Some owners complained their systems were crashing during game play, sometimes with error messages popping up. On www.xbox-scene.com, a site dedicated to Xbox gaming, a member called jsgongwon reported he could not finish the first lap of Project Gotham Racing 3.
“It’s a few reports of consoles here and there not working properly,” said Molly O’Donnell, a spokeswoman for Microsoft’s Xbox division.
“It’s what you would expect with a consumer electronics instrument of this complexity….par for the course.”
Gaming fanatics lined up for hours Monday to be among the first to purchase the next-generation system, which was in short supply, despite its starting price tag of $299.99 US. Microsoft hopes to sell 2.5 million to three million of the new systems in the first 90 days.
O’Donnell urged anyone with Xbox problems to call 1-800-4myXbox or go to www.xbox.com. If the problems can’t be resolved immediately, Microsoft said it will pay to ship the console overnight to a repair centre, return it once it’s fixed, or ship a replacement.
