SuperSite Blog : Xbox 360

Latest Xbox 360 reliability study: Industry-worst

pthurrott — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 19:36:02 GMT

As an Xbox 360 user from day one, I will again assert that this wonderful console is a double-edged sword. It has the best games and the best network of any console. But when it comes to reliability, the Xbox 360 puts up Yugo-like numbers. It's just an industry joke. The latest evidence comes courtesy of a new study by SquareTrade:

Game Console Failure Rates: Wii 9 times more reliable than Xbox 360, 4 times more than PS3

SquareTrade analyzed failure rates for over 16,000 new game consoles covered by SquareTrade Care Plans and found that the Wii experienced one-fourth of the common failures that the other systems have.

You can download the entire study in PDF form. Among the details:

Looking at the first 2 years of ownership, 2.7% of Wii owners reported a system failure, compared with 10.0% of PlayStation 3 owners, and 23.7% for Xbox 360 owners.

That seems low to me. The Xbox 360 number, that is.

Excluding "Red Ring of Death" failures, which are covered by Microsoft’s 3-year warranty, 11.7% of Xbox 360 owners reported a failure.

There are other kinds of Xbox 360 failures? :)

While the RROD problem continued to be the major issue for Xbox 360s purchased through 2008, early indications point to the problem abating in 2009.

The most common types of problems seen with the PS3 and Xbox 360 were disc read errors and output issues. The Wii had more power and remote control issues than the other 2 systems.

Microsoft does not deny that Xbox 360's failure rate is 54 percent

pthurrott — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 17:56:41 GMT

So, Microsoft has responded to a recent survey that found that the failure rate for its Xbox 360 video game console is an astonishing 54.2 percent ... by not denying that it's a face. Here's the response:

"Microsoft stands behind the Xbox 360 as a superior entertainment console with one of the best warranties in the industry. We are constantly improving the design, manufacture and performance of the console through extensive testing of potential sources of any problems. Xbox 360 is pleased to maintain the title of 'most played console' and the vast majority of Xbox 360 customers have enjoyed a terrific gaming and entertainment experience since their first day, and continue to, day in and day out."

Um. Wow. So... It has a great warranty (which its unreliability makes a requirement). And they're making it more reliable over time. There you go, folks.

Xbox 360 failure rate is 54.2 percent

pthurrott — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 13:47:30 GMT

I know, I was thinking exactly the same thing when I saw this. They still publish The Seattle Post Intelligencer? :)

But seriously. If this is true, Microsoft has some explaining yet to do. Actually, I'm surprised it's not higher. I've had at least 6 Xbox 360s Red Ring on me. And at least one of them did it twice. Only my two newest consoles--the only two we have left, one for me, one for my son Mark--have yet to die. One might be excused for feeling that it's going to happen, inevitably.

Xbox 360 gamers know the Red Ring of Death all too well. When one of Microsoft's gaming consoles experiences a hardware failure, three of the four red lights ringing the Xbox's power indicator illuminate.

Since the Xbox 360's launch in late 2005, system failures have gained their fair share of attention. Last year, Microsoft even set aside $1 billion to extend Red Ring of Death warranty coverage to three years.

In fact, a Game Informer survey of 5,000 readers found that the Xbox 360 has an astounding 54.2 percent failure rate. That means 54.2 percent of Xbox 360 consoles fail in one way or another.

That's well above the reported failure rates of Sony's PlayStation 3 (10.6 percent) and Nintendo's Wii (6.8 percent).

However, when the results hit newsstands in the September 2009 issue of Game Informer, gamers were surprised with the results. No, they didn't think 54.2 percent was a high rate - they thought it was low.

Ahahaha. There it is. Yep. Xbox 360 owners know. You should read the full post. The data here is awful, no matter how you look at it.

Microsoft adds Tenure icon to Xbox Live Gamertag

pthurrott — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 22:11:12 GMT

For the past few weeks there's been a gold badge at the top of my (and others') Gamertag inside of Xbox Live games on the Xbox 360. I honestly had no idea what it was. Turns out it's a Tenure icon, which indicates how long (cumulatively) you've had an Xbox Live Gold account.

Your Xbox LIVE user account tenure is graphically represented on your gamercard by a number that represents your years of tenure. Here are some key points about this value:

The tenure icon that is displayed is based on the total time that your Microsoft billing account is associated with an Xbox LIVE Gold subscription.

