Microsoft’s Xbox 360 RRoD lawsuit actually a good thing for consumers
A lawsuit was filed at the Sacramento County Superior Court in California, which alleges that Microsoft withheld information regarding the widely known Xbox 360 hardware issue called the “Red Ring of Death” or RRoD. The class-action lawsuit demands that Microsoft setup a refund program. This could be good news for frustrated consumers that have spent months without an Xbox 360 to play with due to the RRoD.
According to GameDailyNews, the class action suit claims that Microsoft was aware of the RRoD issue before the launch of the Xbox 360, back in 2005. It also claims that despite the fact Microsoft was aware of a high 50% failure rate, the company decided to sweep it under the rug and launch anyway in hopes of beating Sony and Nintendo to the punch.
The lawsuit cites various publications and journals investigating the RRoD issue. I wrote a story last month about a journalist from Venture Beat who wrote a book investigating this exact issue. Other notable video game industry journalists, such as Geoff Keighley and N’Gai Croal have expressed their disdain for the lack of investigative journalism.
The perception that journalists in the video game industry can be bullied around is a reality, thus the lack of investigative journalism in the industry. Keighley makes a good argument that if the defect rate for the iPod was as high as the Xbox 360, every major mainstream media outlet would have launched an in-depth investigation into the issue.
Gamespot and other review sites have been under fire due to allegations of score pandering. Allegedly, certain publishers have threatened to pull advertising if the low review scores were not changed. This is just another example of corporations bullying video game journalists.
If the allegations regarding the RRoD are found to be true in court, each and every consumer could be entitled to a nice hefty check from Microsoft in the form of a refund. Also, this lawsuit could help pave the way for other states to file a similar type of suit.
It was a safe move for Microsoft to extend the warranty to three years, but that still does not make up for the amount of time consumers may have spent dealing with the RRoD issue. Aside being a given, the extended warranty was an inevitable ‘watch your butt’ reaction. However, this solution does not provide those who remain unsatisfied with a way to just get their money back.
Consumers who receive a refund could also purchase a new 120GB Xbox 360 Elite, which has a reportedly lower defect rate.
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30 Responses to “Microsoft’s Xbox 360 RRoD lawsuit actually a good thing for consumers”
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October 16th, 2008
if i get money back from MS im buying a ps3
October 17th, 2008
NPD Figures are in – look away PS3 owners who get offended easily
360 – 347,200
PS3 – 232,400
Wii – Nobody cares.
October 17th, 2008
Keep your NPD numbers, MS are screwed! If they have to use their profit for this the xbox 720 will become a distant memory. Wicked, i hope they rot in hell for what they have done. I had 2 360’s (both broke) now have ps3 (WORKS LIKE A DREAM). You freaks can keep your shitbox. Bunch of tramps.
October 17th, 2008
Hairy, the only ONLY reason the Xbox is selling that well is down to it price. That is the single factor seperating the PS3 to the 360. If Sony could lower their price in time for christmas there would be a massacre on the console front where Sony would rape Microsoft. You mark my words, as soon as there’s a significant price drop it will open the flood gates to the masses. I have loads of mates who would gladly buy a PS3 who just cant afford it, and i’ve seen on many blogs on the web that loads of people just waiting for a price drop to take advantage of it .
October 17th, 2008
Nice can’t wait to see Microsoft drooping outer the hardware business Xbox was a failure. Another victory for Sony, Sony took out Saturn with PS1 Dreamcast with PS2 (The #1 best selling console in the old) Xbox with PLAYSTATION 3. Sony in sales has beaten Saturn Nintendo 64 Dreamcast Gamecube Xbox soon more. Microsoft is going to lose lawsuit just wait and see.
October 17th, 2008
Bourne_PSP,
And what about last month? The price drop didn’t happen till September and it won August.
October 17th, 2008
Question to 360 owners that had theirs RROD on them….
When you send it back and they mail you a “new” refurbished unit, do they extend the warranty on that one for the RROD fault?
I hear stories of people having the one returned to them break, and sending them back over and over.
October 17th, 2008
Hairy, sure the price drop didnt happen, but the 360 is still cheaper before. You dont get it. The 360 doesnt bring people in because of quality games. It brings people in because of cheapness.
