Microsoft has been the target of a lawsuit in the United States in relation to a major fault with the Xbox 360 gaming system which has caused serious damage to games played in the machine. The suite alleges that Microsoft was aware of the problem when the Xbox 360 was launched and has made not effort to correct the fault, causing users to fork out on replacing damaged discs.

The lawsuit alleges that even a slight tilt of the the Xbox 360 will cause damage to game discs inserted into the system.

This is not the only problem that Microsoft has had with it’s Xbox 360 gaming console. It has also had problems with consoles failing, resulting in a “red ring of death” appearing on the units rings.

Microsoft program manager Hiroo Umeno said in a statement to stuff.co.nz:

This is … information that we as a team, optical disc drive team, knew about. When we first discovered the problem in September or October [2005], when we got a first report of disc movement, we knew this is what’s causing the problem

After Microsoft performed further investigation into the fault, they determined that the disc inside would collide with parts of the disk drive, causing severe gasges to occur.

Microsoft found three solutions to the problem. Firstly, installing small bumpers, slowing disc rotation speed, and increasing the magnetic field of the disc holder. Microsoft did not put these solutions into action, citing they were either to expensive to implement or would create new problems.

Microsoft has instituted a game replacement program. However, it only applies to Microsoft games and users are charged a replacement cost of US$20 per disc.

Source: Stuff.co.nz

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