Many people are complaining that the Xbox 360 is chewing up their game discs. There have been some thoughts about why this is, including suggestions that the vertical stand mode will often kill discs, and that jogging the machine while it's in use will also result in a disc as dead as a dodo.
Top games blog Joystiq has put all these factors together, and has come up with the definitive list of dos and don'ts to avoid scratching.
Apparently, the Ring of Light - the console's status and activity indicator - is partly to blame. Tipping the console on its side changes the orientation of the ring, with player status indicators moving accordingly. However, it seems that gamers are showing off this funky functionality with a disc playing, and the movement of the drive is causing some severe scratching.
"This annoyance falls into the ”so annoying we want to kick the family pet” category. I have moved various home electronics devices while they were spinning DVDs and audio CDs and not once have I hosed a media disc so thoroughly. I regularly move my laptop while its hard disk and DVD drives are spinning, and no damage has occurred yet. Sure, a console is meant to be stationary, but if fault tolerance is the norm amongst home consumer electronics devices, it should be the norm for the Xbox 360 as well because customers have come to expect that base level of fault tolerance."
We're not sure if we agree - as our own Chris Caines points out in this forum post...
"The 360 is a massive lump of hardware which I'm sure can stand up to a bump, however if you're reorientating it (which obviously changes the mentioned force massively on the disc due to the spinning) then you can't expect a high-speed moving part inside not to suffer. I bet you it doesn't mark a single disc if people just leave the damn thing where it is."
Quite.
Regardless, the message appears to be that if you want to keep your new 360 games in playable condition, leave the box where it is.
What do you make of this whole situation? Give us your thoughts in the forums.
Top games blog Joystiq has put all these factors together, and has come up with the definitive list of dos and don'ts to avoid scratching.
Apparently, the Ring of Light - the console's status and activity indicator - is partly to blame. Tipping the console on its side changes the orientation of the ring, with player status indicators moving accordingly. However, it seems that gamers are showing off this funky functionality with a disc playing, and the movement of the drive is causing some severe scratching.
"This annoyance falls into the ”so annoying we want to kick the family pet” category. I have moved various home electronics devices while they were spinning DVDs and audio CDs and not once have I hosed a media disc so thoroughly. I regularly move my laptop while its hard disk and DVD drives are spinning, and no damage has occurred yet. Sure, a console is meant to be stationary, but if fault tolerance is the norm amongst home consumer electronics devices, it should be the norm for the Xbox 360 as well because customers have come to expect that base level of fault tolerance."
We're not sure if we agree - as our own Chris Caines points out in this forum post...
"The 360 is a massive lump of hardware which I'm sure can stand up to a bump, however if you're reorientating it (which obviously changes the mentioned force massively on the disc due to the spinning) then you can't expect a high-speed moving part inside not to suffer. I bet you it doesn't mark a single disc if people just leave the damn thing where it is."
Quite.
Regardless, the message appears to be that if you want to keep your new 360 games in playable condition, leave the box where it is.
What do you make of this whole situation? Give us your thoughts in the forums.
MSI MPG Velox 100R Chassis Review
October 14 2021 | 15:04
Want to comment? Please log in.