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Xbox 360 Launches In Europe
The Xbox 360 has launched in Europe, to similarly high demand as in the U.S. The BBC has details on the long lines and consumer reaction, and Next Generation has some information from Microsoft on how the launch is going. From the BBC article: "The technology giant has been forced to defend itself against accusations it has failed to provide enough consoles ahead of Christmas. Some 300,000 Xbox 360s are likely to be available for Friday's European launch, though demand is expected to far exceed this."
Posted Dec 1, 2005 "Several members from GameSHOUT are getting fedup with Xbox 360 defects. According to Microsoft, they will not refund or replace discs that are scratched from the Xbox 360 video game console. However, they will offer "Perfect Dark Zero" for free. One GameSHOUT member, going by the name "Insanity Rulez" stated that the Microsoft Xbox 360 failed to save his "Call of Duty 2" video game. All stats are gone, and he got an error when making any attempts to resume his game mission. He stated, "I took out my game and checked it over and the 360 had totally ruined my game! It looks like someone took a pencil with the eraser side down [covered with sand paper] and touched the disk while spinning it! There is a perfect circle around the center of the disk and it prevents it from working on certain missions." It's not just one Xbox 360 gamer, it's becoming a daily thing now as more GameSHOUT members report their defects. CD scratching appears to be the most common defect." http://www.gameshout.com/news/122005/article1785.h tm
If the Windows tagline is "Where Do You Want To Go Today?", then is the Xbox360's "Where Have You Tried Looking Today?"
I pre-ordered mine in september at amazon.co.uk and it still says not dispatched even though the estimate was on the 30th of november.
Is the "demand going to exceed the supply" or is MS going to make sure that "Supply would be less than the demand."
I still do not feel like buying a 360. Have to extract a lot of juice from my xbox. No must-haves so far.
Let me see:
Original Xbox - 80 quid, no overheating problems, over 1,000 games available, game prices around 30 quid and many games in bargain bins at 10-15 quid, "modifiable", can run Linux after "modification", in stock everywhere.
Xbox 360 - 280 quid, some overheating issues, a few dozen games available, game prices around 45-50 quid and no discounted games yet, not modifiable, can't run Linux at all, not really in stock unless you queue for hours and pre-order months in advance.
Is it just me or are you better off buying an original Xbox now and getting an Xbox 360 in Xmas 2006? Or is that just common sense talking?
Hyped Product X with limited production and moderate demand expected to sell out. Industry analysts not suprised.
"Don't feel bad for me child; I'm the monster that hides under your bed."
If the systems were being used within the guidelines established by MS in the packaging/labeling, then MS could be held liable for the damages. I don't know if sending a free copy of PD0 is restitution enough, but I smell the threat of a class-action lawsuit... and given the low marginal mfgring costs of 360 games, I think MS would rather ship replacements than have to pay even more lawyers.
The problem is the need for preponderance of evidence to show that the 360 caused the problem, and that the 360 was being used in a manner consistent with its labeling/instructions for use.
I bet if enough people make a stink, MS starts replacing the games that were actually damaged, along with the defective consoles.
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
This has got to be Micro$oft's second biggest mistake ever. The first is creating the Windows product line.
I wish I could fuck up bad enough to make that many billions of dollars.
Feel free to mod me "-1 - Angry Jerk".
Well, when you buy the first run of anything there are going to be bugs, so those of you with your disc-molesting 360's, that's what you get. On the topic of 360's crashing, first run and it runs on a windows-based operating system....that explains itself. The supply will be kept less than demand so they can go for the '100% sold, sold out' marketing route to help keep demand up, shady, but it looks nice to see that 100%. I don't think the 360's launch will be very big in Japan, but Europe and America will remain M$'s strongholds for the 360.
I find it amusing that people are giving Microsoft an easy time because "they are doing something that has never been done before" - Referring to the launch in all the countries within a pretty close proximity timewise.
Sure it hasn't been done, but how does releasing in a ton of different countries make it much different than releasing in one at a time? Sure you *might* be able to get away with blaming shortages on that - but not stuff like overheating or scratching disks. The lack of reasoning in the present day and age is getting rather insane.
"Class-action lawsuit" is probably the most overused and most misused phrase on the Internet when it comes to people bitching about game consoles. If you bought a turd in a box, the layer of said turd doesn't owe you anything.
i wonder if the overheating issues will be less prevalent in the uk given the necessary voltage differences in the power supply
I'm not going to complain about shortages, I had enough opportunity to buy a core version today and didn't (and now I feel like an idiot because I could have made a big profit on eBay but whatever). What annoys me, though:
1. The demo kiosks have no games on them. Not a single one. All you can do is watch trailers (using faked footage, the kind they showed at E3, kinda ironic that they call the games section "the best games ever with movie-quality graphics") for a variety of racing and sports games. They could have put a 50 Euro DVD player in there and done the same.
