X Minus Two Weeks: First Xbox 360 Lawsuit

December 5, 2005 By Geoff Duncan

It's been just two weeks since the U.S. launch of Microsoft's Xbox 360, and the game console has already drawn its first proposed class action lawsuit.

You just gotta love a system where the Little Guy can quickly stand up to the Big Giant Corporation and express his profound disappointment over not being sufficiently able to create enough virtual mayhem.

To whit: Reuters is reporting Chicago’s Robert Byers has brought a proposed class action lawsuit against Microsoft Corporation, claiming the company’s new Xbox 360 gaming console has a design flaw which causes the console’s power supply and CPU to overheat, causing the whole system to seize up.

Complaints of similar freezing problems began to surface almost as soon as the Xbox 360 went on sale November 22. Owners reported some systems crashed during both normal and online game play; symptoms included a variety of error messages as well as “black screen” crashes. However, other Xbox 360 owners reported no problems at all.

Microsoft has stated it has received isolated reports of problems, but emphasized the possible glitches represented a small fraction of units sold.

Byers’ suit seeks unspecified damages, court costs, and replacement or recall of Xbox 360 game console.

Microsoft has yet to comment on the case.

Showing 9 comments

JOSEPH MEIER at 9:00am 3rd December 2006 microsoft better get their big guns out because now thier messing w/ guys like me hard woking middle class american man who has never set foot in a court room. now you got me wanting to sue that is a sign of a legitamite lawsuit. sorry microsoft but this one seems even to big for you
ian gilligan at 6:36pm 6th February 2006 i think microsoft is doing everything they canand made a mistake give them a break guys i mean if u suit it will take longer to get ur 360's back and be able to playthem.u coud wait patiantlly and calmly but NOOOOOO u had to go imedietly to the suiting.it sickn's me.hey wether u win or lose ur still retarded.
Donna at 3:22pm 11th December 2005 Sure maybe this guy might be taking advantage. However with this in mind Mirosoft is how big and it knew there was a problem...It seems to me that this company just wanted to put it on the market you know just like WINDOWS (with all its' problems). Then they work glitches out.
Why can't they put something out that is QUALITY work. Personally I don't buy gaming systems with all the violent games. which is mostly what Xbox produces but if you want to support such you have the right...
MIROSOFT IS JUST HOT AIR......
Ian Bell and Dan Gaul at 10:57am 11th December 2005 Do you guys think the PS3 will have heating problems too? I am willing to bet it does.
ECA at 10:47am 11th December 2005 Its interesting that companies are trying to make things smaller, and with cheaper parts.
Power cables used to NEVER get hot, because a 12 gauge wire, was the WIRE in the plastic, NOT the wire AND the plastic covering it.
But to think of a FULL computer in such a small Box. ALL the heat generated by the CPU, HD, GPU, and the transformer, and the 1 LITTLE fan to suck it all out. Its a fault waiting to happen.
Look at the problems with previous systems, and wires Failing/getting hot. Think of your computer, and its fans, laptops and 3.0GHZ chips, even the Small form factor computer ALL had the same problems.
WHY didnt they learn from this, or at LEAST see it before they built it..
Dan at 6:07am 7th December 2005 I've had several friends all face the same problem. The power supply gets really hot and the xbox freeze's up or shuts down. I believe this is poor business ethics for Microsoft. They got in a big hurry pushed the product out the door and here we are with a big problem. I hope they get what's coming to them. A really big lawsuit won't hurt Bill and might make him think a little bit.
Ian Bell and Dan Gaul at 10:08pm 6th December 2005 I am with you on this one. Clearly someone is looking for a way to earn easy cash. I hope this gets dismissed.
Monark Warrior at 8:43pm 6th December 2005 Just what we need another attorney "Get Rich Quick" scheme, to ruin the debut of an actually underpriced, very good super computer gaming console.

Net effect for all of us regular consummers is more bucks comming out of our already shrunken pockets. We need these greedy attorneys and their deranged clients like they need a hole in the head.

Let's all hope this jerk and his minions fail and this lawsuit scam is resigned to an early grave.
Ian Bell and Dan Gaul at 11:51am 5th December 2005 Thankfully our Xbox 360 has not crashed, but I want to stress that the power supply gets incredibly hot, almost too hot to touch at all. So I am not suprised by this lawsuit. I have heard that a lot of people are having overheating problems.