We've been seeing crazy comments from him since E3. Kotaku has one from Microsoft's Chris Lewis, who's Microsoft's VC in Europe. Weird that David Reeves is in Europe so the next person to try and pass him up must be from Europe too. Anyway, Chris Lewis is trying to peg the recent 3 year warranty change as a positive for retailers and consumers.

"Some of them [retailers] are now seeing the three-year warranty as another USP for 360. It's ostensibly a very positive message for the consumer."

"The three-year warranty does actually give us an advantage over the competition. And the fact that we're now ahead of this thing will heighten people's levels of confidence in terms of the Xbox 360 purchase."

http://kotaku.com/gaming/gag-order/ms-europe-exec-sees-red-rings-warranty-as-a-selling+point-281608.php

None of these companies execs can ever keep their mouths shut, eh? I can maybe see it as positive if you're a consumer who hasn't looked into a whole lot about the 360. The warranty could also help make people feel a little 'safer' when it comes to the red rings. As somebody who reads stories and follows video games, if I won $400 in a contest, I'm not going to spend it on a 360 because of it's hardware problems and that warranty doesn't make me feel any better. 

What is it about Europe that breeds executives who spout complete garbage?

Well to tell the truth Lewis didn't say anything extremely idiotic. Besides, i personally found the 3 year warranty extention to be a very good thing as i plan on buying an xbox in the near future. Sure that the warranty extention is nothing to be proud of when it has been brought on by reports of a massive failure rate among the xbox 360 units but they still had enough bravery to confront the problem and try to solve it.....Unlike the Sony execs who usually bash the competition instead on focusing what's wrong.

I'm puzzled how Chris Lewis thinks that european customers might see this as a positive message instead of just beeing ignorant to it.

By law european customers get a two-year warranty on electronic products from the retailers anyway. So for us it's not a big deal if the manufacturer increases their warranty by another year. I think it's more convenient to put things straight with your local retailer than having to cope with call centers in Irland or India.

Eventhough the two-year warranty has some restrictions like after 6 months you'll have to proof to your retailer that the problem wasn't your fault. But with a non-working and unopened console without visible damage (like burn marks or a case crack in the shape of a foot) it isn't a problem at all to get a new one or a replacement while yours is going to be repaired.

2 Years? Seriously?

This is probably one of the reasons that electronics are more expensive in Europe ...

All the companies hate us, so they send their most annoying crapsacks over to us. Partly because they want to get rid of them, and partly because they just really, really, deep down hate us.

I'd rather have a system which never breaks, like every N system I've ever owned than one which is almost gauranteed to with a 3 year warranty. This would only be a so called 'advantage' if every system was as badly put together as 360.

My mate has had a 360 since it released in Europe (he bought 3 and sold to on eBay). He's been digging at me ever since i bought my PS3, telling me how aweful it is and how superior his 360 is.

Well, he just RRoD'd! he's pleased about the 3 year warranty extension, so of course he's gloating about how he's going to get it fixed for free.

of course it won't come back for another 4-5 weeks according to M$. until then, he's going to come over to mine to play PS3 just about every day!

Yeah, of course the 3 Year Warranty is a good deal. Would be better if it wasn't needed at all!

 Correct.