New Code-Name'Falcon' Xbox360 to cut costs for MS

According to Mercury News, 'Falcon' is the code name given to the new innards of a revised 360, which is said to feature new central and graphics processors that are manufactured in a 65-nanometer production process (as opposed to the older 90-nanometer processors in current models).

These 'Falcon' machines are expected to resolve the reliability issues that forced Microsoft to extend 360 warranties to three years, promising to "retroactively" reimburse customers who have previously paid for repairs related to the three red lights of death.

The introduction of these 'new' consoles could spell the end of the dreaded Three Red Lights of Death syndrome that's wiped out many Xbox 360s already.

[ITR]

E3 announcement?

[Also Known As]

even when its good news for MS sony fans like to emphasize the negative. Why didnt you just copy and paste straight from the article, why did you have to add your own comments to the article mr MK red? I saw no mention of the "red rings of death" or

"promising to "retroactively" reimburse customers who have previously paid for repairs related to the three red lights of death.
The introduction of these 'new' consoles could spell the end of the dreaded Three Red Lights of Death syndrome that's wiped out many Xbox 360s already." in that article.

The more that playstation fans behave like this the more that i desire for the playstation to fail.

[Also Known As]

and you know what i blame the admins of this website too for not enforcing theyre own posting regulations. For all we know maybe they are the ones making these skewed submissions.

[kewlkat007]

but was this really needed?> Come on bro?

"
These 'Falcon' machines are expected to resolve the reliability issues that forced Microsoft to extend 360 warranties to three years, promising to "retroactively" reimburse customers who have previously paid for repairs related to the three red lights of death."

-Your playing with matches, while you know accident, usually do happen on N4G. Really no need to add to the damn article.

[Also Known As]

come on N4G i dare you to move this story up to the top headlines section now that ive made my comments. After all you've moved stories with less degrees up there only because they made the 360 look bad. I also dare you to give me back the bubble you took.

[Xeoset]

^^^ I agree.

Move it to the top!

[jromao]

^
As we know reducing costs was exactly what MS did with 360 and ended with that high failure rate (more than 2.5 million boxes).

If this news is confirmed and they are reducing costs, then also confirms the "new" model ELITE is just a black box with same content + HDMI and none quality improved because they have now the new "Falcon" ???

I think this is just another marketing move from MS to keep current 360 owners "happy". My 360 is already parked in the corner getting dust, moved to PS3.

[kevoncox]

Since your 360 is collecting Dust are you playing ps3?

[Honeal2g]

otherwise he would be playing it... i seriously dont understand where all these sony fans come from with there graphics huungry attitude lets think about this xbox games took frequent dumps on the ps2 in terms of graphics but ps2 still prevailed ...because of the quality games.... now lets open our eyes and realize the same shlt is happening now only sony will still have so quality games just not all exclusive anymore 360 will be the victor this time around but sony still runs shlt cause they are asian (not being rascist or anything they just make the best games honestly and unfortunatly they are loyall.

[Anonagrog]

the elite console was always known to just be a black box with nothing new added to improve the consoles reliability.

the 65nm processors have been in the works for absolutely ages now, so i look forward to their introduction....i just hope the quieten up the dvd drive too whilst they're at it.

[Blankman]

jroamoa. This is actually what msoft needs to reduce those failure rates. Anything higher than 10% is unnacceptable for a console that plans to sell millions. However if these new chips dnt reduce these rates below 10% then 3yrs of warranty still isnt enough

[Naruto]

like 360 fanboys didn't spin the price drop for the ps3 as bad news

[Honeal2g]

i hear where ur coming from!.... but it has to stop somewhere right? why should this circle of hate go around lol...honestly do u guys really think that your dumbass comments of hate really impact the console sales or that peter moore is gonna say "oh you kno wat those kids at N4g are right yo bill shutdown the videogame section lets make airplanes!" or phill harrison or w.e ...but in all seriousness this is just retarded i mean this guy Mk-red is clearly biased and the "news" should be reported the way its gathered not summarised

[Salvadore]

The faster the problems are fixed, the better for the consumers.

[LONEWOLF231]

Thats good news!

I hope Sony has problems with their new PS3 SKU!
Just too see what excuses the SONYBOTS bring to the table!

[Also Known As]

stop pretending youre a xbox 360 fan.

[Premonition]

Why would the new PS3 sku have problems? its the same system but with a bigger HD.

[razer]

Why are you trying to start another flame war thread??? Just leave it alone..

[ReBurn]

Anyone who wishes for another gamer's console of choice to die is a moron.

[kewlkat007]

Should I wait? I got a feeling maybe in September, we might see these new chips. I'm sure they will reduce heat plus with the 3-year warranty still in effect, absolutely nothing to worry about, besides getting pwned on XBL come September.

