Microsoft Covering Up Forza 2 Crash Forum
By William on Friday, June 29th, 2007 at 3:35 AM PST In Microsoft, Microsoft
I reported yesterday on the threads popping up in the official Forza 2 forums claiming that Forza 2 is causing the Xbox 360 to crash. Apparently, now Microsoft has taken steps to cover up the forum that has gained massive attention in the past 24 hours. I am highly dissapointed in this move, considering I am a strong supporter of keeping things public, particularly when there could actually be a problem that consumers should be aware of. I should have screen captured the forums, but the thought that Microsoft might delete them entirely wasn’t a thought in my mind.   Hopefully Microsoft will redeem themselves in the near future, and make some public statements concerning the widespread claims that Forza 2 is causing Xbox 360 units to crash. Some reports even claimed that Forza 2 was causing the Xbox to permanently crash. I’m not sure how much of this is reality, but it needs to be addressed immediately.
In what appears to be an effort to conceal the over 900 replies gamers provided on the official Forzamotorsport.net forums about Forza Motorsport 2 crashing on the Xbox 360, Microsoft has deleted the long thread, now stating that it’s “exclusive content for registered forum users†only. However, the thread was removed entirely, even to registered members. This comes after the thread was revealed and reported on yesterday, gaining plenty of attention. In the thread, hundreds of gamers posted their stories on what happened to the 360 when playing Forza 2, and expressed frustration, anger, and disappointment.
I was playing Forza 2 yesterday when my game froze. I turned the console off and tried turning it on again, but I got the three red lights on my console. I’ve had my system since launch day and it has never given me problems. Now Microsoft wants $168 to fix it because I’ve had it for over a year and the warranty no longer applys.
Same thing happened to me two weeks ago. You’re in Canada eh? I’m in Toronto…the whole replacement/repair program took 16 days. I got a new 360 that actually works.
What a great way for M$ to up their revenue !
Brick machines via a new release and charge
a shed load to sort out.
Of course, it could all be one massive coincidence.
I shan’t be getting an Xbox360 anytime now.
I’ve just read Turn10’s responce to all the hundreds of postings about 360s bricking while playing Forza 2.
They would say that the game has nothing to do with it as they are a sub-division of Microsoft (the company that will not admit there is an inherent fault with the system). My second 360 is off to the graveyard and I tell you now if the 3rd one breaks I’ll be shelling out and getting a PS3 and an Apple Mac Pc and all MS products in my house will not be sold, they’ll go stright in the trash. I will not inflict the Misery of Microsoft porducts on another soul.
I loved the OG Xbox, Never had a fault not even to this day (yes i still have it and it’s a launch batch model too). I am not a “Fanboy” to any console but I do preffer the Xbox.
Microsoft and all affiliates need to get their act together and sort this out quick cos I’ve just read the sale results (installed to end user(i’m an ex-sony employee and am pretty good friends with the local rep)) for the PS3 in the UK and they are up. I love the 360 (when it works) and want to keep playing it and I am loathed to pay for the unproven tech in a PS3, but that’s what me and most of my friends list are planning on doing if their machine breaks one more time.
I’ve just read Turn10’s response to all the hundreds of postings about 360s bricking while playing Forza 2.
They would say that the game has nothing to do with it as they are a sub-division of Microsoft (the company that will not admit there is an inherent fault with the system). My second 360 is off to the graveyard and I tell you now if the 3rd one breaks I’ll be shelling out and getting a PS3 and an Apple Mac Pc and all MS products in my house will not be sold, they’ll go straight in the trash. I will not inflict the Misery of Microsoft products on another soul.
I loved the OG Xbox, Never had a fault not even to this day (yes i still have it and it’s a launch batch model too). I am not a “Fanboy” to any console but I do prefer the Xbox.
Microsoft and all affiliates need to get their act together and sort this out quick cos I’ve just read the sale results (installed to end user(I’m an ex-sony employee and am pretty good friends with the local rep)) for the PS3 in the UK and they are up. I love the 360 (when it works) and want to keep playing it and I am loathed to pay for the unproven tech in a PS3, but that’s what me and most of my friends list are planning on doing if their machine breaks one more time.
How much does Sony pay you guys to spread lies? I’m glad Microsoft did the right thing and deleted the thread that was obviously instigated by a Sony employee. Sony can’t compete with the 360 with games and quality, so it’s going to try to attack it from the manufacturing side. The REAL failure rate for an Xbox 360 is around 4%, not the 30% some high school drop out cashier at some retail store, making $5.50 an hour, claims.
