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EB Australia 360 recall

 
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 12:58 am    Post subject: EB Australia 360 recall Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

Something pretty much just came to light today, which thus far has been localised to most if not all branches of Electronics Boutique across Australia, causing them to basically dump the entire current stock of Xbox 360 Premiums because according to them, 1/3 didn't even boot up. On the various forums which have had this info it doesn't seem just localised however, so one needs to seriously wonder just what the hell.

Kotaku Article
PALGN Article
ITWire

This is, according to most sources a completely separate problem which revolves mostly around perhaps a botch HDD (Brings about error code 68). So while I know I'm not the only Aussie on here, don't get your consoles from EB right now if you're in Aus. :P

Otherwise, discuss just how it is possible that such a console can have so many supposed flaws, yet still sell so well and have so much of a determined backing? Surely this has gone past freak accidents?
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 1:26 am    Post subject: Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

When I worked at EB, I got more complaints about 360's than any other systems. Everyday I got them. There have been a few that didn't even work off the bat, and the majority of them broke within a month or two. I heard some numbers tossed around, often it was around 60% of the systems eventually had to be returned. Whether this is true or not, I don't know.
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 1:38 am    Post subject: Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

It's the same reason why the PS2 still sold and continued to sell when it first came out with it's own many flaws. It was the one system out at the moment and soon had the larger library of games. I mean I was an early PS2 adopter as do many hardcore gamers who owned the first Playstation. I went through two PS2 in less than 12 months. Luckily I had put the Gamestop insurance on both so had them replaced quite quickly. But I didn't stop using or even buy a second one (a new one and not a replacement for the first) for my own room. I did this knowing that there was a good chance it could break down.

Until the PS3 and/or the Wii can satisfy the hardcore gaming group's need for the games they want to play then they will continue to support the 360. Just like the past gen the 360 and the PS3 has switched sides in terms of success in the early going. The Xbox was the more powerful system when set next to the PS2 yet the PS2 was the one which sold the most and received the most exclusive support from third-party developers and publishers. All this despite the fact the PS2 had its own problems with console flaws.

Ezekiel wrote:
When I worked at EB, I got more complaints about 360's than any other systems. Everyday I got them. There have been a few that didn't even work off the bat, and the majority of them broke within a month or two. I heard some numbers tossed around, often it was around 60% of the systems eventually had to be returned. Whether this is true or not, I don't know.


I'm sure some stores had return rates as high as that, but I know for a fact that the Gamestop in Richmond, California had less than 10% return rate. I've had my 360 Pro since Day One and use it almost daily since I hooked it up. It's pretty much on 10 hours a day since my brother switched playing Final Fantasy Xi from the PS2 over to the 360. We've not had any problems with freeze-ups or the dreaded red-ring of death.
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 1:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

Tullaryx wrote:


I'm sure some stores had return rates as high as that, but I know for a fact that the Gamestop in Richmond, California had less than 10% return rate. I've had my 360 Pro since Day One and use it almost daily since I hooked it up. It's pretty much on 10 hours a day since my brother switched playing Final Fantasy Xi from the PS2 over to the 360. We've not had any problems with freeze-ups or the dreaded red-ring of death.



Of course, the figures we had were way different than others. A coincidence that we had such bad return rates. And a good point on the PS2. I am on my 5th PS2, and I am still completely loyal to the system. God, it had tons of problems, and would always die as soon as I got a good game.
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 4:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

Tullaryx wrote:
It's the same reason why the PS2 still sold and continued to sell when it first came out with it's own many flaws. It was the one system out at the moment and soon had the larger library of games. I mean I was an early PS2 adopter as do many hardcore gamers who owned the first Playstation. I went through two PS2 in less than 12 months. Luckily I had put the Gamestop insurance on both so had them replaced quite quickly. But I didn't stop using or even buy a second one (a new one and not a replacement for the first) for my own room. I did this knowing that there was a good chance it could break down.


Since you're not a PAL user there's something you're missing. Outside of this generation PAL regions, specifically Australia in this instance has received items, including consoles months apart from the release in the USA & Europe. In this instance, the PS2 was released in Aus November 30th (with a mid October release in the USA and a week later than Europe) and retailed on launch, for a basic system (Console + 1 controller) for $729. For the most part, in Australia Sony do not have any such hardware problems as experienced by those in the USA.

So for the most part, Sony's inability to produce a 'problem free' launch last gen is not an issue in Aus, the reason they don't sell here is simply because it costs $1k to buy and thus far it's not worth it. However, that's not the issue. The 360 continues to sell, in Aus, despite the flaws and the mass recalls. It can't simply be the game library, as if the console dies the games are useless and most launch titles here now have a PC release date as it is. There is something else inherent (perhaps lack of competition with the current PS3 price and Nintendo basically already having flooded the market) as to why they continue to sell here.