October 17th, 2008
My downtime was only a week so I’m not complaining. There was a survey on Joystiq a while ago asking about your experience and most people did not have an issue. It was only a few so I suspect that the RROD was a problem that affected many but I think there are a small few who have had ongoing issues. The internet makes information available so fast in this generation that I think it got blown up more then it should have. Personally they can keep the money because I see the greater good in Microsoft even if they messed up. I would hate to see the 360 go down because of a lawsuite. They have change the game and made it better and I would hate to have to downgrade my experience with another console. I really hate the US for their sue for everyting mentality. Man up and stop being pussies America.
October 17th, 2008
Bourne
You forgot better graphics on the 360 also seperate the 360 from the PS3. Your Welcome!
October 17th, 2008
lol not the whole graphics department again. I agree some games like Orange box have better graphics on 360, but on the whole, i totally disagree with you.
Im also loving the fact that the advertisments of the 360 now include the fact that you can download movies and do other media things which the ps3 already does, especially when fanboys like you say the 360 is all about the gaming. If it was all about the gaming, sod movie downloads, sod avatars and sod a possibly blu ray player. This adds further suppoort to the “360 is becoming ps3 advert”. Also i was watching a few videos of Halo 3 and i can honestly say it looks aweful. The graphics looked like doom on the PC and the gameplay was boring.
October 17th, 2008
bourne – “The 360 doesnt bring people in because of quality games. It brings people in because of cheapness”
the fact the 360 has the highest software to console ratio of all three, proves your fanboyism has clouded your judgement.
it is, has been, and always will be about the games. this is something sony forgot while trying to sneak bluary players into people’s homes. Also why the ps3 is falling even farther into last place….
October 17th, 2008
So why does Microsoft insist on advertising the fact that you can download movies on it now? why not just advertise the fact its all about games. Microsoft has no clue about its target audience. It wants to please everyone with a substandard console. They try to appeal to casual gamers whe the Wii has already dominated this market, then it goes after the PS3 with movie downloads when Blu-ray is better than downloads in everyway. Better graphics, you don’t have to Wait hours to download and you have a physical copy if your system should fail. And not everyone can get the movie downloads as not every console has a HDD.
Kev – How many times have we discussed WHY the 360 has software to console ratio : ITS BEEN OUT THE LONGEST. Please don’t raise this invalid point again.
If the 360 is “all about the games” Microsoft would’nt push into the media market.
October 17th, 2008
How do I sign up to join this lawsuit?
October 17th, 2008
bourne – the xbox even outpaced the ps2’s software ratio, briefly, and the ps2 was out first. first to market does NOT mean people will buy more games.
your grasp of this market is almost as pathetic as Dave P’s… almost…
it’s funny the only one’s calling the 360 “substandard” are the ps3 fanboys sitting in last place….
apparently, millions of millions of gamers disagree with you as the 360 continues to sell more consoles, more games, with more online users.
the facts speak for themselves.
the 360 has always been about multi media, noob. don’t forget you can play dvds on them.
oh..and before you call “bluray the future” again, look how low the br penetration rate is at the year mark. pathetic….
to say bluray disks are better than d/l is like saying cd are better than music d/l. insane…
October 17th, 2008
Bourne
I don’t know where your trying to go with that argument. Microsoft was always about the games from day 1. The market Place did not exsist at launch it was intergrated just before Wii and PS3 dropped. Also Microsoft almost never talks about that side of the 360, they always come with the games first. When I got my 360 I had no idea about all the bells and whistles that came along with the console. It was not until I turned on the system that I discovered all the things you can do besides games. Sony’s approach was all about bluray and not the games. Then they turned their focus to Folding and the games came last which is the reason I say Sony forgot who their customer is. It’s also the reason I say the PS3 is a Trojan horse for Bluray. Today PS3 is still waiting for games that have been announced since PS3 dropped. As for advertising Movies that has always been there since they launch the market place.
October 17th, 2008
Kev
Good point about the original Xbox. At every game store I go to the Xbox Library is bigger then any console of that generation. I’m not talking about # of games produced but the secondary market is big and Xbox showcase always out shined the rest. PS2 was definately a close second.
October 17th, 2008
I hate it when companies force things on me that I want. Damn you Sony for putting blu ray into the PS3 and forcing it on me, even though it was one of the deciding factors in why I chose the PS3 over the 360. Who does Sony think they are, coming out with new technology and then using it by putting it into an electronic device that people might want. Those A**holes.
