MS to spend a billion dollars on XBox repairs

[LordShiva]

HB asleepathewheel!

[asleepathewheel]

[flash9286]

Originally posted by gjramsey
My first one died with the red ring of death right after the 6 month mark.

What MS is doing now is going to make things more confusing, I believe. The 3 year extended warranty is only for the 3 Red Rings of Death. Any other failures still have only 1 year coverage. So my extended warranty is either 3 years or 5 years (I think), depending on what the next failure is.

From what I have read the xbox extended warranty only lasts for 3 years ( 1 yr standard warranty plus two years for extended). The 3 year warranty only covers the red rings of death, but your extended warranty will cover anything else during those 3 years.

[UnOrthOdOx]

Originally posted by asleepathewheel
I think a lot of parents, if they remember this, will be quite leary of the purchase.

Well, as a parent in the market for a gaming system this holiday season, here's one that's paying attention.

From what I've been able to gather, the Xbox problems seem to be with people who play A LOT. I keep reading about having problems after leaving it on for 5 hour stretches, etc.

If I was buying for myself alone, I would not be concerned about an Xbox at all. I play an hour, I turn it off, I come back 12-24 hours later and play an hour, rinse repeat.

My kids, however, are known to play an hour or two, go outside, leave the damn thing running for 8 hours, come back and play some more.

I don't know...Wii is looking more and more appealing from the parenting perspective. From a player perspective, it's got nothing I really to play. Meanwhile, the PS3 is dropping it's price. Don't know if that's a good or bad sign.

[Agathon]

I have a 360. It hasn't blown up yet, but I don't spend a lot of time gaming on it. I would have bought a PS3, but they didn't come out until fairly recently.

Some of the 360 games are pretty good (Forza 2 is awesome - check out my Led Zeppelin tribute car below), and it doesn't crash a lot, but it has a few major flaws.

1) It's terrible as a media centre. The fans are ridiculously loud, which make it hopeless for playing music off of the hard drive. Believe me, it really is that bad. Sometimes it is like someone is revving a jet engine next door. From all accounts, the PS3 is better in this respect.

2) The console user interface is absolutely awful. It works pretty well, but it is hideous and not particularly efficient. Sony's Xross media bar is much better (I love the PSP's interface). YMMV with this, but it annoys the heck out of me.

3) No built in hi def DVD. If you buy the addons to bring it up to spec with the PS3, it's about the same price. But the PS3 has Blu Ray, which is the better format. This is going to create problems, since developers can't be sure that every 360 owner will have the HD drive. Every PS3 owner will, which means bigger games.

I don't think that the 3G console war is anywhere near getting started, since the PS2 is still outselling both the 360 and the PS3.

But the Wii looks mighty cool. Nintendo seem to have hit one out of the park with that machine. Looks like the tortoise might beat the hares.

[DrSpike]

No signs of flagging from mine yet, though I haven't played it a lot for the last few weeks.

[Nostromo]

Originally posted by Agathon
I have a 360. It hasn't blown up yet, but I don't spend a lot of time gaming on it. I would have bought a PS3, but they didn't come out until fairly recently.

Some of the 360 games are pretty good (Forza 2 is awesome - check out my Led Zeppelin tribute car below), and it doesn't crash a lot, but it has a few major flaws.

1) It's terrible as a media centre. The fans are ridiculously loud, which make it hopeless for playing music off of the hard drive. Believe me, it really is that bad. Sometimes it is like someone is revving a jet engine next door. From all accounts, the PS3 is better in this respect.

2) The console user interface is absolutely awful. It works pretty well, but it is hideous and not particularly efficient. Sony's Xross media bar is much better (I love the PSP's interface). YMMV with this, but it annoys the heck out of me.

3) No built in hi def DVD. If you buy the addons to bring it up to spec with the PS3, it's about the same price. But the PS3 has Blu Ray, which is the better format. This is going to create problems, since developers can't be sure that every 360 owner will have the HD drive. Every PS3 owner will, which means bigger games.

I don't think that the 3G console war is anywhere near getting started, since the PS2 is still outselling both the 360 and the PS3.

But the Wii looks mighty cool. Nintendo seem to have hit one out of the park with that machine. Looks like the tortoise might beat the hares.

Well, well, well... Look who the cat dragged in

I'd never use it to play music either. First, its loud. Second, it probably doesn't sound that good to begin with. For example, its not like there's a high-grade DAC in there. Third, there's no digital out, AFAIK. So you can't use it as a transport.

For my music needs, I have a Squeezebox. Its whipser quiet and it was built from the ground up for music. It streams the music from my computer to my stereo. It also streams internet radio. The software that powers it is open source so people frequently come up with nice plugins. And you can also use it as an internet bridge. So you can connect your Xbox on it.

It's terrible as a media centre.

I hear its pretty good if you use it in conjunction with a Media Center PC. Of course, its not an option for you.

But the Wii looks mighty cool. Nintendo seem to have hit one out of the park with that machine. Looks like the tortoise might beat the hares.

Meh... I like the new controller, but the games make me want to

[Agathon]

I hear its pretty good if you use it in conjunction with a Media Center PC. Of course, its not an option for you.

Yeah it is. Connect 360 will do most of that on the Mac. I don't see the point though, since I can just plug my iPod into it.

[Nostromo]

You'd have access to more music. Potentially better quality, too. You could rip your music in a lossless format. And you're not using up your iPod's battery for nothing.

[Agathon]

Originally posted by nostromo
You'd have access to more music. Potentially better quality, too. You could rip your music in a lossless format. And you're not using up your iPod's battery for nothing.

The 360 charges the iPod while it is connected, so that is not a problem.

iTunes is heading to 256kbps DRM free, so there won't be any problem with quality, unless you want to play the music through your Quad ESLs.

[LordShiva]

Originally posted by Agathon
(Forza 2 is awesome - check out my Led Zeppelin tribute car below), and it doesn't crash a lot

Safe driver

[Agathon]

Originally posted by LordShiva

Safe driver

I wish I could say the same of others. My TT is a slower D class, but it has excellent grip and turns better than most D class cars that people use online.

This means I brake later in turns. It also means I always get assrammed by the car behind, where the idiot driver is using me as his timer for braking.

[Nostromo]

iTunes is heading to 256kbps DRM free, so there won't be any problem with quality, unless you want to play the music through your Quad ESLs.

Well, until they sell lossless tracks without DRM, I'm not interested. That's why I still buy CD's. I buy 'em, I rip 'em in FLAC and then I never use my CD's ever again.