xbox 360 elite I missed this excellent posting over at VentureBeat from a few weeks ago because I was on vacation in NYC. In case you also missed it, it’s an Xbox 360 related article that describes the history of the console – with a special emphasis on the defect history of the console. A good deal of the information provided within the article comes from third party sources or insider information so take it for what it’s worth.. but it’s pretty clear the Xbox 360 had issues with quality assurance. Heck I had first hand experiences with crashes and the red ring of death syndrome on the Xbox 360. My first Xbox 360 lasted over a year (I was one of the first to get the 360 at the launch party in CA) until the middle of 2007. That’s when I ran into my first red ring of death (RROD). After that, I ended up replacing my Xbox 360 a total of three times with the last system coming to me this past May.

In any case, the article does reveal an interesting and colorful background to the Xbox 360. Heck, depending on how you want to look at the 360, it’s either a console that’s extremely lucky to be where it’s at, or it’s a console that has failed miserably for Microsoft.

Despite all the issues, the Xbox 360 continues to sell – primarily due to the content and the Xbox LIVE network. It’s undeniable that people love playing their friends on the Xbox LIVE network and thus the Xbox 360 is a compelling platform to get for the home. It also helped that Microsoft allocated a ton of money for replacing defective Xbox 360 systems (though it took them way too long to acknowledge that something was amiss with their consoles). 

Yet one can’t help but wonder how much more successful the Xbox 360 COULD have been.

One other interesting side note. One of the individuals (Mr. Robert Delaware, a game tester/contractor) interviewed in the original VentureBeat article was apparently let go by the temp agency. Yes, Microsoft had him fired and there might even be civil charges filed against the fella. We wish him the best of luck and we thank him for having the courage to stand up and tell the truth.. or at least his version of the truth!

[Check it out via CrunchGear]

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