Red and Green Lights Don’t Always Mean Merry Christmas

I’m trying to think of just one of my Xbox Live friends who hasn’t had at least one 360 succumb to the Red Ring of Death. Each name I think of had at least one console die, another had FIVE RRoD replacements, another SIX! As in, your first console goes RRoD, so you contact Microsoft, who sends you a coffin, into which you place your deceased console to return to them, at which point you wait for anywhere from a couple of weeks, to several weeks, to way too many weeks, until a replacement arrives. You use that for a short time and it goes RRoD, so you contact Microsoft, who sends you a coffin… TIMES SIX.

My original 360 console finally gave up the ghost after two years of being a survivor, and in my closest circle of just over 20 XBL friends, mine was the last man standing. Everyone else has already sent at least one console back. Did I mention the guy on his sixth? I did? Okay.

Microsoft won’t say what exactly causes the RRoD, though in the media this situation is generally believed to be related to a flawed design of the heat dispersion for the machine’s CPU. That Microsoft acknowledged a problem and extended its warranty coverage to three years is a good thing. The time it takes to complete the repair, and the number of times some customers have to go through the same failure-related process is bad, almost as bad as that fact that the console has such a flaw in it to begin with. MS is currently offering as compensation for down time caused by the RRoD defect one month of Live, a $4 value! But this is really just a reimbursement for the month of XBL you lose when your console is away, rather than a ‘we’re sorry’ gesture.

Of course they aren’t saying how many people have had their 360s go RRoD, but based on our group’s experience, it is a lot. I’m amazed that no one has filed a class action suit after two years of this. MS has clearly released a flawed product in their race to beat Sony’s PS3 to market and gain market share. The strategy seems to have worked, although it’s a bit hard to say if it isn’t the PS3’s higher price and relatively weak game selection that is helping Microsoft against Sony. (The Nintendo Wii, of course, is crushing everyone.)

It’s Xbox 360 customers who are paying the price for beating Sony to market. But Microsoft is in an unusual position that might protect them from a class action suit. When my 360 died the other day, I wondered if I should do anything beyond beginning the repair process that so many of my friends have endured. Would I even join a class action suit against Microsoft if one were announced?

I’m not sure I would, because like many of my friends, I suspect, I wouldn’t see that in my best interest. Sure, I might get a small check, my tiny piece of a settlement. But would I be better off in the long run if Microsoft took the hit of such a suit? I doubt it.

The reason is simple. My 360 is much more than a video game console. It’s a way I keep in touch and interact with some people who have become very close friends. They live around the world, and getting together to play video games is the main way I interact with them. I know their names, I know phone numbers and addresses and names of family members, I’ve met some face to face and some have even come to stay at my house. Just a moment ago I noticed that a friend in England was online, which meant that he’d just returned from a long trip. I logged into Live and invited him to chat, then talked to him for twenty minutes. Sure, I could’ve called him on the phone, for .xx cents per minute, if I’d known he was awake at 1:30 in the morning and I didn’t mind waking his wife and kids up. But seeing him on Live made it easy and cheap to catch up.

Xbox Live was what brought us all together in the first place, and I don’t want to lose that connection. I want Live to flourish, and I want my frickin’ 360 to work so that I can continue to meet up with my XBL friends for Friday night fun or talk to someone across the globe when I see him online. To me, the games are fun, but the social element of my XBL experience goes way beyond that. I think many others are in the same situation, which is why it hurts so much when we see those red lights.

Now I’m just hoping the repair will be quick and permanent. I don’t want to be writing about my second, third fourth, five, sixth, or dare I say it, seventh RRoD repair.