Console Woes

My PS3 quit working today, about 3 weeks after my second xbox360 quit working. The only silver lining is that while I was on the phone with Microsoft customer support trying to trouble shoot my 360 disk drive errors I got the "3 Red Lights" error. Why is this good news? Because despite having a 17% failure rate on the 360 Microsoft has only extended the warranty for the "3 Red Lights" general hardware failure.

So how are Microsoft and Sony treating me? Differently, that's for sure. When Sony found out my console was still under warranty, they asked me a few trouble shooting questions (without making me feel like a jackass) and then promptly told me they'd send me a box with a pre-paid shipping label and they'd replace my console in 10-15 days. Microsoft, despite this being my second 360 to die on top of my original xbox which failed, told me I'd have to pay for shipping to the repair center ($40) and pay for any repairs that are not "general hardware/3 red lights" failures. So I'm still not sure if I'll have to pay another $99 to have my DVD drive replaced. Plus, Microsoft expects it to take 2 to 3 weeks to repair.

Not happy about the PS3 failing, but thanks, Sony, for picking up the bill and making the process painless.

Microsoft, I'm going to have a hard time buying anything from you again. I certainly will never buy a multi-platform game for the 360. You better have some sweet exclusives over the next few years. Otherwise, the only thing you'll get from me is bad word-of-mouth.