XBOX 360 Games

New details on warranty firms 16.4% Xbox failure rate figure
Warranty firm SquareTrade has revealed more details on its widely reported 16.4% failure rate for Xbox 360 systems. They had 171 breakdowns out of a sample size of 1040 purchased warranties, which mostly consisted of Premium 360’s. Sixty percent of the failures were down to RROD, but other problems included disc read errors, video card failures, hard drive freezes, power issues, and disc tray malfunctions.

The new report does note that this only tracks up to 10 months after the warranty purchase, and once a longer period of time is given, the failure rate is likely to increase. It’s also worth pointing out that since Microsoft’s Red Ring of Death warranty extension was introduced last July, some users may be going directly to the parent company instead.

Break down from IGN

“Our data shows that failures spike in the third month after warranty purchase but remain fairly steady after that, with only incremental drop-off until the eight month,” the SquareTrade Analytics Team wrote on the blog. “This pattern is fairly consistent with all electronics failures.”

SquareTrade also said its numbers don’t take into account those Xbox 360 owners who bypass it altogether and take their claims directly to Microsoft, which could mean the failure rate is even higher still.

For its study, SquareTrade tracked 27 Xbox 360 Elites, 57 Cores and 956 Premiums. Out of the 171 claims reported (60 percent), 102 were general hardware failures (Red Ring of Death). Of the other 69 claims:

- 18% were disc read errors.
- 13% were video card failures.
- 13% were hard drive freezes.
- 10% were power issues.
- 7% were disc tray malfunctions.

SquareTrade said that, because the above issues are not covered under the extended Microsoft warranty, which only covers RROD, they are the more reliable figures.

News Source: 1up.com

Source: shop-video-games.blogspot.com

Sony confirm April 25 date for new look Playstation Store
The Japanese Playstation website has revealed that the Playstation Store will be reopened with its new look on April 25th. Firmware 2.30 will also be released on the same day to allow access to the store. To celebrate the launch of the store, Sony will be running a “PS treasure hunt” from April 15th to May 12 2008, giving every 50th member the chance to download a hidden application or game. It has been assumed that the new store will also launch in N.America and Europe on the same day too.

Sony PlayStation 3 online service will be renewed on April 15th, 2008 (Tuesday) evening. This will renew and expand the store by adding functionality described below:

* New interface and navigation improvements
* Preview video content using still images
* New download categories added

After the update, PS3 System Software 2.30 will be available.

To promote the new store, SCEJ will be offering a “PS treasure hunt” running from April 15th to May 12 2008. This will allow every 50th user to the store to download a “hidden” application or game, most likely for free. Maybe this is the suprise SCEE/SCEA mentioned upon release of the new store.

Source: shop-video-games.blogspot.com

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