Microsoft Seeing Xbox Shortages in U.S.

I never owned a console that broke down so quickly as the Xbox360! Not even the original Xbox ever broke down on me! I hear so many people complain/say they are on their 3rd or 6th one!

I don't understand why people keep buying this piece of crap and say it's a great system even though it will probably break down on them again! Sorry but the refurbished one they sent me back sounds like it won't last another year.

It's been collecting dust lately while I play with the other console. My Live subscription ended just this month and I won't pay another year because it sounds like it will die on me again soon anyways. Yes it has some great games and playing online with the buddies is great but until they can show me that their hardware is on par with the other consoles reliability, I won't buy anything from them again!

My little brother wants a Xbox360 and he can have mine! He wants it that bad, he can have it!
 
Consoles are toys. That's why consoles are relatively cheap...because they're toys.
 
ICOM said:
Consoles are toys. That's why consoles are relatively cheap...because they're toys.
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They're cheap (relatively compared to Gaming PC's) because they are a standardized, mass produced piece of electronics.
 
LOL so damn true... Never even thought of that.
Two pints of Ale for this one!

dirtypop said:
QFT. Only other reason they could possibly have a shortage is if they can't keep up with replacing all the RRODs being returned.
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I got my X360 (and bean bag chair) at the Zero Hour hangar event. We just sent it back for repair a second time. Lasted about 6 months before it croaked again.
 
Steve said:
Those must be Xbox 360 presents that are being delivered because (as anyone that has returned a 360 knows):

1.) Microsoft uses DHL for their return process.

2.) they send you a "box in a box". That box is blank. As in "plain cardboard"

3.) You'd need X-ray vision to know what is in the box


....so how do you know what is in all these plain brown cardboard boxes that are going down your line again? What is the destination of all those boxes you are seeing? If you are seeing retail boxes coming down your ine, those are Xbox 360's being shipped to someone.
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You sound like someone who has an experience ;)

People said that one third of the console will break down, now one of my two good friends has got the problem, I guess that the other friend and I are safe for now :eek:

At least mine which is a japan launch unit still works with additional fans but then again I didn't play it much since I already have my PS3 and PC. No, I don't plan to get the other console which sounds like something you would do in the toilet and it is not actually a next gen machine either.
 
JethroXP said:
No offense, but I continued to be amazed whenever someone suggests that a company, any company, would engineer a product shortage simply to generate "buzz". Companies would much rather be selling product than explaining to the press, and their shareholders, why they can't because they didn't build enough.
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De Beers.

Two words, one name, just rendered your argument moot.

I'm not going to sit here and say MS is engineering their shortage, I really think RROD is what's causing it. Either that, or they shifted inventory from the US to somehwere else, stemming from a misjudgment of demand. Notice how he doesn't say worldwide shortage, just US. Because, doesn't anyone find it funny that Sony outsold MS worldwide last year and during the holiday season, can build/supply more PS3's than MS can with their 360's?

But then again, the 360 is hot in the US, so this whole story may be plausible. I.e., they didn't purposely engineer a shortage, but they have enough stock overseas, they just didnt' allocate enough to the US, their strongest market.
 
deeznuts said:
De Beers.

Two words, one name, just rendered your argument moot.

I'm not going to sit here and say MS is engineering their shortage, I really think RROD is what's causing it. Either that, or they shifted inventory from the US to somehwere else, stemming from a misjudgment of demand. Notice how he doesn't say worldwide shortage, just US. Because, doesn't anyone find it funny that Sony outsold MS worldwide last year and during the holiday season, can build/supply more PS3's than MS can with their 360's?

But then again, the 360 is hot in the US, so this whole story may be plausible. I.e., they didn't purposely engineer a shortage, but they have enough stock overseas, they just didnt' allocate enough to the US, their strongest market.
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De Beers is great at the whole supply and demand game. It's like a fine gamble, you just need to pull the right strings at the right time and you can make a whole lot more money.
 
RailGunRiz said:
I've gone through 3 systems and I can kindly say it's the biggest piece of shit they have to offer. When it works it's cool but, godamn I've never had to send back a console so many times for the exact same reason...RROD :mad:
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Hmmm.... I've had my Xbox 360 Elite since October. And after Mass Effect came out I literally was playing the better part of 16hrs a day! I continued this debauchery for about 7 weeks. And my 360 didn't die. Oh and my 360 doesn't have the newer CPU either.

