Quantcast


Halo 3 cannot finish the fight against shoddy production photo

I sigh, truly I do, when I think about Microsoft and its awful, awful production values this generation. It seems that doing things on the cheap and as rushed as possible is the order of the day, which might work in the short term, but is infuriating gamers. With the release of Halo 3, more people than ever are surely being introduced to the world of the Xbox 360 -- and with it, are beginning to suffer the consequences of shoddy production. Not only do Halo 3 players have to fear their console red ringing on them, they now have the threat of unreadable discs looming over their heads.

Both Bungie's forums and the Xbox.com forums are saturated with posts complaining about disc read errors and freezing glitches with their copies of Halo 3. There are complaints about both the Legendary and standard editions and these are brand new, good condition copies by all accounts. Either the game is truly defective, or people's Xbox 360s are just having one mass suicide, though many of the affected claim other games are working fine. Either way, this is not what the biggest launch of the year needs. Not at all.

It's quite pathetic, in fact, that with so much attention on the 360 thanks to Halo, something like this should happen. I wonder what all those new customers will think when their consoles keep crashing out on them. After the anger over the badly designed packaging for the Collector's Edition, these stupid, easily avoidable problems are becoming a farce.

[Tip from the Donutty one]








More gaming stories around the web. Got news? Submit yours to tips@destructoid.com

Jim Sterling serves as reviews editor for Destructoid.com, head of the Podtoid podcast, and produces a number of news stories, original features, one-of-a-kind videos. With his passionate argumentative style, controversial opinions, harsh delivery, and dedication to brutal honesty Sterling is a name that you can't help but recognize. Likes PS2, iPod Touch, Silent Hill 2, Metal Gear Solid, Dynasty Warriors 3 Meet the rest of the team



Post a comment! You can also post a photo below:

Comment with Facebook





Click connect and comment instantly!

Comment with Dtoid





New? SIGN UP - it takes 5 seconds

70 comments | showing # 1 to 50
prev
next 50 comments

ajaxender's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/28/2007 08:40
ajaxender
*sigh* it seems that microsoft dont just want to beat sony at making games, they also want to beat sony at screwing over customers...

But hey, my brothers halo 3 + 360 was fine for the 3 days he brought it round to my house. He did get the pointlessly expensive version though, so at least the discs had proper cases.
Holyetheline's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/28/2007 08:47
Holyetheline
and this is why I still ponder whether or not to get a 360.
Upgrayedd's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/28/2007 08:48
Upgrayedd
Do they simply not have a QA department at MS anymore?
rbrooks's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/28/2007 08:51
rbrooks
not bad packaging for legendary....legendary is fine...collector's edition is the fucked one...2/3 is a good ratio...lol jk
TheExit's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/28/2007 08:52
TheExit
Zero problems with mine, went through the campaign already. Played for 6 hours straight, and no locks or read errors.
Wedge's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/28/2007 08:58
Wedge
The 360 is it's own worst enemy...
Jim Sterling's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/28/2007 08:58
Jim Sterling
rbrooks, ah, must've had a brainfart. Thanks for setting me right.
RICHARD BLOCKER's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/28/2007 09:03
RICHARD BLOCKER
I got some jumpies when i first popped it in.
JLarkin's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/28/2007 09:03
JLarkin
The 1-Up unboxing video has me all excited to get a copy now. The packaging sure looks nice, but I don't want to be the lucky winner of a non-readable disk.
DeusPayne's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/28/2007 09:08
DeusPayne
Didn't this exact same hysteria come about during the Gears of War launch? My money is on that it's the same defect rate as other games, but since there's a lot more people buying it, there's a lot more people that get effected.
zoobot's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/28/2007 09:08
zoobot
It not that big of the deal geez and not as bad as making out to be
and as far as the 360 itself most of the faulty systems were flushed out the market way before halo came out and the elite and the halo 3 xbox have the falcon chip in them so there should be no problem
Kaikara's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/28/2007 09:11
Kaikara
Oh and Jim you haven't heard the worst of it. Apparently Halo 3 is in fact rendered in upscaled 640p and not the true 720p Bungie and Microsoft advertised.