October 17th, 2008
“the 360 has always been about multi media, noob.” ROFLMAO oh jesus, this is what were dealing with. First you say the 360 is all about games, now apparently it was all about multimedia. Make your mind up. You really have been bitten by the Microsoft bug.
“apparently, millions of millions of gamers disagree with you as the 360 continues to sell more consoles, more games, with more online users” we’re going around in circles. Thats because as i said earlier, the 360 is cheaper, not because its better. Logic tells you in a time where money is tight people will go towards the cheaper option. I bet loads of 360 owners wanted a PS3 but simply couldn’t afford it.
Funny how Xbox had a wider range of games yet PS2 still outsold it. And continues to outsell it in some places even now. Ahh well mustve been due to the cheap line up.
October 17th, 2008
Last time I checked this was about the RRoD suit
Good on the people I say! Hold a big corporation responsible for a total fuck up and maybe (just maybe) they won’t do it again.
And even tho the warranty extension was nice, I don’t really think MS is ‘awesome!’ for doing so as they made a faulty product in the first place.
October 17th, 2008
Harry,
Love your figures for the Wii!
@Bourne, Kev, et al:
Since the 360 and PS3 are so similar, it all comes down to what features and exclusive games you want the most, which are matters of personal opinion. In other words, this debate could (literally) go on forever, but the decision on “Which Console Is Better” will always be up to the individual, and the answer will be different for different people.
-Arvis
October 17th, 2008
No I’m totally serous…. How do I get into this lawsuit? I think every state should start ban together on this one. They knew they were shipping a console that was defective, and they shipped it anyway. Putting consumers through hell, while they raked in millions. Even if you’re an Xbox fan you have to agree on this one. That was wrong.
October 17th, 2008
Arvis you liberal
October 17th, 2008
As someone who’s personally involved with said litigation, I will say only this. The truth is MS knowingly sold a defective product, costing consumers both time and money. The warranty extension program was a band-aid, niether fixing the problem nor satisfying their customers. I personally am on my 4th 360, and have in turn been sent nothing but poorly refurbished units, which again, died of the rrod shortly after recieving them. If this was a auto maker, people would have been screaming bloody murder long ago. Its an unfair and immoral practice to sell knowingly defective products, and illegal to boot. Just desserts. (PS_still love the 360 games!…when I can play them!)
October 17th, 2008
If youre interested in joining said suit, google Mr. Keith D. Cable of sacramento and send him an email explaining your situation (he’s the attorney in this case). Granted, you must be a california resident, and have had rrod problems (and the paperwork/reciepts/etc. to back it up).
October 17th, 2008
bourne – i didn’t say it had a wider range of games, nooblet. please learn what a tie in ratio is.
it’s the CORE measurement of a console’s success. more games per unit sold = more money.
the 360 is a MULTI MEDIA GAMING CONSOLE, einstein. has always been marketted that wasy…
in fact they were the first to introduce the music vizualizer and using custom made sountracks as part of their “multi media” functions.
you do have a point about price, as the wii is outselling everyone at a lower price, but the 360 is selling more GAMES (where the money is made and how “fun” a console is determined to be)..meanwhile the ps3 has neither… ouch..
please go read…
October 17th, 2008
Kev,
I was watching a tv show or a comedian, doesn’t really matter. But what was brought up is ironically kind of funny. They talked about how many people credit Einstein as being the smartest person to ever live. Yet we use his name in sarcasm to call someone stupid.
October 17th, 2008
CAD……your forgetting that the no publisher has even came close to using the full power of the ps3, and xbox already reached its limit. yet the ps3 has nearly matching graphics. oh, and its said that the 360 holds back ps3 games because of its shity, cheap, pathetic, dvd 9 with 8gb, comparing to blu ray with 50gb. theres too much to say, im not gonna waste anymore time trying get this stuff thru your pathetic mind.
October 17th, 2008
Wylie, that’s the idea of sarcasm.
If someone tells you that someone stole your computer, you say “oh great.”
When someone falls on their face, its “smooth move.”
If someone asks if you want to go to the dentist, you’d reply “I’d love to.”
And when someone is stupid, we call them Einstein exactly because many people consider him the smartest man to ever have lived.
Sarcasm is saying what you don’t mean.
Go read some Johnathan Swift.
October 17th, 2008
Well… I hate the fact that Microsoft released a product that has such a huge flaw… but I like that they increased the warranty period to 3 years… that takes guts…
the lawsuit is too late… idiots…