If you read my articles, you’d notice that I disagree with the claims that over 30% of Xbox units are failing. I also believe a portion of the failures are due to user error. In this particular case, I do not think the forums should have been shut down and I also highly doubt a Sony employee started the complaints.
Check google cache to see if it was stored there
Mine just died on me the other day. Six months old, used to marathon game sessions, no problems at all. played Forza 2 for a few weeks. It’s a brick. And I do believe it’s a legitimate hardware design problem. The CPU has a fan on it. The GPU doesn’t, it just has a heatsink, and relies on moving air from another source for cooling. This is not good. that’s like hooking up a radiator to your car but not putting a fan on it. Not Good.
We’ve had a couple of forums deleted from MS as well here in OZ. It was discussing failure rates, motherboard warping, GPU heatsinks, as well as the general lack of customer service. It was also a good place to inform Aussies of their rights as a consumer (ie. don’t shell out the $200 for a repair, even if it is more than 12 months old).
I understand that MS would not like that sort of publicity as obviously potential buyers are influenced by it, but I don’t think deleting the thread is a good idea. Pretending that there isn’t a problem hasn’t worked so far and I think this is only going to make it worse.
Microsoft has an old habit of deleting blogs and forum posts……….which is totally wrong…a few months back I had started my blog about the newly released HALO 3 video….it got pretty good attention and suddenly all the links on all good forums wer gone…..even on bungie . there was no trace of any conversation related to my blog.
THE SICK PART IS IT WAS BOUT PS WRITTEN ON MASTER CHIEFS HAND IN THE TRAILER!!!!AND SOME NEW FIGHTER AND WEAPONS.
http://masterohalo.blogspot.com/
please dont abuse me if u find it dumb or anything….its only the stuff i found in the video..thats it!!!
List of consoles I’ve owned
Segas Master system
Genesis
SNES
PS1
PS2
N64
Gamecube
Wii
Xbox
Xbox 360
DS
Out of all those the only one to break down is the 360, it’s now out of warranty and they want me to pay £85 to get it fixed. I’m selling the 360 games (10) and hard drive and throwing the console in the bin and getting a PS3. I can’t deal with these three red lights anymore, it’s killed all enjoyment for me with Xbox 360. You don’t know when the problem will strike, it’s a lottery when you turn on your 360 and that’s not worth the hassle.
Worst console ever made?, it has to be. Name one other console that gets to hot in normal conditions and breaks the solder around the GPU, killing your console. MS still haven’t fixed the damn problem, Elite is the same, and even repaired console break at a alarming rate. How can you enjoy 360 when you know your console is a ticking time bomb?.
I had my xbox360 since dec. 06 and forza caused it to die last week. I never had any problems even playing 10 hours of R6: vegas. After I purchased a custom car off auction house, the game started to freeze in any race more than 6 minutes long.
“How much does Sony pay you guys to spread lies? I’m glad Microsoft did the right thing and deleted the thread that was obviously instigated by a Sony employee. Sony can’t compete with the 360 with games and quality, so it’s going to try to attack it from the manufacturing side. The REAL failure rate for an Xbox 360 is around 4%, not the 30% some high school drop out cashier at some retail store, making $5.50 an hour, claims.”
So “The Saint” (how original) , how much do Micro$oft pay you? You are obviously:
a). A Micro$oft employee.
b). A 12 year old fan-boy
c). An utter retard
d). All of the above.
I like the way you quote 4% failure rate. That is still Micro$ucks official stance even though five minutes of investigation would make it clear even to a smacktard such as yourself that the real failure rate is much, much higher.
But hey , never let the truth stand in the way of your (and Micro$haft’s) Bullshit.
(1) Microsoft official quote and MS fanboy reality = 4% failure rate.
Real world = at least a 30% failure rate. (as mentioned by large shops that have to deal with the complaints from Xbox 360 users.)
(2) These issues with the Xbox 360 just go to show the world three things.
(a) MS produces products that do “just enough” (mediocre things that are typically based on “off the shelf” hardware, to save on costs). Yet, the price they’re asking for is a premium compared to what a product is actually worth!
(b) MS solutions will always be buggy. Despite what their marketing machine says. Any idiot who is running a *nix based system (OSX, Linux, BSD, Solaris, etc) can easily testify to this.