Evidence:
http://forum.beyond3d.com/showpost.p...&postcount=276

Problems I've had with the game:
Achievements not unlocking, getting stuck on terrain, MP servers randomly crashing, screenshots/clips not uploading, medals not being awarded and just insane lag sometimes on matchmaking matches (I lagged out for roughly 10 minutes yesterday.......).
Kaikara's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/28/2007 09:17
Kaikara
Ooops posted a malformed link heres the proper one:

http://forum.beyond3d.com/showpost.php?p=1070774&postcount=276
Cowboy TTop's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/28/2007 09:24
Cowboy TTop
My only complaint with it is with the collectors edition. I purchased mine and the game disc was scratched to fuck. I got a replacement but it was annoying that a bit of tape and foam, could have stopped the disc from having a party in the metal tin case.

No other problems though
subnet6's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/28/2007 09:26
subnet6
Yeah thats pretty lame that Halo 3 isn't even in any real HD resolution. Although, I think the problems people are having are most likely from playing their consoles for hours straight rather than some defect with the disc.
Gh05T R1d3R's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/28/2007 09:48
Gh05T R1d3R
you know what's weird is, i had never had a bit of trouble with my 360 until i updated it on last sunday and then it crapped out. that update was mandatory and everyone who wanted to play halo online when it was free had to get that update. still i agree with subnet 6 the whole red ring issue is related to overheating, how many people on that list were planning on hard-coring through campaign in one sitting on co-op? i did, but i went and bought a new elite, which i was planning on doing anyway the media they have now on live is too unreal,( i have loved mtv's "the state" since i was like 15 and i have never even found good copies of it on torrents plus i have a lcd with 4 hdmi plugs and nothing in any of them and that pisses me off) i don't know what i will do with my old box when i get it back from repair though...

oh and i though halo 3 was lackluster at best, the first was and still is the best, just like the fuckin' matrix movies
michiyoyoshiku's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/28/2007 09:50
michiyoyoshiku
I smell bullshit. I have the limited edition WITH Scratches

No problems at all.
Jim Sterling's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/28/2007 09:56
Jim Sterling
Well, that disproves everything.
Ralph's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/28/2007 09:59
Ralph
This post smacks of sensationalism during launch week. We get it: the scratched discs are a problem, and MS is solving it with free replacements. Should it have happened in the first place? Nope.

Disc read errors / random lockups / red-ringing occurs with every 360 title, whether developed/published by MGS or not. Bear in mind that the 360 is Microsoft's second entrant into the console space. Even Sony hasn't gotten this right and they're on their 4th piece of hardware.

Provided they're doing right by gamers with quick replacements of faulty software/hardware, I'm inclined to give them a pass.

STFUAJPG!!!
Volomon's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/28/2007 10:12
Volomon
LOL karma is one bad mamajama.
Sockapal's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/28/2007 10:13
Sockapal
@Ralph: Well, at least you've learned to accept issues as opposed to expecting the best. Granted, not everything will be flawless, but on this mass a scale how could they overlooked all these issues?
king3vbo's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/28/2007 10:13
king3vbo
Oversensationalized? Maybe a little bit

But still, it is pathetic that Microsoft's QA dept. is this shoddy.
Zanch's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/28/2007 10:14
Zanch
Does anyone realise how many copies of that game were printed in the first shipment? It had to be at least 2 million copies, probably more. If out of 2 million copies only a few hundred aren't working, that doesn't mean dick. It just so happens that Halo fans are very....vocal. These things happen with every game, it's simply more pronounced with Halo because it's such a huge, high profile release.
Lightthrower's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/28/2007 10:17
Lightthrower
@Ralph

Please shut up you MS fanboy. Saying "Bear in mind that the 360 is Microsoft's second entrant into the console space." does not mean it is permitted in ANY WAY to make defect products.

