Everybody in the western world has heard of Microsoft. Chances are you're reading this on a Windows operating system using Microsoft's Internet Explorer. They've been reliable and popular even if there were better specialist systems out there. But I think Mr. Gates and co are starting to lose thier touch, and nowhere is this more apparant than in any game store you may happen to visit.
You see, those white things lining the shelves at increasingly reduced prices are Microsoft's pride and joy: The Xbox 360 home games console. It reads 9GB DVDs, boasts an impressive games line-up, and Xbox Live is one of the most heavily used online services on the globe. But behind all the glitz and glamour of the press kit lies a problem that strikes at the very core of every unit sold: the machine.
The problem with microsoft is that they were so busy making sure their machine had the best software any gamer could ask for, they forgot to build the machine itself and ended up thowing it together as an afterthought a week before launch. The build quality deteriorates faster than a china plate being shot seeing as the whole thing is constructed out of paper maché. 16% of all warranties claimed are from the infamous red ring of death - and the vast majority of owners will need to use that warranty for one problem or another.
It says it all when a high profile demo machine at the Games Developers Conference conks out just as the keynote reaches the part about "No expense spared" with the hardware, and if you have the gall to buy one preowned your staring disaster in the face. I mean, maybe I'm old fasioned but games machines are supposed to load games for a while before they crash, right? I spoke to the guy at gamestation about exchanging my faulty unit, and the reply I got was so crisply rehearsed from repetitive usuage I had half a mind to give him a round of applause.
Whatreally boggles the mind is how people keep buying this console, and why people keep making games for it. I see any develoepr signing these days with microsoft as an act of desperation after all the companies who make things with plastic and wires like normal people turned them down.
So a final word of advice: Always look up for falling 360s, cause lord knows mine's going out the window.
Microsoft Construction Crew: 2/10
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