If your subscription is canceled and downgraded to Silver, your tenure will pick up where it left off the next time that you subscribe.

Tenure is displayed as the number of years on the service.

Consider the following scenario. You are an Xbox LIVE Gold subscriber who signed up in January 2005. In January 2007, you chose not to renew your Xbox LIVE subscription. Instead, you became a Silver member. In January 2009, you renew your Gold membership by purchasing an annual subscription. In this scenario, the count for the tenure icon is "2." The tenure icon will be updated to display "3" when your most recent cycle is completed in January 2010.

Like many people, apparently, I'm surprised that my tenure isn't longer (i.e. a bigger number). Also, it's unclear why this is only on the console and not on the web interface for Gamertags.

Xbox 360 has the most active users in 2009; Wii has the least

pthurrott — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 21:45:02 GMT

So I'm not surprised by this. Xbox 360 users tend to be a bit more hard core than Wii owners.

According to survey data compiled by Nielsen, the Xbox 360 dominated the charts, while the ubiquitously successful Wii came in dead last by a huge margin, ranking below the PS2, original Xbox and GameCube.

The chart is tracking the percent of console owners who use their gaming hardware on a regular basis. Everyone and their dog owns a Wii by this point, but very few actually play them consistently, according to Nielsen's findings.

Too bad you can't monetize usage as easily as a console/game sale.

Thanks Dave.

Microsoft Releasing Faster Xbox 360 Dashboard This Year

pthurrott — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 14:21:04 GMT

You know, this is one of the things that's really bugged me about the Xbox 360. (This and the whole "reliability" thing.) The console's Dashboard has always been terribly slow. In fact, if you want to really frustrate yourself in the middle of massively multiplayer deathmatch action on this console, just accidentally tap the Xbox 360 Guide button (the silver and green thing in the middle of the controller) and watch, horrified, as the Xbox Guide sslllllooowwwwwlllyyyy comes up on the screen, interrupting your game, and making you wait ever longer to dismiss it. The New Xbox Experience (NXE) didn't fix this issue at all. (Contrary to this stupid comment at Gizmodo: "Did anyone else notice? When NXE launched, it was pretty quick. But it's just gotten slower...and slower." Wake up, guys. It was never quick, and was always slow.)

Anyway. They're supposedly going to fix it.

During his last podcast, Xbox spokesperson/kind guidance counselor Major Nelson revealed that a "faster" dashboard update would be coming later this year with "a lot of very cool new features."

Hopefully, they really do fix it. Because nothing makes the Xbox 360 feel slower than clicking that stupid button by mistake.

Microsoft kills Xbox 360 'coffin'

pthurrott — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 22:50:27 GMT

This one is interesting to me, because I had three Xbox 360s repaired last year, and in each case, Microsoft sent out a box so that I could ship them safely. Apparently, they're no longer doing that. From Joystiq:

Microsoft – the manufacturer of the RROD-prone Xbox 360 – has confirmed to Joystiq that it's discontinued its policy of providing a prepaid box with shipping label, more commonly referred to as the "coffin," for all Xbox 360 repairs. As of May 26 the policy was discontinued "in an effort to expedite the repair process." Customers will have the option of receiving an e-label to slap on the box they ship their bricked consoles in, but the days of the "coffin" are now over. A Microsoft spokesperson tell us, "Customers can now ship their consoles themselves using an e-label provided by Microsoft and do not need to wait for an empty box to be shipped to them."

Apparently Microsoft's accountants were getting tired of that budget line item signifying thousands of dollars spent on providing cardboard boxes to the millions of consumers with defective units (often multiple times). We likely should have seen the writing on the wall when we recently contacted Microsoft to find out what recourse customers had if customer service wasn't offering coffins.

And you thought you were on your own with a RROD before. Now you really are.

Proof that Project Natal won't work as advertised?

pthurrott — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 13:28:23 GMT

So I was reading through an article about the Xbox 360 "controller-less controller" on EuroGamer and noticed something alarming. Let's see if you can figure it out.

The project director, Alex Kipman, told us while demoing how his shiny new technology can be used to play good old Burnout Paradise.

See it? It's subtle, but if you look hard enough, you'll notice it.

That's right. It says "Alex Kipman."

Now, who is this guy, you ask? He was an engineer on the Windows Ultimate Extras team. You know, the guys who brought us ... well. Almost nothing, actually. Microsoft only made some of the few Ultimate Extras that ever did ship in-house. But you know, they did demo a cool wallpaper once. (The link 404s. Which sort of proves my point.) So what I remember Alex for were the promises. Great things were coming out of the Ultimate team. Great things.

