TOG - The Older Gamers

Ancient_One · 18th December 2008, 09:25 AM

Microsoft sued over Xbox disc-gashing flaw

Details here.

If what they say is correct then Microsoft obviously are not looking after the interests of the purchasers, just their bottom line. ie. profit and status.

In this case and the Red Ring of Death it has done nothing but tarnished their image.

I'm not surprised really given the problems we see in their Operating Systems. ie. patch after patch after patch, security leak after security leak after security leak.

Anyway, has anyone had Red Ring of Death and or disc-gashing.

Just interested.

Pure Mongrel · 18th December 2008, 05:07 PM

You trying to start a flame war you SONY fan boy!?!?!?!

I have not had the red rings of death (which I expected to happen on my XBOX console that I got at launch ... but it's still kicking along

) but my Elite's ROM drive did died. Within a week and a half I got it back.

I assume the operating system you are referring to is windows, which is not used in the XBOX. In regards to updates to the console operating system I can only recall 2-3 since launch and one was the new dashboard. Compare that to the 5 or so I have had to do on the PS3 in less than 12 months.

With the PS3 I am hearing more and more reports of the Blueray player failing so it would seem that no console is infallible.

Microsoft are concerned with their bottom line, but so is every company. If Sony was so interested in keeping people happy, they would not region lock the Blueray player and than not release half the titles in regions like Australia (or restrict what versions of the Playstation we get, etc.)

I know Microsoft do the same thing, every company treats Australia as a second class citizen, which I have never understood as we have the fastest take up rate of any new technology product per head of population in the world.

If someone at Microsoft knew that the console was scratching disks and still let them go out, than they deserve to be fired, and if it was known at the top levels, than the company should be held liable. From what I have read though, what they knew was it could damage disks if the console was moved with a disk in it ... well so can any kind of disk player.

The report in the link states if the console is put on an angle. How big an angle and why are people playing the console on an angle? I have used my XBOX's flat and vertical and not had an issue and to my knowledge no one I know has had a scratching issue.

I have used my PS3 in the same way and never had any issues. I would never use my PS3 on an angle either.

My consoles have been driven up and down the east coast of Australia from North QLD to South VIC in the back of my 4X4 and I still have not had a "balance issue" with the XBOX's or PS3's.

So how much of this lawsuit is a genuine gripe, and how much is it about people looking to blame a company for their own stupidity?

Ancient_One · 18th December 2008, 10:28 PM

Well put my friend. Just wanted to get people views is all.

No flame war. Never been into that sort of thing.

Pure Mongrel · 18th December 2008, 10:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ancient_One

Well put my friend. Just wanted to get people views is all.

No flame war. Never been into that sort of thing.

I get worried sometimes that posts can get taken out of context. So much of a communication is lost when you remove the facial expressions and tones in the voice.

I must have retyped half of it three times worried that it would come across as a dig at you.

After reading your initial post I have been trying to think of legitimate reasons people would play their console on an angle and I can't think of one. Can you come up with any?

Arep · 19th December 2008, 01:57 AM

I haven't had any problems so far (knock on wood) but I am so scared of something happening that I treat my 360 as if it were made of glass. I don't touch it any more than I have to...hell, I don't even look directly at it. My wife wants me to bring it over to her parents' house New Years so we can play Scene-It and I'm really sweating it!

oldskool · 19th December 2008, 04:47 AM

Nope no problems at all with my Xbox. I think there could be a lot of debate on flaws in each system. As far as this issue though, I tend to think along the same lines as Mongrel. This sounds more like an issue of someone just trying to make a big stink over something they most likely could have avoided with a little common sense.

my .02 cents

Ancient_One · 19th December 2008, 09:45 AM

I sometimes think it's people who have it standing up then lower it while the player is running hence the angle and the damage.

It's the only thing I can come up with. That and it might have fallen over. re. standing to flat.

PS2's had the same problem and a warning stating not to move the device while on as you may damage the disk.

smile for Mongrel

OB3R · 19th December 2008, 03:08 PM

I have one of the original 360s and its been flogged to death (console that is) LoL
Never had a problem yet! Hopefully it will last alot longer got to get my $1000 bucks worth of fun out of it.
OB3R

Pure Mongrel · 19th December 2008, 03:39 PM

Thanks for the smile A_1. I had a crappy day at work today, but now that I have two weeks off (coupled with that smile) I am feeling much better now.

Does a console manufacturer really need to put a sticker on the console stating that you should not move it when it is on?

At what point did we as a race consider common sense to be such a worthless thing? So worthless in fact we decided it was ok to sue others for a stupid act we did, simply because a third party did not tell us that action was dangerous to ourselves or the product we purchased.

I know I am getting old and opinionated, but I am really getting concerned about the world we are leaving to our kids ... and I am not just talking about the environment.

As a sociality we teach our children to be selfish, disrespect authority, take no responsibility for their own actions and promote good looks over good deeds. We reward and idolize stupidity, measure worth by the number of possessions a person has rather than their contribution to society and worst of all we have decided to allow our morality and social values to be dictated to us by bureaucrats, corporations and the media.

Does society get angry about these things? Nope! But if a game disk gets scratched because the console manufacturer did not put a giant sticker on the box stating not to move the console while it has a disk in it ... now we have a cause worth fighting for!

Stop the world please ... I would like to get off!

LOL guess I am not feeling as good as I thought I was.

Ok, I'll climb down off my soap box now!