360 Disc Scratching Serious Problem 470
Though Microsoft has previously stated that a reported problem where Xbox 360s may be scratching game discs was relatively rare, it's apparently common enough that rental agency GameFly has an official policy on the problem. From Gamasutra: "We have received reports that certain XBOX 360 consoles have caused damage to GameFly videogames. Unfortunately, we have been notified that you recently returned a damaged XBOX 360 game. As a precaution, we have removed all XBOX 360 games from your GameQ. Please contact Microsoft at 1-800-4MY-XBOX. Please do not rent XBOX 360 games until you have resolved this issue. In the future, should GameFly receive XBOX 360 games from you that have been damaged, you will be charged a replacement fee."
simple solution.. (Score:5, Insightful)
I wish... (Score:2, Insightful)
And here we see yet another reason... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:simple solution.. (Score:5, Insightful)
I completely agree it's not mine to copy, but it will become mine pretty damned quickly if I scratch it. And I bet I would be charged the full game price as a replacement.
Maybe the rental company should have backups. Kind of makes me nervous about renting games now.
Re:Seems like a fair, user-friendly policy (Score:1, Insightful)
The big issue here is the flaw of the player's relationship with its media. That's a real problem that Microsoft definitely should have learned years ago. That sort of thing should be a base issue now in two thousand freakin' six.
Sucks to be Mircrosoft.
Oh wait, they keep earning money even when the customer gets screwed. Nevermind.
Fair policy (Score:5, Insightful)
People should learn not to move their hardware through various positions when using it.
IMO, it's fair enough to request that the loaner replaces the damaged disc, if they are properly informed about it before they rent a game.
-JaL
vertical placement of unit? (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Why all the bad press? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:simple solution.. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:I wish... (Score:3, Insightful)
That's the problem with them, and why so many of us are critical of them. They fuck things up, and we have to keep paying for it with our time, expertise and cash. It's called an abuse of monopoly power.
Re:vertical placement of unit? (Score:5, Insightful)
It doesn't matter what angle the unit is at so long as you're not moving between horizonal and veritcal while the disk is spinning. The potential for damage is when the disc is spinning fast enough for gyroscopic physics to try to torqe the disk at a right angle from the direction the console is moving, pushing the disk into things it really shouldn't come into contact with.
Otherwise, gravity pulling from one direction instead of another in and of itself wouldn't cause damage to the disk. If anything, having the console horizonal would be worse as gravity would be pulling the data surface (rather than the edge) down onto the disk tray.
Re:Same thing happened with the original Xbox... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Same thing happened with the original Xbox... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:More problems? (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah. Don't you just love how nobody mentions the massive flaws and return rates for the launches of the Playstation 1, the Dreamcast, and the Playstation 2?
My sources tell me... (Score:5, Insightful)
Anybody stupid enough to damage their game this way probably deserves to pay for the replacement fee as it is. This information has been relayed to me and confirmed by a regional manager at Gamestop and given the number of stores he manages, I'm quite willing to take his word for it.
How about a nice RTFM.. (Score:5, Insightful)
If someone managed to wreck their rented disc, all they can blaim is themselves, and pay the repair fee.
Some home insurances might even compensate the destroyed disc, if you claimed it as an accident.
Re:Why all the bad press? (Score:5, Insightful)
I can honestly say that I have not had a single problem since I got my Xbox 360 on release day. (I am waiting on some games to push the hardware to its max, but that's a separate issue.)
So, until it happens to you, the problem doesn't exist?
I've heard about the scratching problem on X-Box 360s from more places than this article. If a "majority" are okay, it doesn't mean it's not a problem. If any systems are scratching disks then it's a risk. The question is, is it an *acceptable* disk? If just 5% of X-box 360s scratched disks so they became unplayable, then that's bad enough that Microsoft deserves more than just a black eye for it.
Microsoft needs to acknowledge the problem, issue a statement on it, and offer to replace any affected X-box 360s *and games* with a minimum of fuss. The systems should be under warrenty at the moment so that shouldn't be a problem right now, but what about the games affected? And what if the problem only shows up after the system is out of the warrenty period?
Didn't some rumors like this start floating around, something about failing optical drives, when the PS2 was released?
Re:I wish... (Score:3, Insightful)
I wish I could own a company that, even though tons of idiots deride my success, can continue to succeed and innovate as much (or as little) as Microsoft.
Re:I wish... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:simple solution.. (Score:1, Insightful)
Anyone have data on re-rental, meaning the same person/account? Assuming it's quite low, the competitive advantage of offering 'lifetime rentals' might easily outweigh a doubling (or even trebling, if you are greedy) of rental price, yielding mutual benefit to the rental customer, rental agency, and content provider. Home copying doesn't detract from this, there'd be even less incentive to have a friend burn a copy when you could have a legitimate one.
Until then, let's throw them in jail.
