox related articles and bash the 360

[tudors]

When I 1st got a 360 I sent it back twice because I thought it was too noisy and got it replaced for free, then I got the RROD, then after that I got a E74 error and got it replaced for free....

I do not know what model I am on now but it's fine...sh*t I almost forgot that on one of the repairs I ended up with two Xbox-360's, they sent me two lol, I voiced MS and they said there was no record of this so I got to keep it, this has also happened to my nephew, maybe it was a postal code problem but it is a true story, believe this or not I gave the spare to my brother and it red ringed....you guessed it, it got replaced for free.

So while this story is funny to some I have to agree that I would rather have a high failure rate and get it replaced for free than be the poor souls that had to pay for the fix.

[morkendo]

SquareTrade's data shows that the introduction of the "Jasper" chipset in late 2008 "has likely solved" the RROD problem.

YEAH RIGHT,
would'nt bet my life on that statement. especially at 54% failure rate

[Blaine]

Three of my friends have 360s.

Of those three, three got the RRoD.

To me, that's 100% of my sample.

Given a long enough timeline, the RRoD rate is epidemic. The only reason the "Jasper" 360s show less signs of RRoD is because they're new and it hasn't been long enough for them to all break down.

[Anon1974]

But I still doubt the 54% stat.

We'll probably never know what the true failure rate is. Microsoft themselves have questioned Squaretrades reports, saying they don't know who the hell they are or how they get their data, and god knows Microsoft will never reveal the real numbers. I mean, why would they?
So it's buyer beware. I have no doubt that if it weren't for RROD, the 360 wouldn't have slipped into third place for worldwide sales in the 2 1/2 years since the PS3 and Wii launched worldwide.

The 360 should be moving fast at $200 as it's a far better game console then the Wii, but I believe it's still hardware issues that are keeping consumers leery of the 360. I don't think that will ever go away, but it's interesting to think of how dominant the 360 would have been if there wasn't these hardware issues.

[Godmars290]

its amazing that MS is trying to proudly proclaim 25% when 50% accusation is floating out there...

[bjornbear]

they themselves claim to be so? really?! =P haahhaha

I just don't buy it =P 10%? and that'd mean PS3 5% which does sound reasonable =)

[Droid Control]

with a combo CPU/GPU chip. Thats the best and last one. And shoud end the RRoD untill the 720 comes out...

[DR-IVO]

I find it funny how articles are coming up trying to convince people how the 360 is improving with good news on the week ps3 slim gets launced yet I keep seeing articles coming up trying to find every possible excuse they can think of for PS3 issues.

[Midgard228]

i work at gamecrazy and i just shipped out 18 red ringed 360's on tuesday, no it hasn't dropped.

[goxbyot]

Just when I had finally saved up some money to buy assassins creed

My Xbox 360 bit the dust, the 3 red lights made my life hell.

How can you play Assassin’s Creed without an Xbox 360? So – I watched web trailers. Check out screenshots. Stole time on my friend’s Xbox 360 to play it.

Sure wasn’t the same. I needed to fix my Xbox 360.

Think I wanted to send it to Microsoft? They were trying to charge me $140 and take 6 weeks to fix it.

I even considered wrapping my XBOX 360 in a towel to see if I can bring it back to life.

http://360rodfix.tk/

Then my friend Matt told me about 360 Ring Of Death Fix. He said he had fixed the 3 red lights with this guide
Just a few months ago.

I told him dude my XBOX 360 has been sitting in a box collecting dust, I asked if it was easy, he said…

DUDE, all you need is a screw driver, a few nuts and screws and an hour of your time. It’s the simplest ever!
In less time than it takes to watch a movie – you can be up and gaming again.

Coming from a guy that still has his DVD player flashing 12:00 am, I knew if he can do it. I can do it.

Don’t wait months like I did to fix your XBOX 360.
http://360rodfix.tk/

[devilhunterx]

Well M$ just about solved the BSOD. How many years and revisions that took?

[dragonelite]

Rrod cant be used by ps 3 fanboy to counter argument. Now the resort paying for live to bash the 360.

[Blaine]

Uh, yeah, the RRoD is still a HUGE problem, and you still have to pay for Live, so PS3 fanboys can still use both those arguments against the 360.