If you'd buy a car and it is only the second edition of that model and then oops it breaks. Would you brush it off because it's only their second time building it? HELL NO! So please stop posting stupid comments on these boards.

Oh and btw, Sony doesn't have major problems with PS3 as of now.
mix's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/28/2007 10:20
mix
That does suck, for all the people who waited in line and saved up they should have at least caught this before release...tsk tsk.

@Ralph
Are you serious when you compares MS to Sony via system build? 360 failure rate was like 35% last I heard and Sony's was like 1-2%.

Sony's systems have been up there with Nintendos in my opinion build wise. I still have all my original psx, ps2, psp, ps3 and they all run perfectly with no issues (well haven't touched the psx for a while but last time I played she was good).

Sony's problems lies solely with PR and marketing in my eyes as the don't deliver the promises. My bro was on his 3rd 360 then he sold is as he got tired of it all, bear in mind that MS has been making computer hardware/software for years.
gottlieb's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/28/2007 10:28
gottlieb
All Destructiod does is bash Halo3...try being unbiased huh? You guys are the pathetic ones because you call yourself a news site.
HiGHFLYiN9's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/28/2007 10:30
HiGHFLYiN9
I've been noticing random freeze-ups on Live despite not buying into the Halos, what some people may be experiencing is Live servers buckling under the extreme load than actual game defects.
B-Radicate's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/28/2007 10:39
B-Radicate
Uhm, hey gottlieb, it's not biased reporting if they are reporting the truth. I'm a huge fan of Microsoft (I have a 360 and a ton of games, just not Halo 3) but it's stuff like this that SHOULD be brought to the attention of the consumer. It would be just as biased if Destructoid heard this news bit and chose NOT to report it, thereby siding with Microsoft and Bungie and Halo 3 in acting as if this shit (and it IS shit) doesn't happen.

Destructoid has a right as a NEWS outlet to report news. So STFU and go back to finishing the hype. Stupid ass fanboy.
BluDesign's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/28/2007 10:40
BluDesign
@gottlieb

If you don't like the site, STFU and GTFO.

I've never said one negative thing against Halo myself.

You must be confusing clog's with your "news"
Maurice Tan's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/28/2007 10:40
Maurice Tan
The forum posts so far sure make it look like it's the disc. I've had a ton of read errors myself with other games, but Halo ran fine. It's definitely not the code or hdd corruption or anything, but it also doesn't seem to be linked to general 360 hardware crapness.

Maybe time for the ole routine inspection at the pressing plants?
Jim Sterling's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/28/2007 10:41
Jim Sterling
Okay, so on one side, Destructoid gets accused of being MS fanboys. On the other, we're being accused of biasy AGAINST MS. This just furthers my theory that most gamers only see what they want to see and ignore anything contrary to what they want to moan about.

Also, I didn't bash Halo 3 at all in that story. I didn't insult Bungie or the game. So grow up.
double2's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/28/2007 10:49
double2
You tell em Jim. The idea of this being anything short of a fair article is rediculous. Anything over 0.5% failure rate on anything electronical, in most circumstances, would justify a recall.

On a more personal level; until something goes wrong with your console or disk you probably think everyone else is hyping things up. I felt like that until my xbox scratched my guitar hero disk to shit and made it un-playable with no option of getting it replaced by microsoft. Then the next month I got major graphical failures and had to send it off to the xbox hospital. Gay as.

Oh and Halo 3 keeps booting me off it's servers, even off of xbox live and my online matchmaking isn;t updating properly. No word of a lie; it seems to only update on matches where I'm getting battered! Someone in Microsoft is fucking with me I swear!

Anyway, his isn't my blog, I'll shut up now... :)
synce's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/28/2007 10:52
synce
I saw this coming from a mile away. And if you think that's bad, just give it another month. Just think about all the kids and how much time they will spend playing the game.