However, I would think that eventually you will get one with a 65nm processor and the RRoD should be history.
 
EvilTwinSkippy said:
I'm curious if that's a regional thing or if they recently made that switch. Mine was sent back in May '07 and a UPS call tag was attached to the return box.
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They must spread them out to divide the load.

Hm... 30% failure rate + make everyone think they use only one shipping company = use 3 shipping companies to hide the fact that it's actually a 90% failure rate?

For serious though, if people from each individual shipping company see enough of these boxes to make them think that all Xboxes go through their company, then the problem is 3 times worse than they think.
 
rawd said:
Please justify to me why I should voluntarily pay hundreds of dollars to purchase a ticking time bomb
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Exactly. Who is buying these things? When a piece of hardware breaks on me, I don't go crawling back to the same company for another. I stop buying sh*t from them and find something better. :confused:
 
Not even that. I don't know how some people sit at home happily waiting for their refurb. Some people are on their 6th unit .. that's completely obsurd
 
Nintendo was the best system ever...When it didn't work all you had to do was blow in it, rub the cartridge on a brass doorknob, or insert the cartridge but not psuh it down all the way (Stack dominos on top etc). This solved all the problems.....
 
rawd said:
Please justify to me why I should voluntarily pay hundreds of dollars to purchase a ticking time bomb
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So you have to send it back once a year for 2 weeks to get repaired. IT'S A FREE REPAIR.

"But L33t Masta, that's 2 weeks that I don't get to use it!"
BAWWWWW

Take a look at all the great games on 360. Why would you not want one? It's a full entertainment center and has the most successful game franchise in console gaming behind it. It plays DVDs, has an HD-DVD attachment, is constantly getting updated with summer and winter updates, it has the most awesome community ever and it even has it's own HD video market place. Go buy some inferiour pile of trash thatwhen it DOES break they will make you pay for it. The only thing that could make the 360 any better is if it ran Windows Vista.
 
L33t Masta said:
So you have to send it back once a year for 2 weeks to get repaired. IT'S A FREE REPAIR.

"But L33t Masta, that's 2 weeks that I don't get to use it!"
BAWWWWW

Take a look at all the great games on 360. Why would you not want one? It's a full entertainment center and has the most successful game franchise in console gaming behind it. It plays DVDs, has an HD-DVD attachment, is constantly getting updated with summer and winter updates, it has the most awesome community ever and it even has it's own HD video market place. Go buy some inferiour pile of trash thatwhen it DOES break they will make you pay for it. The only thing that could make the 360 any better is if it ran Windows Vista.
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It's only free because they were staring down the barrell of a full fledged class action suit. Even then in one more year when these repaired systems are still breaking, some people won't be getting the free repair service. Then what? I'm sorry, I don't want to pay my hard earned money for a known flawed design.

HD DVD is a lost cause at this point. No reason to include it as a reason to buy an Xbox360. But the PS3 has Blu-ray, and games designed on Blu-ray media. And if 25 or 50GB isn't enough, there's even a user upgradeable hard drive to fall back to in the most basic of systems. Isn't there a multi-platform game being released soon that looks like trash (comparatively) on the 360 because DVD doesn't have enough space to store the massive textures and they aren't allowed to use hard drive space per MS's rules?

My 2001 model PS2 plays DVDs. And rumor has it, my Wii will soon enough as well althogh that may be a hardware revision so I don't know. So DVD playability is nothing special.

And running Vista? That's so fucking hilarious. No hard drive to store the 8gb that OS requires (not including the PF or hibernation file) on the cheapest models. Only 512MB of ram that has to be shared with the GPU won't make for a very user friendly console with the constant stuttering and OOM errors popping up all the time. Oh yeah, and MS is going to port an entire OS over to a processor they haven't developed for since NT4.
 
ryan_975 said:
It's only free because they were staring down the barrell of a full fledged class action suit. Even then in one more year when these repaired systems are still breaking, some people won't be getting the free repair service. Then what? I'm sorry, I don't want to pay my hard earned money for a known flawed design.

HD DVD is a lost cause at this point. No reason to include it as a reason to buy an Xbox360. But the PS3 has Blu-ray, and games designed on Blu-ray media. And if 25 or 50GB isn't enough, there's even a user upgradeable hard drive to fall back to in the most basic of systems. Isn't there a multi-platform game being released soon that looks like trash (comparatively) on the 360 because DVD doesn't have enough space to store the massive textures and they aren't allowed to use hard drive space per MS's rules?