You know, kind of like with Project Natal.

Alex's old Windows Ultimate profile can be found here.

Instant 1080p HD on Xbox 360 this fall

pthurrott — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 20:34:34 GMT

Today, during the Xbox keynote at E3 Microsoft announced that "Zune video on Xbox LIVE will feature instant on, smooth streaming content in 1080p HD with 5.1 surround sound. This technology was developed within the Zune team and provides a great experience for accessing on demand video."

More details are available on Xbox.com:

Continuing a pioneering effort that began with the introduction of the industry's first video marketplace in November 2006 and broke new ground with the announcement of the first live TV straight from a gaming console last week in the U.K., Xbox today announced it would deliver yet another first-to-the-world: instant on 1080p streaming HD movies and TV with 5.1 surround sound—direct to TVs worldwide through its Xbox LIVE social entertainment network.

Instantly stream blockbusters like The Dark Knight in 1080p.

Starting this fall, a broad selection of movies and TV shows from Zune video on Xbox 360 will be available to start and stream instantly, in the highest video quality at the push of a button. No discs, no downloads, no waiting. Get the selection of a video megastore, the best video clarity available and the convenience of cable, only on Xbox 360.

Additional Markets
Additionally, Microsoft announced it will more than double the number of markets where Xbox LIVE offers its TV shows and movies, growing from eight to 18, by adding Austria, Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, and Belgium. Xbox LIVE members in every market will have access to instant on 1080p streaming HD video.

Additional details of Zune video on Xbox LIVE:

Video startup is as close to instantaneous as possible by seamlessly transitioning between many different bitrates and resolutions of video
- Video playback will start at a low bit rate for fast download time and then ramp up to a higher bitrate and quality
- This process enables delivery of up to 1080p with 5.1 surround sound
Xbox LIVE party mode let you watch movies with your friends even when you’re sitting in different locations
Enhanced search functions within Zune video on Xbox LIVE let you find your favorite film at the touch of a button

More details about the Zune HD and Zune/Xbox Live integration

pthurrott — Thu, 28 May 2009 15:08:18 GMT

I had a talk with Microsoft regarding the Zune HD yesterday, after publishing my Zune HD Preview article. Here's what I learned.

Why now?

The real purpose of this week's Zune HD and Zune/Xbox Live integration announcement was to prime the gaming world for next week's E3 announcements. These announcements have nothing to do with the Zune HD, however. In fact, all Microsoft is going to talk about next week is Zune integration with Xbox Live. The Zune HD stuff was just thrown in because there's been a lot of speculation about the upcoming device which, as I noted previously, is slated for a September 5 release. (Microsoft did not officially confirm this date, however.)

"We wanted to clear the decks for E3," Microsoft group product marketing manager Brian Seitz told me. "Otherwise people would be confused why we were talking about Zune at E3. This just puts context around the strategy we're working towards."

What is Microsoft doing around Zune/Xbox Live integration

This first wave of Zune/Xbox Live integration is about video content only (i.e. not music). That is, a new "Zune" link will replace the Video Marketplace link in the Xbox New Experience (NXE) UI that you see on the console today. "We have been looking at ways to integrate with other businesses within Microsoft," Seitz said. "Xbox is a natural first step. When you look at the ways people use the console beyond video games, video is the most popular. And we can add value there. We're looking at ways to see how the content can flow more easily between the Zune and Xbox services than it does currently."

Microsoft told me that Microsoft would show off "new capabilities" of the Zune video service on Xbox Live next week. "This isn't just a new name," Seitz said. This change will also form the basis for future expansions of the Zune brand and service onto other Microsoft platforms. (Presumably including Windows Mobile.)

"Zune is growing," Seitz said. "It's a complete software + services layer. Zune is about music and videos. On the Xbox next week, we'll talk about Zune in the context of the Xbox Video Marketplace. We're making huge improvements to the navigation and the look and feel. We will also discuss other cool features and capabilities that the service will have."

Zune HD

Seitz confirmed to me that the Zune HD is a complete touch-based device, with no Zune Pad or other button-based navigation. "There are a total of three buttons on the thing," he said. "On the front, near the bottom, is a silver button that takes you back to the home menu. There's a rocker on the upper left that you can use for volume up and down and to trigger onscreen transport [Play, Pause, Next, etc.] controls. And there's a power button on the top. That's it."