With the games coming out this fall/winter, great time to buy a Xbox 360, if the water has not been warm enough for you to "jump in". If not then, I heard the Sony PS3 is $500 now, so there ya go. Enjoy.

I don't know about a price-cut though, maybe $50, as I don't see a reason to cut the price of the Xbox 360. If they do, of course I would not be complaining.

Please if this was Sony talking about moving down to smaller chips and they will, we wouldn't be hearing"what if the chip doe snot stay cool enough? type questions. If you know engineering, then you should try to understand why a smaller chip is more efficient at reducing heat. Regardless in what (X)-Box, it is in.

This is good news, and will be for PS3 too, by the time I get a PS3 it will no longer be a "PSN, Games, learning curve in progress". It great to wait.

[THAMMER1]

I'm waiting. I'm thinking my wife bought me an elite for my B-Day. But if she did not I'll wait until I can confirm the new model. A cheaper model that is more reliable is a large plus.

[eLiNeS]

I buy from Costco because they give a life time warranty on most everything. I have been buying my Xbox's from Costco for the last 5 or 6 years now and have had no problem returning them if they break down on me and they do break down unfortunately. I don't bother sending them in under the warranty by Microsoft, I just get everything together that came with the bundle, my receipt and head to Costco when I have a problem with my Xbox, they hand me my cash back, no exchange and I go buy a new one. No need to wait if ever again.

[ReBurn]

All of the games are still going to be there later. No sense making a rush decision.

[funkysolo]

on cost reduction, since they don't have to pay someone else to make their product. The PS3 is only been out 6 months and already has a $100 price drop. You can assume by next 2008 holiday season it'll drop another $100 to $399. So if both consoles in up being a $100 apart I think PS3 will offer the better value than the premium. 60gb instead of 20gb, bluetooth, hdmi, card reader, and of course blu ray. That is alot of features for $100 don't you think.

[razer]

There was one mention of Sony or the PS3 in this article.. So kindly piss off! I see you are trying to turn this into another flame thread so please spare us your lameness..

[xbox360elitegamer]

That excellent news, I'm happy to hear that microsoft is trying keep there customers happy and are trying to fix the 360 failures.

[amerz]

No more failures for 360s on the shelves by fall then.

NOTE: I wasn't aware there was a 45nm process after 65nm. Wonder when Sony will hit it, since they hit 65nm within 5 months of release, and MS is predicted to do it next year.

[FeralPhoenix]

I don't see how you can spin this as bad news, I especially like this part because its good news for those who have to wait for consoles cost to go down before they can enjoy next gen gaming:

"It’s anybody’s guess as to what Microsoft will do with the Falcon as its base platform going forward. But Sony had better watch out. Microsoft is moving ahead of Sony on the cost-reduction curve. It would be risky for Sony to get into a price war with Microsoft."

"Now it’s easier to see why Microsoft still expects to be profitable in fiscal 2008 with the Xbox 360 business. In this fiscal year, Microsoft will introduce a major cost reduction with the Falcon platform. It will launch Halo 3. And it has already written off in fiscal 2007 the costs of repairing consoles for the next few years." -Mercury News

[Evoluti0n]

Couldn't of said it better myself.

[Greysturm]

Acording to the other article by the analyst (cant confirm his veracity could be all bull...). That sony already managed to go profitable on the ps3 reason of the pricecut since they keep reducing the cost of their assembly lines. A new design of the machine on my opinion:

A) Cost money to develope and research
B) Needs altering of the production lines which is a heavy payment upfront.
C) Wont see the benefits for some time.

So i dont know if it will be cheaper probably the same price personally i think this is just a romour about a new type of console, what will probably happens for a price cut would be t the implementation of better manufacturing lines by the builders that hopefully translates to a lower price payed by microsoft for each console translating into a price cut. The other way they are gonna fix the problems and leave the price the samecant see an scenario when they get both.

[ironwolf]

This will almost certainly bring a price drop as well as improved reliability. If not this week at E3, then soon, when the new ones enter the supply chain.

Edit: incidently, the poster of this should have his credentials revoked for re-writing the article to produce anti-Microsoft spin. Besides just being obnoxious, it is probably a copyright violation.

[Salvadore]

MS might do it to reduce the cost for the guarantee.

[ironwolf]

for RROD will last at least until all the current models are 3 years old. It might be dropped then, but not any sooner.

[Xeoset]

It won't be shortened, it'd cause too much confusion and put them in a bad light.

[vidoardes]

If this announcement is made, I will wait a few months (to makes sure I manage to pick up one of the revised models) and will probably get a 360. I hope to get both a 360 and a PS3, but at the moment the PS3 is worth it's buck in the gamign department. We shall see how much of a price drop we get on thrusday, adn mayby then I can think about getting both after christmas

[Antan]

Exellent news, but more than expected of course!

