Microsoft has more money than, well, any non-celestial being, which is great news for Xbox users, because they’re going to need it. If the failure rate wasn’t bad enough, adding WiFi (via the dongle), a decent-sized hard disk (for HD downloads, ‘natch), an HD-DVD soon-to-be-released BD-DVD (via external device), and (do they even have an option for?) Blue Tooth quickly prices an Xbox beyond even the hefty (and incredibly subsidized) PS3 asking prices.

Add in the failure rate, and even the compelling Windows Media, Zune, and other extender/integration features don’t make it a no-brainer purchase (though the games are admittedly the strongest in the industry — only so often can we play Wii Sports before jabbing the Wii-mote through our own eye-socket).

An inside source talks up what went wrong with Xbox 360 reliability - Paul’s SuperSite blog

A few interesting assertions from this interview:The failure rate for the Xbox 360 is about 30 percent. Newer versions fail at a rate of about 10 percent, though that is still too high.There’s no way to know when or if your Xbox 360 will fail: Most fail early, but even a particularly demanding game could put it over the edge.The failures are a direct result of Microsoft rushing the 360 to market in order to beat Sony.While a vertical Xbox 360 could be knocked over, that set up is “safer,” thermally, than leaving it horizontal, as it provides more surface area for cooling.External fans that draw power from the 360 power supply do more harm than good.The next generation Xbox “3″ is still years away. But Microsoft will release new and more efficient Xbox 360 designs every year or so to lower manufacturing costs.

January 23, 2008 - Microsoft, Video Games -