Paul will find heart in this one... Options

[james]

Paul was telling us the other night that he's now on his 3rd 360 due to them failing - this article reports anecdotal evidence that the failure rate is 30% ish. Wow.

[michael]

At least they've put their hands up and are dipping into their own expansive pockets to do something about it. Cast your mind back to when they dropped the price of the V.1 Xbox by £100 and re-imbursed early adopters with an extra controller and two free games. These actions are unheard of from the other major players in the industry. It wasn't that long ago that we were advising customers to not stand their PS2 vertically for fear of scoring discs, something Sony never admitted actually happened. A faulty Microsoft console, prior to this issue, is exchanged in the store, a Sony unit (even the PSP) has to be booked in and sent away for repair. The sales reps from the Xbox UK team visit our store at least once a month to check up on stock levels, give info on upcoming releases and generally see how we're getting on. There are no PS3-specific grond troops and if they are, they must be hiding in a bunker somewhere. I wanted to know about the compatibilty and availabilty of the Blu-Ray remote for a punter last week and there is no support whatsoever. There are rumours of a PS3 price-drop, but they are just that, and I can be pretty sure that if it does go through there won't be a promotion for existing owners. Speaking of exisitng owners, what's the point of bundling a Blu-Ray movie (Casino Royale, by redemption) if the machine is not supplied with a HDMI cable?
Even if the failure rate is 30%, if it's in the first year warranty you walk in and walk out with a new one. If it's under a product support policy, the unit is written off and you recieve vouchers to come in and get a new one. If your PS3 fails in the warranty, you have to send it to Sony, we can't take it on your behalf and they won't even speak to us (trust me, I've tried).
They ain't perfect, and three dud consoles is a year is harsh, but at least MS are working hard to get us all back gaming in hours, rather than weeks.

There, I'm done. Flame away...