Why Microsoft's Keeping the Next Xbox Under Wraps 195
donniebaseball23 writes "Microsoft recently confirmed that it's not going to be talking at all about its next Xbox, codenamed Durango, at this year's E3, instead keeping the focus on Xbox 360. Forbes columnist Chris Morris explains that Microsoft likely doesn't have games to show for the system yet — and why should they take the focus off Xbox 360, which currently has a lot of momentum? Ultimately, though, the decision not to show the next system 'could have a ripple effect on the rest of the industry,' he says. And by pushing Durango's unveiling back a year, 'Microsoft could find itself going head to head with Sony in a battle of features, even if the machines don't hit shelves at the same time.'"
The latest rumor is that an ARM-based Xbox 'lite' is planned for 2013, with a true successor to the 360 coming some time after that.
Re:My personal opinion (Score:5, Informative)
Well, the red ring of death would seem to indicate that MS's gear isn't always the highest quality...
Re:My personal opinion (Score:5, Informative)
I recall that Microsoft did everything they could to deny the issue (including telling retailers not to process returns) until the magnitude of the problem became so obviously large that a hardware redesign and recall was required. Were you around Slashdot back then? It was full of stories about that. I do think we are partly to blame for them finally owning up to it, quietly though that was.
As for the PS3, I have no idea how Sony handles it, but that may be because I don't purchase Sony products anymore. Nintendo has excellent customer service according to the reviews I've seen, although I nor nobody I know ever had to send their Wii in for service - even after blatant abuse by children, animals, drunk roommates etc.
Re:My personal opinion (Score:5, Informative)
The red ring of death issue was majorly overestimated...
I do, however, appreciate Microsoft's honesty and not trying to hide the issues from users.
Wow. Why do you shill for MS?
From Tech Digest [www.techdigest.tv] - A survey of retailers has found that as many as 30 percent of all Xbox 360s are being returned for repair. This goes against Microsoft's assertion that Xbox 360 is well within standard industry failure rates of 3 - 5 percent.
From HCW [www.hardcoreware.net] After vehemently denying there being a problem, Microsoft has finally caved in and extended the warranty of the XBOX 360 another 3 years across the board, for those who have the RED RING OF DEATH problem.
I could go on and on and on... Use google and see how MS really treated their customers when the RROD was first reported.
Re:My personal opinion (Score:4, Informative)
Really? An estimated 33% of Xbox 360s were sent back for repairs and you think it's overestimated because it has some lights on the front? Both the Wii and PS3 have hundreds of error codes, along with warning lights and beeps that inform the user of a problem.
Re:My personal opinion (Score:4, Informative)
I could go on and on and on... Use google and see how MS really treated their customers when the RROD was first reported.
Yeah, if you actually called them and didn't gripe to your friends on the Internet, or try to pitch a fit at the store, they replaced them. And did so very quickly. (The early failure repairs were 2-day in-and-out shipping, and if you had it to UPS first thing Monday, you frequently had it back before the weekend.)
A lot of companies got burned during that time by the switch to no-lead solder... and Microsoft, unlike a lot of consumer electronics companies, stood behind their devices.
Re:My personal opinion (Score:5, Informative)
Yeah, okay dude.
I don't actually know anyone that hasn't had to replace their Xbox 360 console at least once due to it either getting the RRoD or that bullshit where it just stops reading the fucking discs. I'm on my third, the first one died 2 years after purchase, sent it in and got it replaced, it died again about a year and half later (just after the 3 year extended warranty, of course), so I had to purchase a new one out of pocket since obviously I'm not about to just say fuck it when I've got like 40 games and a ton of accessories for it. Now that one is even making a grinding sound and taking forever to load discs so I'm sure I'm going to have to replace that one soon, too. At least I can keep using it as a Netflix box, I guess, but considering I've invested already $700+ dollars into it ($500 for the Elite that died, $200 for the replacement Arcade unit), that does little to soften the blow.
My PS3 and Wii are both still going strong 5 years later. My Playstation 2 is still going strong (although I admit I had to readjust the laser height at one point) and I bought that at least 10 years ago, my N64 still works at 15 years old, my SNES, NES, and Gameboy still work, they're all over 20 years old. Hell, my original Xbox even still works (although I hardly ever use it, not since I last played through KOTOR 1 & 2 a year or so ago in preparation for The Old Republic).
My point is, obviously there is something different about the 360 when all these other consoles are still going strong after so many years (and I put more hours than I can count on some of them, I'm big into JRPGs, so my PS2 had many, many 12 hour days, as did my SNES). Meanwhile, it seems like you fucking breathe on a 360 funny and the thing self-destructs.
I admit, I don't know what the quality is like with the newest consoles with the redesigned cases and ventilation and everything, but Microsoft really screwed the pooch with their older models. Either that, or it's all a ploy to get us to buy the same fucking console over and over again, in which case I'd say they succeeded spectacularly. I know one thing, I'll be damned if I buy the next one right away. I'm giving them at least 2 years to get the kinks worked out first because lord knows they're probably going to need it. I'm not even a Microsoft hater, I've put a lot of hours on my 360, but nowhere near what I've put on those older consoles, and certainly not enough to justify it's ridiculous failure rate even just in my own personal experiences, and like I said, I don't know anyone that has had a vastly different experience than I have with the hardware.
Re:My personal opinion (Score:4, Informative)
I always heard it was the last-minute addition of the HDD unit destroying the airflow on the system slowly (or quickly depending upon who you asked) cooking the GPU and melting it off the mobo.
Microsoft's last minute addition of the HDD at the top of the unit did muck with the airflow, and I think they made a "command" decision to release it flawed (knowing it was flawed) rather than not be "first" this generation. It cost them money for sure, but in my case, it cost a ton of goodwill... I will not be an early adopter of another Microsoft console. And I'm sure I'm not alone...
Re:My personal opinion (Score:2, Informative)
Wow. Why do you shill for MS?
Usual deal, morons have to label anything they don't agree with to do with Microsoft as 'shilling'. Do you actually know what that means? If so do you really truly believe that MS is paying people to write comments like that on a site like this? You're really that stupid?
I could go on and on and on...
But of course then you'd find all the conflicting reports, and you wouldn't want that now would you.
estimate by warranty provider SquareTrade to be 23.7%
estimate being 54.2% by a Game Informer survey
SquareTrade published an examination of 1040 Xbox 360's and said that they suffered from a failure rate of 16.4% (one in six). Of the 171 failures, 60% were due to a general hardware failure (and thus fell under the 3 year extended warranty)
On August 28, 2009, SquareTrade published a report saying that "early indications point to the RROD problem abating in 2009", projecting that 1-year failure rates with the release of the Jasper chipsets might be below 4%, with actual fail rates for RROD problems at slightly above 1% in Q109, and total failure rates for all hardware problems at about 12%.
The fact is no-one can pinpoint what the failure rate was but in the end the service was very good, consoles were replaced promptly and the warranty was extended. You can find anecdotal evidence to support just about anything.