(c) The “get the customer to pay for repairs that originate from them” isn’t specific to the Xbox 360. Ever tried Windows OneCare Live?
They don’t actually “solve” problems such that they never occur again, they just provide convenient band-aids that cost you time and money!
(3) If you want to make money from Microsoft issues, start a repair or security service! Whether its to repair console issues, or help with their OS security issues, you will make a KILLING! The security industry is a multi-billion dollar one thanks to Microsoft!
Simply put. There will always be fanboys who will defend Microsoft. Its these types of weeners that help MS’s facade. (Hell, its worked for the last 20yrs+!)
In summary? Stop using their garbage, and you’ll realise the world is actually a better place!
Get a Wii or a PS3. You know at least these two products won’t die on you!
Sony employees, give it up. I can’t believe the extent to which Sony would go to try to compete with superior systems. 10 broken Xbox 360’s is worth more than ONE working PS3. End of story
Buy a PS3 if you want to fold proteins or if you want to impress chicks with your specs talk, but if you want to play games, buy a 360.
Not a Sony fanboy,
But my 360 died today and MS are asking me to pay £84.99 for repair, I have played alot of Forza 2 lately, im not sure how a game can break a console, but im certainly not paying that much for them to put another 360 in a box to send to me.
Not a fan boy, just a fan.
I played Forza2 on my good friends 360, and I liked it. He was laughing at me cos I have a PS3 and no GT5 yet (grrr!). His 360 died. Dunno if it was the Forza2 that did it, but after reading this thread and some others, I’m beginning to wonder.
Perhaps the computational load is such that it’s making the 360 work real hard, and die quicker. I wanna laugh, but really it’s no laughing matter. I have in my sticky mitts the funds to buy a second console, and until about a month ago, that was gonna be the 360. Guess what I’m thinking now my unlucky friends.
Microsoft, if you read this and other peoples thoughts concerning your great but flawed console, please please understand that you have to fix the problem, not hide it.
Could this be another case of heating issues – I bet the game squeezes the consoles hardware to its max and as such causes the well known heating issues…popular with other hardcore games. I’ve had to open mine slap in 2 different xcm fans and i’ve also gone and bought the intercooler – all in an effort to fix m$ faults on product release… what does this mean – And to top it off I don’t get their help anymore due to open case regulations. Nice one ms!!
I just received a response from the Forza 2 team. They weren’t specific, but it is definitely a hardware issue of some kind.
http://news.filefront.com/forza-motorsportnet-responds-to-allegations-that-forza-2-crashes-xbox-360-units/
Mine died yesterday. Had played Forza for 30 min, but the problems started when I started GRAW2 after 5 min. Don’t think it’s a forza problem, it’s getting warmer outside, new games are arriving and the cooling fault is triggered by the heat (I’m guessing). I’m pretty certain it’s a design flaw in the 360. I have a Wii and a PS3 to keep me entertained while it’s beeing serviced, but I have no good games for them
That’s why I never “buy” Microsoft products.
The reports of failures are true and not just related to Forza.
I’m sending my 2nd console to TX this week when the box arrives 7/5 per UPS.
I’m an Xbox fan and put my money down 6 months in advance of the 360 launch. In my opinion there’s a basic design flaw(s) with the machine. My launch console bricked with 3 red lights. My 2nd console started to report disc read errors, locked-up randomly, and started running slower. I’m old enough to say I owned an Atari 2600, Sega Master System, Genesis, SNES, Playstation, 3DO, Dreamcast, Playstation 2, and Xbox and NEVER had a console with a problem. That’s almost 30 years of gaming.
Don’t shrug off the reports of console failures. They’re real and I’m living the dream.
Forza 2 is not braking any Xbox 360s. I have seen this headline multiple times right after the release of titles that have sold a large number of copies around release date (e.g. GOW, Saint’s Row, Guitar Hero 2, etc). This is a case of Xboxes braking at a normal rate (well when it comes to the 360, normal rate is sort of a high rate), however since a large number of people are getting the game right around release time, any defects are blamed by default on the new game. In my opinion this is a case of a misdiagnostic, so nothing new to see here… just move on.
Microsoft are acting like wimps if they close a topic like that.
I personally know 4 people who have had their 360’s fail & had to send to MS to fix. I bought Forza 2 on release day & have had at least 1 lockup/disk read error per day, sometimes 3+. I’m just wishing I won’t see the red ring sometime soon but I can feel it coming. It sucks having an expensive piece of machinery and just sitting waiting for it to die.
