Crazy, 3 out of 4 of the xbox 360 kiosks I've seen in the last few days had broken 360s. And yes, the 360s were on with red rings. :eek:

You'd think Microsoft would rush out some new units so potential buyers don't see a defectice console right in front of where they keep all the consoles/games.

You'd think you would realize your mileage may vary in this particular situation.

I picked up Halo3 today.. after visiting about 6 different video game stores looking to see who was selling the game early. Not only was the 360 demo unit working perfectly fine.. in all 6 stores.. but most were showing a Halo3 trailer with a nice little crowd around it.

You might want to also read up on the lastest 360 sales before you go screaming to the world that "Xbox 360 Kiosks are all broken! Nice job Microsoft!"

15-Sep
8-Sep


Wii
93,455
116,659
-20%

DS
102,585
108,613
-6%

PS3
30,158
51,714
-42%

PSP
67,105
56,527
+19%

Xbox 360
88,658
75,690
+17%

Last week in the United States the 360 almost outsold the cheaper Nintendo Wii. Sales jumped up almost 20%. While another console I wont mention dropped more than 40%.. more importantly that drastic of a drop after 3 of its most hyped titles were finally all available for sale. (Warhawk, Heavenly Sword and Lair).

I can only imagine what 360 sales will look like beginning next week.. as millions of copies of Halo3 get sold and sale records are broken.

pretty much the same thing here. 2 targets and 1 walmart that i know of have the 3 red lights. it's embarassing. one of the targets has had the same dead unit powered up with flashing red lights for at least a month and a half.

Daekwan, yes, but I live in one of those areas where people have teeth, and many potential sales are lost to the PS3, PS2, or WII because of it. We all know the 360 can't be beat, but this is a problem MS should address.

Point is Red Rings on a display unit is no different than a big sign saying DON'T BUY THIS POS!

Many future consumers don't know/care about the new improvements such as Zephyr boards, etc, only that the display conked while the WII and PS3 display are going strong.

I would suspect the typical console buyer has their mind made up before they go out shopping for their unit. I doubt dead units have much of an effect on sales. When I see something not working at a store, I generally assume it is a problem with the store's setup, and not a chronic problem with the product.

Jon my point is it has been addressed. I'm sure you are aware the warranty has been extended to 3 years, the new Heatsink has addressed most of the cooling issues and a processor die shrink is expect on shelves this fall.

They've done their part to address and correct the problem. Honestly speaking if a unit has failed in store or demo unit, then the responsibility falls upon the store's management to seek to have it repaired or replaced. Last I checked.. a store wants to sell as much as possible. I do agree a RROD 360 is not a positive representation for the product. But I also believe every store wants its products to be present as positively as possible because it helps to generate revenue.

I'd also have to strongly say I completely dissagree with your comment "Point is Red Rings on a display unit is no different than a big sign saying DON'T BUY THIS POS!".

I believe most purchasers of a console system (any brand) have their mind made up before they even enter the store. I've read your post history.. and you are very aware of the RROD problem that has troubled the 360. Yet you continue to purchase 360's. It appears you have owned four different 360's and have experienced the RROD failure yourself. If a RROD failure in your own home didnt stop you from purchasing another 360 in the future.. do you really think seeing one in the store would for someone else?

For those potential buyers that are still undecided or uninformed of which console to buy (Mom and Dad). They are probably going to choose what fits theirs wallet best, what their kid is begging for most, and lastly how well of a sales pitch the store employee can give. What I'm basically saying is that Red lights or a non-functional demostration unit isnt going to stop them from purchasing it.

If anything a RROD or non-functional 360 kiosk demo is going to cause the following scenario. The typical videogame store employee is gonna be honest about the RROD problem, tell them about the improvements MS has made and try and sell them an additional in store warranty. Thats exactly what happened when I traded my premium in on an Elite at Gamestop.

Hell how many people who are undecided or uninformed about consoles in general even know what a red light means? My dvd player has a big red light on it right now, that doesnt mean its broken. That simply means its powered off.

As I said before.. if you truly believe that so "many potential sales are lost to the PS3, PS2, or WII because of broken demo units" then the sales numbers definitley DONT show anything to support your argument.





I know you arent a fanboy.. or 360 hater.. Im just saying your personal observation of unfunctional kiosk demos has very little effect on overall 360 sales. I also believe if you checked more stores.. you'd find a much better percentage of working demo units. I seriously doubt you'd continue to see 3 out of every 4 demo units not-functioning.

How many 360s were sold in the last couple of weeks tells you ZERO about how many are not being sold because of quality issues. I dont even know where sales numbers come into this. I would think MS would have an interest in making sure display units work (same for Sony, I've seen plenty of those down).

Wouldn't this be the responsibility of the store to address and fix? 1.5 months of RRoD means someone isn't paying attention.. otherwise it would at least be turned off completely.

My local Wal-Mart has an X-Box with the RROD, but all the other stores are fine. I believe that the X-Box kiosk's are the property of Microsoft, so likely it's up to MS to fix the problem or send the replacement.

Despite the 360s recent increase in sales, the fact remains that the majority of X-boxes are prone to a problem that should have never happened in the first place. I personally went through 3 consoles before I did the X-clamp mod. If it wasn't for the X-clamp fix, I probably would have given up by now.

Yes, MS has done a lot to rectify the problem, but the point is I (and all the other people who had RRODs) never should have had to go through all that trouble in the first place.

Daekwan, yes, but I live in one of those areas where people have teeth, and many potential sales are lost to the PS3, PS2, or WII because of it. We all know the 360 can't be beat, but this is a problem MS should address.

Point is Red Rings on a display unit is no different than a big sign saying DON'T BUY THIS POS!

Many future consumers don't know/care about the new improvements such as Zephyr boards, etc, only that the display conked while the WII and PS3 display are going strong.
No. It means one 360 stopped working at a particular store. I think most ppl come to that conclusion. But if the same ppl went to 6 stores with all broken 360's, then yes, that could be a problem..

You cannot even start off with a proper thread when you state in your own title the word ALL, yet you state 1 of the kiosks is working. If you are going to make a thread that tries to crap on MS at least get that right. In all seriuosness though, it would probably be up to the store to make sure and contact MS to get the system in the kiosk fixed. Any chance when you saw the 3 kiosks broken did you tell a clerk about it? If you did great, but if you did not then you become part of the problem yourself. Personally in all the kiosks I have encountered since the 360 came out I have seen 1 RROD and I have seen more kiosks than I would like to count.

How many of us have seen broken kiosks for other consoles? (Game Boy advance, PS2's etc.) Most of the time when you do see it you're likely to believe that it's due to abuse. And I wonder how many of these kiosks were broken when they were first released? And just for info I have never seen or experienced the RROD in a kiosk or at home and I own 2 360's, 1 Elite and 1 Premium.

If broken kiosks have no effect on sales then why should Microsoft spend that $$?

I think any reasonable person would agree that defective units (pre-July '07 manufacture) in Kiosks are NOT a good thing. Anyone else, I hope you never work for me.

Well I have yet to see a working PS3 Demo in any store around here. I can't say if they are broken or just switched off, but I found it odd. Never seen a broken Xbox 360 demo though, and never seen an actual Wii demo other than the little Wii Clips they have looping over and over showing all the happy people having tonnes of fun with the Wii-mote.