| TOTAL
RECALL
Fortunate news for owners of the XBox 360,
this week, as Microsoft, possibly seeing the class action lawsuit on the
wall, announced that it will be extending the warranty to three years, at
long last acknowledging serious design flaws that have made anywhere from
5 to 30 percent of the previously-sold consoles ticking timebombs of
brickification.
Microsoft has stated that this new policy is
going to cost them in excess of... ONE BILLION DOLLARS, a staggering sum,
made all the moreso with the realization that Microsoft would never have
initiated the policy if they didn't stand to lose substantially more than
that via the status quo.
Motivations aside, it's a good move, though
you can always count on the XBox's public face, Peter Moore, to put an
irritatingly self-righteous spin on the whole thing. Here's a quote from
the
Kotaku
interview -- "You worry about (the backlash from the red light issue).
I worry about that, but when we look at our consumers we are almost 90 percent
customer satisfaction on the console. As hard as it is to read those letters
that say they've had one, two, three break, they also always say 'Can you
get my Xbox 360 back to me as soon as possible.'"
I shouldn't have to point this out, and quite
likely Peter Moore's salary is such that he really doesn't consider these
things any more, but of COURSE people want their 360s back as soon as possible
-- they paid HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS for them. For many of the teenaged customers,
the XBox 360 is very likely their biggest life purchase to date, and to have
it flitting around in the postal ether, not knowing if they're gonna lose
all their data in a hardware switch, not knowing if the darned thing's gonna
be filched or pulverized on the trip home, that's angst on the level of asking
a girl to junior prom. Yes, Peter Moore -- they want their four hundred dollar
console back. If you're legitimately in awe of this, you're a moron.
That said -- the interview also included the
simple declaration, "We haven't been doing a good job," and that's honest
and straightforward enough for my tastes.
In other news, the PS3 is apparently -- probably
-- going to be seeing a one-hundred-dollar price cut, making it STILL too
expensive, but a good start as price cuts go.
The rumblings of E3 in the distance have begun...
| Norm's Link-o-th'-Moment: |
| Drew's Script-O-Rama |
| Home of the original, better
"Day of the Dead" script! |
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