More than a week ago, GamingConfidential reported that a Microsoft customer service representative foresaw an outbreak of the Red Ring of Death (RROD) issue once the New Xbox Experience becomes available.
While most scoffed at the idea, the prediction held true and MS service lines are white hot with calls from angry customers.
"I hate what the company did this year," says the rep. "They released the New Xbox Experience a few days after the extended warranty period ended for most users and it's tough to explain that to raging callers. How do you say that MS just screwed them all?"
He adds "our bosses really fed us to the lions this time. We're getting everything from crying kids to death threats from angry adults. It's an orgy, I tell ya."
The rep ended the short chat by lamenting how Xbox 360 owners are blaming the update for even the most far-fetched issues. An example, he says, is a call from a 32-year old man claiming that his ho... More »
Looks like the New Xbox Experience dashboard update is experiencing some not-so-new Xbox woes. November 19: launch day for the NXE update. Not 24 hours after it went live, complaints
are already piling up.
Various forums online (such as the one linked above) have threads and threads of people reporting anything from connection freezes, slow downs, lock ups, broken TV connections, and so many other different numerical errors that, if all of them were strung together, could potentially measure all the way from Earth to the moon (and back).
There are even reports of brickage - yes, the famed red ring of death is back. Some say it's limited to modded consoles only (no surprise there) but other untainted units seem to be affected by the same problem too.
We've yet to hear any official response from Major Nelson or any of the Microsoft staff. Some say the slow downs are caused by the simple fact of surging traffic accessing XBL, but the oth... More »
A few months ago, the gaming community had its mind set that this generation is the end of 3rd party exclusives, and there will be a big push towards multiplatform.
Over the past year, there were a lot of multiplatform games released from the older Oblivion to the more contemporary Call of Duty, and to the more recent Bioshock.
There seems to be an agreement amongst gamers that the Xbox 360 always had the better version of the game because it’s easier to program for, and of course sometimes that is true, but I also picked the above 3 examples to illustrate the point that sometimes the sheep mentality can be quite deceiving.
The PlayStation 3 version is not “always” the worst one, and sometimes it may even be the preferred version due to the free cost of PSN or the addition of Trophy system (if you prefer it over the Achievement system on your Xbox 360).
Or even better graphics (Oblivion), or extra contents (Bioshock/Eternal ... More »
Once a staple of the games market, the supply of platform-exclusive titles from third-party developers is drying up. Aylon Herbet explains why this isn't such a bad thing... The gaming industry is changing in this generation and there's a bunch of possible reasons.
It may have to do with the higher cost of development, different systems' market share, peripherals or different control requirements, but none of that really matters. The reasons are irrelevant, the point remains the same: we are seeing less and less third-party exclusives (that is, games that are only on one console and which are developed by someone other than Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo themselves) in the world.
The recent announcement that Final Fantasy XIII is coming to Xbox 360 brought this change into focus. All they needed now was a Metal Gear Solid 4 announcement and we could start poking a stick at the corpse of third-party exclusives. Let's face the facts, even if Metal Gear Solid... More »
GN has been following the Xbox 360's various hardware alterations for quite a while now, and it's been a pretty interesting story so far. From the original, RRoD prone Xenon mobo to the Zephyr and Falcon successors as well as the upcoming Jasper design, there's been no shortage of news in the field. Today, as a matter of fact, we've got a look at another Xbox 360 chipset, the extremely rare "Opus" as discovered by member Electric Tunder on the Xbox-Underground forums.
Designed specifically to help Microsoft recoup losses on RRoD'd hardware that's been returned for repairs, the Opus chipset is a Falcon-generation mobo that'll snap into original Xenon Xbox 360s. Because it is installed in refurbished Xbox 360 launch chasses, the Opus lacks HDMI-out. It does, however, feature the Falcon-era HANA video chip that supports digital output, which means a really skilled modder could potentially retrofit such a connection.
The Opus also looks to be sporting the 65-nm ... More »
An Xbot’s take on why the time is now right for Xbox 360 gamers to seriously consider getting rid of their 360’s and purchasing a PS3
Before beginning this article I would like to make it clear that I’m a confessed Xbot. Even after churning through 3 separate Xbox 360’s due to hardware failure, I have remained loyal to Microsoft and believe that Xbox Live is an amazingly fun service, even worth paying for.
BUT do I really? What has kept me coming back again and again when a normal gamer would have spat the dummy and gotten rid of the Xbox 360 years ago? Why is now the right time to finally break away from Microsoft?
The following reasons are what I believe to be the most compelling as to why my fellow hardcore Xbots should seriously consider taking the plunge and moving over to the PS3.
The Play Station Network Now I hear what you guys are saying, nothing beats Xbox lives usability, social aspects and servers, bu... More »
Microsoft is now winding up operations in several cities in India, as trouble seems to be brewing over the performance of its Xbox 360 console, according to a report from CNBC-TV18.
The report, which cited anonymous sources, concludes that Microsoft has withdrawn from several Tier-I cities due to lackluster sales. Its Entertainment and Devices Division has also reportedly withdrawn the marketing budget for the current fiscal.
The Xbox 360, which launched in India in September of 2006, has been facing dismal sales already due to sloppy customer support, high hardware failure, and pirated games, the report said. Games are easily available in the grey market for Rs 100, while official titles cost upwards of Rs 2,500.
Microsoft has already repeatedly refused to share its India sales numbers.
“The Microsoft Entertainment Devices Division is very much on track with its targeted business plans,” a Microsoft India spokesperson told CNBC.... More »
Is the era of the X-Box over already, almost before it began? Premature ejaculation of fanboy glee, a beautiful moment but over in a flash, with nothing but a mess and disappointed people left in its wake?
A little look at what the experts say on the subject certainly tells us so. An article on Joystiq’s PS3 Fanboy gives 10 reasons why the PS3 is back in the swing of things.
EGM and EDGE have both within the last four months run cover stories on the return of the PS3 — titled “The Empire Strikes Back” and “The Revenge of the PS3″ (which if nothing else, tells us that The Force Unleashed is going to have good sales) and some analysts have predicted that the PS3 will do at least as well as the 360 this year, and some have gone so far as to say that it’s going to edge out the unstoppable Wii by 2011.
In terms of general PR too the PS3 has been doing great, with the Human Genome Project and then the USAF taking a cartload of PS3s defini... More »
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