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Tuesday, 24 March 2009 11:33 |
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Watchdog, the consumer TV program from the British BBC has broadcast an investigation into Xbox 360 disc scratching, a problem that has plagued many Xbox 360 users but always been put down to consumer misuse by Microsoft.
Watchdog set up tests intended to prove whether or not Xbox 360 disc scratching was down to consumer misuse or indeed as a result of a faulty console, as DPad Magazine reports.
The show1st set up an experiment with 2 Xbox 360s - one brand new & one reported to have previously scratched discs. The team placed each Xbox on a level, stable surface, sealed off the surrounding space, inserted brand new, unscratched games & played for 6 hours a day for 3 days. At the end of the test period, no scratches were found.
Watchdog then set up another test with the same Xbox 360s to replicate “vibrations in a typical home”. The 1st, which simulated walking, resulted in no scratches.
The 2nd ‘shock vibration test’, however, showed different results. The test, which is the “equivalent to someone putting down a heavy book on a table by the Xbox”, caused the older Xbox (which had previously scratched discs) to fail, displaying an unreadable disc error. The newer Xbox passed.
Watchdog concluded that ordinary household movement could be the real reason why discs were scratched during play, rather than consumer misuse.
When contacted by Watchdog, Microsoft replied:
“Microsoft reaffirms its longstanding position that it’s not been able to ascertain any defect in the Xbox 360 console that causes concentric gouges (that is, ’scratching’) on discs when a console is in a stationary position. Indeed, despite extensive testing and examination under static operating conditions, Microsoft has never been able to reproduce the concentric gouge that causes disc readability problems or find any such defect in consoles returned by consumers for examination. It’s only with the movement of a console that such ‘disc scratching’ may occur. Consequently, Microsoft provides notices on the Xbox 360 console itself, in the user manual, and on its website - warning consumers not to move the console with a disc in it while in use.”
A Dutch consumer TV program called Kassa also did run some extensive tests to prove the Xbox 360 does scratch discs, as the TV program showed 2 years ago.
It's unbelievable Microsoft keeps denying these issues. 2 years ago a class-action suit has been filed against Microsoft by a gamer about these hardware problems. Microsoft claimed that only a small number of UK customers had contacted them about the issue.
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