X Minus Two Weeks: First Xbox 360 Lawsuit
By Geoff Duncan
December 05, 2005
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.