To highlight my point with the PS2, within my circle of friends (30 of them) all of them own a PS2 which was an original launch model here. Not one of us have had any problems with it. 5 of said mates own a 360, 4 of them have had problems with it and continue to do so. Yes, its not a market statistic, but generally we don't get shit as far as buggy consoles go.
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 9:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

Hey, what can I say. You guys seem to be running through quite the bad luck with your systems. I'll still be surprised if it ends up being 1/3 of all systems, if and when the information ever comes out (which I doubt will ever happen unless someone wants Microsoft's attorneys making prison time with said person's parts). But I think it's a forgone conclusion that the one bad thing that the 360 has had to suffer through has been systems red-ringing and having to be repaired or replaced.
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 10:42 am    Post subject: Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

Tullaryx wrote:
Hey, what can I say. You guys seem to be running through quite the bad luck with your systems. I'll still be surprised if it ends up being 1/3 of all systems, if and when the information ever comes out (which I doubt will ever happen unless someone wants Microsoft's attorneys making prison time with said person's parts). But I think it's a forgone conclusion that the one bad thing that the 360 has had to suffer through has been systems red-ringing and having to be repaired or replaced.


Systems no, system yes. The only company products to really get negative light in Aus has been Microsofts, as the xbox got its fair share of negative press due to its heating issue, surprising a problem that later repeated itself with the 360 in a way. For the most part, again, Nintendo and Sony don't receive negative press or have experienced a store pulling stock due to a wide fault.

I guess the answers I am looking for here are a basic, with all the problems experienced with the 360, and the lack of problems heard or experienced here from the Wii or PS3, was the 360 a rushed product, and will this bite MS in the ass in Aus for it's future ventures in the gaming market?

As I simply cannot see sustained sales growth for the 360 based purely on the library of games it has, in a market which has basically been problem free since the launch of the NES because of it's price point.
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 11:01 am    Post subject: Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

I don't see a market that is part of the APAC region deciding they won't carry any future Microsoft console products. Gamers by nature will buy a console that's new even if a past generation gave them problems. Those who won't buy a Microsoft console probably never bought the past versions to begin with. I'm sure there will be some negative feedback in the future that will cause certain number of people to not trust a future Microsoft console, but to say the whole region would feel the same way as you or those who have had a bad experience in this new generation is generalizing the whole group in the region.

As for the problem in Australia it could lie in the fact that it has less to do with Microsoft as a whole and more with the third-party firm they hired to manufacture the system for the region. The outsourcing of the manufacturing of the system has been the one weak point in Microsoft's strategy in the past two consoles. Where Sony and Nintendo have had decades of experience in hardware manufacturing Microsoft doesn't have much in that regard. Will this mean the next console in the Microsoft camp will be built in-house? I'm sure smart people in Microsoft are debating that issue right now.

If the 360 was rushed it has less to do with the design of the machine and more of --- as stated above --- contracting either the wrong firm to build the machines for them or not having enough QA staff to check the contracted manufacturing firms in how they build the machines. People seem to forget that Microsoft is a software company still and just starting to get into hardware.

While that shouldn't be used as a free pass for the problems people have been getting with their 360, on the business side of things it does help mitigate how the industry looks at Microsoft as a gaming business. Microsoft has been a boon to the industry and has forced Sony and Nintendo to actually do more than rest on their laurels knowing there's a company out there who has the means and ways to buy both firms if they were wont to do. And since Microsoft won't be buying either company any time soon this means they can put that money to good use in promoting their own product and, if need be (to a tune of 1.2 billion dollars), pay to fix things.

As for your assertion that no other console has had problems with their initial launches in Australia since the NES I would cast a cock-eyed glance at that comment. I would definitely need some simple facts to back up that claim. The PS and PS2 were not known for their flaw-free launches and I was there for both of them. Really the only consoles I never had a problem with were those which used cartridges in lieu of optical discs.
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 11:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

Quote:
ba·si·cal·ly (bā'sĭ-kə-lē, -klē) Pronunciation Key
adv.

1. In a basic way; fundamentally or essentially: Throughout the ordeal, he remained basically the same.
2. For the most part; chiefly: They basically do what they are supposed to.


Your grasp of the English language seems questionable if you cannot discern the difference between without incident and with minor incident through the use of one term.

As for my generalising, when a problem is introduced into a region, which as I stated before has relative ease with lack of problems with consoles, the problems are not contained to just 1 section of the region, they are contained to the entire region. Thus, if reports of a 33% failure rate of EB stock within Victoria, and speculation from residents that the problem is not just localised within EB stores, then one could expect similar numbers in other states, and thereby similar responses.

Yes it would be foolish for me to think that this would cause wide spread panic or lack of consumer confidence within the usually strong 360 crowd, which is why I don't think that. But one has to speculate and think that since the xbox had it's fair share of problems, the 360 continues to have problems, by whatever faults were made it's only going to hamper future sales prospects in Aus where before there was relative stability.
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