Don't agree with any one of them, the 'cheap component' point falls of because it was the manufacturing that was the problem, not the components, which 7 years on should be clear to everyone...

Yet it was Microsoft's decision to go ahead and release the system when they were aware of the potential problems raised during the manufacturing process. 

And yet it still wasn't caused by the price of the components, like I just said very clearly.

the overheating issue could have easily been fixed ( and later was) with a better heatsink system..

Blu ray? wasn't needed, and few games use multi disks... plus it would have cost a lot more. next gen blu ray will be needed but this gen it worked fine...

face plates were fine. they didn't hurt any.

the external brick is bad but it isn't note worthy.


Their worst crime and the crime of almost all the game developers atm is DLC being sold not given to increase game longevity. $15 for a few maps is absurd. $1 per map is the most it should ever be.

That is awesome and I'd like to see it.

Facepaltes do not belong on this list, I can see an argument being made for a couple of others though.

Since I don't travel out of my hood too often (MS forum) is this a retaliation thread for a Sony and/or Nintendo "5 mistakes" thread? If not, then I'd expect there to be some in the other forums soon.

Power brick is completely wrong. While their decision to build a humongous power brick was stupid, having an external power brick is a better idea in almost every single way.

(1) Almost everybody has somewhere that they can put the power brick to keep it out of the way, so it absolutely makes the system smaller.

(2) If they included THAT brick in the original system construction and just had a cord plug into the console, imagine how much bigger it would have been. System would have fit into MANY fewer places.

(3) Keeping the brick separate meant keeping a major source of heat separate. With the heating problems Xbox systems deal with, do you really think it's a good idea to put MORE heat under that hood?

(4) Almost all manufacturers of plug-and-play electronics like that have the power supplies kept separate. N64, GCN, PS2 Slim, Wii, Xbox 360, Xbox 360 S, all laptop manufacturers, etc.

This thread has prompted me to go to Amazon.com to see if I can find a cool faceplate for my phat 360. I never bought one.

Meh on this. Plus did they comend the 360 for wireless controllers? Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't they start the gen with wired ones? If not wired ones, they were still prevalent in stores. Daulshock3 is probably the best wireless controller; USB charged, all inclusive, only wireless option. I might be a little off but I remember not long ago dealing with my brother's wired controllers and broken detachable battery packs. I think the standardization of wireless is something this entire gen is responsible for.

Aaaaaand I found nothing. No cool faceplates at all.

That's only half right. Sony and Nintendo need to trip over for Xbox to win next gen. I think Xbox has the US/North America and UK sown up pretty much simply on the basis of not making mistakes. But the rest of the world is by no means in MS's back pocket. PS has bascially stormed back inot the number one possition in current sales in just about every other market. This means PS4 has the momentum going into next gen in a majority of countries. Thus Sony needs to shoot itself in the foot again for Xbox to win globally.

Also given MS's mistake ridden track record in many areas (i.e. not just Xbox 360. Vista, Zune, Windows phones (before WP7 at least, and even then...), and those are only the mistakes I know about) it's far from certain that MS won't stumble a bit.

OT: The only thing that was actually bad was the high failure rate. Everything else was minor. And given 360's massive growth ove Xbox you'd have to say the high failure rate was only a moderate problem. It would have been a disaster if they hadn't given 3-year warrantees on RROD, but they managed the problem well enough to minimise the potential damage.

Of course they won't be releasing the next console in the middle of a disc format war. So there's no chance of them backing the wrong horse. With some sort of uncertain proprietary add on.

There's nothing wrong with a power brick. People are used to them.

Gimmicky stuff like face plates are either beneficial or irrelevant as success factors.

I dunno whether the Elite/Core/Arcade split was a gopod thing or a bad thing.  People do understand concept of entry-level devices and expect fewer features. So I think that was pretty neutral.