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360 Disc Scratching Serious Problem
Though Microsoft has previously stated that a reported problem where Xbox 360s may be scratching game discs was relatively rare, it's apparently common enough that rental agency GameFly has an official policy on the problem. From Gamasutra: "We have received reports that certain XBOX 360 consoles have caused damage to GameFly videogames. Unfortunately, we have been notified that you recently returned a damaged XBOX 360 game. As a precaution, we have removed all XBOX 360 games from your GameQ. Please contact Microsoft at 1-800-4MY-XBOX. Please do not rent XBOX 360 games until you have resolved this issue. In the future, should GameFly receive XBOX 360 games from you that have been damaged, you will be charged a replacement fee."
Just make a copy of it first, and play the copy inste... ah. silly me.
Open Source Drum Kit, LPLC deve board - mjhdesigns.com
Would you please stop ridiculing XBox360 fanboys?
I've spend $400 on that console and don't want to hear bad news about it.
Just an FYI. I don't know if they will still do that, but their 'accept all return' policy is handy for this...
And I thought Microsoft has enough of a back eye with faulty power supplies, bad consoles and some people even having defective accessories like the hdd and wireless controllers. This 360 roll out looks to be seriously rushed in order to get a one up on Sony. Unfortunatly they keep tripping over there own feet.
I'd continue doing business with them anyways. They're making the user aware of a real problem, but not charging them for the first damaged disc(s). It's only fair that damages after they're made aware of the issue are chargeable.
Most companies would charge for the first discs too - after all, it's the rental company that's most likely to have to swallow the cost (unless Microsoft coughs up... how likely is that to a rental house?).
Kudos to them...
MadCow.
I used to have a sig, but I set it free and it never came back.
Sometimes I wonder if a competing company is behind some of these stories.
At a minimum, the headline of "360 Disc Scratching Serious Problem" is a little sensationalist, no?
Just because a game rental company comes up with an official policy to deal with an issue, doesn't mean that issue is a "serious problem" - usually it just means that it happened often enough that they wanted to put something down on paper to reduce support calls. (And, frankly, warning users that their consoles might be causing disk damage is a good idea. But that isn't something that's limited to the 360. PS2s have been known to scratch disks as well.)
What about posting a story about the majority of Xbox 360 users that don't have any problems, instead of the (vocal) small percentage who do? Or maybe a story about the fast turnaround time of Xbox 360 tech support? (5-7 days for a brand new / fixed console, for a friend of mine)
I can honestly say that I have not had a single problem since I got my Xbox 360 on release day. (I am waiting on some games to push the hardware to its max, but that's a separate issue.)
...to wait at least a year after launch before buying a new console. In addition to the cost savings, a chance to check out the competition, and developers learning to fully use the power of the new system.
All drives can do this when you turn them quickly during highspeed disc reading. It is the same thing that happens when you try to turn a spinning wheel from a cycle.
People should learn not to move their hardware through various positions when using it.
IMO, it's fair enough to request that the loaner replaces the damaged disc, if they are properly informed about it before they rent a game.
-JaL
...I won't be getting a 360 til the end of it's lifecycle. It's clearly been rushed out for release to get a perceived edge over Sony (and to a lesser extent, Ninendo). I think that this means that the PS3 and the Revolution will end up being much more rounded, robust consoles - Sony and Nintendo know they're not going to be first to market, so they can afford to spend a little more time getting the consoles right. Plus hopefully there'll actually be a decent number of games available at launch... ;)
In these days everyone is looking for any reason to bash the giant. Make jokes and poke fun. I have been a Microsoft user since DOS 3. I have been telling people for years that most of what they hear is just hype and to ignore it. I can't seem to find it in me anymore to stick up for them. None of my computers are running IE anymore due to a 6 hour virus removal fiasco. And there is no way in hell I will purchase an xbox 360 for my house any time soon. My son keeps begging me for one. How do you explain to an 11 year old that it sucks now.. but may get better by next year?
