It's the story that never dies, which is ironic because that's exactly what Xbox 360s keep doing. The old "Red Ring of Death" thing has all but disappeared from the news, but CNET has followed up on a Game Informer study to determined that 60% of British consumers have faced the crimson beast.
1,128 gamers were polled in a survey, with 562 Xbox 360 owners, 473 PS3 owners and 591 Wii owners. The PS3 and Wii reported a 16% and 6% failure rate respectively. The 360's 60% completely and utterly dwarfs the other two systems. Even worse, 32% of that number said they've dealt with a crippled Xbox twice. A further 19% stated that their 360 had died on them three times.
We all know how bad the 360 failure rate is, but this really hammers home how pathetic the whole situation has become. When the percentage of 360s that died three times is higher than the percentage of PS3s that died once, something truly ridiculous has happened.
That's our Microsoft!
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.
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Contest:
8:30 AM on 11.18.2009
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Someone will still accuse you of anti-sony bias.
That picture is most appropriate as Xbox 360s are made for children. When he grows up, he's going to play on PC.
THE FIRST SHOT HAS BEEN FIRED.
Gutted.
The lul here? The cheapest console out of them all is the most reliable. When you buy a Kia, you expect it to die. When you buy an Audi, you expect it to last a while.
Unfortunately Sony hasn't lived up to that in almost a decade.
Microsoft doesn't disappoint me because they never had anywhere to fall from, as compared to the Walkman that lasted me throughout the entirety of middle and high school.
I have a lot of 360 owning friends who almost seemed happy when they got the RROD. They were so proud that it was getting fixed for free that it was like MS was doing them a huge personal favor. I'll admit MS's customer service was pretty good when I sent mine in (it has died twice), but it still sucks.
PS3 is still running smooth since '07
I disagree. It's common knowledge by now that 360s are almost inevitably going to break. Therefore, it's not unreasonable to assume that unlucky consumers can get three or more RRoDs in their lifetime. Law of averages says it will happen to some people.
@GeorgeMichael
Uhh, what? The only occurances I've had RRoD were from turning on a cold console in a well ventilated area. Plus, my second one broke through the DVD drive buggering up. And in classic MS fashion, the new DVD drive is on its way out too.
Tempted just to rip the thing apart and install my own fans and DVD drive, fed up of repairs for no reason.
Fanboy Sacrifice Accepted.
The Internet Is Pleased.
I dunno Jim. Almost everyone I know has a 360 and the ones who RROD'd only did once and after that they were fine. I myself have a year one model and with the exception of the belt which needs replacement soon it's run perfectly.
The only place I've heard of a 360 RRODing more than once is the Internet. So while I may be wrong I'm almost inclined to agree that if you RROD more than once you're doing something wrong. I'm just speaking from personal experience and observations though. Through pure chance I may have just not run into those people who've RROD'd eight times or whatever.
I mean, okay, so there's a chance but there's also a chance I'll get hit by a Ferrari or less sarcasticly speaking a chance I'll RROD. Chance is a fickle thing. The real question is what are doing that's putting chance for or against you.
My current machine in the UK, no problems.. touch wood.
In all seriousness, you spend hundreds on something, you expect it to fucking work. I'd really like to see you get into an argument with someone who's had their 360 break 3 times after you say they "aren't credible." You'd get to see what that gamer has gone through. AC shouldn't be a factor the your console. It wasn't when we had the NES.
The problem's certainly bad but 60% ? Oh yeah. Sure. Wwhen Kaz Hirai is jerking off maybe.
File this one under "Too good to vet" eh?
That should be the REAL question.
also
@GeorgeMichael Kalafut
lol at your SONY comment, which you tossed in for no apparent reason...tosser
In the last paragraph I mean the chance of RRODing more than once.
I know someone who is on their EIGHTEENTH Xbox. Seriously, why do they do it to themselves.
In fact, I still have one of his broken, out-of-warranty elites in my house, hah.
60% is not "almost inevitable," and think about how many of those were the old design before it got a decent cooler. My current 360 was used as a communal unit at a gaming/pc shop for a year and a half, and since then sees an average of 10-15 hours a week, sometimes at least a hundred. It's the "we need a 360 for the party" system and can be left on for days at a time. I'd like to think that has less to do with luck and more to do with the fact that I treat it right and keep it ventilated.
Besides that, the system has only been out for four years. In order to go through three units they'd all have to die directly after warranty and your first one would have had to die in the period that they weren't extended to three years for RRoD.
If it's still true, and I'm wrong about mistreatment, whoever has actually gone through three systems was born under an incredibly unlucky sky.
@Jon
Electronics die most commonly from heat. That's kind of basic. Sorry 'bout your drive, though.
I just don't know how Microsoft does it. Or if this is just angry gamers ranting.
For me, I have three 360. One died (first gen). The other two worked just fine. I do use quite a bit as well. I say about average about 25~30 hours every week. Maybe I am just anomaly rather than norm.
i agree, when mine died i was a bit annoyed but i knew there was a free service to get it fixed. i had mine for well over a year and i kept mine in good condition. made sure it had good ventilation, nothing on top of it, on its side (flat) to stop laser burn to my discs. it did its job and MS had my xbox back in less than a week from the UK. even gave me a free month of live so i was happy.
Suck that, Xbox! (And to a somewhat lesser extent, PS3, what with your YLoD)
I first bought an Xbox 360 in December of 2006. It was amazing and I played the hell out of Gears of War.
I moved out to Austin, TX and shortly after it Red-Ring'd. I sent it back to Microsoft and they returned the console after fixing it. It worked just fine until Red-Ringing again.
I sent the console back in and it was returned "repaired". I booted it up and it was still Red-Ring'd.
