Suit: Microsoft knew Xbox 360 could damage discs

I second fearmoney.

im just like you, INTELLIGENT. people don’t think half the time!

OK, so how many people who are bemoaning this case, have actually taken the time to read the “new motion” link above, which takes you to a pdf detailing the case.*

Some choice quotes which I think some people are either unaware of, or (astonishingly) believe represents satisfactory build quality:

Firstly:

“The Xbox 360 is defectively designed because when an Xbox 360 is tilted or swiveled – even slightly – while a game disc is in the ODD, ODD components can contact the game disc, creating a distinctive circular “gouge” on the underside of the disc, rendering it permanently unplayable.”

Key phrase there – “even slightly”. This would indicate that a slight knock or movement of the system is liable to do the damage.

If it was the case that only a complete movement of the 360 from vertical to horizontal position would cause the damage, then the case would have no merit, but that isn’t the case.

Any item designed for home use should surely conform to reasonable expectations of robustness. It’s not going to be a common scenario that a pet, a person, a child, an overly enthusiastic tug on the wired controller causes the 360 to move, but under normal daily life, these things can happen, and when viewed in the context of an item that is in millions of homes, it’s unjustifiable that MS knowingly shipped 360 in this state.

It is also reported that MS have received 55,000 complaints regarding this problem. That’s not band wagon jumpers who are looking to make a quick buck, that’s gamers who have had their game junked by MS’s sloppy design. No one would dispute that 55,000 is a small number in relation to the millions of 360′s sold, but is it an acceptable number? Of course not, not when people are losing games due to an inherently flawed product that MS is refusing to fix, despite their own engineers finding a fix which costs as little as 50 cents per console! Is anyone still looking to defend this action as frivolous.. seriously?

The case here is simple, is it reasonable that such an occurrence (however rare) should result in a game disc being scratched beyond usability, without any responsibility on MS’s part. The answer (as the prosecution will argue) is no, because:

“Although these consumer-operated CDs and DVDs are routinely subjected to tilting and movement while operating, none of the media played in these consumer products have experienced widespread disc-scratching problems. Indeed (with the conspicuous exception of Microsoft, industry engineers have long anticipated this problem and have learned to provide simple, inexpensive and obvious measures to protect optical discs in consumer applications while the ODD is in use and the disc is spinning. As a result, there is a reasonable consumer expectation that consumer products with ODDs will not cause media discs to be scratched even when the products are tilted, vibrated, or slightly rotated in the course of every day use.”

It’s simply not a durable enough product for home use, and the fact that a 50 cent piece of rubber could have solved the problem, means that this is nothing but penny pinching at the expense of the consumer.

Oh, and regarding the warning sticker placed on the 360′s:

“At some point following launch of the Xbox 360, Microsoft began adhering a sticker to the front of the ODD tray advising users in English, French and Spanish, “[d]o not move console with disc in tray.” Park.

Further, because the “warning” sticker must be removed in order to load a disc into the Xbox 360 ODD the first time it is operated, consumers likely forget the warning shortly after removing it, if they ever read it at all. Given the seriousness of the damage that may result from movement of the Xbox 360 and the unlikelihood that consumers would expect such a catastrophic result from normal use of any other ODD device, Microsoft’s decision not to adhere a permanent warning to the Xbox 360 is patently insufficient. Microsoft’s indifference to either fixing or warning of this defect has caused its customers millions of dollars in damage. Of course, Microsoft would not need any warning on the Xbox 360 if it had properly designed the ODD in the first place”

So to sum up, this isn’t the case of idiots ignoring the warnings and playing shot put with their 360′s while the disc is in use. This is a case of MS – yet again – ignoring a design flaw that it’s own engineers warned them about, are refusing to fix the problem (whilst happily charging consumers for equally deficient replacement drives) and now that a number of pissed off consumers are crying foul over being sold a defective product, consumers who have been lucky enough to not be effected by this fault are slinging mud at them!

Don’t get me wrong, I think the, “I’ll sue McDonalds for making me fat” crowd are only one step up from patent trolls in the legal cesspit of modern day America, but no way is this case without merit, and seriously, more fool anyone for cheering MS’s corner on this one, because the more ground gamers give them for their constant incompetence and penny pinching design ethic, the more other hardware manufacturers are going to exploit that.

*The answer, “I have a life so couldn’t be arsed”, is perfectly acceptable

TLDR

I liked the good old days when stupidity was answered with penalty, not reward.

(for the slow:
stupidity – mess with 360 when disk inside is spinning like a cat on crack in a toilet
penalty – scratches on disk
reward – money from suit)

“I liked the good old days when stupidity was answered with penalty, not reward.”

Me too:

(for the slow:
stupidity – nickle and dime your customers by building a machine which is prone to scratching discs.

penalty – consumers who have their games damaged file suit against you.

reward – complete nutters who have been lucky enough not to experience the problem themselves, rush to your defence, and decry those gamers who have had their discs damaged through your neglect)

Seriously, would anybody care to read the details of the case, and then argue for the 360 being robust enough for general home use?

WHAT?!?! Are you KIDDING ME?!?! I mean seriously I can not BELIEVE that there are people that are actualy taking Microsoft’s side in this matter. They HAVE TO be joking, that or they must like getting raped in the butt because that is what Microsoft is doing to us as consumers. Hell, I’ll even go as far as to say that this is not a “design flaw” but an intentional design. I mean realy how stupid do they think we are? This was TOTALY done on purpose to boost video game sales even if only slightly. After all Microsoft makes money on every Xbox 360 game sold. One more game sold because it had to be purchased by a consumer to replase a damaged game disc couldn’t hurt, right? As for me, I was personaly affected by this and it wasn’t even my fault. I was playing Madden NFL 2010, I bought it on release day and had only owned it for like 3 weeks when my girlfriend walks in and slides my Xbox 360 over to place something on the table were my console was and completely ruined my game. I FLIPPED! I was SO angry, but of course she didn’t know any better she’s not into video games. She apologized but made the argument that, that was a stupid design and she was right (although I didn’t tell her that because I was furious at the moment). So out I went to purchase another Madden NFL 2010 and felt so cheated and robbed by Microsoft. I mean what if some kid damages his disc becasue he wasn’t careful, we all know children aren’t the most cautious beings on the planet. That means their parents just wasted their money while Microsoft enjoys another game sale. Now that’s a hustle.

FFS guys get over it big time.
PS3 hacked and MS selling shit loads of 360,s.

Point been both have screwed up one way or the other over the last 5 years.
I reckon the problem is still the Sony superiority complex.
Might sound stupid but think about it.

Not from Sony but the fan base.
I mean how can this piece of crap challenge the cell.
wtf tilts there console mid game?
Morons looking for attention.
So I am playing gow and decide to pick up console.
ffs is this the Sun version of gaming news?
I give up.

Necroing a 3 year old topic?