Everyone knows that the Xbox 360 isn’t the most reliable console around, and in fact has been the one that saw most returns to the manufacturer due to the “Red Ring of Death” phenomenon. Microsoft isn’t going to take this mistake lying down though, and will respond to complaints as well as research into just why the Xbox 360 is currently experiencing such a high failure rate. It seems that Xbox 360 owners can now contact Microsoft for a free replacement for up to 3 years from the day they purchased their consoles. Gamers in the past who have had to fork out their own money for repairs after the initial 1-year warranty can also seek for refunds according to Microsoft.

According to most people, this hardware failure is most probably the result of an inadequate cooling system that is included in the current 90-nanometer CPU and GPU chips, where certain cases show that these have overheated to a point where the chips themselves pop right out of their sockets! Those who received repaired systems noticed that extra cooling does help in the long run, and with the release of cooler 65nm chips later this year, you ought to see a much lower return rate. Microsoft estimates that this exercise will cost them up to $1 billion.

Microsoft’s Xbox division executive Peter Moore mentioned that “good service and a good customer experience are areas of the business that we care deeply about. And frankly, we’ve not been doing a good enough job.” Kudos, Peter! I must say that the Xbox 360 has one of the best libraries around at this point of time, but if only it was more reliable. Perhaps the Germans could come up with a console of their own and we’ll be able to enjoy trouble free gaming for many years to come. Hmm, that sounds like the original NES that came out in the 80s and required minimal maintenance.

Source: Electronista

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