The X360 needs

[CoFree]

The X360 needs a new SKU, and this is what it should include.

by: Chris Stead 03/04/2008

Look left, look right and there is nothing but good games on the horizon as far as the eye can see, especially for the Xbox 360. To one side you have an awesome catalogue of hits, from Dead Rising to Halo 3 and Just Cause to Mass Effect. On the other there’s Fable 2, GTA IV, Too Human, Halo Wars and more coming our way. But look directly in front of you at the machine that can play all these wonders and there is a maligned console struggling to keep up with the pace. Microsoft needs to get serious and release a new SKU for their console that gives it a fresh image, and a fresh sense of purpose. And here’s how…

Before we start, we should point out that we love the gaming we’ve had on our Xbox 360s, were just not oblivious to its flaws. This is not an attack: it is a call to arms, a request to Microsoft, to do something positive to make video gaming better for everyone.

Let’s start with the biggie: reliability. The dreaded ‘red ring of death’ is an event too many users have had to endure. Only one of the six Xbox 360 owners in the Gameplayer staff has had their console survive since purchase without a death. Three have had failures more than once. And one had his die within three weeks of buying it. Some reports claim a 30% return rate on the console, and we wouldn’t be surprised if it was higher. That, quite frankly, is diabolical.

The new Falcon model of the Xbox 360 aims to reduce this failure rate, using a smaller and more reliable chip. But even if this does curve the number of console deaths, it’s not about to change popular opinion on the machine as it merely an internal adjustment to the same old console aesthetic. An aesthetic tied into RRoD. Microsoft needs to do a dramatic rethink of their core hardware parts and do whatever it takes to guarantee a failure rate that competes with the PS3 and Wii. They then need to redesign the look of the Xbox 360 so it appears like a new, snazzy machine… a fresh beginning.

On this point, a new Xbox 360 SKU can’t feel, sound or look cheap when in use. The bulky PS3 certainly has its detractors and the Wii has innards that would struggle to power your alarm clock, but at least they give the impression of top quality electronic goods. And that is half the battle in the general consumer market (no, not you Mr. Gamer). By comparison the current Xbox 360 design is like the cheap and nasty alternative. It is like buying a Teac TV, when there is a Panasonic beside it: like a nicely cut jacket, or a Mercedes Benz, class is everything.

So along with an improved aesthetic, a new Xbox 360 SKU should do away with that flimsy piece of shit they call a disc drive and opt for the ‘suck-in’ option of its competitors. Hopefully this will also cure that incessant whine and dodgy vibrations that emanate through your entire house whenever a disc is spinning. Faceplates should be abandoned completely and buried with the other gaming turds in New Mexico. The hard-drive needs to be rethought completely; its current ‘strap-on’ design looks cheap and nasty.

In fact, the hard-drive needs to be redesigned in its entirety. The proprietary system currently in place is a joke, made even more laughable by the fact that Microsoft are pushing the streaming and downloading of content as one of their console’s primary features. Download to what? The 20GB option fills up on patches and save games alone within a few months. 120GB is better, but horrendously priced and moving to it unbelievably nullifies your old hard-drive, leaving you not with 140GB, but with 120GB and a doorstop.

A new Xbox 360 SKU should opt for the PS3’s system. A standard 2.5” hard-drive that is upgradeable at the user’s pleasure. Such a method would be much more in-tune with the Home Entertainment concept Microsoft has been pushing the whole time. It would allow your casual and gamer audiences alike to begin thinking of streaming mass content, transferring MP3s to the system and making use of the other cool functions available on today’s consoles (forget the Windows Media Centre – if you can get that working you deserve an award). And if Microsoft absolutely must keep the current design, be serious and go with something with some long-term viability: 500GB maybe, or even 1TB.

Indeed, it seems like much of the Xbox 360’s original design was built to encourage you to spend more on additions post purchase. It was originally argued that the modular nature of the console was a plus: you could buy the Core machine for relatively cheap and add things to it as you went. That couldn’t be more untrue. In fact we have theorized in the past how the decision has acted to slow down the entire evolution of gaming. Faceplates, optional hard-drives, DVD as standard with optional HD-DVD drives: everything costs more and more.

When Microsoft announced the Elite, we were simply stunned that built-in wireless wasn’t included. A standard feature in the Wii and PS3, Microsoft would prefer that you paid $169 on an ugly, white (on a black machine?) wireless adapter instead. WTF? It seems so hypocritical that Microsoft actually made those cheesy ‘how to make your house wireless’ videos around the consoles launch without the feature even being built-in to the machine. A new SKU simply must have this built-in. Many houses are slowly moving to wireless, and your everyday casual consumer – who has been using laptops wirelessly for years – wants to turn on their electronic device and have it online in a jiffy.

Which leads us to something even more controversial: it’s time to look at scrapping the Gold Membership for the online service. Take a game like Rainbow Six: Vegas 2. You can play it online for both Xbox 360 and PS3: multiplayer is one of the game’s most sellable features. Of course, if you buy the Xbox 360 game that feature is effectively locked unless you want to pay Microsoft an additional fee for the privilege. What a rort! It’s not like they aren’t bleeding us dry with DLC and throwing advertisements in our face anyway: we shouldn’t need to be supplementing the service further.