Their Halo is like my DOA. I play those games for hundreds of hours--several hours each day. And look at me. I'm on my 6th console. It's been at the repair center for over a month, too.

Now imagine this happening to hundreds of thousands of people. Halo 3 could kill the 360's image, and I really hope it does. It will teach MS a lesson.
gottlieb's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/28/2007 10:58
gottlieb
HAHA...ok guys sure. Sterling brings up red-rings again, which has died down in the press because of the new 360's(smaller chips & bigger heatsinks) that are out that are red-ringing less.
I have seen no positive news on Halo3 out of this site, which is probably a tactic, because when every site is positive, the sites that are negative get the click throughs.

Of the 97 friends i have on xbox live, 36 were on last night and of those 36, 34 were playing Halo3...seems like people are playing it and loving it...you be the judge and don't take Sterling's spin seriously.
gottlieb's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/28/2007 11:02
gottlieb
You're all idoits...Microsoft upgraded everyone to Xbox Live GOLD...the free preview ended this morning so 4 million people will go back down to xbox live silver...that is the reason things were slow, simple as that. Get the facts before you start whining...
XeroxMe's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/28/2007 11:11
XeroxMe
Yeah I wrote about this yesterday after I saw it on Bungie's forums. It's happening to a lot of people, but their issues are different. It's mainly MP maps and campaign missions that set it off though. I'm guessing they'll patch it right?
h3lios's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/28/2007 11:17
h3lios
LOL! Sterling's right on the button this time. No need to brand everything from cars to sanitary pads if they can't get the basics right.
crackerjack's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/28/2007 11:20
crackerjack
I'm going to pick up Halo 3 after work and I wont be "OH NOES TEH HALOS" if the disc is screwed. I expect these things from Microsoft at this point, but I have a few die hard halo friends coming over to play it tonight, and they might burn my house down if Master Chief gets errors. Think of the children, Microsoft. Also, drugs.
ChillyBilly's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/28/2007 11:21
ChillyBilly
This is exactly why I went with the Wii and not the 360. Ever since the launch of the 360 I've read nothing but complaints about the "red ring of death" and other problems. Now watching the failure of a launch that Halo 3 has been I don't think I will ever plop down my 400 bones to pick one up. Is the new chip REALLY going to make the 360 that much more stable? Is the three year warranty truly enough to put your faith in to?
It seems that Microsoft just wants to take the cheap and easy way out with this generation. I don't want to waste money on cheap and easy, well, if I'm in the right spot with the right lady sure, but not with my gaming console.
chronicus_prime's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/28/2007 11:28
chronicus_prime
Man I'm trippin over Halo too. When I start it up The game loads so loud that ,in fact, is the loudest loading game I've ever heard in my life! And After It loads it has that grinding 'gggrrrrrr' siud but it isn't getting scaratched up or nothing. I can barely hear the game when i have my tv low at night because it's so loud. I bought into the hype and now.... I'll pay the price. Also does anyone know how I can upload audio somehow via a website? I could do vid but sound isn't the same.
dv8withn8's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/28/2007 11:33
dv8withn8
So out of the 1.5-2 million copies of Halo sold thus far only a very vocal minority seem to be having issues. Basically it works like this: the more copies you sell, the more exposure you get, the more likely you will experience some sort of problem/backlash. This is to be expected of almost everything. Microsoft has been more than honest and fair with it's customers when it comes to rectifying the problem in my opinion.
XeroxMe's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/28/2007 11:38
XeroxMe
Billy are you serious? Halo 3's launch has been a failure in no way at all. Fans are pleased with the game, it has sold for millions of dollars, and they managed to fit it all on one DVD. Halo 3 is Microsoft biggest gaming success in the making. Sure it's got problems and not everybody likes it (I'm one of those casual multi-player only Halo guys) but it's still a great product.
Knivy's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/28/2007 11:47
Knivy
@Jim
Destructoid is everything at the same time!! =D

@gottlieb
Are you saying that Xbox live isn't designed to be used fully by all it's members? And how is your friends list relevant at any point?

