Real Reason Behind XBOX 'Shortages'?
CNet's news.com this morning has a posting stating that Microsoft is 'seeing shortages' of their XBOX 360 console in the U.S. Naturally- news coming from Microsoft- one has to begin to wonder what the truth behind the story actually is for them to spin it like this.
Personally- their 'shortages' probably aren't in stores where they claim to be. Perhaps they don't have a lot of consoles in their warehouses to ship. Could it be the result of demand from the stores? Unlikely.
Could it be that they are having to replace defective systems under warranty and that is the true reason behind these so-called 'shortages'? Ya- me thinks so. And it doesn't help that Next Generation also has a report this morning which states that the failure rates of XBOX 360 consoles has topped 16%- and 60% of those failures are the famed 'red ring of death'. Perhaps Microsoft should concentrate more on making a quality product instead of making a quick buck (although, they're not even doing that anyways- Microsoft and Sony lose money on every console produced. A stark comparison to Nintendo, who is actually making money on every Wii and DSLite sold).
As for me- I still haven't taken my brick, erm, 360 back for 'servicing'. And quite frankly- I don't miss it one bit.
Sure I'd like to play a few rounds of Ridge Racer 6, and my NHL 07 season is pretty much dead in the water now (haven't played it since November)- but those are woes that can be easily put to bed by popping in Guitar Hero 3, Super Mario Galaxy, or Wii Play (Tanks is my new addiction).
