Microsoft Sued Over Scratched Xbox 360 Discs

Xbm360 writes "Microsoft has been sued by Jorge Brouwer from the US who claims that Xbox 360s scratched his game discs, making them unusable. 'Some gamers speculate that moving the console between vertical and horizontal positions while a disc is spinning inside could cause the scratching. Microsoft warns against such actions with a sticker placed on new consoles, and Brouwer said in the lawsuit that Microsoft's customer service representatives asked him if he had tilted the console. He said he had not. The lawsuit also cites investigations of similar consumer complaints conducted by a Dutch television program, which found that one of nine consoles tested scratched a disc after five hours of play.'"

mod me down, but...

[starbuckr0x]

Did MS even offer to replace this man's games? We live in a sad world when people start suing over their video games. Legal action should only be used as a last resort. There are bigger fish to fry out there (i.e. HMOs) over more serious matters. Crap like this doesn't deserve a day in court.

Re:speculate!?!

[camperslo]

There is also the issue of hot running hardware still being more likely to fail prematurely (but beyond even an extended warranty) due to the heat causing, among other things, increased thermal-cycling cracks in solder connections and deterioration of electrolytic capacitors over time.

Even an extended (3 year) warranty doesn't adequately address the problem since the hardware out there after 3 years will still have reduced value due to a shorter than normal lifetime. And those getting some relief by an extended warranty still aren't compensated for their wasted time and suffering.
Users should ALL be given replacements with the defective (excessively hot) DESIGN fixed.
It would seem the fixed units are those with 65 nm CPUs and improved optical drives.

I've read reports of newer units not having the excessive optical-drive noise present in the earlier units.
Perhaps the noisy drives were the ones damaging the discs. Anyone with a noisy drive would probably be well advised to demand a replacement.

Beyond replacing the original defective hardware, users ought to get something for their suffering.
It doesn't seem likely they'd get cash back, but perhaps a free game could work?

don't mind the grinding noise little boy, it's just the sound of power

Re:Why sue?

[APLowman]

Whats funny is I can almost guarantee that he brought the 360 from vertical to horizontal causing the damage in the first place.

What's funny is that you don't know what you are talking about. I really hate it when people assume that just because they haven't had a problem then nobody has. I personally have gone through 8 copies of Guitar Hero 2 which I bought a scratch warranty on after the first one went ($10 at Gamestop). Each copy has the same scratch and the system is always horizontal. I read somewhere the issue was due to a lack of optical head restriction and that the head reading the disc actually rises too high and scratches the disk. This has nothing to do with moving the consle.

Re:Disc Return?

[Anonymous Coward]

1. disc scratches can be trivial to fix. I use Mother's California Gold car wax. I expect the one tin I bought to serve the needs of myself and 10 generations of my decendants.

2. Blame angular momentum. Tilt something spinning expect gyroscopic forces to kick your ass. Who the fuck juggles their xbox while playing a game anyway?

3. if it really is the xbox, don't call to replace the game call to replace the xbox and game. You may have to go the extra mile with this including making a webcam movie with no cuts of the xbox scratching something like a cheap CDR. Why? People fucking lie. They lie all the time. About what they did, about what they didn't do. People being inveterate unappologetic liars and thieves make honesty a less rewarding proposition. Next time you catch someone in a small lie, or failing of complete honesty, hold them accountable, but not too much or no one will want to be around you. In reality, a dishonest world is what we've collectively chosen to live in. This is an inevitable result.

This has happened to me too - repeatedly

[dahdahdah]

My 360 has been horizontal and stationary since the day i bought it, and my disks have never been anywhere but their boxes and the dvd drive in the 360 - yet both Tiger Woods and Halo 2 have been damaged by the 360 drive.. i bought and used a disk repair machine, and had success "refinishing" the surface - but the manufacturer says to use it no more than 5 times on a dvd - and Tiger's about to undergo its fourth repair, This lawsuit was the first i'd heard of anyone else experiencing this issue (as i had little hope of convincing MS that the drive was faulty), but now, i'm interested in seeing how many others have been bitten by this "feature".. maybe enough to make it a "class action" ?

Re:mod me down, but...

[Breakfast Pants]

I bought a 360 days ago, kept it horizontal, never bumped it while it was running, and called microsoft support about some hairline concentric circle scratches it was putting into my games (and resulting in read errors). What did I hear? *I* had to *pay* *them* $20 for a new copy of the game my system messed up, and I was screwed on the 3rd party title I had. What am I supposed to even do with such a replacement if they won't replace my console? Put it in and let it get scratched *again*? Obviously I returned my console at the store. But what am I supposed to do, buy a new one and potentially let it do the same thing, *knowing* that they won't take any responsibility for it? What can I really do but sue?

360 Not Just 4 Games

[Way2Random]

Important to keep in mind that the 360 is not just a game console. If the 360 is damaging DVDs how does that return policy on M$ game DVDs cover people that use their 360 as their exclusive DVD player. It also raises a question on the new HD DVD player for the 360. Has any1 checked that drive? If it is marketed as a DVD player which it is then if it is responsible for damaging those disks if is not functioning as intended or as advertised.