My 2001 model PS2 plays DVDs. And rumor has it, my Wii will soon enough as well althogh that may be a hardware revision so I don't know. So DVD playability is nothing special.

And running Vista? That's so fucking hilarious. No hard drive to store the 8gb that OS requires (not including the PF or hibernation file) on the cheapest models. Only 512MB of ram that has to be shared with the GPU won't make for a very user friendly console with the constant stuttering and OOM errors popping up all the time. Oh yeah, and MS is going to port an entire OS over to a processor they haven't developed for since NT4.
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You have 3 years of protection. I bought my console a year into the lifespan and those 3 years will bring me to rougly about the time thery release a new console. Cry me a river if you decide to put it in a fucking closed space and expect it to still run after a year. DVD playback only means more media center options. Pictures, movies, music, a rental system that lets you watch HIGH DEFINITION movies for less than what it would cost to go rent one. HD-DVD is still very much in the game and Blu-ray is nothing special. You can get a 120 Gb HDD for the Xbox 360 and you shouldn't need anything bigger because you can stream movies from your PC and the rentals you buy you delete afterwards. And there is no multi-platform game that doesn't look good on the Xbox 360. And the ones that are exclusive look that much better! Like Halo 3. Biggest. Game. Launch. Ever. Not to mention it's one of the most played online games of all time. And I was only saying Running Vista would be awesome. But that would be for those of us with enough cash for the hard drive ;) If you can't afford to play the game, then don't. But it would be better than the Linux trash that you might as well not use on a PS3.
 
L33t Masta said:
You have 3 years of protection. I bought my console a year into the lifespan and those 3 years will bring me to rougly about the time thery release a new console. Cry me a river if you decide to put it in a fucking closed space and expect it to still run after a year. DVD playback only means more media center options. Pictures, movies, music, a rental system that lets you watch HIGH DEFINITION movies for less than what it would cost to go rent one. HD-DVD is still very much in the game and Blu-ray is nothing special. You can get a 120 Gb HDD for the Xbox 360 and you shouldn't need anything bigger because you can stream movies from your PC and the rentals you buy you delete afterwards. And there is no multi-platform game that doesn't look good on the Xbox 360. And the ones that are exclusive look that much better! Like Halo 3. Biggest. Game. Launch. Ever. Not to mention it's one of the most played online games of all time. And I was only saying Running Vista would be awesome. But that would be for those of us with enough cash for the hard drive ;) If you can't afford to play the game, then don't. But it would be better than the Linux trash that you might as well not use on a PS3.
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You have three years from the original purchase date. Those with launch systems have until November 2008 - January 2009 before that 3 year warranty is useless and their refurbs will start costing money to get fixed. And the only reason there's a 3 year warranty to begin with is because MS was about to get sued and they knew it would cost more to refund thousands of people the purchase price of their Xbox + lawyer fees + court costs than it would to just extend the warranty and cover the repairs until they figured out how to fix the damn thing even though they KNEW it was flawed when they launched it. Then what about the thousands of people who had to pay to have their systems repaired in late 2006-mid 2007 before MS extended their expired warranties?

And I'm sorry, HD-DVD [sic] is very much on it's death bed. It's on inventory clearance. Movie studios are jumping to Blu-ray left and right. Hell even Best Buy is recommending Blu-ray over HD DVD now.

Running Vista on that hardware would be anything but awesome. I love Vista, but that's because I have enough RAM to run it.

I can buy 20GB hard drives all day long for around $30, and 120GB drive for around $75. But MS won't let you use those. They want you to pay $100 for 20GB and nearly $200 for 120GB. Talk about highway robbery. The PS3 will let me use whatever drive I want and I don't have to buy it from Sony's supply chain.
 
Launch unit still running fine, never a single problem. No special treatment, no extra fans, no voodoo magic. Simply wasn't an idiot with it and piled it under a bunch of laundry or something...
 
ryan_975 said:
And I'm sorry, HD-DVD [sic] is very much on it's death bed. It's on inventory clearance. Movie studios are jumping to Blu-ray left and right. Hell even Best Buy is recommending Blu-ray over HD DVD now.

Running Vista on that hardware would be anything but awesome. I love Vista, but that's because I have enough RAM to run it.

