“A Chicago man who bought Microsoft Corp.’s new Xbox 360 has sued the world’s largest software maker, saying the new video game console has a design flaw that causes it to overheat and freeze up,” Reuters reports. “The proposed class action claims that in Microsoft’s bid to gain share in the $25 billion global video game market, the company was so intent on releasing the Xbox 360 before competing next-generation machines from Sony Corp. and Nintendo Co Ltd. that it sold a ‘defectively designed’ product.”
“Robert Byers, who brought the suit, said the power supply and central processing unit in the Xbox 360 overheat, affecting heat-sensitive chips and causing the console to lock up… Complaints about the problem surfaced quickly on gaming enthusiast Web sites after the Xbox 360 debuted on November 22,” Reuters reports. “The lawsuit, filed on Friday in federal court in Illinois, seeks unspecified damages and litigation-related expenses, as well as the replacement or recall of Xbox 360 game consoles.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews readers “pathare,” “Fred Mertz,” and “Sailfish” for the heads ups.]
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Aw, that’s too bad for Microsoft, isn’t it? 
They should’ve put “may constantly freeze-up and or overheat” in the Xbox 360 EULA. Hey, a similar tactic works to protect Microsoft from Windows’ flaws, doesn’t it?
Wait! What’s that? Ah, the glorious schadenfreude washes over us in ever-increasing waves with no end in sight!
[Note: Epicaricacy should generally be avoided unless the misfortune is Microsoft’s, of course. So absolved, revel with us!]
Now, if only Sony would pull its collective head out of its orifice, we could recommend waiting for the PlayStation 3. Alas, the Sony boycott continues. As it is, check out what’s known about the Nintendo Revolution, coming April 2006-ish, maybe?
Related articles:
Microsoft’s Xbox 360 suffers from confused launch, lack of original games – November 28, 2005
UK woman narrowly survives Xbox fire; users report Xbox 360 ‘crashing like mad’ – November 23, 2005
Andy C.
There’s a reason they call it the “MDN Magic Word!”
I am sure someone will figure out a way to make it overheat and strap a bomb to it. Nice one Microsoft: XBox 360° – terrorist platform
Got to hand it to Microsoft, they have found a way to freeze and heat at the same time, perhaps they should approach the air conditioning market, dont think any company has managed to do heat and cool simultaneously
“The first time Microsoft produces something that doesn’t suck will be when they start making vacuum cleaners.” – MacDailyNews
http://www.variousandsundry.com/?p=1636
Mark,
One of my favorite all-time MDN quotes also mentioning a vacuum:
“IDC analyst Roger Kay is as clueless as usual. If Kay and Rob Enderle ever locked vacant eyes, the resulting vacuum would destroy the universe.” – MacDailyNews Take, April 29. 2005 (link)
Mark,
I got the T-shirt. It causes comments. I wore it to the company picnic and the IT guys got more than a little pissed:
http://www.cafepress.com/macdailynews.3251125
hairbo,
Who said the guy is a conservative? Filing whiney lawsuits because someone feels people can’t think for themselves is a very liberal concept. Anyone who buys version 1.0 of any product, without waiting for the real-world reviews or the inevitable 0.1-level “running changes”, deserves what they get.
If MS can sell something as defective as Windows and not get sued out of business, they can sell anything. Besides, if the xBox 360 is that bad, return it. PS3 will be out soon enough.
[I]Enough of the stupid lawsuits. If you don’t want the defective P.O.S., just return it to the store and get your money back. Why does everyone have to sue for every little thing? No wonder Bob Lablaw makes so much money. Geez, enough already…[/I]
Of course, SJR is absolutely correct – except he’s also wrong.
The problem with products like Xbox or, to a lesser extent, iPod is that your investment as a consumer is not simply limited to the core product: if you’ve purchased the 360, you may have disposed of your PS2 or your original Xbox and you may have disposed of your games and your peripherals (of course, this is only true if you’re not my business partner who appears to be slowly building an inventory of every form of games console with an equally mind-numbing array of games for each). And you may have also invested in third-party peripherals and a new games inventory.
So now you’ve taken a triple-whammy: purchased a new console, disposed of old assets (potentially before they would be considered to fully depreciated) and purchased an extended ecosystem for your new console. Which means that simply taking your Xbox back to Best Buy or wherever for a refund isn’t going to get you back to where you were either financially or materially.
iPod customers may also suffer the same problem if they’ve sold a previous generation iPod, invested in iTMS content and purchased additional third-party accessories which are not faulty or defective [I]per se[/I], but are functionally useless if the iPod does not perform as advertised.
So whilst SJR is correct and people should not resort to litigation unless they have suffered real injury, the reality is now so much more complicated when you’re trying to unpick a family of transactions that can encompass several retailers and manufacturers, many of whom will simply say that they have no connection to Microsoft/Apple/Sony/insert name of master supplier here and there is no defect with the product that they have supplied.
I’m not saying it’s right – but it is a reality.
