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Microsoft Knew About Xbox 360 Damaging Discs
Kelly writes "An unsealed document in a Washington lawsuit filed last week at Seattle, Microsoft was well aware that the Xbox 360 was prone to damaging game discs even before the console was introduced in November 2005. Microsoft had three solutions for solving the issue, but all three solutions were rejected due to technical concerns or on the basis of cost. Microsoft settled on a cost-free fourth solution: a warning was added to Xbox 360 manual, which essentially placed the blame on users instead of the hardware." The scratching-disks problem was mentioned a few years back, too. I wonder whether more people would prefer a slight discount on the price of a console to the ability to reorient it while a disk was playing inside.
Because absolutely nothing will happen while playing to cause the console to move. Pets, earthquakes, small children, large children...
Causing the game to crash, that's perfectly acceptable and highly unlikely to prevent as it is. Damaging the disc? Easily preventable.
TFA says discs can get damaged when moving the console around/reorienting it (point it eastwards?!?) while there's a disc inside. Now, I tend to take the discs out before I move my equipment around, so I may be wrong. But isn't this usually a concern with ANY device with an optical drive? Or is it far worse with the 360 thanks to their superior engineering?
Nope, the XBox isn't any more prone to scratching discs than your average non-car-CD player. Most people just know better than to move their CD players around while they're playing, and I suppose don't make the same connection with a game console.
DUH! Don't do that!
Name another console that destroys disc on a regular basis.
No it is a poorly designed product and you're assuming everyone who has had scratched discs did something to cause it and that's not the case.
I've seen people complaining about problems with scratched discs while not moving the system and that's because it's a shit design and the system should always lay flat and work with gravity rather than against it.
I've been reading /. for the past two years and I've never signed up for an account. That is, not until reading these insanely stupid comments. Seems to me that any mention of anything by Microsoft on here deserves a flaming of epic proportions.
Listen, it says in the directions don't turn the console while a disk is spinning. Obviously this lowered the cost of the system to end users by not implementing a high priced anti-scratch feature. I read a comment saying this guy has kids running around his house all the time and cords sometimes get tripped. So you're telling me that you consistently have your console falling over? Way to take care of it. Seriously, it's wireless except for when charging a control and if it's that big of a problem just turn the thing on its side and wow no more problems.
I'm so sick of everyone bashing MS for choosing the most efficient setup. Sure they could have implemented an accelerometer and thousands of other safety measures to protect consoles from stupid users but then the thing would have cost over a grand and who would buy it. And an earthquake, come on. How often do you get hit with a fiver huh? I'd be thanking my lucky stars it wasn't bigger, get over yourself. That's like blaming MS for not reinforcing the sides with 3in plate armor because there is a chance a meteorite might smash into it.
They are unfairly blaming the users, when the people they should be holding to task are their engineers or businessmen for building bad engines/disc holders.
Being a regular /.-er, and being annoyed/hateful/whatever of Microsoft as the next guy here, I still got to jump in on their side of the fence for this one.
Just because a unit can scratch discs if you toss it around does not mean you need to sue them. I cannot fathom why Americans instantly go for "sue em!" instead of "hey, if the unit isn't as good as the opposition, maybe we should buy the competitors unit instead". If the possibility of you scratching a game disc when you knock your xbox over really really worries you so much... don't buy the damned thing. In this mindset, here are some other things you might want to avoid purchasing, or get a refund if you still can:
1) Your plasma/lcd tv will probably stop working if you knock it over.
2) Your car might not be road worthy if you turn it upside down. Even less chance if you do it while it's moving at the time.
3) If you suddenly pick up your parents, flip em upside down, and drop them, they might be worse for wear afterwards. At the very least, the chances of them talking to you are slim at best.
4) A can of beer doesn't work to well in pouring alcohol down your gullet once it's been tipped upside down for a little while.
5) Your fishtank might damage your fish if you knock it over in normal fishtank operation.
6) Knocking a kettle over during normal operation might result not only in a failure of operation, but possibly some nasty burns.
Feel a little more silly now about bitching at the "evil microsoft" for making something that doesn't work well if you start using it upside down?
I swear when I see stuff like this, it just makes me mad! Do something useful with that jumbo sized judicial system of yours America!
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