[fsphiladelphia]

I'm contemplating purchasing an xbox 360.  Are there still issues I need to be concerned about re: the 3 red lights/overheating, or the disc-scratching?

[Inquisitor]

Dunno about the new Xbox's, but the ones that did fail, ahve in my personal experience, been quickly replaced by MS. I even know some people who have not had theirs fail. Your mileage may vary.

Yes, the 360 will still scratch discs if you have it vertical and move it around. Everyone I know has theirs horizontal. Mine was vertical for abotu a month and never had a problem, but I never moved it with a disk in the drive.

[Fineus]

I can speak from experience of how it works in the UK, I'm not sure if this applies in other countries at least.

Microsoft ships all 360s with a one year warranty. If they fail you can get them replaced. If you buy a 360 through Game stores you can take an extended warranty for 2, 3 or (I think) 4 years so if they go wrong during that period and it's a fault with the console (you hitting it with a hammer clearly won't count) then the console will still be replaced even after the 1 year warranty from MS is up.

On top of this, the current Gen. of 360s has undergone a lot of bug fixing since the first one. Instances of problems are radically reduced.

[fsphiladelphia]

So, if I buy one of these things, and keep it horizontal, It shouldn't scratch discs -- and if I end up with one of the dreaded overheating issues, they will replace it or repair it, free of charge, correct?

[achtung]

So, if I buy one of these things, and keep it horizontal, It shouldn't scratch discs -- and if I end up with one of the dreaded overheating issues, they will replace it or repair it, free of charge, correct?

Yes and yes.

I've had one for about four or five months now with no issues whatsoever.

[Yathin]

With a 30% failiure rate (Yes, 30%) I wouldn't get it.

[fsphiladelphia]

With a 30% failiure rate (Yes, 30%) I wouldn't get it.

It is my understanding that the newer ones have most of the issues resolved.

[Mefustae]

I have one of the first batch, and it's about a year and a half old. No problems whatsoever. Lots of fun, though.

Regardless, as others have said, there's a warranty and MS customer service is pretty top-notch in this instance. Reliability is nothing to be concerned with when contemplating purchase. Just think about when the amount of fun you'll undoubtedly have will be equal or greater to the amount of work you'll have to do to earn enough scratch to buy it.

[Nuke]

With a 30% failiure rate (Yes, 30%) I wouldn't get it.

that article misses the fact that of tech companies dont repair the actual item that is returned to them. its common practice to stick the broken units in a repair queue, refurbish them, and send them back out to the customers in the order in which the repairs were recieved. otherwise the time it would take would be much longer, and less consistant.

some units are repairable, others are not and get used as parts to fix other units. sometimes the fix is a simple software one. all the refurbished units that are sent out are all tested to be functional. so theres no reason for complaining about getting a different unit.

the repair ability of modern electronics is very slim, since of the electronic components were never meant for human soldering. its possible, but takes a skilled solderer. theese days its just board swapping. disconnect the bad part and replace with a good one.

[General Battuta]

I've had one for a year and a half now.

No major technical issues whatsoever. It's been great. Easily payed for itself by now in terms of entertainment.

[CP5670]

My brother's 360 apparently failed again last week (second time since he's had it). I don't know what the problem was but he said something about wrapping a towel around it to make it work for brief periods.

[achtung]

My brother's 360 apparently failed again last week (second time since he's had it). I don't know what the problem was but he said something about wrapping a towel around it to make it work for brief periods.

Not sure the 360 is the problem in your brother's case. 

[CP5670]

Putting "360 towel" in google suggests that this is a well known remedy. The only effect I can think of is a temperature increase, maybe to fix some dodgy transistor that doesn't operate properly below a certain temperature. My current motherboard has a minor issue like that.

[fsphiladelphia]

Well I knew that MS had addressed at least the overheating issue, so I did a little research and found this:

http://loot-ninja.com/2007/12/18/how-to-spot-a-xbox-360-with-a-falcon-chip-and-why-you-should/

Based on the info in that article, I was sufficiently confident that if I was able to find such a unit, reliability would be less of a consideration.  So, I took the plunge and am now a new Xbox 360 owner.

I also purchased Mass Effect.  Next, Rock Band.

[NGTM-1R]

My 360 fried itself after working flawlessly for a year and a half. Right when I got Mass Effect, the first time I put it in. No, I'm not joking.

Fortunately, still under warranty.

[Mefustae]

My 360 fried itself after working flawlessly for a year and a half. Right when I got Mass Effect, the first time I put it in. No, I'm not joking.

"Finally! Time to go save the universe and teach alien women how to lov- ****!!"

[fsphiladelphia]

Well, so far, Mass Effect seems interesting.  Not sure what is going on and the control scheme seems a little convoluted, but I am sure I'll figure all of it out eventually.

[freespacegundam]

It only gets better, trust me 

[General Battuta]

FOR GOD'S SAKE SELL ALL THE ITEMS YOU'RE NOT USING.

The inventory system can get to be a real mess if you don't keep it tidy.

[fsphiladelphia]

I'm pretty sure that purchasing xbox/mass effect today was a huge error -- this game already officially owns me, big time.  I am still figuring out stuff like how to use the items I have, etc. but I mean, just wandering around the citadel, talking to people -- the whole conversation system -- this game is amazing.

I can only imagine what it looks like in HD.