Xbox 360, a current console that has been out for almost two & half years but not without its problems. But will the problems ever cease? Frustration is the name of the game and is at an all time high here.



1. Probably the most common problem is the Red Ring of Death. As most say, "it isn't a question of if but when." This is all too true. I personally am on my fourth console. The first time I ever turned on my 360 I got a RRoD (fixed with power cord trick) and one of my other consoles got it after five minutes of usage.
Note: That is actually one of my RRoD's.


2. Error, your disc I cannot read. How hard is it to read a disc? They are made for you 360, they crave you to read them and you don't. How can you abandon them like that? This isn't a big concern with me since I've only had it once with my copy of Gears of War, but some other people have had more problems than myself. Especially with Rock Band, I hear.



3. The death of the ports can make people very sad. I'm not talking about porting games, but ethernet and USB ports. Not sure if anyone remembered but I had issues with my ethernet port that was magically fixed in a special way. A bigger issue is a USB port problem. The rear USB port on my 360 no longer works. Why? No one knows...it just stopped working. Hooray for great construction!


4. Ready for lift off? If you aren't, I know my 360 is. Well at least it sounds ready to take off. Or is that noise just a way of it telling me that it is old and ready to die on me?


5. How can we forget the DRM issues? dvddesign has had many issues that have all been but completely answered. He actually now has 12 out of 20 DRM's recovered, but those missing eight could spell heartbreak. I never thought of this, but I might have this problem as well since I have had a few RRoD's in the past.



6. Brr, it is freezing in here. My 360 sure thinks so. Either that or it thinks it's funny by pretending to mimic the weather and freeze on me! This is not a satirical environment, this is a gaming environment. Don't quit your day job and play me some vidja games!
Shopp'd picture by -D-.

7. Controllers have a short life expectancy. These darn things don't live long but I suppose that is why they are found in numbers in the wild. A weird happenstance happened when my 360 froze. My controller had just died so I plugged it in to charge and play, the system freezes and I restart the console. Lo' and behold when I turn the sucker back on, my charge kit gives me the green lit. Why was it lit so soon? Regardless of the answer, it made my controller's life expectancy significantly less. Poor controller, your life has come to soon while everyone else runs and frolicks around in full lives.



Anymore than seven would be nitpicking though. And sure there is the three year warranty for the system, but that only covers RRoD. What is a gamer to do if they have no RRoD, besides fake the RRoD? And if you do fake or get a RRoD, you run into DRM issues. It is like a never ending cycle!

This just makes me so frustrated. I just wish the console worked as requested. I give you $400, you give me a console that operates correctly. Is that too much to ask for? Problems 6 & 7 have been hitting me hard recently. I wish this was an exaggeration but it seems my system has had problems more times than it hasn't. So much frustation is leading me to thoughts of abandonment and adoption. Abandoning the Xbox 360 and adopting a PC gaming rig. It is tantalizing and scary to think about.

What the frickin' monkey butt lovin', just give me a console that works!