MISSING - Sig file. 2 years old black and white and very funny. If found please email me.
You're telling me that there are not only enough Xbox 360s out there, but there are enough of those 360 owners that are also GameFly subscribers and that enough of those people who have both a 360 and a GameFly subscription also have a disk-eating machine that they instituted this new policy specifically for 360 games?
That's what, six people?
If anything, this policy is a continuation of a standing policy for all consoles, and they probably deal with far more disk-eating PS2s than disk-eating 360s, simply because of the installed base.
And before I'm accused of being a Microsoft apologist, I am a foaming-at-the-mouth Nintendo fanboy who would only get an Xbox 360 for Final Fantasy XI.
Insightful?
It doesn't matter what angle the unit is at so long as you're not moving between horizonal and veritcal while the disk is spinning. The potential for damage is when the disc is spinning fast enough for gyroscopic physics to try to torqe the disk at a right angle from the direction the console is moving, pushing the disk into things it really shouldn't come into contact with.
Otherwise, gravity pulling from one direction instead of another in and of itself wouldn't cause damage to the disk. If anything, having the console horizonal would be worse as gravity would be pulling the data surface (rather than the edge) down onto the disk tray.
I completely agree it's not mine to copy, but it will become mine pretty damned quickly if I scratch it. And I bet I would be charged the full game price as a replacement. Maybe the rental company should have backups. Kind of makes me nervous about renting games now.
This kind of blows a big hole in the *AA's argument that all this copy protection BS is really about preventing piracy. It seems to me that more and more, it's about getting the customer to buy multiple copies of the same content.
This point is even more obvious when you look at the way the Blue-ray copy protection works. If you get even the tiniest scratch on the ROM MARK on the disc, the disc is UNUSABLE. Doesn't matter if the rest of the surface of the disc is pristine, your $30 movie is now worthless. (yes, $30, you know they're going to charge 2x or 3x what a normal DVD costs).
That spells it out pretty clearly. The future is downloaded movies. And music. and games. And no, I'm not talking about DRM'ed ones that you pay for.
The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
MS should just remove their slash code
My sources tell me that the discs get scratched when people decide to change the orientation of their XBOX 360 while this disc is spinning. So lets say that they have a game in the XBOX 360, they hit pause and suddenly decide, "I don't like how this thing looks horizontal, let me sit it vertically and see how it looks". During that transition, the spinning disc will actually collide with the tray and cause extreme damage to the disc rendering it useless. Oh and there is also a loud grinding noise.
Anybody stupid enough to damage their game this way probably deserves to pay for the replacement fee as it is. This information has been relayed to me and confirmed by a regional manager at Gamestop and given the number of stores he manages, I'm quite willing to take his word for it.
I love idealists not because I am one, but because they make life bearable for pragmatists such as myself.
The console manual quite clearly states that "do not move the console while it's operating a disc".
If someone managed to wreck their rented disc, all they can blaim is themselves, and pay the repair fee.
Some home insurances might even compensate the destroyed disc, if you claimed it as an accident.
There are no atheists when recovering from tape backup.
I feel like a complete fool. Thanks for pointing out the error of my ways.
I've paid retail price (not eBay price) for an Xbox360 with PGR3, Call of Duty 2 and Condemned. I've plugged the console in, put a game in, sat down in my favourite chair - and played three incredibly addictive and FUN games. It hasn't crashed once (because I didn't lag the power supply with fourteen blankets) and it hasn't scratched a disc (because I haven't moved the console from vertical to horizontal whilst a disc is spinning) - yet.
What an idiot I am! I got to play games that I enjoyed. I must be missing the point, but I thought that was the idea of this pasttime that we call gaming. If it isn't, then somebody please show me exactly what the point is, before I "waste" even more of my money on having fun.
"and should Microsoft ever acknowledge that there is anything wrong with the game consoles, you can get a full repair/replacement" - RTFA. Microsoft DID acknowledge the problem.
