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There has been a lot of rumour on the web about XBox 360 disc (disk?) scratching over the years, but it seemed to come to a head last Christmas with the launch of the Kinect. KitGuru chased Microsoft hard after we first went live with a series of XDisc stories – and we finally got a response back. We've been sitting on it for a while, to check details. Here it is.
Here is the hard-hitting question we asked – alongside the official responses we received.
If using the Kinect for Xbox 360 EXACTLY as it was intended to be used, causes ‘disc death’ – then who is responsible for replacing the disc media?
“Kinect for XBox 360 is one of the most tested and successful consumer products in Microsoft’s history. With over 8 million sensors sold to date, worldwide response to Kinect has been overwhelmingly positive. The Kinect sensor itself does not come into physical contact with game discs, and we have seen no evidence of a correlation between normal use of Kinect and disc scratching”.
“In the unlikely event that any XBox owners do experience disc readability problems, we recommend they contact our toll-free support hotline on 0800 587 1102“.
“Additionally, we offer a Disc Replacement Programme for Microsoft Games Studio titles. Eligible games may be replaced under this programme, regardless of what caused them to stop working. This programme applies ONLY to games published by Microsoft and is subject to availability. If the game is published by another company, customers should contact that company for a replacement disc. For details, visit this site“.
We also asked Microsoft about its response to the official European Commission inquiry into its hardware.
Microsoft says that it has responded to the European Commission.
“We have been unable to reproduce the disc scratching problem or find any associated design or manufacturing issues in any XBox console used under normal operating conditions – including those returned by customers for examination. The EU Commissioner was satisfied with our response and both parties now consider the matter closed”.
KitGuru says: It's a solid response, but we're still not 100% sure that all eventualities have been covered. In a follow-up article, we will be speaking with an expert called Anthony Taylor who claims to have a solution.
Comment below or in the KitGuru forums.
I wonder where this was for… http://support.xbox.com/en-us/pages/xbox-360/troubleshoot/games/disc-replacement-program.aspx
obviously there isnt a problem, and if there was i think there would be 8 odd million people complaining otherwise.
I buy broken 360 and refurbish them to sell on, I’ve never come across one that scratches discs.
There’s no way Kinect could change the way the disc drive opperates, I guess that a few people may be dumb enough to place the console directly on springy floorboards and then jump about like crazy and shake the hell out of it but then disc warranties shouldn’t be expected to cover acts of supidity.
The Xbox can scratch a disc, especially if it is stood on it’s end and is somehow knocked, or a cable is tugged (mayby by tripping over headphone or charging cables). The Xbox rocks and the laser lens protrudes into the tray area hitting the surface of the disc as it is spinning inflicting almost 360 (ha ha) degrees of damage to the disc.
Although it could be argued that this is not the fault of the xbox, why the laser has so much travel and moves so easily baffles me, surely there would be a way to restrict it to a certain point especially if the device is designed to stand on end.
And sometimes it’s not much of a knock.
Due to space limitation my Xbox is usually on it’s end, throw that into the mix with kids and it’s gouge city!
My xbox is burning a circle in the disc . Its situated on a flat surface and the game it has done it to is the starwars on the kinect . This has happened in under a week and the game is now useless . Its not been move or knocked and Im unsure as to how MS can say there is no issue when I have found so many forums and its been on watchdog . I am going to contact MS about this and also trading standards and consumer direct as Im sure they will have a record of other complaints regarding this
Just because some of us 8 million users don’t complain about it doesn’t mean it doean’t happen. We never thought abuot looking into this issue until our 2nd/3rd disk got scratched. The disk was in the machine – it was OFF. the xbox was moved (relocated a foot away to get better internet signal – lousy antennae, another issue) and then the machine was turned on, the disk was scratched.
I would love to say that we **should** always remove a disk after use, that doesn’t mean we don’t forget, my forgetful husband should remember or that we don’t have 10 year old kids that forget. Our forgetfulness does not absolve microsoft from acknowledging this issue.
It never should have scratched any of my disks ($150 worth of disks).