It’s a better service than the Nintendo and Sony alternatives, and that has been the justification for the price, but for how long? Sony has an update coming in a few weeks that apes the Marketplace design. You get the feeling that the launch of Home and one more firmware update and the system could be on par. In the processes of launching a new SKU, Microsoft should make a bold statement and come clean with their online service and make all its features freely available to all users. At the same time they can publicly annex the preposterous notion of making you pay to play PC games online, which they are currently trying to put in the market.

Now what about Blu-ray? HD-DVD is dead and the giant format war hoax has come to its inevitable conclusion at a massive cost to consumers. Should Microsoft get jiggy with a blue diode or not? We think they have to. Costs in their production have come down since the PS3 launched, which means the increase in cost to the consumer can be manageable. It would allow all the old DVD games to still function, as well as open up future games to the joys of Blu-ray. Plus it would replace the shocking laser currently in the system, which seems to trip on even the smallest of scratches.

It would have a similar affect on software as when the PC market moved from CD-ROM to DVD… as in you could buy the four disc Lost Odyssey, or the one Blu-ray depending on your flavour. Hey it would make for better, bigger games. It would also future-proof the console against the possibility of Blu-ray films going mega in the next 24 months.

Naturally built-in HDMI ports are a must to maximise the use of both HD games and films. And rechargeable controllers, like the PS3, would also be much more user-friendly and affordable in these hard financial times.

To finish off a much nicer looking package, the console should come with a few games that will appeal to the casual and gamer audiences alike. The recent Forza Motorsport 2 and Viva: Piñata pack is definitely on the right track. But by the time this thing hits stores, a nice inclusion would be the then old(ish) Halo 3 or Mass Effect… or both. With Halo Wars and Mass Effect 2 due not too far in the future, including these games would not only keep consumers happy, but act as a marketing ploy to attract new fans to the series. In addition, why not throw a few originals onto the hard-drive as well. Halo 1 and Fable would do nicely and work for both franchise’s best interests, too.

Finally, to really give the console a truly new image and get the entire industry excited about the product, Microsoft should allow for an upgrade system to ensure they don’t alienate their old fan-base with this new SKU. Perhaps users could hand-over their old Xbox 360 and pay the difference (maybe around the $200 mark) and walk away with a new one with all their old files transferred across. At the same time Microsoft could offer old 20GB hard-drives (which are pretty much useless now) to all Core users who apply for one: therefore ensuring that developers can work to the theory that every console has a hard-drive.

If Microsoft was able to hit all, or the majority of these features, in a new SKU scheduled for release within the next 12 months it would ensure the console’s competitiveness right through this generation. With a spectacular games library in place, the company should focus on not screwing the customer over with a console seemingly designed to constantly tug at your wallet, and see many go weeks without playing while their console is off getting repaired.

Microsoft got into the market first, and it allowed them to get away with some business practices and hardware shortcuts that would otherwise have buried the console at launch. They don’t have that luxury anymore: Sony is closing, and Nintendo is passing. It’s time for Microsoft to get serious about gaming.

[BobSeager]

'flimsy piece of shit they call a disc drive'

That's hilarious and true^

[Sesshomaru]

Interesting article, though if focuses too much on the aesthetic qualities of the 360. I have been crying about these issues for a year and a half now. I've had two RRoD's in a year. I had a Talismoon Whisper Fan in my 360 both times. The second 360 was never used except for two player games. I had professionals flash it both times, and used nothing but Verbatim discs for my backups.

I don't give a flying monkey turd if the 360 is pink with yellow polkadots. I want working hardware! Let's get some 65nm or 45m process CPU's, better quality PBC, another fan, heatsinks that actually dissipate hot air, and an interior console design that keeps it cool while distributing air to the CPU and GPU evenly. The return rates for the 360 are unknown, at least MS doesn't stick to the company line that return rates are within the normal 3-5% anymore. Launch 360's may be over 50% return rates, and the general return rate figures to be something like 33%, depending on who you ask.

Microsoft has spent over $1,000,000,000 on repairs. It would cost less money to redesign the 360 with reliable hardware and outfit all their production facilities to mass produce it.

Every single time people have asked me whether to get a PS3 or 360, I have made a very persuasive argument for the PS3. What good are backups if the hardware fails every 6 months? The PS3 may lack must-have games right now, but at least the hardware is reliable. If I could be relieved of all my backups, money spent on games and accessories and have my choice of a PS3 or 360, I would choose the PS3 without hesitation.

As far as blu-ray vs HD-DVD deciding the console wars, I don't feel that's a factor. It's the games that are going to decide the console wars. Right now the Wii (which has a processor weaker than the original Xbox) is dominating, so that should indicate marketing strategy is more important that what's under the hood.

[BobSeager]

'What good are backups if the hardware fails every 6 months?'

I'd have to agree reliability is far and away the single most important thing...frankly the hardware is a piece of junk

[sadalius]

The hardware problems is why most people don't hesitate to do "Ye Ol' Swap-a-roo". People are tired of it and want MS to understand that. But yet again, they fail to see it.