Bad news out of Redmond today: Microsoft (MSFT) not only has heat problems with the Xbox 360 console itself – problems that have caused the company to take a billion-dollar writedown – but now it has a heat glitch with an accessory as well. The Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel can overheat and start smoking when it’s plugged into a wall outlet, the company says. Microsoft is providing a free retrofit to fix the problem, and no injuries have been reported.
The biggest loss here is to Microsoft’s reputation. It’s not so much a matter of the wheel itself – it sells for $119 on Amazon.com (AMZN) and has a sales rank of 366 in the video games category, so it’s not a huge seller. But if gamers were concerned that Microsoft doesn’t know what it’s doing when it designs hardware, this latest problem adds fuel to the fire. (Pun intended.)
From Microsoft’s announcement:
The action is being taken after Microsoft was informed of a very small number of incidents of a malfunction in the Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel, in which a component in the wheel chassis may overheat and release smoke when the AC/DC power supply is used to energize the wheel. There have been no reported incidences of fire, personal injury or property damage resulting from the component failure in the wheel.
Owners of the Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel should stop using the AC/DC power supply until they have obtained their retrofit. They may continue to operate the wheel using battery power.
Owners of the Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel should visit http://www.xbox.com/support or call Microsoft at (800) 4MY-XBOX (469-9269) to register for the free retrofit and protect against the potential hazard described above. Instructions, if necessary, will be provided with the retrofit. Microsoft is notifying and will be coordinating its response activities with the relevant regulatory agencies such as the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. This may affect delivery dates.
Will this latest setback give an advantage to Sony’s (SNE) Playstation 3 and Nintendo’s Wii? Too soon to tell. Hard-core gamers are the ones most likely to pay attention to the racing wheel problems, but they’re also the most likely to forgive Microsoft for product glitches.
Product defects could become a big problem for Microsoft, however, if they mar the launch of its Halo 3 game next month. Reports on game enthusiast sites have indicated that the Xbox 360 is most likely to overheat when it’s playing graphically intense titles, and Halo 3 is sure to fit the bill. If thousands of people buy Xbox 360s to play Halo 3 only to have their machines die, Microsoft’s generous repair policy might not be enough to appease them.
