South Carolina Video Games & PC Enthusiasts

Conscript · Joined: 12 Feb 2008 Posts: 226 Location: Charleston, SC

I think you might be able to argue that if the console maker actually made any sort of profit from the hardware itself, but they actually take a hit, every time they sell a console. They make their money off of licensing. I don't think you can say that the company enriches itself from a product that every single time it is bought the company looses money. It's almost a backwards business model, but it works in the long run. It's all very similar to the razor model. Give them the razor for free, and then charge them $20 per blade.

Even though it might have flaws, even flaws they were aware of, I think they have done great strides to fix a large portion of the problem, with extending the warranty and replacing units for free. I had my x-box in Iraq RRoD on me, they shipped a box to me, I sent it back, and got a new system that still has not failed me so far, all without me paying a dime (I did pay in boredom for the week that the system got shipped to Texas and then back to Iraq, I think it took less than 10 days). I don't really have any complaints all in all.
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We may not always get what we want. We may not always get what we need. Just so's we don't get what we deserve!

Slingblade · Site Admin Level 1 Knight Joined: 20 Sep 2007 Posts: 187

I've had my Xbox since it came out and I have already sent it in once for the RROD issue. The other day my son went to boot it up and guess what, it's the RROD issue again. Since it's not under warranty like it was the first time it will cost me a flat fee of $100 to get it fixed. M$ knows this is an issue and will fix it free if under warranty, but they get $100 to fix the ones that aren't under warranty and that's not right. If it's a known issue and/or a design flaw they should take care of it whether it's under warranty or not.

Jagou · Site Admin Knight Joined: 20 Sep 2007 Posts: 3150

Jagou · Site Admin Knight Joined: 20 Sep 2007 Posts: 3150

We were writing those two posts at the same time. Shocked

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Jagou

"When we speak of free software, we are referring to freedom, not price." -- Richard M.

Stallman
Windows is easier than Linux, just like crapping your pants is easier than going to the

bathroom. —Anonymous
“Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” — William Butler

Yeats
"God help aliens if we find 'em. Especially if they taste good." — SA

lose [looz] ,lost, los·ing. 1. to come to be without (something) through accident, theft, etc., so that

there is little or no prospect of recovery.
loose /lus/ [loos] adjective, loos·er, loos·est, adverb, verb loosed, loos·ing. –adjective 1. free or

released from fastening.
their [thair; unstressed ther] –pronoun 1. a form of the possessive case of they used as an attributive

adjective, before a noun: their home; their rights as citizens.
there [thair; unstressed ther] –adverb 1. in or at that place (opposed to here).
they're; Contraction of they are.

Please don't complain about things that are easy to ignore.

chaos · Posted: Fri Jul 31, 2009 6:33 pm Post subject:

well if M$ knows there is a serious RROD problem with them, they should fix all RROD problems for the life of the 360 or until they properly fix the problem Rolling Eyes

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Jagou · Site Admin Knight Joined: 20 Sep 2007 Posts: 3150

They're still selling NEW 360's with the problem... which is a heat / thermal compound breakdown problem as best as I can tell from poking lightly around the web.

Something that'd be presumably pretty easy to fix... except, they built the thing like Fort Knox and it takes The Army Corps of Engineers, 3 elves and a thief to open the thing.
_________________
Jagou

"When we speak of free software, we are referring to freedom, not price." -- Richard M.

Stallman
Windows is easier than Linux, just like crapping your pants is easier than going to the

bathroom. —Anonymous
“Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” — William Butler

Yeats
"God help aliens if we find 'em. Especially if they taste good." — SA

lose [looz] ,lost, los·ing. 1. to come to be without (something) through accident, theft, etc., so that

there is little or no prospect of recovery.
loose /lus/ [loos] adjective, loos·er, loos·est, adverb, verb loosed, loos·ing. –adjective 1. free or

released from fastening.
their [thair; unstressed ther] –pronoun 1. a form of the possessive case of they used as an attributive

adjective, before a noun: their home; their rights as citizens.
there [thair; unstressed ther] –adverb 1. in or at that place (opposed to here).
they're; Contraction of they are.

Please don't complain about things that are easy to ignore.

Jagou · Site Admin Knight Joined: 20 Sep 2007 Posts: 3150

In a post RROD X360 world of manufacture, M$ loads new systems with 1 year disposable HDD's.... or so one could speculate. Wink

Bald_Yew · Posted: Mon Feb 08, 2010 5:59 pm Post subject:

As crappy as it is, and as bad as I feel saying it, when he bought the drive, it had a year warranty. It outlasted that warranty, MS did their part. now there's no reason I wouldn't be pissed as well, but a year is a year is a warranty.

>shrugs<
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dwigg · Level 2 Joined: 04 Nov 2008 Posts: 359

Yea I think mine is about to do the same thing, one year and then dead... sucks Mad

Jagou · Site Admin Knight Joined: 20 Sep 2007 Posts: 3150

Engineered failure is not a joke. It absolutely happens in modern manufacture. It's as deceitful and abhorrent a device as there exists in capitalism.

A product with an expectant lifespan of several years, dead one month after the warranty period is over is more than a little suspicious, if it happens often.

I'm not saying it's a common occurrence... I don't know.

I'm glad I bought a PS3, though I have to admit, I use it for a movie player far more often than for video games.

The wife and I are both terribly disappointed that we can't find a good MP co-op game that she and I would like to play together. It seems the genre just doesn't exist anymore.

We really enjoyed the D&D, RPG games that we played on the original XBOX together.

Anyway, I find that MS is awfully suspect when it comes to bad business.
_________________
Jagou

"When we speak of free software, we are referring to freedom, not price." -- Richard M.

Stallman
Windows is easier than Linux, just like crapping your pants is easier than going to the

bathroom. —Anonymous
“Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” — William Butler

Yeats
"God help aliens if we find 'em. Especially if they taste good." — SA

lose [looz] ,lost, los·ing. 1. to come to be without (something) through accident, theft, etc., so that

there is little or no prospect of recovery.
loose /lus/ [loos] adjective, loos·er, loos·est, adverb, verb loosed, loos·ing. –adjective 1. free or

released from fastening.
their [thair; unstressed ther] –pronoun 1. a form of the possessive case of they used as an attributive

adjective, before a noun: their home; their rights as citizens.
there [thair; unstressed ther] –adverb 1. in or at that place (opposed to here).
they're; Contraction of they are.

Please don't complain about things that are easy to ignore.