Microsoft extending warranty on Xbox360 to 3 years.

Microsoft, publisher and maker of the Xbox 360 gaming consoles, have extended the warranty period of their console to 3 years.

It seems that Microsoft did research on the Xbox360's now infamous "three flashing of red lights" on its console, signalling terminal hardware failure. This research shows that almost 30% of Xbox360s fail (compared to 1% failure rate of Sony's PS3 and Nintendo's Wii), which have prompted Microsoft to improve their parts and production process, as well as allocating a staggering US1 billion to repair the defective units out there globally.

In an attempt to sooth their existing customer base and stop them from switching to PS3 (now at USD499 with reduction of USD100), Microsoft have announced a global extended warranty of three years for all Xbox360 bought, irregardless of the date bought. Meaning that even if you bought the unit since launch day November 22, 2005, you will qualify to have another one year and 4 months extra warranty on your Xbox 360! Moreover, for owners who had paid for repair done on failed Xbox360s will qualify for a full refund of the repair.

While this is very good news for existing and potential new Xbox360 customers, this may not be good news to local gamers. For some of you out there that had bought a modded 360, you are not in luck as this new extended warranty and repair cost refund wont apply to you. Reason being you had voided the warranty of the unit by allowing unauthorised third party to disassemble your 360 to put in a mod chip, and as far as I know, Microsoft is not approving of modding their console.

So there you have it, if you are the few out there in MY that has an original unmodded Xbox360, you can rest easy that your unit now has a 3 year warranty (dated back to the date of purchase) and you can be assured that your unit will be repaired by Microsoft on their own cost if it fails on you. For those of you who had a modded unit, tough luck and buy original next time!