Xbox 360

A man who claims Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox 360 scratches game discs has sued the company, saying the consoles are “negligently designed and manufactured.” In the lawsuit filed on July 9, 2007 in a Florida federal court, Jorge Brouwer says Microsoft has received thousands of complaints but has not replaced all scratched discs. The lawsuit seeks class-action status.The Law Firms of THKO in Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Wasserman, Comden, and Casselman, LLP of Los Angeles, California; and Stritmatter, Kessler, Whelan, Coluccio of Seattle, Washington are investigating consumer complaints regarding the Xbox 360.WCC, THKO and SKWC have filed lawsuits in the United States District Court Western District of Washington at Seattle on behalf of a proposed nationwide class of consumers who have suffered scratched game discs while using their Xbox 360. The lawsuit seeks class certification and reimbursement for consumers for the cost of games damaged by the console; reimbursement for consumers who have paid a $20 fee to Microsoft Corporation under a limited disc replacement program offered on ten Microsoft games; repair of consoles free of charge to prevent further disc scratching; and/or reimbursement of consumers who have paid for an aftermarket repair solution.

The game console heats up during use, and given enough time, the temperature inside can reach very high levels due to insufficient cooling. Because of the way the Xbox 360 is constructed, this may result in stresses building up between the delicate ball grid array solder joints of the CPU and GPU and the motherboard, causing them to break. The problem is exacerbated by the specific type of lead-free solder used, a type which is more brittle than the older tin/lead solder that was used in the past and the GPU’s location directly underneath to the DVD drive.A possible design goal of the Xbox 360 hardware team to have a form factor significantly smaller than the first generation Xbox is rumored to have contributed to overheating issues.German computer magazine c’t, in an article titled “Jede dritte stirbt den Hitzetod” (every third one dies of heat), published in July 2006, blames the problems primarily on the use of the wrong type of lead free solder, a type that when exposed to elevated temperatures for a long time becomes brittle and can develop hair-line cracks that are almost irreparable. Also, according to the same article, Microsoft has created an internal account, funded with more than one billion dollars, dedicated to addressing this problem. The fund would only be fully depleted by $100 in repairs to every existing Xbox 360, or complete replacement of every third Xbox 360 ever made. The article also revealed that representatives of the three largest Xbox 360 resellers in the world (EB Games, Gamestop and Best Buy) claimed that the failure rate of the Xbox 360 was between 30% and 33%, and that Micromart, the largest repair shop in Britain, stopped repairing Xbox 360s because they were unable to fully repair the defective systems. Because of the nature of the problem, Micromart could only make temporary repairs, which led to many of the “repaired” systems failing again after a few weeks. At that time Micromart was receiving 2500 defective consoles per day from Britain alone.
The console’s design utilizes heatsinks, vented openings, and fans to aid in dissipation of heat, but the potential still exists for excessive heat buildup inside the console if these measures become insufficient. Users are advised not to obstruct air flow to the enclosure vents or power supply. Problems associated with overheating include reduced system performance and instability that may result in crashing or hardware failure. Xbox 360s with “Falcon” motherboards, which use smaller 65nm CPUs, are reportedly less susceptible. Microsoft is rumored to be releasing a version of the Xbox 360 that uses a 65nm GPU as well, codenamed “Jasper”. The new “Jasper” motherboards are planned to be released in late 2008.According to the October 2007 issue of The Official Xbox Magazine, there are reports that new Xbox 360 Elites and newer 360 Premiums, as well as officially refurbished units, have larger heatsinks. It has yet to be determined how far this fix has gone in alleviating the issues.Some third party manufacturers have also introduced external cooling devices that attach to the console and claim to help prevent the console from overheating.However, reports indicate that some such devices can do exactly the opposite, including the attachment melting on the console itself, possibly damaging the internal microprocessors, and voiding the product warranty. Also when powered by the Xbox 360’s power brick they might overheat the power brick causing even more problems.

The game console heats up during use, and given enough time, the temperature inside can reach very high levels due to insufficient cooling. Because of the way the Xbox 360 is constructed, this may result in stresses building up between the delicate ball grid array solder joints of the CPU and GPU and the motherboard, causing them to break. The problem is exacerbated by the specific type of lead-free solder used, a type which is more brittle than the older tin/lead solder that was used in the past and the GPU’s location directly underneath to the DVD drive.A possible design goal of the Xbox 360 hardware team to have a form factor significantly smaller than the first generation Xbox is rumored to have contributed to overheating issues.German computer magazine c’t, in an article titled “Jede dritte stirbt den Hitzetod” (every third one dies of heat), published in July 2006, blames the problems primarily on the use of the wrong type of lead free solder, a type that when exposed to elevated temperatures for a long time becomes brittle and can develop hair-line cracks that are almost irreparable.[14] Also, according to the same article, Microsoft has created an internal account, funded with more than one billion dollars, dedicated to addressing this problem. The fund would only be fully depleted by $100 in repairs to every existing Xbox 360, or complete replacement of every third Xbox 360 ever made. The article also revealed that representatives of the three largest Xbox 360 resellers in the world (EB Games, Gamestop and Best Buy) claimed that the failure rate of the Xbox 360 was between 30% and 33%, and that Micromart, the largest repair shop in Britain, stopped repairing Xbox 360s because they were unable to fully repair the defective systems. Because of the nature of the problem, Micromart could only make temporary repairs, which led to many of the “repaired” systems failing again after a few weeks. At that time Micromart was receiving 2500 defective consoles per day from Britain alone.
The console’s design utilizes heatsinks, vented openings, and fans to aid in dissipation of heat, but the potential still exists for excessive heat buildup inside the console if these measures become insufficient. Users are advised not to obstruct air flow to the enclosure vents or power supply. Problems associated with overheating include reduced system performance and instability that may result in crashing or hardware failure. Xbox 360s with “Falcon” motherboards, which use smaller 65nm CPUs, are reportedly less susceptible. Microsoft is rumored to be releasing a version of the Xbox 360 that uses a 65nm GPU as well, codenamed “Jasper”. The new “Jasper” motherboards are planned to be released in late 2008.

