There are a few brilliant geniuses in this thread who said this price drop won't have the desired impact, which makes absolutely zero sense. A lower price is a lower price. Just because they're releasing a new 80GB PS3 for $600 (and doesn't it come with Motorstorm?) doesn't mean consumers are stupid enough to think the PS3 is "still $600." I mean, give the consumers SOME credit.

As of now, the PS3 has moved up to #1 on Amazon's top-selling list, and they've reported an overall 2800% increase in sales at the site. It's not surprising, either; many have been waiting for this. If people are willing to pay almost $500 for a Xbox 360 Elite - and they clearly are, based on the sales - than what exactly is stopping anyone from paying the same amount for the PS3? Well, so far, nothing.

It was around then just like it's around now. Kids will be kids.

But I think there's one major difference nowadays. Back then, the fanboys would be always be bragging about their favorite console; about the games it had, and in general, about why it was so great. It was rarely about bashing other systems, primarily because they knew next-to-nothing about them, and would sound stupid if they tried. Now, it seems to ONLY be about bashing and negativity. They're not fanboys; they're anti-fanboys. System Wars is full of "such-and-such sucks LAMLAMLAMLAMLAM" and rampant insane crap like that. And they don't care if they sound stupid these days, because if they weren't, they'd be in the minority.

In all honesty, I think the "wars" back then were more good-natured simply because it was based on positivity rather than negativity. These days, it's just too embarrassing for words.

This was big enough to make FOX news (10 p.m., TV last night). Theysaid that 2.5 million Xbox 360s have been reported defective.

...so yeah, MS really had to do something. That's horrendous.

I don't think people should be whining. At least MS is doing something, and everyone should agree it's something that needed to be done. The 360 was an absolute disaster in terms of reliability, regardless of how you want to twist the information and statistics around. Therefore, I expected something like this.

I don't particularly like the idea that this 3-year warranty is ONLY for users who have suffered through the "Red Ring of Death" system failure (is that outlined, here?) but hey, it's not really something to complain about. They faced a major issue, and they had to deal with it. MS isn't stupid, so of course, they found a way to deal with it. But to say this whole fiasco hasn't negatively impacted the 360's image would be insanely naive...bad word of mouth is difficult to get rid of quickly, but hopefully, this "making amends" move will help consumers wash that nasty taste out of their mouths.

Marcus, I'm going to nail you on your BS right here and now.

The RUMORS that Sony had bad defective rates with the PS2 were just that: rumors. There was never any substantiated evidence for it, and there's a damn good reason- I worked at EB during the launch, and through the first two years of that console's existence. I remember the defective ratios we reported on those, and I know what the defect rates EB reported in the Northeast, most of the Eastern seaboard, and how the company reported on failure rates as a whole regarding the PS2. And here are the facts-

Sony suffered through a bad launch, reliability-wise, and it was due to the drive scratching game discs, mostly when the system was placed in a vertical position. The defect rates were high; as high as 10% at the time, even 20% for certain individual shipments. That lasted exactly three months. The defect rates continued to fall from March 2001 and on, from January 2002 through the end of the console's existence, the common reported defect rate for the PS2 was between 2 and 4%. They sold 111 million PS2s worldwide, and in the end, it was actually less than 2% that turned out defective, according to the last numbers I saw from Sony and EB.

Sony set no precedent, and you have NO leg to stand on here. Nobody has ever seen a defect rate - especially a sustained defect rate - as high as the 360, and that includes retailers. Nobody has ever seen this absurdly high level of negative press regarding a console's reliability, and that most certainly includes the PS2. It's never even been close. So please STOP trolling threads with your constant anti-Sony nonsense! Especially when you clearly have absolutely no clue what the hell you're talking about.

I'm wondering if Microsoft is planning something major to deal with this for the holidays. Because Sony has already confirmed the PS3 price cut before Christmas, and it's only a matter of time now. Many of the big-name games coming out are multiplatform, anyway, and not long after, Sony will have the major exclusives in FF XIII, MGS 4, and GT 5. Not to mention the Wii still going strong, although I question the strength of their software lineup for 2007. Therefore, it almost seems inevitable MS will do something. They can't possibly push the 3-5% defect lie on consumers any longer, not after this.