I went out and bought a 360 Elite and played it for about three months before it Red-Ring'd.
I threw both 360's off of my 10th floor balcony and bought a PS3.
I'm a huge disbeliever in people playing the victim. I agree with you that this makes me an ass.
As for being a fanboy, not particularly. A good game is a good game on any console you choose to play it on. In case you didn't notice, I once was very happy with Sony. That was before DISK READ ERROR was as common on PS2's as the RRoD is on 360's, and before Ken Kutaragi told us that the PSP's abnormally high amounts of dead pixels and broken-by-design square button were "perfectly designed" and that we should all STFU and give him money.
Play whatever system you want, they're all great. I just can't stand 90% of the politics above the hardware level.
All the poeple I know who had the ol' RROD had their 360 modded. did they ask anyone about that?
What I'm really interested in is the failure rate on the Jasper hardware. It would be interesting to know if they have ironed out most of the wrinkles with the new hardware.
360's break down. It sucks, but it hasn't stopped us from buying them. If my console breaks when it's out of warranty, I'll replace it with another 360. I don't have anything against the PS3, but I prefer the 360.
This is why I dislike laptops.
The only big problem I have now is the belt but that's partially my fault since I've recently started watching Netflix and I have a habit of pausing a movie and doing something else for 3 hours hence I burn the shit out of my belt.
No big deal though, just did my taxes and knew the Resident Evil 5 360 elite was coming, so I waited and just bought a new one. Got it home, 4 hours into Resident Evil 5...... RRoD. Brought it back to EB, they gave me a new one, no questions asked.
Got that one home, opened the box, the faceplate on the new 360 one was crushed... again boxed it up. Marched back into EB, they gave me the faceplate off the 360 I has just brought back lol.
Now I still have my 360, still working fine (although it sounds like a vacuum it's so loud). I also still have the Original PS3 sitting right next to it. Other then having to restart the PS3 here and there for freezing, it runs amazingly well (and quiet).
I can see this number being waaaaaaay to high, but there seems to be some truth to it.
I don't have much of a problem with things dying, it happens, my problem is with Sony wanting to charge you a retarded amount of money for a relatively simple fix and then only guaranteeing it for a further 3 months, after which you have to pay again. Oh, and point black refusing to take responsiblity for anything, ever.
At least Microsoft sorted themselves out in the end...
The repairer said yesterday "we have hundreds of 360's here. It's not a case of if it'll die, it's a case of when."
safe to say her son is getting a ps3 for christmas.
It's the reason i didn't get one, i don't understand the dependancy people have that keeps them coming back either. If dominos kept sending me cold pizza i would start using pizza hut.
I think it's 99% a case of "all my friends have them" which in turn is because they're so fucking cheap, which goes some way towards why they're so shit, which is why everyone has them, which is why....... Etc etc.
I now have enough ps3 friends to play a whole 8 man party on mw2 - last night was fun - and breakdown is not something i worry about.
Even though my launch model ps3 has had 1 fault (br drive) that sony fixed, out of warrantee, free. No class action threats, no legally required warrantee extension.
Thanks sony. Sucks to be a 360 user. Get a ps3, better games, better hardware, far far far more freedom, and comparible online experience for free.
It's a no brainer.
But best of it is that it still works perfectly.
None of this, "I moved it while it was on" or "I moved it with a disc in it" or "I didn't position it at the perfect angle" - don't blame yourself! You shouldn't have to be so fucking careful of a fucking games console. Granted, you probably shouldn't drop it down the stairs, but you shouldn't have to sacrifice a virgin and drink their blood for luck before turning it on.
Also, this is RRoD only? As my 360 owning friends have also had...
Disk drive died.
Disk drive got stuck out.
Controller battery fail.
Graphics card / connection fail.
Disc scratch woes.
HDMI port troubles.
Fans sound like jet planes.
E74 - the new name for the RRoD, spread those errors out M$
Plus many many RRoD's and one red lights and two red lights, and no lights and various other ways a 360 says "I'm dead!".
I know nearly 20 people with 360's, every single one of which is on console number 2, 3 or even MOAR.
I know 10/12 people with PS3's, I'm the one and only person who has had a problem, which was fixed in 5 days, by Sony, for Free, outside of my warrantee.
You get what you pay for, but now reliability and the very best exclusives are cheaper than ever! Value my friends value for money.
@CALkulon
This is a standard electronics warranty used by pretty much every computer manufacturer, TV manufacturer .... ect. The 360 had the exact same warranty at launch until the problem's with mass RRoD started.
Microsoft was forced (by what I believe was class action lawsuit's, I could be wrong) to extend the warranty to three years.
The 150 SONY charges is used to express ship your black box o' blu-ray that's 10+ lbs across the country 2 times, and replace the unit with a factory refurb they could sell easily for $200.
THIS
Looks like it'll be time to downgrade to a Slim pretty soon. I'll miss the PS2 compatibility, but it's not like I've used it in 8 months or so.
Jim: Can we get some journalism here, if not from the sited article then from you? If 32% of those who have had 360s die have had 2 die and 19% have had 3 (or more?) die then the total failure rate is MUCH higher than 60%. Why is it that reporting on this topic is ALWAYS incorrect? Is it that "journalists" are too stupid to do math or is it that they're just afraid to death of numbers, which confuse them?
Going down in history as one of the worst product failure rates.
Microsoft's problem is that they rushed the Xbox 360 out of the gate just in order to get a head start.Turns out they got what they wanted but at what price?
Since then, she's had to go through one other 360 making the current one her third, and I sold mine to my brother and brought a PS3. That 360 still works fine though, about a year and a half on..
And that's my story.