I can buy 20GB hard drives all day long for around $30, and 120GB drive for around $75. But MS won't let you use those. They want you to pay $100 for 20GB and nearly $200 for 120GB. Talk about highway robbery. The PS3 will let me use whatever drive I want and I don't have to buy it from Sony's supply chain.
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Here in Canada, HDDVD and Blu-Ray have equal representation and market share. Studios may be jumping over but they'll be back soon enough once they see not everyone is happy with the crap that is bluray. Ok, so why does this matter? It's an XBOX accsessory like everything else. I don't need it so I didn't buy it. it's expensive for a reason. Probably because of the transfer kits you get with them and whatever Microsoft has to do to make them work with the Xbox 360. And again, I wasn't serious about it running Vista. I have a powerful desktop PC to do that.
 
Erasmus354 said:
Launch unit still running fine, never a single problem. No special treatment, no extra fans, no voodoo magic. Simply wasn't an idiot with it and piled it under a bunch of laundry or something...
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HAY GUISE! LETS PUT THIS CONSOLE IN A REALLY TIGHT SPACE WITH NO AIRFLOW AND SEE HOW LONG IT RUNS FOR!
 
deeznuts said:
De Beers.

Two words, one name, just rendered your argument moot.

I'm not going to sit here and say MS is engineering their shortage, I really think RROD is what's causing it. Either that, or they shifted inventory from the US to somehwere else, stemming from a misjudgment of demand. Notice how he doesn't say worldwide shortage, just US. Because, doesn't anyone find it funny that Sony outsold MS worldwide last year and during the holiday season, can build/supply more PS3's than MS can with their 360's?

But then again, the 360 is hot in the US, so this whole story may be plausible. I.e., they didn't purposely engineer a shortage, but they have enough stock overseas, they just didnt' allocate enough to the US, their strongest market.
Click to expand...

Your comment is about 10 years out of date and doesn't apply to highly competitive businesses like game consoles. De Beers is not the diamond monopoly they used to be. At one time they controlled about 90% of the worlds diamonds, in which case restricting supply absolutely had the effect you describe. But today they only control about 43% of the worlds diamonds, and so restricting supply means that money is going to their competitors, just as it would in the case of Microsoft. If Xbox 360 was the only game console available, then yes they could restrict supply and manipulate the market. But with the competition as fierce as it is, not selling gains them nothing.
 
L33t Masta said:
HAY GUISE! LETS PUT THIS CONSOLE IN A REALLY TIGHT SPACE WITH NO AIRFLOW AND SEE HOW LONG IT RUNS FOR!
Click to expand...

Gyeah... my Xbox360 is the only one on the shelf. Zero Hour unit's croaked for a second time this past November. Went out and got myself a XboxElite and let my sister deal with sending the Zero Hour one back.
 
L33t Masta said:
The XBOX 360 is a marvel of technological wonder. Crafted by the finest minds and produced by the finest company, it's got the best games, the best marketplace and the most to offer.
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you are by far, the biggest XBOX360 fanboy I have ever met in my life.

WOW.
 
 
RoffleCopter said:
No Wiis so everyone is getting a 360 so now the 360 is having shortage issues.

The Sony guys are crossing their fingers now.

"We're next! We're next!" :D
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lol, well i guess they are due. but i foresee a massive resurgence in the NES popularity.

Anyone for Duck hunt? :p

i play most games on my PC, and the XBOX and PS2 in my living room occasionally get used, so no worries for me. how does this affect MS overall though? just curious musing on my part.
 
alg7_munif said:
You sound like someone who has an experience ;)

People said that one third of the console will break down, now one of my two good friends has got the problem, I guess that the other friend and I are safe for now :eek:

At least mine which is a japan launch unit still works with additional fans but then again I didn't play it much since I already have my PS3 and PC. No, I don't plan to get the other console which sounds like something you would do in the toilet and it is not actually a next gen machine either.
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I want to take back the statement, my other friend just told me that he got the RROD today(he doesn't have any extra fan installed), now I'm waiting for my turn :(

Paul_Johnson said:
Microsoft Keyboards and Mice rock.
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The reason I'm still using a 32bit OS with 4GB RAM is that M$ forgot to write a driver for their own KB with fingerprint reader.
 
alg7_munif said:
The reason I'm still using a 32bit OS with 4GB RAM is that M$ forgot to write a driver for their own KB with fingerprint reader.
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Um...wa?

Known issue and the keyboards/mice still work just not all the features are supported. Not to mention that doesn't take away from the rest of the build of them.
 
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