Microsoft Sued Over Alleged Xbox 360 Glitch

[Vilge Duin]

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A Chicago man who bought Microsoft Corp.'s new

Xbox 360 has sued the world's largest software maker, saying the new video game console has a design flaw that causes it to overheat and freeze up.

The proposed class action claims that in Microsoft's bid to gain share in the $25 billion global video game market, the company was so intent on releasing the Xbox 360 before competing next-generation machines from Sony Corp (NYSE:SNE - news). and Nintendo Co Ltd. that it sold a "defectively designed" product.

Robert Byers, who brought the suit, said the power supply and central processing unit in the Xbox 360 overheat, affecting heat-sensitive chips and causing the console to lock up.

Microsoft spokeswoman Molly O'Donnell on Monday said the company does not comment on pending litigation.

Complaints about the problem surfaced quickly on gaming enthusiast Web sites after the Xbox 360 debuted on November 22.

Console owners reported that some systems had crashed during regular use as well as during online game play using the Xbox Live service. Problems included screens going black and the appearance of a variety of error messages.

At the time O'Donnell told Reuters: "We have received a few isolated reports of consoles not working as expected."

She declined to say how many reports Microsoft had received and said that calls reporting the issue to the company represented a "very, very small fraction" of units sold.

The lawsuit, filed on Friday in federal court in Illinois, seeks unspecified damages and litigation-related expenses, as well as the replacement or recall of Xbox 360 game consoles.

[Green Demon]

I think that there are just some problems that dont really become apparent until a mass amount of people have the system. Holding back releaseing might help a little but I think that the companies are more worried about the hype and other stuff they get for releaseing a next-gen system first then the few thousand of people that may have problem when the system first comes out. This is one of the reasons that I usually wait atleast a few months after the inital release to get the new systems.

[Benji]

She declined to say how many reports Microsoft had received and said that calls reporting the issue to the company represented a "very, very small fraction" of units sold.

That's because their are very, very few X-Boxes TO be sold.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Why bother suing though?! That's just stupid.

Do things the British way and write a letter of complaint.

Nay, two letters!

Actually, don't wanna overdo it...

Edited December 6, 2005 by ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster

[Guest Kou]

This is why my MSN picture for a while was a smashed Xbox 360. Because that picture brings me great joy.

[Mortis]

This is what Bill Gates gets for attempting to start the system before the Playstation 3, it is a sign of weakness on his part, and an obvious fear of his that he will lose the console race. If he were confident, he wouldn't have tried that, then threatend 'HALO 3 SOON AS PS3 COMES OUT!'

Let's face it, the X-Box 360 seems to be >> soley created for the attempted destruction of the PS3, but so far from what I've heard, the 360 is less than impressive. There is a difference, but very few games worth buying, as well as the fact that any game on 360 and X-Box (Madden Franchise, etc.) is poorly made.

Very few were made, and yet 'very few people' are experiencing problems. I think it's just a cover for there obvious huge blunder. They'll cover it up, make the 360 work proper, and then say it was just a malfunction with a few select machines, but in my eyes this only reassures my decision to wait for the PS3 rather than buy the 360.

[Kaney]

I think it's fairly stupid to say the sole purpose is to somehow one-up Sony, since they'd be expending vast quantities of money and resources for something that, until they got involved, no-one cared about, let alone thought of. The purpose of the 360 is to make money, let's not delve too deeply into fanboyism.

But they may have fucked themselves up by making it personal, as if there was some sort of stake involved in beating the PS3, and they've made a bit of a mess of it. The PS3 isn't due out till when, sometime in the middle of '06? Microsoft could have easily taken a few months making sure everything is in top condition and still beat the release date of the PS3. But they thought they could get a jump on the market, and fucked up. It's not as if we didn't know XBox sucked anyway

So yeah, they weren't soley focused on destroying the PS3, but they have shot themselves in the foot. I'm just laughing because my brother bought an XBox on the cheap after the 360 came out, and now there's huge problems with the new models

[apsham]

Isn't Sony\Microsoft trying to build a relationship, what with the PSP\360 compatibility?

[Katsuya]

How is it a design defect when he's the only guy who's reported it so far? Design Defect means every single console suffers from this problem, surely. And how do we know this guy isn't one of those people who has the 360 on for 18 hours a day, only turning it off to sleep? This whole lawsuit idea seems hideously flawed. He will have no chance against Microsoft's lawyers anyway.

In regards to "one up to Sony", we just have to wait and see if the PS3 has glitches like this before we make any comments.

[apsham]

But you just said that there was only one complaint (which isn't true, it says right there in the article there were multiple), so how can you call it a glitch right below that?