As I read it, the guy is suing because the maching overheats and then freezes up. It’s not a an issue of safety, it’s that some sorry sack can’t play a freakin’ video game. As I mentioned, I do feel that class-action lawsuits have a place. If the game was flaming on, perhaps that would be a better place to see the class action lawsuit.
I’m pretty sure that the “scratches” suit was engineered secretly by Microsoft, to try to derail the momentum of the iPod. (Didn’t exactly work, it would seem so far.)
I’m sure there are all kind of corporate evil schemes such as that.
I bet Apple caught wind of that, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this suit was counter-engineered by Apple to derail the momentum of the Xbox 360.
The reason people sue for damages so readily in the United States is because of a lack (or depth) of protective legislation. If statute legislation had a better coverage then people wouldn’t resort to lawyers and suit under (general) common law.
When legislators attempt to extend statute law to any extent they are branded as liberals…a fate worse than death in America but a compliment in many other countries. If there is no coverage under statute law then they people will fall back on pre-existing common law.
If you extend protective legislation and limit by law the amount and grounds for making claims then such claims will decline. Through legislation you empower an independent government authority to become a primary conciliator and a secondary prosecutor. End of problem.
Such litigation will never completely disappear because you can’t legislate for everything. However, the attitude of lawyers is a response to a lack of, or depth in legislation, not a cause.
My father a US vet. used to have a saying, “People get the government they deserve”. If you don’t like the situation then perhaps you should all vote and elect politicians who have policies to introduce laws or extend existing laws.
oh for xmas sake, scratches, defects, microsoft, apple…. i use both and both have ‘teh suck’ factor.
like i’ve already gone through two freakin iPod videos because they have really crummy battery life (music only). i’m getting less than 6 hours on them and all i’m doing is listening on headphones. talk about pathetic. 20 hours? hahah. what a joke
Mumbo Jumbo lawsuits
Let’s see…heat probs, supply probs, dang… what sort of chips are in these things anyway? Ibm, everyone that signs on with you ends up with hegg on their face… At least the Nano scratch ninnies have something to really b*t*h about now.
Peace
I want an Xbox 360 for Xmas. I’m going to place the power supply in rags soaked with lighter fluid. It will make an awesome video that I can play over and over on my new iPod.
May not apply in this case, but if US law said that loser pays in lawsuits, that would put an end to most of the silly lawsuits.
Seriously, whenever a new product comes out, someone should jsut automatically file a lawsuit because, well there WILL be one.
Hammer,
Your idea is good in theory but would not work. Here’s an example:
A few years back, Microsoft was being sued by a guy that owned the name Internet Explorer. He had a legit product that he had been producing for years. When MS came out with Microsoft Internet Explorer, he told them that he owned the name, and he asked them to change the name. They refused and said “Sue us.”
He sued. They kept up in court and kept going with appeal after appeal. They ran him out of business by keeping it in the courts. He went bankrupt and Microsoft skated away with no cost. They may have paid him a paltry sum for the name, I think.
Now, imagine that he had the additional burden of having to pay Microsoft’s court fees. Part way through the lawsuit, Microsoft would visit him and say “our attorney fees are already into the millions. If you lose, you owe all of those fees.” They (and others) could literally and legally blackmail the person into dropping the suit – even if they are in the right – because of the fear that they might lose.
I don’t think that’s the answer to our legal woes. There is no easy answer.
Does the little guy even know that these big gun corporations have way better lawyers than the one on his corner. Microsoft, DELL and Apple will definitly eat this guy for breakfast.
What is it with you Yankie doodle dandy’s and law suits?
Someone looks sideways at you and you sue them. Settle down and relax!
Just take the stupid thing back and get a refund and realise what a wanker you were in the first place for buying M$.
“Didn’t MDN get all over the guy who sued Apple for scratches on the Nano– and now we’re supposed to gleefully cheer at Microsoft’s pending court fracas? Ummm, yeah…. double standard?!? Microsoft having a bad day makes me as happy as the next guy, but let’s be fair here… unless Microsoft refused to replace or refund defective units, this lawsuit is nothing more than an opportunist jumping on an opportunity. If it overheats, sparks, and sets fire to you and your cat, that’s one thing; but suing because you have to re-package your XBox and take it back to Best Buy is just stretching consumer victimhood a little too far.”
Something scratching and something not working properly is two different things. Suing because something scratches? That is ridiculous, should I be able to sue GM for the scratches on my truck. Besides didn’t one catch FIRE in some woman’s home in the UK?
People have this double standard because people absolutely HATE M$. And that, just like rushing out the NaziBox for the holidays is just as much their fault.
It is a silly lawsuit. If the console crashed frequently he could have taken it back to the store and gotten a refund. It is not like there are no games to play on competing consoles over the holidays.
This lawsuit is ridiculously stupid. Just return the unit and get your money back. No need to be sue-happy over this.
It crashes. It’s a Microsoft product. What the heck were you thinking on buying a brand new first-run XBox anyway?
PS2 had problems as well. Get over it. Move on.