oddly enough my 360 which freezes alot hasn't freezed on the Forza 2 demo or the Shadowrun Demo but freezes within 3 second of the Area 51 demo and a minute or two into GRAW2. Any ideas why some games make it freeze but others don't?

I'm guessing how much it stresses the system.

Pick mine up at launch and no problems so far (knocking on wood)

God, Microsoft sucks! My most recent X-Box died 5/11 and I got an e-mail from them yesterday to say they've received it at their service center. Wankers. At this rate, it'll probably be a month before I see it again.

*hands Fincher Fan a book* Enjoy the book, buddy.

Stand by....

BTW, the girl on the line said I'd get a "Free Month of LIVE" for my troubles. How does that work? I won't get charged the full 49.99 next time I re-up?

you will get a card with a code on it. You input the code and they will tack on 1 month of service.

There's a reason why it is called the Wii60 combo. You need a Wii to keep you busy while your 360 is in for repair.

I got this from Circuit City today:

3 weeks!? WTF!? Are they going to have someone walk the replacement to me?

Yep, and the 360 (when working) to fill in the long droughts between first party games on the Wii.

I'll have a 360 as soon as there's a price drop, as the Wii droughts are hard to take (though not so bad right now as I have little time to play anyway).

Not yet. Though I did have a huge scare 2 days ago when MLB 2K7 locked up and the light was showing a red circle. I turned it off and on again about 3-4 times before it was able to work again.

And Microsoft lies through their teeth to their customers...

http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/feature/?id=16535

Microsoft: We Don't Have a High Defect Rate on 360


Although anecdotal evidence would seem to suggest otherwise, Microsoft continues to refute the notion that there is something inherently defective in the design of its Xbox 360 console. Most recently, pictures were discovered that seemed to show new heat sinks in the console. At the time, Microsoft simply said that "updating console components is commonplace," but the company would not confirm the presence of the new cooling components.


Nevertheless, in a new interview with the San Jose Mercury News, Todd Holmdahl, Microsoft's corporate vice president of Gaming and Xbox Products Group, evaded questions about the return rate for Xbox 360. When asked about the oft quoted 3 to 5 percent figure, he said, "We don't disclose the actual number." Instead, he said that the anecdotal evidence is from a "vocal minority," seemingly suggesting that everyone is blowing these problems out of proportion.


He added, "We're very proud of the box. We think the vast majority of people are having just a great experience. You look at the number of games they are buying, the number of accessories they are buying, the Live attach. They love the box. They continue to buy the box. That said, we take any customer issue very seriously. We continue to look into these things very deeply. You have seen we have made some changes to our customer service policy."


When columnist Dean Takahashi continued to press Holmdahl on the subject, he got similar evasive responses. Takahashi asked Holmdahl about the yields during production and what percentage of the yields were good versus the number that were defective, but Holmdahl answered, "We don't talk about our production... The important thing here is that each product that comes out of the factory is rigorously tested. To ensure highest quality for our customer."


Finally, when asked in business terms if a high defect rate would hurt the company's bottom line, Holmdahl flat out denied that there's any problem. "I would say we don't have a high defect rate," he said. "The vast majority of people are really excited about their product, and that we are targeting profitability for next year."

Oh really? Well I had another friend's 360 die today. That's about an 80% percent failure rate in my group for machines bought at various times since launch. I call shenanigans.

my circle, 3/4 were screwed

I bought my friend's 360 who was upgrading to the elite one, and I've had it for a month.

Dead.

Luckily he has a Best Buy replacement plan, but my god, I may like it much more than the Wii, but at least that thing's reliable.

I recommend reading the whole Q & A.

The article above is quite "nice" compared to the real thing. It's hysterical. Recommended reading for all. It basically boils down to:

Q: What do you have to say about the failure rates?
A: People are buying the system and loving it. Look at the attach rates with games and accessories. People love our system.

Q: Okay but what about the failure rates?
A: We can't disclose that number but people love the 360 and the games we provide.

Q: What about the failure rates?
A: It's blown out of proportion. We take care of the consumer and people love our product. What matters is that they are happy.

Q: What about the people that have broken consoles?
A: Oh, they're happy. They love the xbox brand.

my suggestion : more flaming poop bags on Bill Gates door

There's "I'm a liar" written all over his forehead.

Got the 3 red lights yesterday. I've only owned the system since late January and don't even play it every day.

My xbox had to be replaced and Im not happy about that--but I *DO* love the xbox--Its my favorite console ever.

It's ok. It will happen to all of us eventually.

There's really not much that can be done about this reliability problem other than letting people know, so when they make a choice on buying consoles, they factor in that they will probably have to invest in a additional service plan to keep their system going for an extra year. Maybe MS will get their act together when they realize people are choosing competators because the feel they have to spend extra money wtih 360 to ensure a long console life.

What can be done is to figure out the fucking problem and fix it in future console shipments.