My Mind Is Rewired. Is Yours?
we got them plenty here. Nobody wants them.
"Freiheit ist immer auch die Freiheit des Andersdenkenden" - Rosa Luxemburg, 1871 - 1919
I guess it all boils down to the fact that the old CD advertising line of "Lasts forever!" is simply bad for business.
Some home insurances might even compensate the destroyed disc, if you claimed it as an accident.
Kids, don't try this at home. Filing a home owner's insurance claim over a $50 game is just plain stupid. Depending on the insurance company's policy, they may count actual dollar amounts, or number of claims. But if you get enough of either or both, you run the risk of getting black-listed. Basically, the insurance company happily pays your claim, then drops you next year. When you go to find new home owner's insurance, every company will ask if you've been dropped in the last five years. Since saying no is fraud, you have to say yes. And they turn you down. No one will give you home owner's insurance. But your mortgage company requires it. So when you can't get it, you're force-placed, meaning the mortgage company goes out and buys a policy for you, then charges you for it. Can you guess how much that will cost compared to your current insurance? File a home owner's insurance claim when your house burns down, or when a drunk driver crashes through the wall and into your living room, or when a hurricane tears the roof off and it rains in your bedroom, not for stupid stuff like this.
Disconnect your television. Do your own research. Draw your own conclusions. They're probably lying. Don't be a sheep.
Well, it all started when they signed an onerous monopoly licensing agreement with IBM that said their OS would be distributed with all machines, and that everyone had to pay them wether or not they wanted it. Then they made boat loads of money.
They've steadily been putting out incremental, costly upgrades to work out the shoddy workmanship since. This made them further boat loads of money. It eventually took a lawsuit to be able to buy a PC without Microsoft being paid as well -- you remember that, right?
Now, they use all of those boat loads of money to move into markets and basically take them over. There have been tons of examples of better quality products being pushed out of the market by Microsoft overwhelming them. (Either by buying them, stealing their technology, making their OS incompatible, not adhering to standards, or just playing the waiting game of who could afford to lose the most money in a market segment.)
Microsoft has made an industry out of selling shoddy/first version products that eventually get upgraded to reasonable products through a long and costly upgrade cycle, and convincing everyone along the way it was all for the best.
As much as it always sounds like people are just bashing Microsoft because they can, it is perfectly insightful of the poster to point out that Microsoft can continue to keep putting out dodgy stuff and still make oodles of money -- they've always done so.
Microsoft can perpetuate itself because it has such a huge war chest, and a guaranteed revenue stream from upgrades and new customers who don't seem to have options, or don't know better when they do.
You may personally disagree with the sentiment, but having been watching it happen for the last 20 years, that's how it seems to have played out to me.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
I'm an employee at EBGames and when we first received our demo unit we were putting in games left and right to see how they looked. One time one of us ended up moving the system to adjust something in the interactive. Later on when we were switching games we noticed the disc was scratched. It has happened a few more times but only when moving the system. I'm not saying not to slighty re-adjust it but don't move it from horizontal to vertical or any big changes to the current position of the system if a game is being played.
I hate it when my disc condom comes off inside my girlfriend's PS2.
I was one of those fools who waiting in line at 5 in the morning to be the first to get my hands on a PS2. I was lucky enough to procure one, and after a week of playing it - my Tekken Tag Team and SSX discs had circular scratches around them and were unplayable. I didn't move my PS2 while the drive was spinning - the machine just ate the discs.
;-)
Hopefully Microsoft will be a lot better about handling these repairs.
Initially, Sony wanted to charge me nearly 100 bucks for the privelege of them diagnosing the problem. (even though the machine was underwarantee). A few letters later, combined with multiple calls to the Better Business Bureau - Sony capitulated, repaired my PS2 and replaced my games.
The only downside is that when I got the game discs back in the mail, they all contained rootkits