Lawsuit filed against Microsoft for defective XBox 360s

Lawsuit filed against Microsoft for defective XBox 360s

Robert Myers' Class action lawsuit says that XBox 360 overheats due to faulty design.

7 DEC 2005: Microsoft, the world’s largest software maker, is in the dock for an allegedly flawed design in its next generation console, Xbox 360, which hit the stands amid much fanfare recently.

Chicago-based Robert Byres has filed a class action suit against Microsoft charging that the new Xbox 360 has a flawed design. Byres said in his suit that the power supply and processors in the Xbox 360 overheats due to the faulty design, leading it to freeze or crash while operating.

Microsoft declined to comment on the suit, citing its policy not to do so on pending litigation.

The software giant had admitted last month that the gaming console had some issues in a small no of units sold.
Microsoft had moved heaven and earth to launch the next generation console before rivals like Sony and Nitendo could hit the market with their versions. Sony and Nitendo are expected to be in the market early in 2006.

The Xbox 360, which boasts of greater processing and graphical capabilities compared to the exiting gaming machines, sold around 75,000 units in a week after its launch in UK on Decemer 2, 2005. In the United States the machine hit the stands on November 22.

Analysts have compared this to launch sales of 1,80,000 units of Sony’s PlayStation in September and 87,000 unit of Nintendo's DS in March this year.

Meanwhile, undeterred by the law suit, Microsoft is working overtime to produce more and more number of Xbox 360s to satiate the growing army of game fans, media reports said.

Problems were reported shortly after the US launch in Xbox 360, mainly about the machines freezing after a short period of activity, though Microsoft insisted that the issues were reported only in a fraction of the number of Xbox 360s sold.

But the software giant then listed 10 common issues found with the Xbox and ways to fix them on its web site.
The lawsuit has demanded the recall of the console as well as the damages and litigation expenses. Microsoft has offered to repair or replace flawed consoles, in a bid to make its stamp its superiority in the $25 billion games market.

The last big product launch to immediately raise accusations of bad design and threats of lawsuits was Apple's IPod Nano, which several users said has defective or fragile LCD screens.