While much has been made of the fact that Zune HD is "based on Windows CE," that's been true of every Zune device so far. "It's not a departure or change, hardware-wise," he said. "It's always been there, and this is consistent."

The Zune HD web browser is based on a "flavor" of Internet Explorer 6, Seitz said, "but you won't recognize that. We did heavy, heavy customization work on the UI, and it's optimized for multi-touch, gestures, and finger-based navigation instead of a stylus."

Looking ahead, Microsoft is still finalizing the software capabilities, so we can expect more about the Zune HD later this summer. "We haven't discussed all the capabilities of this device yet, and we're still in the middle of development work," Seitz told me. "There are changes to come, but we want to be respectful of customers and be accurate with what we're releasing. We'll have more to say later this summer."

Zune PC software and services

Seitz did confirm for me that the Zune HD would be accompanied by a new revision of the Zune PC software and services. "Absolutely," he agreed. "There's a parallel effort for the software and we have some really cool stuff coming there too."

Final thoughts

"We're really excited about the first broadening of the Zune services beyond what it is today," he said. "Most people have never even seen a Zune, and if they have, they tend to think of the first brown one. We think we offer unique customer value across the board, but MP3 players and music services are vertical markets. We're excited to bring to bring Zune to more platforms in the company and expand its reach. They can benefit from the work we've done around content and experiences. We will continue to work with Xbox and other teams in the company to see where we can land next."

XBOX Technical Support

pthurrott — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 21:39:08 GMT

This should give anyone pause. There's been a lot of talk about the Red Ring of Death stuff over the past year because that $1 billion warranty thing, but let's be serious, red-ringing is only one of the Xbox 360's many, many problems. There are others that Microsoft, amazingly, has yet to address. This one they chalk up to user error. But I've seen it happen several times on my own Xbox 360s. And it's the machine, not the user. Anyway... See what happens when a customer service expert runs into Microsoft customer support. It's not pretty.

I spend part of every day working with customers, sort of "the buck stops here" technical support. So I have more than a little compassion for people who, day after day, must suffer through clueless customers. But Microsoft's XBOX Technical Support has set a new low.

It all started when my brand new XBOX 360 made grinding noises and ate the demo DVD that came with the system.

Scratched DVD. Easy problem, right? No, not in Microsoft land.

...

This whole thing should have been one phone call that lasted less than five minutes. Instead, Microsoft's collateral damage is as follows:

Support reps on the phone for two hours.

Paid to ship console to and from customer.

Paid to replace customer's console (which probably had nothing wrong with it.)

Paid to ship bad DVD back to customer, in a separate envelope.

Public display of complete incompetence.

And the sad thing is, I still don't have a disc that works :-(

As noted in the comments, you can take part in a Xbox 360 game disk replacement program, but only if the game is made by Microsoft and only if you feel like paying $20 to fix something that the console may very well have broken for you. Have fun with that.

Amazon.com launches Xbox Live store

pthurrott — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 14:17:03 GMT

You know, I was just wondering recently why this wasn't possible/easier. Microsoft's system for buying Xbox Live points electronically is ridiculous and often broken anyway. Here's Amazon to the rescue:

Amazon.com today launched the Amazon Xbox LIVE Store beta, www.amazon.com/xboxlive, offering customers the convenience to purchase and gift select Xbox LIVE games, subscription cards and Microsoft Points cards. Previously games were only available directly from the Xbox 360 console or xbox.com, making Amazon.com the first retailer to offer customers digital access to codes for downloading Xbox LIVE Arcade games. Customers can choose from fan-favorite titles including "Braid," "Castle Crashers" and over 100 other games.

Through the Xbox LIVE Store, Amazon.com customers can easily buy Xbox LIVE Arcade games, subscriptions and Microsoft Points cards for themselves or friends and family. Points can be used to buy games in the Xbox 360 online Marketplace. The Amazon.com Xbox LIVE Store works on a code-redemption system where customers who purchase an Xbox LIVE product will immediately be able to view their Xbox LIVE code after purchase as well as e-mail that code to themselves or the recipient of the gift. Additionally, this code will reside in the customer's Your Games & Software Library so they can retrieve it at any time. This digital delivery mechanism eliminates both the waiting time for the customer as well as reduces the waste associated with shipping packaged games and points cards. Customers can leverage Amazon's recommendation and personalization engine to learn about new games that they also may be interested in based on similar purchase histories of like-customers.

