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

April 4th, 2008, 22:42 Posted By: wraggster

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...

Let's start with the biggie: reliability. The dreaded 'red ring of death' is an event too many users have had to endure.
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.

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.

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?

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.

http://www.gameplayer.com.au/Home/FE...9-76d30d254abe

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