Man sues MS for faulty Xbox 360

C

creepindeth04

Moderator
Some more ridiculous news in the world of gaming. Electronics dont always work and MS is willing to replace any "faulty" Xbox. I expect this case to get thrown out.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A Chicago man who bought Microsoft Corp.'s (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) 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.

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.

Console owners reported that some systems had crashed during regular use as well as during online game play using the Xbox Live service. Problems included screens going black and the appearance of a variety of error messages.

At the time, a Microsoft spokeswoman told Reuters: "We have received a few isolated reports of consoles not working as expected."

She declined to say how many reports Microsoft had received and said that calls reporting the issue to the company represented a "very, very small fraction" of units sold.

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.

Microsoft representatives were not immediately available for comment on Monday.
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Source: http://today.reuters.com/news/NewsArticle.aspx?type=technologyNews&storyID=2005-12-05T183631Z_01_ARM566955_RTRUKOC_0_US-MEDIA-XBOX.xml
 
class action, eh? you know... they have to have a lot of people in the mix to do class action lawsuits, no? Also, I thought they couldn't be done (or considered serious / able to have an effect) unless the company is not taking care of the situation (in the situation, Microsoft seems to be taking care of business).

I wonder if the problem is larger than we see.... maybe this is just another frivolous lawsuit....
I wouldn't sue if they would replace the defective system... I cannot imagine how he could do that... BUT if the system does have design flaws, hopefully MS will address them quickly.

Bv :hat
 
"Do you swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth Mr. Byer?

"NO! I WANT MY XBOX 360 NOWW!!!!" *throws a fit and cries*!!!

*Mircosoft hands him a new diaper and a bottle*

Now get in line buck-o with the rest of whiners......and my question is to you...where were you when Xbox came out during Nov 18th, 2001? Did you know that this system had the same problem too? or yet similar issues? Or did you think ATARI still made video game systems?
 
Yeap, Ghouls N Ghosts is right on. Remember the stories of Xbox's smoking!? :lol Pretty sad too considering alot of people spent the full $300 only to get a faulty Thomson disk drive. And now, a few years later you can pick up an xbox for half that and get one with a really nice, quality, disk drive. If that was not a lesson to be learned from I don't know what is. Nintendo's system had the least problems, I would attribute that to Nintendo's overall quality and maybe because it was a top loader. But that's another topic alone and we've been there to much. Anyhow, I am hearing more and more complaints about the 360 day after day. What can ya' do but just let out a big sigh of dissapointment? ::)
 
they have to have a lot of people in the mix to do class action lawsuits, no?
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No. I'm no lawyer but I think "class action" just means more than one person. If I'm not mistaken I heard about a class action lawsuit that involved 25 people once, and I assume it could be even less than that. Wasn't there someone on these boards who was a lawyer? Novafox or something like that, maybe she'd know...

In any case they'll never win. 1) they have no case, and if they do then every electronics manufacturer is going to lose their business. And 2) its Microsoft, one of the most poweful and wealthy companies in the world, if not the most powerful and wealthy, do you really think they're going to lose a court battle?
 
stealth toilet said:
In any case they'll never win. 1) they have no case, and if they do then every electronics manufacturer is going to lose their business. And 2) its Microsoft, one of the most poweful and wealthy companies in the world, if not the most powerful and wealthy, do you really think they're going to lose a court battle?
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It sucks when you go against a big company because if you do actually have a case and they know it then they try to settle out of court. They take the easy way out.
 
It sucks when you go against a big company because if you do actually have a case and they know it then they try to settle out of court. They take the easy way out.
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The reasoning behind that is that the guy probably would've gotten money either way, so they settle fast with no hassle by just giving the guy a wad of dough.
 
Nova said:
The reasoning behind that is that the guy probably would've gotten money either way, so they settle fast with no hassle by just giving the guy a wad of dough.
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That was my point. Also because if they win the company would actually have to give the amount that the person wanted, so when they settle out of court it is usually for a lot less.
 
If it actually goes through, I'm betting that Microsoft would just end it on a settlement for a lot less money than what the guy's asking for.
 
Well, I heard there were thousands of faulty 360s. I may be wrong, but I heard numerous reports of several things being wrong with it. One thing I heard was the power supply could blow up, or the system could dig gouges into the disk, or heated up horribly, or made a ton of noise. I don't know. I don't have any solid proof (cuz things like that would get rid of business).
 
NOTHING on the 360 can blow up. It is impossible. By the way the 360 makes about as much noise as a computer, but why would anyone want to play it with the sound that low?
 
In case you haven't read my "thoery", the Xbox 360 is a computer, just modified to play games. Hence, the similiarities.

I doubt that the man with the lawsuit really cared about the Xbox 360 gameplay, but was more than likely trying to get some money off of a slight flaw in the system. There are people who do that, you know.
 
That was my point. Also because if they win the company would actually have to give the amount that the person wanted, so when they settle out of court it is usually for a lot less.
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Well, for one thing, they wouldn't win in court for the reasons I mentioned above. Microsoft wouldn't settle out court because of the fear of losing, they would settle out of court to deal with it quickly, hassle-free, and to stop getting bad press about. Besides, like I said before, they got no case. Yes there are flawed systems (every product that is made has a couple defected ones coming off the assembly line, let alone something as complicated as a console) but they're in the vast minority. Everyone's just jumping on it as a chance to say that Microsoft is up to its old tricks again, and that the 360 is as glitchy as windows...
 
stealth toilet said:
Well, for one thing, they wouldn't win in court for the reasons I mentioned above. Microsoft wouldn't settle out court because of the fear of losing, they would settle out of court to deal with it quickly, hassle-free, and to stop getting bad press about. Besides, like I said before, they got no case. Yes there are flawed systems (every product that is made has a couple defected ones coming off the assembly line, let alone something as complicated as a console) but they're in the vast minority. Everyone's just jumping on it as a chance to say that Microsoft is up to its old tricks again, and that the 360 is as glitchy as windows...
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I agree that this is just a person trying to make a quick buck, but if the person had a solid case then there is a chance that MS could lose. They would try there hardest to settle out of court for the reasons you mentioned and the ones that I did also.
 
That's true, but, I also have a general belief that the judicial system isn't what it should be. :lol

If worse came to worse Msoft could just "buy" some "justice" in court and set a precedent for all future cases.
 
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