[BoneMagnus]

So hopefully some of the people who have had multiple consoles (my bro-in-law) fail will not have to go through the hassle...

I've been fortunate since my LAUNCH 360 still works flawlessly...

[Nicosia]

I think people make a fuss about when x360 or PS3 are failing. But they rarely accept good news, the mentality is just wrong. Its good news, kinda reserved though.. i gotta see it in action.

[ben hates you]

knows why the 360 will not over heat with smaller 65nm processors, it is because it will not require as much energy to run and thus create less heat, the reductions will go from 90nm to 65nm to 45nm to 32nm to 22nm, not known after that

[CNIVEK]

This isn't Sony, who likes to milk their tech far beyond what it's worth (i.e. the newest/slimmest PS2 V.3 announcement). MS is already working on their next console, and likely will be ready to launch by 2010; at this rate, they likely won't make it past the 45nm reduction.

[AnDy FrOm MiAmi]

This is great news but those anybody know when its coming out and if you can trade in your original for this one?

[sajj316]

As a gamer, you must appreciate a company making strides to fix its problems. Yes, they haven't really admitted their production problems but they have extended their warranty to 3 years for 3RR problems. If overheating is the cause of 3RR, they are fixing to rework the innards of the 360 to stop overheating.

[Bathyj]

On the one hand, this is great. Feral, if you're reading, this is what I've been waiting for from M$. They've finally come clean and admitted sh*t was out of control and unacceptable. Then the warranties which at the time I felt was more of a band aid. I wasn't as interested in treating the sick ones, as I was in breeding healthy ones. Does anyone understand that? But now they've actually done something. Not just fixing the problem but removing it before it becomes one. At least I hope so. This is what I wanted, and its about god damn time.

The problem is its about 6 months too late. Had they done the right thing right away maybe it wouldn't have been such a big deal. Now its gonna cost them bigtime. Remember 1.4 billion is pretty much their best guess, at least for the next year or two. Who knows how long this could cost them before depending on when this hardware finally becomes reliable. The reason it a double edge sword, is because, am I to believe now, until the Falcon arrives, every Xbox has been manufactured the same way and is just as likely to fail? Would you buy and Xbox now with the falcons allegedly better hardware a few months away? Remember how Xbox sales slowed before Elite came out. People have an even better reason to wait now. Reliable hardware.

Anyway M$ are doing pretty much everything they can to fix it all now, at great cost to themselves, so I give them credit for that. It just seem a shame they were in such a rush to arrive first and then came so late to this.

[Umbrella Corp]

Now all i have to do is sell my 360 and get a Elite sniff (a part of me dies)

[Covenant]

As of this post, I am preparing to go to Best Buy and trade in ANOTHER defective 360. That will make four--count 'em, FOUR--since October 2006.

And yes, I have the receipts to prove it, should anyone doubt the veracity of my claim.

ANYTHING they can do to extend the life of these systems will be welcomed.

I still love the experience the 360 brings me...when it works. But I shouldn't have to keep exchanging them.

[Xeoset]

After the 3 year warranty upgrade, I was wondering whether I should buy a second 360 to sit with my Wii so I didn't have to lug it around the house because I'd be easily set for the next generation (2010). But now the Elite will be coming to Europe sometime this year and will have 65nm chipsets, a price drop, 3 years warranty and the new Heatsink/Pipe Technology, I'll definatly grabbing another.

[Anonagrog]

If the heat of processors in a pc is anything to go by, which it is, then we should see a good 10 degrees Centigrade drop in temps at least by this...........good news!

It's just a shame the ram gets so much hotter than both the gpu/cpu. It's because of warping of the mobo due to heat that causes most of the failures, so if you've got a gpu/cpu that now runs at around 50 degrees C instead of the 60 degrees C (i've physically tested), it's probably not a good idea having the same ram chips in the 'Falcon' hitting 65/70 degrees C peak just as with the launch SKU. hmmmm :S

[Xeoset]

My PC has an overclocked AMD XP2500+ CPU. It hits 66 easily lol.

I have no side to my case and a fan on it all the time.

[ASSASSYN 36o]

Joy!!!

[mikeslemonade]

Too bad MS has to sell through more than 2 million old 360s before they can even get to these units.

[Xeoset]

It'll be worldwide and there will be more than half of those stocked in warehouses.

They'll be weeded out quickly.

[Bloodmask]

The absolute solution to Microsofts only problem.

After all the defective units are repaired and these new models are put into production, it will be smooth sailing.

Not to mention that the 3 yr warranty ensures that consumers don't have to eat any of the cost.

[Xeoset]

QFT.

Qhy wasnt this marked up top?!

[btkadams]

good news for me, now i can buy a 360 without fearing it will die on me.

and to MK Red, i dont think it was wise or necessary to add to the topic.

[FirstknighT]

The 360 still outsells the ps3. I wonder what is going to happend when this baby comes out.