PS:Is the "falcon" even out yet?
ChillyBilly's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/28/2007 11:53
ChillyBilly
To Xeroxme: I am serious, yea they sold a shit ton of copies but to say it was a smooth launch would be a lie. They put a shotty product at the consumers expense. We are all so goddamn jaded by Microsoft's shitty work as of late that we will sit there and take it and not blink an eye. To say that only a small percentage of people are experiencing a problem is not a good enough excuse or answer for such a poorly made product. If two copies out of 2 million failed, sure. But this is not the case, not by far.
Jim Sterling's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/28/2007 12:21
Jim Sterling
gottlieb: You've never seen anything positive on Halo 3, have you? Did you read our 8.5 review? Did you read the several times I've praised Halo 3 as more than a videogame launch and something very important to the industry? Have you? Evidently not.

I would suggest, as friendly advice, that you learn to research your statements before you make them. I am aware that you clearly love Halo 3 and am deeply sorry for offending you with my story. However, please be more truthful in your criticism of this site as it will make your posts more credible and easier to take seriously.

Thank you.
KilgoreTrout XL's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/28/2007 12:28
KilgoreTrout XL
My Collector's Ed. was perfectly fine. But admittedly, I did open the box to take a look before I left Best Buy.

I can't imagine how furious I would have been if I had gotten it home and it didn't work- it was the last limited edition copy in the store.
KilgoreTrout XL's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/28/2007 12:31
KilgoreTrout XL
@ Chronicus- I think you just have one of the noisy DVD drives, man. Halo doesn't run any louder or softer than anything I've played recently.
Variable Gear's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/28/2007 12:31
Variable Gear
If there is one thing Microsoft wants gamers to understand, it would be that Microsoft does not care about the quality of their products.

Oh, no RROD!
lostalaska's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/28/2007 12:42
lostalaska
I'm a co-op whore so I've been playing through the campaign with 3 other friends over system link and been enjoying it thoroughly. Of course coop makes any game go up by a few points in my book. Hell, I played Earth Defense Force 2017 for the better part of 2 months just because it was fun to blow up bugs when friends came by.

Halo 3 has been pretty fun so far, the Red Ring of Death does make me a little nervous. I'm on my second 360 and this one makes a really high pitched whining noise when playing games. I thought it was just the disc spinning up, but it makes the screeching noise while playing XBLA games with no disc in the tray. It's like it has a wood chipper in it and is dropping hamsters into it one after another

Oh god... my 360 runs off of the blood of hamsters... That must be why MS puts those anti-tamper stickers on the back of the 360. If anyone knew the truth...
majormauser's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/28/2007 12:51
majormauser
Its the XBOXes finally over heating to the point of meltdown.

My Xbox fried last night. it was just freezing after a few minutes of play. I went out and bought another while this one is being replaced.
prev next 50 comments

Comment with Facebook





Click connect and comment instantly!

Comment with Dtoid





New? SIGN UP - it takes 5 seconds

Comments policy

Destructoid is an open discussion community. You don't need to "audition" to post a comment - just speak your mind. We respect differing opinions on the site, so have at it. Be smart, funny, insightful, clueless, or cute -- but back it up with substance. Keep your cool, keep it fun. We only ask that you act respectfully and above all: don't be a troll and ruin it for everyone else. Don't bring down gamers or we'll, you know, gently shoot you in the face and stuff you into a flaming mailbox. Each comment is your opportuntity to make this community awesomer. Is that even a word?

Avoiding the banhammer only requires common sense: spamming, trolling, racism, NSFW stuff, and other forms of sucking will not be tolerated. If anyone is griefing please report abuse. Be good. Don't suck!