[Kaney]

How is it a design defect when he's the only guy who's reported it so far? Design Defect means every single console suffers from this problem, surely. And how do we know this guy isn't one of those people who has the 360 on for 18 hours a day, only turning it off to sleep? This whole lawsuit idea seems hideously flawed. He will have no chance against Microsoft's lawyers anyway.

Besides the article itself saying it's not as isolated case, I've personally heard of indipendant shops having their display 360's burn out on opening day. It probably is just a case of bad luck in early batches, we'll just have to wait and see. No one's really saying the 360 will go under because of it, the PS2 didn't exactly have a perfect launch either. I agree though that he won't have a hope in hell of winning the law-suit but hey, it's America. Land of the itchy-trigger law suits

In regards to "one up to Sony", we just have to wait and see if the PS3 has glitches like this before we make any comments.

Of course. I was simply responding to Mortis' comments about the 'rivalry'. I'd hope they don't have the same fuck-ups they did with the PS2, but then that wasn't exactly glitches. The fact remains that no one should buy a console on launch anyway >_>

[Herr Matzat]

sounds like your average reason for not getting a console on release day, you ALWAYS will be paying more monney for less qualety.

[KevinStorm]

Personally, I think Microsoft is making a habit of putting low-quality hardware in their consoles. I've heard a lot of stories(including my own) about the original XBox DVD-ROM crapping out and not reading discs after anywhere from 2 months to 2 years of use. A LOT of stories. What does Microsoft do? If it's still under warranty, they "fix" it(sometimes). If it's not under warranty, they charge anywhere from $60-$100, then tell the person they have to ship it to a service center where they will "fix" it(sometimes). I have also heard stories of people doing this two or three times, and their XBox is never fixed.

I always have been a Sony fan, and I don't see that changing. I only bought the XBox because it was relatively cheap and I wanted to play Sid Meier's Pirates(the NES version is far better, but I digress). I don't plan on buying a 360, and I do believe the PS3 will wipe the proverbial floor with the 360.

[therockbox]

I've never had any problems with my X-Box, whereas with my first PS2 I had a load.

[Benji]

This is what Bill Gates gets for attempting to start the system before the Playstation 3, it is a sign of weakness on his part, and an obvious fear of his that he will lose the console race. If he were confident, he wouldn't have tried that, then threatend 'HALO 3 SOON AS PS3 COMES OUT!'

Let's face it, the X-Box 360 seems to be >> soley created for the attempted destruction of the PS3, but so far from what I've heard, the 360 is less than impressive. There is a difference, but very few games worth buying, as well as the fact that any game on 360 and X-Box (Madden Franchise, etc.) is poorly made.

Very few were made, and yet 'very few people' are experiencing problems. I think it's just a cover for there obvious huge blunder. They'll cover it up, make the 360 work proper, and then say it was just a malfunction with a few select machines, but in my eyes this only reassures my decision to wait for the PS3 rather than buy the 360.

Or maybe, y'know, they're trying to get a share of the market in BUSINESS logic? Of course they're trying to one up Sony, but only because it makes sense, they're about making money not waiting until the competitor comes out just to see who sells more units in the first month.

[Timmoru Suzuki]

I've never had any problems with my X-Box, whereas with my first PS2 I had a load.

[trdavisca]

I've never had any problems with my X-Box, whereas with my first PS2 I had a load.

Same. Never, ever had a problem with the X-Box, yet I've lost count of the number of problems my PS2's had down the years (though it's been OK for a while now)

I feel slightly happier to have decided to wait for a 360. Still certainly after one, but I decided to wait a few months, and this relieves my somewhat.

[therockbox]

But the first X-Box was a used one, you can hardly compare that to a brand new console. Who knows what the previous owner did to it. I'm on my third PS2 now, the first one died completely after a couple of weeks (but I took it back and got it exchanged), and then the second one was giving me problem after problem. So I did the only thing I could - went and part exchanged it for a slimline.

Compared to that, I can't remember having a single problem with my X-Box.

[trdavisca]

I didn't mean by my post that his first X-Box was a used one i just meant that he went through 3 in all 1 used and 2 new, he had 1 new one then 1 used one but he didn't want to just give up on the system so he got another new one since he believed that all the glitches would be out of the new one but o well, I don't know if it's based on luck or what he went through 3 X-Boxes and I still got my first PS2 almost 4 years old and you said you barely had a hitch with your X-Box and had multiple PS2's. And I find slimline's less reliable as well, my step-father and my co-worker both as a slimline that won't play half of the ps2 games and especially the newer ones my co-worker can't even run nhl 2006, but my old ps2 runs every game without a problem, it had a disc error for a month but i kept alterating it from horozontal to vertical and it the error just disappeared completely for over a year now and I can play any game without problems.

Edited December 10, 2005 by trdavisca

[therockbox]

But one was still used, right?

My slimline's actually the best one I've had yet, no problems (yet) except the odd grinding noise when I turn it off.