Home Messages Index
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]
Author IndexDate IndexThread Index

Re: [News] MSNBC/Newsweek: XBox 360 Heading Towards Failure?

In article <2302260.5MzYmpESmg@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
 Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> >>>,----[ Quote ]
> >>>| An insider from Electronic Arts, Inc. is saying that the failure rate
> >>>| of Microsoft's Xbox 360 gaming console is actually ten times higher than
> >>>| what Microsoft spokespeople have admitted.
> >>>| 
> >>>| Game Daily BIZ, a gaming industry publication, reported that the
> >>>| anonymous source tallied that of the 300 consoles EA has received,
> >>>| 30-50 percent of them have failed.
> >>>| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> >>>|
> >>>`----
> >>>
> >>>http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2006/08/xbox_gamers02.html
> >> 
> >> 
> >> Since you *know* this is incorrect, why do you keep repeating it?
> 
> 
> Do I *know* it's incorrect? I do not know this. In fact, since only Microsoft

Here's what you know.

(1) A single anonymous source said 30-50 percent failure rate.

(2) That report was very early.

(3) Pretty much all of the reports from other sources have said 3-5 
percent.

Here's what you should also know.

(4) From where that report came, you can figure out that there is a good 
chance that they had prototype, beta, or preproduction consoles.

(5) Around 11 million XBox360s are in consumer hands. A 30 percent 
failure rate would mean 3.3 million failed units in consumer hands.

(6) The gaming press does not ignore when consoles have widespread 
hardware problems.  The press generally jumps all over a manufacturer 
when they have widespread problems.

(7) The gaming press is NOT reporting widespread problems with XBox360.  
This indicates that there are much fewer than 3.3 million failed units.

You should be able to figure out from this that either the report was 
applying to pre-production or beta units, whose failure rate would be 
much higher than consumer units, or the report is in error (note that a 
simple error would change 3-5 to 30-50).

You're bio claims you have a science background.  Treat this as a 
science problem.  Look at the data points, from the anonymous early EA 
source, and all the following sources, and analyze it like you would 
data from an experiment.

You will come to the conclusion that the EA report does not apply to the 
consumer hardware that was actually sold.

There's no law that says that when one with a science background comes 
to usenet, one must discard one's ability to think like a scientist.

-- 
--Tim Smith

[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]
Author IndexDate IndexThread Index