Re:simple solution.. (Score:1, Insightful)
But rental shops probably do not get the same terms of license than the usual customer (they aren't exactly "End User")
Well, they bought the disc, so that should make them the end-user. They just happen to be using them to make money.
That's exactly what DRM is about. (Score:1, Insightful)
I also suspect that much of the "revenue losses from piracy" come from a combination of digital media not wearing out from extended use. So, as soon as all the people who are old enough to have bought a copy of a song on vinyl, and maybe a couple of copies on tape (they wore-out pretty quickly) replaced them all with CD's and then burned them to MP3's, the cycle was over and the sales took a nose dive.
Re:simple solution.. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:it's getting harder and harder... (Score:5, Insightful)
You go out and get a baseball and a couple of mitts, and take him to the park and have a catch.
It's not just the xbox360... (Score:4, Insightful)
I guess it all boils down to the fact that the old CD advertising line of "Lasts forever!" is simply bad for business.
Re:Content or media? (Score:3, Insightful)
If you are only renting/buying content use, then the disk should be almost zero cost to replace when one is damaged. In this case 'consumers' should be getting disks 'at cost' for replacement. ( this includes gamefly since they 'bought' it )
If you are buying *both* content use and the actual media then it sort of upsets the entire concept of fair-use backups that the media industries are fighting against.
Re:More problems? (Score:3, Insightful)
The failure rate of original-design PS2s was much higher than the 360 from what I have been able to see. The only reason failures are getting so much attention is because of the very limited supply right now combined with a general anti-Microsoft hysteria that plagues Slashdot. Sony was getting trashed pretty thoroughly a few weeks ago though for rediculous copy-protection schemes. It would appear the only gaming company immune from this is Nintendo.
Optical drives were designed to be layed horizontal. They were not made to be moved around while in use. Keep those things in mind and I'd bet money that this disc scratching issue goes away.
Home owner's insurance? (Score:5, Insightful)
Kids, don't try this at home. Filing a home owner's insurance claim over a $50 game is just plain stupid. Depending on the insurance company's policy, they may count actual dollar amounts, or number of claims. But if you get enough of either or both, you run the risk of getting black-listed. Basically, the insurance company happily pays your claim, then drops you next year. When you go to find new home owner's insurance, every company will ask if you've been dropped in the last five years. Since saying no is fraud, you have to say yes. And they turn you down. No one will give you home owner's insurance. But your mortgage company requires it. So when you can't get it, you're force-placed, meaning the mortgage company goes out and buys a policy for you, then charges you for it. Can you guess how much that will cost compared to your current insurance? File a home owner's insurance claim when your house burns down, or when a drunk driver crashes through the wall and into your living room, or when a hurricane tears the roof off and it rains in your bedroom, not for stupid stuff like this.
Re:I wish... (Score:5, Insightful)
Well, it all started when they signed an onerous monopoly licensing agreement with IBM that said their OS would be distributed with all machines, and that everyone had to pay them wether or not they wanted it. Then they made boat loads of money.
They've steadily been putting out incremental, costly upgrades to work out the shoddy workmanship since. This made them further boat loads of money. It eventually took a lawsuit to be able to buy a PC without Microsoft being paid as well -- you remember that, right?
Now, they use all of those boat loads of money to move into markets and basically take them over. There have been tons of examples of better quality products being pushed out of the market by Microsoft overwhelming them. (Either by buying them, stealing their technology, making their OS incompatible, not adhering to standards, or just playing the waiting game of who could afford to lose the most money in a market segment.)
Microsoft has made an industry out of selling shoddy/first version products that eventually get upgraded to reasonable products through a long and costly upgrade cycle, and convincing everyone along the way it was all for the best.
As much as it always sounds like people are just bashing Microsoft because they can, it is perfectly insightful of the poster to point out that Microsoft can continue to keep putting out dodgy stuff and still make oodles of money -- they've always done so.
Microsoft can perpetuate itself because it has such a huge war chest, and a guaranteed revenue stream from upgrades and new customers who don't seem to have options, or don't know better when they do.
You may personally disagree with the sentiment, but having been watching it happen for the last 20 years, that's how it seems to have played out to me.
Re:we're screwed with blue-ray. (Score:3, Insightful)
I wonder if both Blu-ray and HD-DVD are destined to fail. For many people, DVD quality is good enough, and the restrictive DRM on both formats is going to be a huge turnoff for even the Joe Sixpacks of the world. If the studios keep producing standard DVDs and price them cheaper than the HD/Blu-ray disks, I would say their fate is sealed for sure.
400?! Pfaugh...I spent $625! (Score:2, Insightful)
But it does verily rock!
One nice thing about being classified as an adult is that I have the money to blow on kid stuff.
Re:Walmart took back my scratched disk... (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:His for the duration of rental (Score:2, Insightful)