Personally, im only on my second 360, my launch batch core died from an update error (free replacement FTW) and i also play forza 2 quite a bit (im level 30 in career). My console was manufactured in march 2006. I live in florida, so its not exactly cold. I have the occasional crash in games, but no problems with forza 2 yet.
I would like everyone to remember something, you cant judge your beloved faliure rate by so called online research. Think about it for a moment. You are much more likely to get people complaining than praising it. Oh sure when it works fine noone talks about it but when it starts breaking OMG HAXXX*&^%&^%& yea you know what I mean. But I do agree that consoles arent supposed to fail like this. It is the only console ive had fail on me, just like several other people have mentioned. Hell, my TV has fallen on my N64 and both devices still work fine. Wouldnt be the case with the 360 im sure.
Seems like a game of trade offs with the current set of consoles eh? you either get:
A) the Wii, the cheapest offering, with “proven” (meaning nearly obsolete) hardware, a gimmick controller that can break your tv, no HD output
B)the 360, middle priced, highest faliure rate ever for a console, expensive proprietary accessories, doubles as a space heater
C)the PS3, most expensive, shoves blu-ray down your throat while you foot the bill, has the same old uncomfortable controller with added gimmick and removed rumble, also a good space heater
the 360 would wipe the floor with the others if they just made it right in the first place. at first i didnt like it much, but it grew on me. The UI is top notch, a microsoft trademark. good game selection. to be fair, i dont own the others, but i greatly dislike the PS3’s UI.
lol, Some people have no life, they sit on the PC and try and start up conspiracy theories about devs covering stuff up.
Sorry to inform you guys that believes the lies that Microsoft has told.
Videos and photos will be coming soon of what is really taking place in the repair shops.
Also coming is video and photos from “The Drudge Report”
Additionally, TMZ has begun making the rounds to get to the truth.
I have sent requests to NBC, CNN, Fox, and ABC to begun an undercover report at the repair shops.
I have also inquired about a class action lawsuit directed toward MS and its Xbox division.
Say what you want but the truth will hurt so much.
No more denying it MS…its gonna hit you were it hurts.
Whhooaa, I’ve had Forza 2 for a couple of days now, everything has been fine. However, this afternoon after playing it for a couple of hours, it froze on me, when I rebooted, I got the dreaded red ring of death
This is a 1 month old Xbox360 Elite. I can’t believe Microsoft still havn’t sorted out the issues after 18 months… I phoned Microsoft and they are sending out packaging to send it back for repair in..
I am tempted to take it back to the store and get a refund.. I got it from GameStop, I think they should refund..
Well i was one of the people to reply to the thread, i was told by microsoft they were aware of the issue and were working on a solution and now after reading this well i dont know who to trust, everyother game i own works 100% on my day 1 console but forza 2 LOCKS UP AFTER 5 MINS PLAY end of story, i went out and spent £200 on a new console and guess what Forza 2 works fine so if its all lies please explain to me why my original Day 1 360 wont play it?????
I work for a retail store in the UK selling all three of the leading consoles (PS3, XBOX360 and Wii). No one wants to buy the PS3, the Wii’s disappear as soon as they get on the shelf and the XBOX… well it has the highest return rate of any console but shifts as fast as the PS3.
We have never had a Wii returned to us but XBOXs seem to fail every other day… I would NOT be surprised if the failure rate of the XBOX is worse than any system in history and knowing MS’s usual stance on “we take f**k all responsibility I would not be surprised.
And any of you guys in the UK with a failed XBOX360 (or any item of equipment like that) under consumer law the manufacturer is BOUND by law to present you with either a repair or replacement (if under 30 days old) for up to FIVE years after purchase (Six years in Scotland). THEY ARE NOT ALLOWED TO CHARGE for manufacturing errors, only user damage (spilt drinks etc). Don’t let them rip you off, talk to trading standards if they try to force you to pay for their bad workmanship.
I’m beginning to wonder if the 12 million 360s included the replaced ones…because the number includes the consoles stored in the various warehouses and the replacements come from the warehouses (warehouse to store to customer) eventually……………
can any1 explain me if this can be true?
i’am glad i read this cuz i waz going to buy that game for my lil brother but now i’am not going to buy it i use to leave me ps2 on all the time and never over heat and my gamecube two they but so much in them dam console and nothing to keep it cool i guess i’am have to make a move and start playing my ps3 more than i use to
MS Sucks
360 is a flop
Wii pwns
MICROSOFT IS NOT GOOD FOR GAMING……..THEY R CORRUPTING THE GAMING WORLD like they have in the OS world…………they r bribing devs and putting too much emphasis on profits for devs……….thats y i like thw WII , good ol last gen fun…while the PS3 is too good in terms of specs and they are gettn the games to show it
my xbox is 3 months old, all was fine. Bought Forza 2, 3 days later it is dead.
pants.
