New XBOX 360 Owner

[Route 66]

I just got a 360 a little over a month ago.

EDIT: BTW, for those "Red Circles of Death" I have never encountered anything of the sort. My xbox has froze one time, and one time only. No red circles though.

Uh, you just stated that you only had the 360 for what, a little over a month ago? Get back to us within the next year or so and then give us your encounter.

 

[the kid 05]

Uh, you just stated that you only had the 360 for what, a little over a month ago? Get back to us within the next year or so and then give us your encounter.

i've had mine since 12.15.2006 still no rings of death or any other hard ware failure :

 

[Route 66]

i've had mine since 12.15.2006 still no rings of death or any other hard ware failure :

For your reading pleasure...

Red Ring of Failure
Is your Xbox 360 still working? You must be one of the lucky ones.

By Mike Smith


Over 18 million Xbox 360s have sold through since the console's launch in November 2005, but just how many of those are still working? Squaretrade, a company that specializes in providing warranty support to purchasers of electronic goods from various manufacturers, claims 16% of Xbox 360s experience a hardware failure within six to ten months after a warranty purchase. Three out of every five failures were for the infamous "Red Ring of Death" general hardware failure error, a problem often linked to overheating.

The Xbox's figures compare poorly to competing consoles, which have a failure rate of around 3% -- and if anything, the Squaretrade figure underestimates the scale of the Xbox 360's reliability issues. It's a good bet that some buyers of Squaretrade warranties went straight to Microsoft after experiencing hardware issues and don't factor into the 16% number. On its company blog, Squaretrade pointed out that failure rates are "certain to go up" as the machines in their study group grow older.

Microsoft is cagey about coughing up official failure rate figures, which has lead some commentators to speculate about the actual severity of the problem. Luke Plunkett, a blogger on respected games news site Kotaku, said in a recent post that if the real failure rate wasn't in the 30-40% range, he'd "wolf down humble pie until his sides split."

Plunkett's sides are likely safe. Stories of 360 owners making their way through eight or nine consoles aren't hard to find, but to its credit, Microsoft has been working with the affected individual in at least one of those cases to lessen the impact of the constant failures.

16 Percent of Xbox 360s Are Likely to Break, Report Claims

Even so, there's a surprise lurking for consumers who return their 360s for repair. When you purchase content -- arcade games, extra tracks, etc. -- over Xbox Live, it's playable by any user on the console you used to make the transaction. If you go to a different console and sign in with your gamertag, you can download the content and play it only for as long as you're signed in. Once you move back to your main machine, it will no longer be playable. Sounds like a handy system to let you take the content you own from place to place, right?

But the trick with this system is that once a broken machine returns from its little vacation, it generally has sufficient internal changes to make it look, to Xbox Live, like a different console. So all your downloaded content -- which, if you're a heavy user, could amount to hundreds of dollars worth of purchases -- are only accessible to one gamertag, and only when the console has a live internet connection.

Getting this situation resolved can be difficult. Affected users have reported having to make repeated calls to the Xbox support line, often to no avail. Some fortunate individuals were able to eventually convince the MS reps to refund all the points they'd spent so they could repurchase all the affected content, although they had to do it using a different gamertag.

 

[the kid 05]

Even so, there's a surprise lurking for consumers who return their 360s for repair. When you purchase content -- arcade games, extra tracks, etc. -- over Xbox Live, it's playable by any user on the console you used to make the transaction. If you go to a different console and sign in with your gamertag, you can download the content and play it only for as long as you're signed in. Once you move back to your main machine, it will no longer be playable. Sounds like a handy system to let you take the content you own from place to place, right?

But the trick with this system is that once a broken machine returns from its little vacation, it generally has sufficient internal changes to make it look, to Xbox Live, like a different console. So all your downloaded content -- which, if you're a heavy user, could amount to hundreds of dollars worth of purchases -- are only accessible to one gamertag, and only when the console has a live internet connection.

i was agreeing with the article upuntell this portion. i purchesed a new elite for my self (mainly for the black coating only) and gave my little brother my first 360 ( a core w/ 20gb hdd) and i've recovered all my downloads and he still has them on his 360 and our internet goes down like a prosititue around the new house and i can play all my arcade games w/o internet access

 

[Route 66]

i was agreeing with the article upuntell this portion. i purchesed a new elite for my self (mainly for the black coating only) and gave my little brother my first 360 ( a core w/ 20gb hdd) and i've recovered all my downloads and he still has them on his 360 and our internet goes down like a prosititue around the new house and i can play all my arcade games w/o internet access

Cool.

 

[smarta5150]

Uh, you just stated that you only had the 360 for what, a little over a month ago? Get back to us within the next year or so and then give us your encounter.

I have played it enough in the past month and a half for a years worth of hours

Seriously though... it has probably seen over 200 hours of use :

 

[cowboys#1]

rainbow six vegas, cod4

 

[thomas_22]

If you have a PS3 and like baseball games you should try MLB 08 The Show. One of the best baseball games I have ever played. Though, 2K8 is real good too.

I plan on getting a PS3 When the New Metal Gear Solid Game Comes out, which i am not sure when its coming out but the Show looks pretty B.A

 

[Kevinicus]

I put a good 30 hours into LO and I'm about an hour or 2 away from beating it. If you ever played any of the Final Fantasy games you will love this. Its virtually the same thing from the battle systems to the maps and so on. I actually like this better than the past FF, 12 I believe it was.