According to the October 2007 issue of The Official Xbox Magazine, there are reports that new Xbox 360 Elites and newer 360 Premiums, as well as officially refurbished units, have larger heatsinks. It has yet to be determined how far this fix has gone in alleviating the issues.

Some third party manufacturers have also introduced external cooling devices that attach to the console and claim to help prevent the console from overheating.However, reports indicate that some such devices can do exactly the opposite, including the attachment melting on the console itself, possibly damaging the internal microprocessors, and voiding the product warranty. Also when powered by the Xbox 360’s power brick they might overheat the power brick causing even more problems.

When a Microsoft Xbox 360 console experiences a “general hardware failure”, three flashing red lights appear on the front of the console. Exactly how many users have experienced this problem is unknown to the public.Some have confused General Hardware Failure with a similar looking error warning where all four lights flash, but the flashing of all four lights simply means that the AV cable is not properly inserted into the console.In the USA (check your documentation for local support), if the 360 owner does indeed have three flashing red lights, they are recommended to call the local Xbox support line (1-800-4MYXBOX in the US) as quickly as possible. Upon doing so, a technician will gather the information required to send the consumer a shipping box with included instructions, packaging supplies, and sealing tape. The owner then packs their console and ships it via a courier with the prepaid waybill. Within a period of 2-3 weeks, the repaired or refurbished 360 will be shipped back to the owner. In some cases it has taken up to several months for the console to be returned.The Nyko Intercooler has also been reported to have caused a general hardware failure in a number of consoles, as well as scorching of the power AC input. Microsoft stated that the peripheral drains too much power from the console and can cause faults to occur, and stated that consoles fitted with the peripheral will have their warranty null and void.Microsoft publicly claims to have resolved several hardware issues via design and manufacturing changes.Microsoft executives discussed the issues with their shareholders in their July 5, 2007 conference call.Xbox 360 consoles based on the “Falcon” motherboard feature a 65nm CPU which reduces heat, has greater reliability over previous models. General hardware failure rates of the “Falcon” motherboard is rumored to be around 10%.
Some customers who have suffered the 3-ring error have found that overheating their system and then allowing it to cool provides a temporary fix, which may result in a working Xbox for as little as a few hours, or as long as a couple weeks. This is achieved by wrapping the console in towels, (Without the HDD, any game disks, A/V or ethernet. Only the AC cord is left connected.) and allowing it to “cook” in a warm room for 15 minutes, then giving it a half-hour cool down time. This can be used with caution as a way to play the system until the standard shipping repair box arrives.[25] This is commonly known as the “Towel Trick”. However cooking an Xbox 360 with the “Towel Trick” runs the risk of further damaging the system by overheating the memory, CPU, GPU, or drying out electrolytic capacitors, which can’t tolerate temperatures higher than 85° Celsius for a long time.

The Xbox 360 can be subject to a number of technical problems. Since the console’s release in 2005, the console gained a bad reputation from the general public and in the press through articles portraying the poor reliability and relatively high failure rate of the early consoles. Since these problems surfaced, design modifications have been made to the console to improve reliability. All consoles manufactured after June 2007 have a second GPU heatsink to reduce overheating.In February 2008 an examination of 1040 Xbox 360s by SquareTrade found a 16.4% (one in six) failure rate. 171 were returned under warranty as “disabled”, 60% with the red “ring of death”. To aid consumers with defective consoles, Microsoft has extended the Xbox 360’s manufacturer’s warranty to three years for general failure errors only.

Many accessories are available for the console, including both wired and wireless controllers, faceplates for customization, wireless steering wheel for a realistic of playing a racing game, headsets for chatting, a webcamera for video chatting, Dance Mats and Gamercize for exercise, an HD DVD player (now discontinued), three sizes of memory cards, and two sizes of hard drives (120GB and 20GB), among other items, all of which are styled to match the console.

