According to this news from Outerspace.com.br, people are reporting malfunctions of their recently bought Xbox360 units. Sometimes the console simply goes OFF after some time of use. This probably is because some kind of overheating. Other problems are that some games simply locks up and show errors screens. http://outerspace.terra.com.br/interno.php?area=not_est&cod_noticia=4021 That's why, even if i had the opportunity to pre-order, i would never be one of the first to "Test" the new technology in consoles, no matter what company it's from.
You see, it happens almost every launch. PS1 had problems, PS2 definatly had problems, xboxes had problems, saturn cart slots, dreamcast defect games, ect. Its not really unusual.
If I could throw my ZERO knowledge view in, I don't think it is MS direct fault, in terms of design. I read that wall street journal article on where all the parts of the 360 come from, and it all seemed a little flung together. Best to make all the parts in one place, as it kinda minimises the problem of one componant going wrong. It must be so hard for MS to co-ordinate this operation, all it needs is one factory to make a load of crap parts and a whole shipment is buggered. As the parts are put together some time after creation, MS does not know directly when something is wrong. Must be a nightmare for them. Added to all this is the fact that certain bits of the 360 look kinda flimsy, like the first gen of ps2 disc trays. Looks like there are almost certainly heating issues and hard drive problems with maybe one in a thousand 360s. Nothing too major, but if it hits the news a la nano, it would be mean a very red-faced MS.
That's actually pretty true. Nintendo makes some great quality products regardless. My primary Gamecube is a launch one and hand it's still working great to this day.
the only small problem i remember is, that the First N64 Version used to crash after some hours of play because it wasn't cooled good enough but i can only second what you said!
Well, yes. But the majority of NES systems have issues with their pin connectors after so many years and they were notorious for getting dirty fast.
Microsoft knows where each major component in each 360 came from. For example: If they found out that a certan gfx chip batch was defective, they could pinpoint which stores that batch was sold in. Each xbox is serialized and tracked throughout it's assembly, shipping and distribution. The only real problem is once it hits the retail wherehouses, where microsoft looses the ability to track. If the problem is limited to a few batches of bad components, this will be corrected shortly. If there's a fundamental design flaw, there will be big problems considering the number of components that were produced in advance.
Defects are a normal part of a console's launch. I'm fortunate that mine hasn't had any problems but I really feel bad for the guys that wait over 24hrs in line to find themselves staring at a big black error screen. Nevertheless, most of them don't have any problems and will continue to work great.
I'm not so suprised by this, its 'normal' (but inconvinient)... when I bought my gamecube @ launch it was also defective.. so
Glad I found this thread before posting about it myself. I hadn't heard that there were any major problems with the 360's but my 2 of my friends have both been having problems with disc read errors. Makes me glad I held off on purchasing one, I think I'll give the 360 a couple revisions to work out all the kinks before I plunk down my precious money on one.
I must be one of the fortunate ones, because I have not had any problems with mine. Besides the shady emulation, it's worked with new 360 games, older Xbox games, and DVDs.
