Okay, okay – maybe they don’t actually kick puppies over there – but they still suck.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not one of the throng of rabid Microsoft-haters … by and large, I like Microsoft. Sure, they’re the 800-pound gorilla in the PC market, but that’s fine with me. Makes my life smoother in more ways than it makes it rougher. More power to ’em, take over the world, Billy Gates you have my blessing.

BUT – please stop making Xboxes (and from some reports, Xbox 360s) that crap out. This isn’t “Blade Runner” – I do not accept the premise that “the light that burns twice as bright burns half as long”. The Xbox is a great system, no denying that – but they have the endurance of an asthmatic toddler.

I didn’t jump on the Xbox bandwagon right away – my PS2 and GameCube and I were quite content just the way we were. But eventually, as more and more kick-ass games were released, I finally submitted to the lash of the monkey on my back and got an Xbox.

We were so happy then. I shamefully admit that I grew estranged from my PS2 and GameCube (though we’ve since kissed and made up), and leapt blindly into the arms of Microsoft.

Until … that day.

That sad, sad day a couple years ago when I turned on my Xbox and *poof*, it was dead. Gone. Kaput. No warnings, no hope, no fix even after scouring message boards and support centers for days. Microsoft told me they would repair it, but that that minimum fee for ANY repair was $99.00, regardless of the actual problem. So I packed my dead Xbox up, cast it aside, and bought a new one (which was only slightly more expensive than the repair Microsoft suggested).

Until … that other day.

Yep – even though my original GameCube and PS2 are both still running perfectly, my second Xbox died in exactly the same way as the first. I spent a couple hours shooting 36 holes of golf (Links – 2004), Xbox worked flawlessly, shut it off for an hour to have some lunch, came back and hit the power button – and *poof* again, the dreaded “tries to start three times then blinks alternating red and green” death.

Bastards.

So apparently Microsoft just can’t build a gaming console worth a damn, either then or now. I’m not saying that the entire Xbox development team ties puppies to trees and takes turns working them over with shod feet – but I can’t prove it’s not true either.

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