Nice.

Microsoft splits Zune team in two

pthurrott — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 19:47:21 GMT

An interesting and timely report from Ina Fried over at CNET. I've emphasized a few important bits...

Microsoft has quietly reorganized its Zune team, splitting up the hardware and software teams, CNET News has learned.

The software and services portion of the Zune team--the bulk of its staff--will be added to the portfolio of Enrique Rodriguez, the vice president who currently runs Microsoft's Mediaroom and Media Center TV businesses. The hardware team, meanwhile, will now report to Tom Gibbons, who also leads the hardware design efforts within Microsoft's Windows Mobile unit.

The move was made on January 22, as Microsoft made its first-ever companywide layoffs--layoffs which also hit the Zune team, although Microsoft won't say how many people were cut. It also follows a holiday quarter in which Zune sales dropped by more than half from a year earlier.

In an hour-long interview on Thursday, Rodriguez said the move was not made in response to recent Zune sales, but rather as the company looks to create a more unified entertainment business and gears up to expand the Zune service to be available on more than just Microsoft's own devices.

"The goal is to make non-gaming entertainment a first-class citizen within Microsoft's business," he said. That means building better software and gaining scale "a little further out than just in Redmond."

Rodriguez ... did say to expect products within this calendar year that take the Zune service beyond just Microsoft's own line of digital music players.

"Zune the service needs to transcend Zune the device," Rodriguez said. But that doesn't mean Rodriguez doesn't see a need for Microsoft to keep making the Zune.

Rodriguez said that a large part of the reorganization was about bringing more heads together to work on a unified entertainment approach, one that is headed toward a more cloud-based approach.

Amazon.com: 13 months of Xbox Live Gold for just $30

pthurrott — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 15:19:15 GMT

Thanks to Dave A. for the tip: Amazon is selling a 13-month Xbox 360 Live Subscription Gold Card for just $29.95, a savings of $20:

Product Features

Subscription Term Name: 12+1 Months

Buy 12 months and receive an extra month free

Sign up with or without a credit card

Gold lets you experience all Live content the day that it is put up

Use Live Gold to play all of your multiplayer enabled games online

Voice and video chat enabled

That's a smoking deal. Even if your subscription isn't going to expire soon, it's worth snagging now.

Xbox Live users: Beware the video game police

pthurrott — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 21:30:18 GMT

CBC News in Canada reports on Microsoft’s efforts to combat stupidity on Xbox Live. And trust me, there’s a lot of it:

Many gamers aren't aware of the fact that at any given time, they may be playing with one of these cops, whose job is to patrol and make the online world safe from video game miscreants. But they are there, and they're willing and able to dispense their own brand of justice.

Stephen Toulouse, lead program manager for policy and enforcement for Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox Live service, discussed his job in a keynote speech at the SecTor security conference in Toronto on Wednesday.

After his speech, he sat down with CBCNews.ca to talk about maintaining law and order in Microsoft's online world.

Toulouse: My team really handles three key things for the Xbox Live service. The first thing, which is our sort of bread and butter, is the terms-of-use stuff. I have a team that does that 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and what they do is pull complaints out of the complaint system. These are complaints that users have filed against other users.

The second thing they handle is some of the policies around privacy and security-of-user information. As I mentioned in my talk, it's a little bit about what are the reasonable expectations that a user might have about being marketed to and when are we going to hand that data over and when are we not. Those policies and procedures are basically subsets at the corporate level.

The third thing my team takes care of is any law enforcement requests. Subpoenas or things of that nature, where we might be able to help in an investigation. Maybe an Xbox is stolen, maybe there's information on the Xbox that law enforcement might need.

So. Hm.

Two things here.

First, I see abuse on Xbox Live every single day. People with offensive gamertags. People just being downright annoying, by doing things like playing their radio into their headset or just babbling incessantly. Cheating, particularly with two well-known glitches in COD5. (And why aren’t those fixed yet btw?) As far as I can tell, this is all talk. I’ve never heard of anyone being banned in any way on Xbox Live. It should happen more often, I can tell you that.

Second, I actually known Steven pretty well. As well as you can know someone that you’ve never physically met, that is. I’ve talked with him many, many times about various Microsoft security issues. He is absolutely credible and believable. I wasn’t aware that he was over working on Xbox stuff, so I wonder if this is a relatively new development for him. If so, maybe he clean up this town. It’s desperately needed.

Thanks to Taber B. for the tip.