Essential reading: Xbox 360 Defects

By David Hollingworth
11:00 Sep 16, 2008 | 16 Comments
Tags: Xbox | 360 | console | microsoft

An epic tale of failure rates, subterfuge and red rings of death.

If you're an Xbox 360 owner there is one article that you simply must read.

We like to think of ourselves as a pretty informed bunch at Atomic, but a new feature at VentureBeat by scribe Dean Takahashi has left us in awe. It's an awesome piece of gaming journalism. For just a taste:

"Microsoft knew it had flawed machines, but it did not delay its launch because it believed the quality problems would subside over time. With each new machine, the company figured it would ride the “learning curve,” or continuously improve its production. Even though Microsoft’s leaders knew their quality wasn’t top notch, they did not ensure that resources were in place to handle returns and quickly debug bad consoles. There were plenty of warning signs, but the company chose to ignore them. The different parts of the business weren’t aligned.

It reminds me of the German war machine just before World War I, as chronicled by Barbara Tuchman in the classic history book, “The Guns of August.” The German generals were intent on keeping their trains on time; but the leaders overlooked their chances for stopping the war altogether. The Schlieffen plan called for them to strike first. Once the Russians and French mobilized, the Germans had to move into action. They marched off blindly into tragedy."

See? It even has references to World War 1! It's a huge read, so set aside a good part of the day, and prepare to be informed. You can read the full story right here.

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16 Comments

nesquick Sep 16, 2008 12:25 PM	wow that does look like a great read, good thing i got rid of my xbox lol.
n00bz0r Sep 16, 2008 1:02 PM	Your right it is a bloody big read but it is a definitely a good one. I myself have had 3 Xbox 360 RROD's, the first one on my release 360 and the two after that on my Elite. But I still do like it as a console. Kudos the M$ for admitting fault and fixing things.
mp3metalhead Sep 16, 2008 1:44 PM	http://forums.atomicmpc.com.au/index.php?showtopic=895 Straight after my post about how my 360 RROD'd yesterday ...
nicknet Sep 16, 2008 3:26 PM	I don't think M$ admitted fault.. http://venturebeat.com/2008/09/12/microsoft-fires-game-test-contractor-who-talked-to-venturebeat/
nicknet Sep 16, 2008 3:34 PM	In a way I guess they did by extending warranty.. so I take that back. I think I meant more that they didn't admit directly that they sold a defective, badly made product, which Delware and co did.
The End Sep 16, 2008 6:15 PM	Terrific article. In a way though, despite the cost and bad PR, the plan did suceed on quite a few levels.
Errorist Sep 16, 2008 6:26 PM	Mmm... I've gotten one RROD, but I've got an e74 which I have to pay for... Eventually. The 360 has sat there for the past few months as I work towards not hating paying for it to be repaired. I'm just shocked that the fix of the RROD didn't come with a warranty for the new/refurbished parts to help ensure that it wasn't defective in some way...
p_francis_bennett Sep 16, 2008 6:31 PM	Thumbs up to M$ for admitting to being human.
Fuchal Sep 16, 2008 6:47 PM	I am now on my 3rd 360 from RRoD's. I don't think it is great that they offer free replacement on RRoD, when all they have done for me is give me refurbished 360s which just RRoD 3 months later. "I know we released a crappy piece of hardware and we are sorry, so here is a replacement... which is another crappy piece of hardware." D
battlefield_gir Sep 16, 2008 9:55 PM	Schlieffen : "keep the right strong"
lazyfly Sep 17, 2008 5:12 PM	The two major rulse of designing electronic equipment is the product must be reliable. Then it must be repeatable. Good on Microsoft for admitting nothing. They failed to reach two basic principles then knowingly gambled with your hard earned money in an effort to increase their profits. Don't pat them on the back for covering their arses.
gummybear Sep 17, 2008 7:34 PM	my sentiments exactly lazyfly!! i'm so sick of fanboys proclaiming how great MS is just because of the warranty update. its just MS realising that if they didn't they would seriously burn any brand loyalty people had to MS and this was serious PR damage control. Just look at the seemingly over-zealous sony customers. there are many of them, but then again Sony make much more consumer electronics then MS and thus have more chances of building brand loyalty. i will grant MS some kudos that they did do what they did but i still don't like the facts of what they did just to be the first out.
lazyfly Sep 17, 2008 8:06 PM	Your a bigger man than I, gummybear. No kudos coming from here. Have folks forgotten the Thompson drive already..? This is the second badly engineered (for longevity) console from MS. That's a 100% failure rate, or success if your a cynic.
Fuchal Sep 18, 2008 6:50 PM	In 8 years time, when the next consoles launch, I will pick up the next Sony and Nintendo offerings. I won't be getting the next Xbox device.
GhostFaceKilla Sep 20, 2008 10:59 AM	I still cant believe that after having for example 3 or 4 xbox's rrod on you people still say "oh yeh but I still like it". wtf? Same with apple iPods. i have a friend up to their third iPod in 18 months because of faults. But they still say "ohh but I like my iPod and it does look cute". Yeah but for the last 18 months you have onle been able to use ity for about 12. And the cost involved in you trying to get the problem sorted out each time . . . etc. I have never had a problem with a playstation. I have never had a problem with my Creative mp3 player. Absolutely pathetic. This whole affair is an example of how consumer sovreignty DOES NOT exist and can not hope to compete with the modern advertising and image machine. People are not making RATIONAL choices anymore. In fact advertising encourages you to make an EMOTIONAL choice. THINK people. Microsoft were and still are able to get away with shoddy production because of people LIKE YOU!
garyboulter Sep 23, 2008 4:43 PM	I was going to buy a X box 360 I guess I wont now.

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