...nice hotel that place is

Man, I was expecting Bomberman and got Missle Command. Talk about a letdown.

Or they don't flash at all, if you turn notifications off.

I will get any free DLC that's sponsored by a company. I could care less what it's called.

there are 3 new downloads on the marketplace for Worms - 2 maps (150 pts each) and a free music file. One of the maps (Manhatten) has caused my system to lock up every time I've tried to use it. Beware!

Well, looks like my 360 is just about dead again.

Here is what happened:
- I was playing a game, and it just froze and the screen went checkerboard on me and the sound just was static.
- I eventually got the THREE RED RINGS....uh oh.
- Unplugged console and removed HDD, back to working
- Plugged HDD back on, working for a bit, then back to checkerboard video
- 3 RED RINGS again
- Starting working again after I called Customer Support, but I will send in anyways.

This is my THIRD TIME SENDING A CONSOLE IN. They said they would expedite my order....we will see what that means. Hopefully it is next day shipping for me.

Mine died yesterday - removing the HDD didn't fix it.

I'm not sending it in, as I had bought an in-store protection plan before M$ had extended the warranty to 1 year. Going to swap it out for a new one.

MSFT JUST announced that all warranty's are now 3 years long. Here's the press release:

REDMOND, Wash. — July 5, 2007 —Microsoft Corp. today announced that it will expand its global Xbox 360™ warranty coverage. Any Xbox 360 customer who experiences a general hardware failure indicated by three flashing red lights will now be covered by a three year warranty from date of purchase. All other existing Xbox 360 warranty policies remain in place.

As a result of what Microsoft views as an unacceptable number of repairs to Xbox 360 consoles, the company conducted extensive investigations into potential sources of general hardware failures. Having identified a number of factors which can cause general hardware failures indicated by three red flashing lights on the console, Microsoft has made improvements to the console and is enhancing its Xbox 360 warranty policy for existing and new customers.

Microsoft stands behind its products and is taking responsibility to repair or replace any Xbox 360 console that experiences the “three flashing red lights” error message within three years from time of purchase free of charge, including shipping costs. Microsoft will take a $1.05 billion to $1.15 billion pre-tax charge to earnings for the quarter ended June 30, 2007 for anticipated costs under its current and enhanced Xbox 360 policies.

“The majority of Xbox 360 owners are having a great experience with their console and have from day one. But, this problem has caused frustration for some of our customers and for that, we sincerely apologize,” said Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft’s Entertainment & Devices Division. “We value our community tremendously and look at this as an investment in our customer base. We look forward to great things to come.”

For any customer who has previously paid for repair expenses related to the three flashing lights error message on the Xbox 360 console, Microsoft will retroactively reimburse them.

At 2:30 p.m. PDT today, Microsoft will hold a teleconference for financial analysts and investors with Robbie Bach, president of Entertainment and Devices, Chris Liddell, senior vice president and chief financial officer, and Frank Brod, corporate vice president and chief accounting officer to discuss today’s announcement. To participate, U.S. residents can dial +1-888-459-9165, and those outside the United States can dial +1-773-799-3324. The passcode is MSFT. The call will be available for playback beginning approximately one hour after the conclusion of the call through 5 p.m. PDT on Thursday, July 12. To access the playback, U.S. residents can dial +1-866-363-4143, and those outside the United States can dial +1-203-369-0210. An audio webcast of the conference call will also be made available at the Investor Relations site at http://www.microsoft.com/msft.

Xbox 360 customers with questions should visit www.xbox.com.

Wow.

Hmm suddenly I might be in the market for a broken 360 off of eBay

Considering the 33% failure rate is all over the news, this is a good move by Microsoft. It'll be interesting to see how and if they react to the upcoming PS3 price drop.

I hope they pro-act. If they've caught wind of it, their E3 press conference is 18 hours ahead of Sony's. That'd give them time to deflate Sony's announcement coupled with a very real and imminent powerful release schedule.

So Microsoft finally admits that their failure rate is much higher than the standard 3%-5% for electronics?

If a 3 year warranty is now standard, does buying the extended warranty give you coverage for 5 years now or how does that work?

That's my understanding.

Man, next week can't get here soon enough.

Oh snap, it's Thursday, not Monday.. very cool.

Well, starting with 90 days and then moving to 1 year and then moving to 3 years.. it says something.

Holy Crap.... if they do a price drop to take the wind out of Sony's sales I may have to purchase a 360 with a default 3 year warranty... Hell, with a price drop, I would probably pay to extend an additional 2 years.

So what about those of us that bought the additional warranty from Microsoft? BTW, it took me about 7 months to get my cheque for the repairs I paid for myself.

It's added on. Same as they did when they made it 1 year.

So with the 2 year extended am covered for 5yrs.

Nope. You are covered for the plethora of non-3-ring death for 3 years (with the 1 year purchase warranty)

From their FAQ:
(For store-bought warranties)
Q: How does this affect my extended warranty bought from my retailer?
A: You’re still covered under your existing warranty for issues outside the scope of this specific three-year warranty.

From CAG:
(A guy called their 1800 and questioned them about the Microsoft extended warranty)
"The new extended warranty that was announced today only covers issues involving the ring of death. So your extended warranty will cover any other issure that may arise with the console (disc drive failure, hard drive, etc).

If anyone is interested in getting the money back for your 2 year extension plan you can all 1-800-4myxbox and cancel it, I just did a few moments ago, it took a good 45 minutes. Unfortunetly they only refund you for the unused portion, and take a 10% handling fee (if your refund is $59.90, you only get about $54 back)."

thanks for clearing that up for me lordwow.

Wow.

A step in the right direction, in my opinion, but not enough. The 3 rings of death was not the only widespread problem. I had an optical drive failure , which I believe a lot of other folks had as well.

Yeah, apparently the "Video Loss Issue" I had is also a growing problem...

One of the girls that works with me had that happen. She would get sound but no picture, tried her cables on a friends 360 and they worked fine, but none worked on hers.

On the warranty subject, that means my launch unit is under warranty (again) for at least the 3 red lights rings of death until November 2008?