Is Microsoft's New Xbox 360 a Bust?

Nov. 23, 2005 — -- Launch day has come and gone and now tens of thousands of gamers are huddled in front of the electric glow of their new Xbox 360 video games.

But despite all of the hype, the midnight openings, and the long lines of ravenous fans braving cold, wind and rain, one question now looms over Microsoft's powerful new video game system -- how well does it work?

"Mine crashes a lot while playing Project Gotham Racing 3 ... nice job M$ [Microsoft]," said one comment on the popular electronics blog Engadget.

Complaints about the unit overheating, crashing, locking up are among the issues appearing on blogs and forums around the Internet.

But is there really a widespread problem, or just the isolated frustrations of a very vocal minority?

Gamers' Complaints

Ask 16-year-old Matt Stapleton what he thinks about the Xbox 360 and Microsoft probably wouldn't like the answer.

"It's been one problem after another," he said.

When Stapleton's mother brought the system home on Tuesday, Matt said he was thrilled to be one of the first kids on the block to try it out.

"I was extremely excited about it and to go to school and tell everyone and see everyone's reaction," he said.

But after hours of trying to get the system to work, he became so frustrated he threw the machine's game controller across the room.

"I thought it was going to be good, but now I don't know," he said.

Stapleton's main problem was trying to connect to the much-touted Xbox Live service, which allows 360 owners to play with and against each other online.

But Xbox Live issues are just the tip of the virtual iceberg. On various Web sites, some Xbox 360 early adopters are complaining about all sorts of different technical problems.

"I've had two lockups (multiplayer COD2 [ the World War II simulation Call of Duty 2] or PDZ [the first-person shooter Perfect Dark Zero]) both on the first day I got it," read one comment.

"My kameo disk keeps being detected as a DVD instead of a game," wrote another frustrated gamer, referring to a new action-adventure game called Kameo: Elements of Power. "When it tried to play the disc as a DVD it gives an error that it is a 360 game. Make up your mind!"

Other wannabe players say the machine crashed as soon as they powered it up.

A Major Problem? Too Soon to Know, Says One Expert

Engadget editor Peter Rojas said he has three Xbox 360s, and also encountered problems connecting to Xbox Live. But he cautioned it's too early to know how big of a problem this really is.

"The question is, is this just a little thing that's only going to effect a small group of people, or is it really a systemic problem with the device itself?" he said.

Rojas said it's not uncommon for a new high-tech gadget to have some isolated problems out of the gate. So far he seems to think the Xbox 360's issues are pretty isolated.

"Even if it's a thousand people, it's a very small minority of people who actually bought these boxes," he said. "If you go back and look at the archives, the Playstation 2 had problems when it was released as well."

The recently released iPod Nano and Playstation Portable -- PSP -- also had highly publicized glitches when they were launched, but it turned out that only a small percentage of purchasers encountered them.

Microsoft Says Most Customers Are Satisfied

Despite testing and other quality control measures, Rojas believes there's no substitute for getting the product in the hands of the consumer.

"You can do lots of beta testing," he said, referring to the final stage of quality control for software and electronics. "But it's only once you have it out there in front of hundreds of thousands of people, that you're going to find out these little problems that are very hard to discover."

Rojas also said many of the Xbox 360s were sold to "hardcore" gamers who tend to be quite Internet savvy and very vocal in cyberspace.

It's a sentiment echoed by Xbox senior product manager Molly O'Donnell.

"The vast majority of Xbox 360 owners are having an outstanding experience with their new consoles," she said. "As you might expect, we're hearing some reports of consoles not working as expected. But the important thing to note here is that the call rate is well below what you'd expect for a consumer electronic product of this complexity."

O'Donnell added that Microsoft is prepared for the calls it has gotten and has plenty of stock to replace any units that need replacing.

"It's unfortunate and it's important that we get working consoles for those few people who are having problems," she said. "We want to get them playing and happy and buying games!"

To that end, O'Donnell said that anyone who is having trouble with their Xbox 360 should call the support line at 1-800-4-MY-XBOX. She said Microsoft will try to troubleshoot the issue over the phone and will replace parts or whole units as necessary.