A report from MCV says many retailers in South Africa are refusing to stock Xbox 360′s. They cite the high failure rates as the primary reason why South Africa isn’t supporting the console. At the same time, PS2 sales continue to do well in that territory. Quinton Eavie, director for Apex Interactive also points out how well the Wii is doing.

While a skull and crossbones may have struck time into ancient mariners’ hearts, another image is far more unsettling to gamers – the Red Ring of Death. Artist Jonah Block understands that, and his design called Red Ring Jolly Roger drives that point home. And, for one day only, you can purchase your own Red Ring Jolly Roger t-shirt from Tee Fury…

My Xbox 360 was purchased in 2008. Even though the Xbox 360 website said my serial number indicated my console was out of warranty, I knew you had extended all Xbox 360 warranties for three years after the date of purchase. Armed with this knowledge I called customer service to dispute this matter. The gentleman who answered the call was polite and accommodating. After answering a few easy questions, he proceeded to send me a shipping label with detailed instructions on how to send my console back for repair.

In theory, the iPad seems like an absolutely incredible idea.

Then again, that’s what a company does when it’s doing something new for itself and its customers. It trie to make it seem much better than it actually is. So, you’re probably wondering what could go wrong.

Well, entirely too much can go wrong.

The Microsoft Xbox 360 has not earned a reputation for reliability. Console manufacturers are always hard to pin down on failure rates, but a survey by CNET UK provides an interesting sampling. A whopping 60 percent of the 1,128 gamers responding to the survey said their Xbox 360 had failed, compared to 16 percent of PS3 owners and 6 percent of Wii owners.

Of course, people whose consoles have failed are often more likely to respond to a survey asking for complaints. But this is not exactly the first we’re hearing of a higher failure rate where the 360 is concerned…

Well dear readers, I have just dealt with the tragedy that many Xbox 360 users have dealt with, the dreaded Red Ring of Death (ie when your 360 suddenly stops working altogether and you see three fed lights around the power button).

There is seemingly little you can do except send it to Microsoft for repairs (assuming the warranty is still good) or buy a new one and hope the same thing doesn’t happen.

Last weekend I became another statistic of the ever-growing epidemic that has been plaguing Xbox 360 owners for some time: My Xbox 360 finally red ringed.

So I ventured out two days before Christmas trying to find a Nintendo Wii err, I mean, an Xbox 360.

It should be noted that I was after no ordinary Xbox 360. No I was after one of the fabled red-ring immune Jasper-chipped Xbox 360s.

The newest iteration on the Xbox 360 has a 65-nanometer graphics chip that supposedly uses less power thus theoretically slowing down, if not hopefully all-together ridding, the Red Ring of Death epidemic…

Oh Microsoft, first you allegedly knew about the “Red Ring of Death” issues before you launched the console and know, according to some unsealed court documents, you knew your system would cause damage to consumer’s discs thanks to defected disc drives.

Earlier this month, Kotaku reported that an Illinois man, Jason Johnson, sued Microsoft for $50,000 in damages, after his replacement console (for one that Red Ringed a year earlier) damaged three games, rendering them all unplayable.

Now, according to the Seattle Post Intelligencer, Microsoft was previously aware that shifting the console while a disc was playing would cause the disc to become damaged. In the documents, Microsoft…

The infamous Red Ring of Death (RROD) has been a plague on the conscience of Xbox 360 owners since the system debuted. Playing a round of Halo 3 or exploring the world of Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, only to have your system freeze up and then instantly parish is not something gamers wanted on their minds, especially considering that it might take two weeks – or longer – to get their systems back.

I know it’s something I think about whenever I turn my system on and I bet it’s on your mind as well. Now however, it looks like the RRODepidemic may be something of the past as Microsoft has started introducing Jasper chips into fresh Xbox 360s hitting retail shelves.

VentureBeat has exposed some details on the newly outfitted Xbox 360s, including why the systems should be RROD-proof.

For starters, the new systems will pack a 65-nanometer graphics chip (down from 90-nanometers) that will…

One of the least important but most hilarious stories to come out of this year’s Game Developers’ Conference came from the BBC back on Tuesday (February 19, 2008).

Among the demo XBox 360s Microsoft had in their booth, one malfunctioned, showing off one of the 360′s most “popular” features: the Red Ring of Death..