The main unit of the Xbox 360 itself has slight double concavity in matte white or black. It features a port on the top (when vertical, left side when horizontal) to which a custom-housed hard drive unit can be attached in sizes of either 20 or 120 GB. Inside, the Xbox 360 uses the triple-core IBM designed Xenon as its CPU. Graphics processing is handled by the ATI Xenos which has 10 MB of embedded eDRAM. Its main memory pool is 512 MB in size.On February 22, 2008, Toshiba announced that it will discontinue manufacturing HD DVD equipment, which affects the Xbox 360, as it supports HD DVD format. According to Toshiba, this will help settle the war between HD DVD and Blu Ray formats.[62] On February 26, 2008, the price of the HD DVD player for the Xbox 360 dropped from $129.99 to $49.99. This comes just two days after Microsoft confirmed that they would no longer produce the HD DVD player.

The Xbox 360 launched with 14 games in North America and 13 in Europe. The console’s best-selling game for 2005, Call of Duty 2, sold over a million copies.Five other games sold as well in the console’s first year in the market: Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter,The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion,[58] Dead or Alive 4, Saints Rowand Gears of War. Only six games were initially offered in Japan, and eagerly anticipated titles such as Dead or Alive 4 and Enchanted Arms were not released until several weeks after launch. Games more suitable to the region are planned or have since been released, such as Chromehounds, Ninety-Nine Nights, and Phantasy Star Universe. Microsoft-backed Mistwalker has since released Blue Dragon in the region, and currently has two other Japanese-style games in development, Lost Odyssey and Cry On.[citation needed] On October 19, 2006, with over 10,000 pre-orders, a limited-edition Blue Dragon bundle sold out in Japan on the first day.[citation needed] The pack, priced at JP¥29,800 includes the Xbox 360 core system with a copy of Blue Dragon, along with a table calendar, Blue Dragon faceplate, and five miniature character figures. At the Lepzig game convention in 2007, Microsoft revealed details of Project Gotham Racing 4, Rock Band, Tom Clancy’s EndWar, Dark Sector, FIFA 08, Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare and Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground.
E3 2006 was the first large-scale show after the console’s launch and the first trailer for Halo 3, the sequel to the original Xbox’s best-selling game,was shown there. Fable 2 was also shown, along with Alan Wake, Mass Effect and Too Human.Bill Gates spoke of plans to integrate several Microsoft services into one entity with Live Anywhere.Shadowrun was the first game announced to be compatible with Live Anywhere.Several games originally released on PC have also been released on the Xbox 360, such as F.E.A.R. and Quake 4. Grand Theft Auto IV was shown and will be the first title in the series to be released for the Xbox 360 the same day as its PlayStation 3 counterpart. At X06, Microsoft announced several new titles, along with information on future releases. Splinter Cell: Conviction, set to release after Splinter Cell: Double Agent, was announced to be exclusive to the Xbox 360, as were BioShock and Banjo-Kazooie 3. At the event, Halo Wars was also announced, along with an untitled Halo project. In addition, Microsoft published sequels to some of its more successful franchises on the original Xbox, such as Forza Motorsport 2, Project Gotham Racing 3 & 4, and Fuzion Frenzy 2. They have published original games based on new IPs, such as Viva Piñata and Gears of War.

As part of the December 4, 2007 dashboard update, a new feature, called Xbox Originals, was launched allowing users to download original Xbox games directly to their Xbox 360. The games have not been altered in any way, except that any demos and game previews have been stripped out. As of December 2007, all titles are available for 1200 Microsoft Points (US$15) each.The games available from the launch of the Xbox Originals are: Halo: Combat Evolved, Fable, Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex, Psychonauts, Fusion Frenzy, Indigo Prophecy, and Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge. Videos previewing the service had shown Burnout 3: Takedown as a title, and though it was not included at launch, it became available on January 14, 2008.

Backward compatibility on the Xbox 360 is achieved through software emulation of the original Xbox. Emulated games are rendered in 720p, 1080i, or 1080p HD resolution with anti-aliasing enabled rather than the Xbox standard of 480p(anti-aliasing is also applied when the output resolution is 480p.) However there are also games that do not perform well in emulation; these often exhibit a lower framerate on the Xbox 360,as well as various sound bugs and occasional gameplay glitches. A hard drive and the downloading of an emulation profile is needed in order to play original Xbox games. Updated emulation profiles are automatically obtained through Xbox Live, or alternatively they can be burned to a CD with files downloaded from Xbox.com, or by ordering a free update disc from Microsoft. A full list of backward-compatible games is maintained at Xbox.com.The current U.S. list includes 464 games as of the November 2007 update; fewer titles are backward compatible in European and Japanese markets, with 295 and 101 titles respectively. Microsoft originally stated that they intend to release more emulation profiles as they become available, with a goal of making the entire Xbox library playable on the Xbox 360. They have since made multiple statements indicating that this may never be complete though the rate of updates to the backwards compatibility list still continues steadily.At 2008’s CES, Albert Penello, the Xbox 360’s group marketing manager, said that “engineering work around bringing out new titles” is “winding down”