Man, is it ever a Final Fantasy clone. I know a lot of the guys who made it used to work on Final Fantasy, but they completely ripped off the music from FF7. I mean there are pieces that are barely altered themes from FF7. I heard Sephiroth's theme in there. The end of battle music is virtually identical, as are several others. One of the few that sound different from FF (the theme when you're in Ghotza) actually sounds like the song from The Lost Boys. It's a good thing I love Final Fantasy though so I don't mind if it rips it off. I like it better than FF12 as well, though I loved the battle system, the story was just kind of sprinkled in here and there which sucked. Lost Odyssey is pretty magic user heavy compared to most games.

 

[locked&loaded]

Or you could get used to having half as many games, of lower quality, and shoddy online service.

you know so little.

 

[locked&loaded]

Are you mad that he didn't make a thread titled "New PS3 Owner"? Sony fanboys always make me laugh. They always bring up the RROD for no reason whatsoever and think they're dropping knowledge on people. Oh my God, you mean to tell me 360's red ring?! I can not live in a world that has consoles that become possessed and start shining 3 red lights...thanks for the heads up!

Or maybe you work for Sony? If so, when are you guys going to release Home? I've been waiting for that every Thursday when they update the PSN store.

Why did you call me a fanboy? if everyone knows the 360 breaks constantly how am i any different than you?

I do not work for sony, why are you waiting so intently for home? They have yet to release a final release date. Plus, i have the beta. I can play a version of it when ever i want to.

 

[locked&loaded]

This thread was not about which system has the "FAR superior piece of hardware". The guy was asking what games to buy for his 360 and then out of spite, locked&loaded brought up the typical fanboy rebel scream "RROD!".

spite? you are insane. I did not bring up the RROD, you did.

 

[DemonBlood]

I do not work for sony, why are you waiting so intently for home? They have yet to release a final release date. Plus, i have the beta. I can play a version of it when ever i want to.

Because I want it. Home has the potential to be really awesome. I didn't get into the beta but I heard its a real bare bones version of Home. True? Or do you just not like it?

spite? you are insane. I did not bring up the RROD, you did.

You brought up the whole breaking down bit for no reason. Excuse me for thinking you're a fanboy...I see it all the time on other boards. 360 and Sony fanboys ears pirk when they see something about their rival system. They then run into the thread and try to derail it with the typical "PS3 HAS NO GAMES HAR HAR!" or "RROD!".

 

[locked&loaded]

Because I want it. Home has the potential to be really awesome. I didn't get into the beta but I heard its a real bare bones version of Home. True? Or do you just not like it?



You brought up the whole breaking down bit for no reason. Excuse me for thinking you're a fanboy...I see it all the time on other boards. 360 and Sony fanboys ears pirk when they see something about their rival system. They then run into the thread and try to derail it with the typical "PS3 HAS NO GAMES HAR HAR!" or "RROD!".

Home is decent, just there is hardly anyone in it. It has taken giant steps forward though scenery wise. Everyonce and a while i will go into the arcade and bowl or play pool. IT has potential but games like Little Big planet, Killzone 2, MGS 4, 8 days, espionage, Haze, Socom, Wardevil, Gran turismo etc excite me alot more.

 

[thekavorka]

like everyone else mentioned:

Call of Duty 4 is amazing, but you mentioned no FPS.

For RPG, mass effect is good. oblivion is also pretty good. can suck up a lot of time.

also, there are a lot of fun Xbox Live Arcade games like Rez HD.

as for sports games: Madden, NBA2k8, Fifa 08 (PES isn't that good tihs year), or NHL08

 

[peplaw06]

you know so little.

Impressive retort.

Why did you call me a fanboy?

Oh I dunno... maybe because every time the number 360 is in a thread title, you come in and piss on it??

 

[the kid 05]

Home is decent, just there is hardly anyone in it. It has taken giant steps forward though scenery wise. Everyonce and a while i will go into the arcade and bowl or play pool. IT has potential but games like Little Big planet, Killzone 2, MGS 4, 8 days, espionage, Haze, Socom, Wardevil, Gran turismo etc excite me alot more.

if k.z.2 tightens the controls you guys will have a very nice fps on your hands but if they dont its just gonna be another one to throw in to the heap piles. LBP has potential but a bit weiry for me. mgs4 should be good but if its anything like MGS3 i will shoot the game. 8 days seems like a GTA/SR rip off (which are starting to get boring). dunno anything about espionage or haze. Socom will rock. War devil looks like a God of War rip. Good Car games such as GT and FM are always good.

 

[Romo2Dez4six]

i got mine in 06 and just got my RROD and while it was gone I got the PS3. buy an intercooler for the 360 it helps with problems alot ( in my brothers and I case). games well Assasins creed sucks. RPG is Oblivion I have it on 360, PS3 and PC. i also play Madden, Forza2, Gun, FN3, TH Project 8, GH3 and rockband. I'm waiting for june with Headcoach 09

 

[Rack]

Assassin's Creed doesn't suck. It's an awesome game, just repetitive.

 

[smarta5150]

Man, is it ever a Final Fantasy clone. I know a lot of the guys who made it used to work on Final Fantasy, but they completely ripped off the music from FF7. I mean there are pieces that are barely altered themes from FF7. I heard Sephiroth's theme in there. The end of battle music is virtually identical, as are several others. One of the few that sound different from FF (the theme when you're in Ghotza) actually sounds like the song from The Lost Boys. It's a good thing I love Final Fantasy though so I don't mind if it rips it off. I like it better than FF12 as well, though I loved the battle system, the story was just kind of sprinkled in here and there which sucked. Lost Odyssey is pretty magic user heavy compared to most games.

Lost Odyssey was made by a group of some of the FF creators.

Thats why its a "rip off"


FF creator Hironobu Sakaguchi and composer Nobuo Uematsu