woot today my 360 got a DRE while playing

Following a class action lawsuit filed against Microsoft regarding "bricked" Xbox 360s, Next-Gen spoke with one of the plaintiff's lawyers, who said M'soft's only defense could be, "We're Microsoft, and we can do anything we want."

In late November, lawyers for California resident Kevin Ray filed a class action lawsuit against Microsoft in a Washington state district court. The plaintiff claims that following the October 31 fall update download for Xbox 360, his system was "bricked," or rendered useless.

Numerous complaints of a similar nature appeared on blogs and message board threads, prompting Ray to file the lawsuit on behalf of not only himself, but also others who had experienced the same problem.

Microsoft is accused of breach of contract, violation of Washington's Consumer Protection Act and negligence. Law firms handling the case are Atlanta-based Chitwood Harley Harnes, Seattle-based Keller Rohrback and Los Angeles-based Kabateck Brown Kellner.

According to the complaint, the plaintiff and class are asking for awards worth at least $5,000,000, although this amount could vary depending on how many people were affected by fall update issues. The complaint said thousands could have been affected by similar fall update problems.

Next-Gen spoke with Brian Kabateck, senior partner at Kabateck Brown Kellner, who admitted that his firm has "no idea" what the actual amount of damages sought after actually is, because it's unclear how many people this issue has affected (although Microsoft claimed shortly after the update that less than 1 percent of Xbox 360 users were affected). The firm pleaded the $5,000,000 amount as a procedural measure for the Federal Court in order to make sure the plaintiff and law firm had triggered appropriate jurisdiction.

Kabateck contested Microsoft's official claim that the company would pay all shipping, repair and/or replacement costs for affected consoles. "If that were true, that would go a long way to solving the problem," Kabateck said. "Unfortunately, all the reports we're getting is that Microsoft is saying 'Send your Xbox in and for 140 bucks we'll fix it.' In our opinion, they're turning their screw-up into a profit center."

Microsoft has yet to respond to the law firm.

Speculating on Microsoft's take on the complaint, Kabateck said half-jokingly that the software giant's best defense would be "'We're Microsoft and we can do anything we want.'" He elaborated, "I don't know what their defense possibly could be. They screwed up, and there's no question that this [update problem] happened. How many people it happened to, we don't know, but my firm has been contacted by almost 400 people since this became public."

Some onlookers have criticized the lawsuit as frivolous and lacking in evidence, as the complaint cites shaky sources such as independent bloggers, message board posts, Google search results for "Xbox 360 bricking" and Ray's personal account.

However, Kabateck explained that none of those things, aside from Ray's testimony, would be admissible in court. He said that for this case, evidence would be drawn from two primary sources. One would be first-hand accounts from live witnesses that experienced the problem. Secondly, lawyers also plan on subpoenaing records from Microsoft, such as internally-kept complaint documentation.

Blog posts from Microsoft employees such as Xbox Live director of programming Larry "Major Nelson" Hyrb would also be admissible as evidence, according to Kabateck. "[Those posts] are an admission of the problem. ... They acknowledged this problem. [Microsoft] may have excuses for this, but they acknowledged this problem."

Hyrb had referred to the problem in a November blog post.

Some reports on the Internet have speculated that Microsoft purposefully tailored the fall update to lock up Xbox 360s that had been modified to play illigitimate content not intended for use on the console. There's no conclusive evidence that this is the case, and Kabateck said that Ray's console was not modified.

But even if Ray or other plaintiffs in the class had modified their hardware, would Microsoft be in the right to brick consoles in order to protect its copyrights? "I'd be very concerned if I were a lawyer representing Microsoft suggesting that there would be a way to entrap people to download software simply because they've modified [a system] that belongs to them," Kabateck said. "There are two issues here. First, that's your property. You bought it, you own it. If you want, you can climb to the top of your apartment building and throw it off and break it on the parking lot.

"... The other issue is that our justice system has ways to deal with people who steal software or modify a piece of equipment in an illegal or inappropriate way. [Microsoft] can't take the law into their own hands," he said.

I thought the HD-DVD drive come with free King Kong movie? 

whats the average price for the hd-dvd movies actually ?

String, bila nak open house lagi???

What if I open house and you bring your consoles? Well just one really...and probably a video switcher....and ur tons of games and ur controllers....and the hd-dvd player...and...yeah thats about it 

String,
you should have asked them to put as PC DVD Drive

well, i am gonna do that when i get mine soon

chill down brother stringfellow, no need to to get angry since u already know they are morons 

eh... Last samurai rocked man oh well thats my personal opinion.. just like you had yours akakakkakaka

Ninjas and samurais rock my world

As moronic as they are - they are just doing their job. Please be more appreciative of what they do. After all, they're government servants mandated to be the gatekeepers. Relax man.. if you can't go to KLIA and see them. They're more than accomodating if you ask nicely...

"People who think they have big brains more often only have big mouths" - Ornstein

so kena tax or not?

aih... kene tax pon want to make a fuss like it's the end of the world.