REDMOND, Washington (AP) -- Microsoft Corp. said Wednesday it had received isolated reports of technical problems with its popular new Xbox 360 videogame system.
Some owners complained that their systems were crashing during game play, sometimes with error messages popping up.
On
www.xbox-scene.com, a site dedicated to Xbox gaming, a member called "jsgongwon" reported that he could not finish the first lap of "Project Gotham Racing 3."
"It's a few reports of consoles here and there not working properly," said Molly O'Donnell, a spokeswoman for Microsoft's Xbox division.
"It's what you would expect with a consumer electronics instrument of this complexity .... par for the course."
Gaming fanatics lined up for hours Monday to be among the first to purchase the next-generation system, which was in short supply despite its starting price tag of $299.99. Microsoft hopes to sell 2.5 million to 3 million of the new systems in the first 90 days.
O'Donnell urged anyone with Xbox problems to call 1-800-4myXbox or go to
www.xbox.com. If the problems can't be resolved immediately, Microsoft said it will pay to ship the console overnight to a repair center, overnight it back once it's fixed, or ship a replacement.
MGJ EDIT- The "isolated numbers" are conservative, according to a gaming site I belong to. Only about 4 out of 20 have had no issues so far. The temporary fix is to get the power supply off the floor and see if you can expose the bottom better, in other words, let it cool. Some guys have made a PC fan contraption, and still a few more say it doesnt work for them....
MGJ