MS gets sued for bricking of Xbox 360s with fall update

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12-08-2006, 02:49 AM
Transfurzz

MS gets sued for bricking of Xbox 360s with fall update

About time someone sued them. In my opinion if it was anything that spoiled MS's run this generation. Its the fall update which they apparrently were stupid enough to release without testing.

http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/law/cla...60s-220250.php

On a sidenote:

Quote:

MichaelSmith8-

Ridley, you obviously know little about class action suits... The consumers involved will get a token payment, such as a free repair of the unit or a coupon for $10 off a game... something like that... The only one who benefits from this is the scumbag lawyer who will screw the clients while maximizing their fees. Once upon a time class actions were a great way to punish companies and help consumers...now they are a way for ambulance chasers to get rich.

Is that true ? Kotaku's commentors are somewhat more well informed than other website. *cough*Gamespot Forums*cough*
12-08-2006, 05:21 AM
Soul Assassin

Yeah, it's true. Look up any recent class action suit.. the company pays out in coupons towards future service and whatnot.
12-08-2006, 05:28 AM
Transfurzz

Quote:

Originally Posted by Soul Assassin

Yeah, it's true. Look up any recent class action suit.. the company pays out in coupons towards future service and whatnot.

Wow, thats an incredible waste of money. Thank you for confirming it. :)
12-08-2006, 05:37 AM
Soul Assassin

Yeah they should pay the lawyers in coupons too. :mad::mad:
12-08-2006, 05:52 AM
Transfurzz

Quote:

Originally Posted by Soul Assassin

Yeah they should pay the lawyers in coupons too. :mad::mad:

I would like to see the unamed one standing outside a hosptial freezing his socks off. Then his firm pays him in discount coupons at Walmart. :D That would be cool.
12-08-2006, 06:32 AM
Kamakazie

Quote:

Originally Posted by Transfurzz

Wow, thats an incredible waste of money. Thank you for confirming it. :)

Yeah, there was a class action lawsuit towards my printer (Epson R200) falsely reporting dry ink cartridges when there was more than 2/3 the ink left in the thing... the payout? A $10 coupon for the Epson online store.
12-08-2006, 09:41 AM
ksuohio

I've "been" a part of so many class action lawsuits that I just laugh when I get them in the mail. The lawyers generally take 1/3 of the winnings for themselves and the rest is paid out to any involved. Some recent ones have been iPod and ddr ram which I get a new battery/iTunes credits or a couple bucks.
12-08-2006, 10:12 AM
monroeski

One of the posters over there has a point that most people ignore -

Quote:

While you are correct that Lawyers tend to make out well, think of this: Do you know how insanely expensive Class-Action lawsuits are? With class actions, it's a war over Discovery. If MS feels that it could be hurt by this, they will do their level best to slow down the Discovery process and force the enemy law firm to spend huge amounts of money to actually get the information they need to file the class action suit. Do plaintiff's have the money to finance this? No, the law firm does. If they lose, the law firm gets nothing except a big fat bill.

While some firms can surely absorb this, smaller to mid-size firms generally walk a fine line, remember the lawyer in Erin Brockovich? It's not that extreme but you'll get the idea. Unfortunately the story doesn't say which law firm he filed with.

They spend millions of bucks fighting these cases, so the risk level on their side is pretty high. Lawyers getting paid a lot means it takes a LOT of money to run a law firm, plus there are all sorts of licenses and such that are not cheap. Yes, they still make a lot of money, but there could potentially be one or two cases that any law firm takes that would put them in the poor house. I don't think there are too many more underhanded, slimy jerks in the lawyer profession than there are anywhere else.

Plus, payout per person may be small, but I would rather have that than have corporations just running around unchecked. Without the lawyers taking these cases, MS wouldn't even pause. Even if they just give out free Live subscriptions for a month or something, that's still a bunch of revenue they're missing out on, plus the time and money spent defending the case.
12-08-2006, 12:50 PM
2630Goon

there will be PLENTY of room in hell for all those laywers,becuase that's where all the money loving people are going.The love of money is the ROOT OF ALL EVIL!
12-08-2006, 03:29 PM
Freddy_Kruger

What does Bricking mean? My intuition tells me they wreck the machine but my first impression was that they did something to prevent modding it for warez.
12-08-2006, 03:35 PM
JDC

Quote:

Originally Posted by Freddy_Kruger

What does Bricking mean? My intuition tells me they wreck the machine but my first impression was that they did something to prevent modding it for warez.

just like it sounds, essentially makes the machine a brick.
12-08-2006, 03:45 PM
Freddy_Kruger

Quote:

Originally Posted by JDC

just like it sounds, essentially makes the machine a brick.

Well did it happen just to a few xbox's? I can't believe its that wide spread... if so that's pretty irresponsible of Micro Soft (about the best co. ever imo)
12-08-2006, 07:10 PM
JDC

^^^ Microsoft claims it happened to about 1% of it's users.
12-08-2006, 07:32 PM
PointlesS

yeah but 7 million (roughly) that's 70,000 people

actually probably lower...asuming there's 7 million with a 360...probably not all of them updated it
12-08-2006, 07:49 PM
Timman_24

I havent heard much about the bricking consoles except on this forum, so it must be low low numbers.
12-09-2006, 12:27 AM
Transfurzz

Quote:

Originally Posted by Freddy_Kruger

Well did it happen just to a few xbox's? I can't believe its that wide spread... if so that's pretty irresponsible of Micro Soft (about the best co. ever imo)

It happens to those who didn't install the update before the fall update. :) As a result, many of us who were gearing up for Gears Of War shortly before release ended up with bricked boxes. As you might know, the Xbox 360 wasn't exactly selling like hotcakes before emergence day. If it happened on or after emergence day, the repercussions would have been enormous.

I can sort of understand why you don't like consoles much now. When it dies on you, you feel helpless, unable to even find the problem's root without the company voiding your warranty. :( I actually wrote the wiki on this fall update.

Some nice guy even linked my use of 'brick' to a wiki defining the word. :p
12-09-2006, 02:03 AM
rabidmoose171

You guys should read the King of Torts by John Grisham.
12-09-2006, 02:14 AM
Idiot356

Well I'm fine, I keep mine updated and online... so I've gotten all the updates since I got it.
12-09-2006, 02:33 AM
Snakespy

Quote:

Originally Posted by rabidmoose171

You guys should read the King of Torts by John Grisham.

^^good read