2. The (non-MS) games cost 68 Euros a piece. As if 60 Euros for a console game wasn't enough of a ripoff, now they're increasing prices again! I was so tempted to put a few copies of the PC versions of those games on the same shelf so everyone who just bought the system can see they're paying 50% more than a PC user for identical or inferior (no mod support) versions. I mean, PC games are more complex and harder to test, yet they're selling for 40-45 Euros while console games cost 60 across the board so it can't be dev costs. Manufacturer royalties were less than 10$ a copy from what I heard so it would explain 55 Euros at best.
Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
Unless of course, the layer of said turd told you it was gold and sexual relations with Angelina Jolie before you opened the box.
Then you could sue.
The X-box 2pi is NOT marketed as a disc scratching machine, so theoretically the warranty of merchantability should cover the damage done to the discs, seeing as the xbox2pi is marketed for the intended purpose of playing games.
I wonder how few Xboxes will be needed to create a simulated shortage when the Japanese release day comes.
The dumbasses changed the orientation of the machine while it was running. The same thing will happen with any 12x dvd drive if you rotate it 90 degrees while the disc is spinnning.
Most 12x DVD drives aren't in a consumer console that are typically subject to appliance-like treatment, not to mention an appliance that's built to stand either way. I have, for instance, moved my PS2 between upright and flat multiple times during play, and have experienced no such problems. If it's that big a problem, the 360 should detect when it's jarred or moved and immediately spin down the drive.
Don't think of it as a flame---it's more like an argument that does 3d6 fire damage
" If you bought a turd in a box, the layer of said turd doesn't owe you anything."
Not true -- if you purchase a turd, you expect there to be a turd inside the box. And if there is not, you go to the seller to get a turd replacement. And if you used that turd as compost, just like the instructions said, and it killed all your plants instead of feeding them -- well, then, whoever sold you that turd and told you it was a nutritious compost supplement owes you some more plants.
This is not a "wouldn't it be nice if..." this is the way the law works in the US.
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
I saw a Currys advert in the Saturday Mirror. They're offering the Gamecube for a bargain 25 quid. 25 quid! Should fill the gap nicely until [improved 360|PS3|Revolution] arrives!
Sure gives a new meaning to Xbox *360*. Nice 360 degree scratches on all your new shiny HD games. Merry Christmas!
http://teasphere.wordpress.com - A little spot of tea
THe guys comment about the 360 not saving his call of duty 2 video game is true! Every single time i go to play that bloody game it NEVER saves my games properly.. I seem to always go back to the russian campaign and have to do that stupid training all over again..
My disc is fine, but the damn game WONT SAVE MY PROGRESS AND IT'S PISSING ME OFF!!!!
besides that, system has been awesome.. No cd's have been scratched, no over heating issues, no freezing, nothing.. Just been a great experience overall, actually it has been the best system i've used so far (and I've owned almost all systems since NES)
MrJynx
There are plenty of others stating they left it in place, and the laser head still has a tendency to scrape the disc. I would imagine its partly due to heat expansion, where gamers say their discs eject really hot after a couple hours playing, the disc probably gets out of round and wobbles more than MS ever anticipated. Especially at 12X or whatever crazy speed at which these are spinning.
Some stores clerks are reporting rather high return rates on 360 discs because of circular gouges in the surface. EBgames offers something like a $3 extended warranty on the discs themselves, it might actually be worthwhile if Xbox270 consoles are eating games.
P.S. (This is why I never believe the hype that CD's and their ilk are considered "permanent" storage because "nothing ever touches the surface". The mechanical failures just move from the media to the reading unit, in these cases the laser focusing element.)
P.P.S. This entire console release is looking worse and worse for Microsoft. I can't believe how many ways they seemed to have scr**ed the pooch with this launch. Maybe the "Dreamcast" labels weren't so misplaced after all.
{ - Generic Guy - }
There are plenty of others stating they left it in place
Unfortunately for them, I don't believe most of them. They all describe the behavior you'd see and hear when rotating the unit, except they make a big fuss about how they didn't move it. If it were a defect in the drive, it would happen consistently to every game they played. These are the same people who drop something they buy on the floor and take it back claiming it came out of the box broken.
Do some things come out of the box broken? Yeah. Do most things come out of the box broken? Nope.
These drives aren't custom hardware. They're standard sata dvd drives like you'd install in a computer. When was the last time you heard of a dvd drive eating discs? That's what I thought.
Some stores clerks are reporting rather high return rates on 360 discs because of circular gouges in the surface
Are these the same clerks who claimed that Microsoft was recalling the Xbox 360? Are these the same clerks stating that no new units will be shipped from Microsoft until next March? Do I need to go on about bullshit made up by clerks? "Retail clerks" as a group are not reliable sources for information. "Retail clerk Bob" might be, but he'll have to prove himself reliable before I'll believe him.
I can't believe how many ways they seemed to have scr**ed the pooch with this launch.
Lets see, so far they've sold roughly 700-800 thousand units in about a week. They've got fanboys making shit up in forums. They've got problems with people who can't plug in cables all the way. They've got problems with idiots who don't use common sense and don't own up to it. They've got problems with idiots blocking exhaust vents with power supplies. They've got manufacturing defects with about 3% of units.
I don't know about you, but I don't see anything really out of line with what you'd expect for any product launch.