And besides, they've shown they can make the correct moves in the past, so it's certainly not out of the realm of possibility. I'd hate to think they're just going to ignore it and pretend it doesn't exist. Consumers and retailers aren't stupid; numbers are numbers. This keeps up, and the 360 may start to fall at a rapid pace. If there's one thing that kills a person's loyalty in a company, it's an unreliable product. This is far more damaging than a lack of software, online issues, or anything else (none of which affects the 360 right now), and MS really, really needs to recognize this and address it. Quickly. Which is why I think we'll see some sort of plan before the fall.

Good responses.

I think all of you bring up a lot of solid points, and it's encouraging to see. I think if there are enough gamers who think logically about this issue, Microsoft will eventually be forced to do something. In the end, I don't think any consumer - gamer or no - wants to take such a big risk with a significant sum of money. And it IS extremely disappointing because of the great games that are coming for the system (Mass Effect, Bioshock, and eventually, Gears of War 2); it's not like the system doesn't have any software. That's not the problem. But reliability is a major issue, and I often wonder if Microsoft is fully aware...but tragically, can't do anything about it without releasing a whole new system, thereby royally screwing those who already bought it. I don't envy Microsoft their position at this time, but sometimes, tough decisions need to be made.

I have a 360 and it hasn't died on me...yet. I've only played two games on it, though. And I'm very worried now, because every single person I know is at least on their second console (some on their third and even fourth), and I'm constantly nervous. I was actually far more nervous about the PS3 when I got it, but the reported failure rates for that system are VERY impressive and thus, surprising (to me, at least). I knew the 360 had a disastrous launch, but I honestly thought MS had dealt with it, and I figured with the complexity of the PS3 architecture, that thing was gonna have all kinds of problems. But it didn't, and it still doesn't. I'm very happy with it.

And Nintendo...well, those guys are amazing, reliability-wise. Has anyone EVER had a Nintendo console die on them in the past 20 years? I mean, I'm actually asking. I've never met anyone who has.

We really, really shouldn't have to deal with this.

http://www.dailytech.com/Retailers+Estimate+Xbox+360+Failure+Rate+High+as+33+Percent/article7892.htm

Excerpt-

"After contacting several retailers from various regions in North America, the responses were unanimous: the Xbox 360 is the least reliable gaming console in recent history. Current EB Games or GameStop employees who offered information did so under strict anonymity, as it is against company policy to reveal such information to the public. Furthermore, our sources confirmed that EB Games revised its Canadian warranty policies during early 2007 for consoles solely due to the failure rate of the Xbox 360.

EB Games held conference calls for its Canadian stores informing them of the new policy changes and revealing alarming failure rates of the Xbox 360. "The real numbers were between 30 to 33 percent," said former EB Games employee Matthieu G., adding that failure rate was even greater for launch consoles. "We had 35 Xbox 360s at launch I know more than half of them broke within the first six months (red lights or making circles under the game discs). Two of them were dead on arrival."

"As a result of the high failure rate of the Xbox 360, EB Games corporate nearly doubled the prices of its one-year, over-the-counter warranty. While the previous warranty would give a customer a brand new console in exchange for the broken one, the new policy now states that the customer will receive a refurbished console instead. The move was made because it was becoming too costly for the retailer to give the customer a brand-new machine, which still carries a store cost close to the MSRP. The price increase and policy change wasn't exclusive to only the Xbox 360, however, as it also applies to all other Sony and Nintendo consoles sold.

The failure rate nearing a third of all Xbox 360 consoles was found at other retailers too. A Best Buy customer service department manager, who wished to remain unnamed, said that failure rates for the console were "between a quarter to a third" of all units sold.

"We see a ton of [Xbox 360s] come back all the time. We strongly push our customers to buy our service plans no matter what they buy, but it is especially important for them with the Xbox 360," said the manager. "It's a lucky thing for us that Microsoft extended the factory warranty to one year, because we were having a hell of a time dealing with the launch units. Now we don't have to deal with those broken [Xbox 360s] until their second year, for those who have purchased the two year plans."

This is just pathetic. Microsoft continues to lie to everyone about the 3-5% defect rate, when everyone with half a brain knows that can't possibly be true. They refuse to do anything about this, and consumers are getting ripped off at a record pace. This problem has been documented time and time again, hitting "Worst Product" reliability lists, complained about on a weekly basis by both retailers and consumers, and Microsoft fails to even address the issue.

Nintendo, on the other hand, still has the most reliable system out there. They've had the most reliable system ever since the NES. They can still manage to produce a wonderfully reliable product...and Microsoft looks COMPLETELY incompetent in comparison. Hell, even the PS3 is remarkably reliable, which only makes the 360 look even worse. How much longer are we going to stand for this?