Microsoft has said that it is facing a bill of more than $1bn to cover the cost of offering extended warranties, after failings with its Xbox 360.The company admitted it had been forced to make "an unacceptable number of repairs" to the consoles after key hardware failed.Customers who suffer the problems will now be given a free three-year warranty, the company said.The failures are indicated by three red flashing lights on the console.Microsoft, has not revealed how many of its machines have suffered the problem, but said the number was "bigger than we are comfortable with."It added that the move - which will also see some people reimbursed for postage and repairs on consoles which were out of warranty - was aimed at keeping the loyalty of its customers."The majority of Xbox 360 owners are having a great experience with their console and have from day one," said Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft's Entertainment & Devices Division."But this problem has caused frustration for some of our customers and for that, we sincerely apologise."It added its Xbox division was still expected to make a profit during the financial year beginning 1 July 2007.
Well look at that...>>>Retailer Confirms $100 PS3 Price Cut
Vole seen readying 65 nanometre Xbox rampDAAMIT gets shrunkBy Wily Ferret: Tuesday 10 July 2007, 10:25ALL INDICATIONS that Microsoft is readying a 65 nanometre platform shrink of the Xbox 360, in a move that will reduce costs and likely improve the console's reliability.Codenamed Project 'Falcon', the project is to push IBM's triple-cored PowerPC processor and DAAMIT's Xenos GPU down to 65nm, from the 90nm they're made at currently. As any fule no, iterating process technologies results in smaller chips, cheaper costs and less power consumption.The roll-out of the new chips has been credited with driving the Vole's confidence that it's warranty problems are over.Sony recently reduced the price of its PS3 by $100, a move thought to be simply adding $100 of pure cost to Sony's business plan, since no hardware revisions have been made and the company already sells the console at a healthy loss. The move to 65nm will enable Microsoft to cut the price of its Xbox 360 console and possibly still make a profit.Indeed, rumours around LA this week are that Microsoft will use its E3 press conference to announce a price cut for the console, sparking a price war with Sony that the Japanese company has little hopes of winning. µ
Xbox 360 dies because of electricity protectionIt is sensitive eggBy Nick Farrell: Tuesday 10 July 2007, 08:55MICROSOFT IS claiming that the reason its Xbox360 consoles are dying in droves so much is because punters have poor electrical surge protection.Although Microsoft is refusing to say what is causing the large number of red ring of deaths in its boxes, its technical support teams are apparently claiming it is caused by poor surge protectors.According to Law of the Game, technical support are reading from a card saying that the Xbox 360 is highly sensitive to reductions in power, and even the slightest cut in power can cause things like the fans and even the DVD laser to malfunction.Apparently ninety percent of the failed consoles have been plugged into a surge protector, so Vole thinks they are responsible. Using a similar logic 100 percent of them were also switched on so maybe the power switch is to blame.Vole is saying that you should let your Xbox run free a surge protector and experience lightning strikes, power surges and brown outs.
The thing about the beta for THOSE THAT ACTUALLY PLAYED AND SAW IT, is that its exactly that a beta. That aside I too was taken aback the first time I saw the graphics... I was like Halo 2 on steroids? I mean after playing GOW... its hard to look at any other game and be impressed with graphics, satisfied even is difficult now. However I can see from the beta that once Halo 3 is polished properly it will look quite good. It has an altogether different feel and look from GOW but will still be quite eye catching I am sure. From playing the beta in 1080i glory, I can honestly say that the water effects were near complete, the textures were there but the polish was missing. Even the folliage was decent. I expect it to be impressive enough and as for NOT showing all your cards even at E3. Honestly Halo 3 is the biggest game on the console so its a done deal in terms of sales to most/all that own a 360. So I think holding the best for last is a good idea.
