A few weeks ago I started having some bad memories relived as (similar to our original xbox) our Xbox360 started to have some disc read errors (only seems to be on Oblivion currently and very random), then it had a day when it would not power off.  I rushed to my records to find that yes, Murphy's law was in action and the 1 year date and warranty had just expired end of May.  But, unlike the fate of the original Xbox (which initially shipped with an unreliable DVD drive) Microsoft has just announced that they are extending the warranty to 3 years and making that retroactive (ie reimburse those who have paid to repair).  Still a pain, but it is being responsive and a good step.  The warranty extension is only for general hardware failure (ie it doesn't cover if my DVD dies) which the FAQ covers.  While this is a good step, in general the track record on xboxes is still poor.  If I had to buy a new laptop every year or replace parts on it, that industry wouldn't survive (or rather the vendors of the failing device). 

I love this story:

Don't underestimate the grocery store deli worker, the security alarm salesman or the 34-year-old computer science student who anchor the Miami Dade College chess team. The community college undergrads have already faced Yale, Harvard, Dartmouth, Northwestern and beaten them all

The team started 5 years ago and every year since formation has made the final 4 of the collegiate chess finals.  Real people with a passion and talent for chess.

 Darwin Award?

A South Korean man who played computer games for 50 hours almost non-stop died of heart failure minutes after finishing his mammoth session in an Internet cafe, authorities said on Tuesday.

Man dies after 50 hours of computer games | CNET News.com

As rumors of XBOX II features continue to hit the air (http://bink.nu/?ArticleID=3162), here are my thoughts and hopes.  

1)       Keep it open, the ability for people to extend the system provides great market feedback, drives greater value to users, and enhances the “network effect” building value for users – you void the warranty that is cool, closed box == reliability kind of thing but let people innovate

2)       Run existing games, sell a version of virtual PC that lets people run the games they have now on the new box, helps game developers and retailers maintain pricing for existing products when new device launches

3)       More disc space or better yet upgradeable space – current drive makes me think of original PCs no one will ever fill 20MB.  Boxes in families with lots of games, lots of custom teams, ripped music etc. it fills up – more space means more use – maybe a way to rent space on XBOX live

4)       USB – fits will item 3, also makes it easy to connect so many other things: flash (for transfer of pictures and music, saved games), cameras, networks – this also fits item 1, make the system open and would bring a plethora of devices into play with a large community of providers – making XBOX ubiquitous should be the goal, remember the PC.  Wouldn’t it be cool to connect your iPod (or Windows Media device) to your XBOX and just use it as the tunes?

5)       Stability – the system is pretty good in this respect but no more dying DVD drives and disk read errors

6)       Expand XBOX live, if I have a PC version of an XBOX game, why not let me on the network to play against other gamers on XBOX or PC?

7)       Blog support, needs a “blog this” ability that would publish pictures, scores, clips.