It’s a good thing Microsoft just upped their warranty to 3 years on the XBOX360 (including shipping). Not other console in history has given a 3 year warranty. I think they’re doing a pretty good job of standing behind their product.
My 3 month old xbox 360 console got the 3 red lights a couple of weeks before the forza 2 launch. Got a new one from microsoft. My friends console died after playing forza 2 a couple of weeks.
Microsoft has released an unfinished product and if u use ur console, it`s bound to fail sometime..
Microsoft sucks..
Gene, Microsoft haven’t upped the warranty to 3 years. They have agreed to repair the 3 rings of death fault only. The 3 year warranty doesn’t cover anything else.
I cant believe that anyone thinks Microsoft have come out of this looking good. They did the bare minimum and only then because they could no longer get away with ignoring it like they had done for over a year. The again almost all of the people I’ve read defending Microsoft in this don’t actually know the terms of the warranty and they also aren’t aware that for the last year Microsoft have simply been repairing the damage the fault caused not repairing the fault. That of course is like sweeping the dust under the carpet, the problem doesnt go away it just looks better in the short term. It will of course come back. Probably after the 3 years is up.
If you are planning on using your console for 5 years I guarantee you the PS3 will work out cheaper and that’s for 2 main reasons. Firstly a few years of online gameplay charges will make the 360 more expensive and secondly because I’m willing to bet that a large percentage of 360 users will have to buy another console after their first one dies.
You should remember that as games get more detailed they become more of a tax on the GPU and CPU which in turn creates more heat.
Good luck
Hey Guys,
Craziness. My 360 just died a week a ago about 3 weeks after getting Forza 2. I was getting frequent freeze ups in the car selection screen and then the picture would go funny every so soften and then the dreaded ring of death. I have had a new borrowed 360 for 3 days now and I am getting the freeze ups in the car selection screen again. The really crazy thing is that my old original xbox crapped out right after I bought the original forza causing frequent dirty disc errors.
I think this game (and the last one) maxes out the mechanical functions of the 360 with it’s game engine design and now it’s effecting the original overheating defect that’s in everyone’s 360.
Microsoft just messed up. They tried to make hardware like they make software and something went terribly wrong. The 3 year warranty thing is good but they need to give some more options. A credit towards a xbox 360 elite (which I assume works better) in exchange for the damaged unit which they could sell as refurbished or maybe offer a few free games or a few thousand points for the marketplace or something.
Green Ninja X
Halifax NS
For anyone reading this, i have just found this page while trying to find out why the hell my 360 crashes after 1 lap of any race on Forza 2.
Apparently im not alone…..
i had my first xbox 360 for almost 2 years. it worked fine until i started playing forza 2 it lasted for 2 weeks and then it died.
today my replacement (brand new) xbox360 came and i begun playing forza2 about 5 minutes later i got myself an ugly paperweight with 3 red lights.
microsoft sucks
i got to this site by chance but after reading a few of these replies i realise my forza 2 has been freezing up too, but this never happend before, should i stop playing it????
my xbox 360 i have had 6 months now, well actually 3 months as i had my first xbox 360 3 months b4 it broke, my first xbox 360 broke within 2 weeks but it wasnt the dreaded 3 lights of death it was just simply cracking my discs (not burning) but actually cracking them, so i took it back to the shop and got another 1, so far since then i had no troubles apart from the occational unable to read disc on gears of war even though i take very much care of my discs and tehre was no dirt or finger prints or scratches on it at all, but then i bought forza 2 adn i thouht it was the best game ever untill it froze and bricked my xbox 360 it was freezing only on that game aswell no other 1, cheers microsoft you really did me a favour cus from now on i will never ever buy a microsoft prduct again, i dont know why i even decided to get another games console my ps2 was fine games are great and the xbobx 360 is a total failure and i am un impressed by the ps3 it looks like a big fat ugly bread bin a message to all stick with what u know best old school consoles or pc games next gen games consoles are a waste of space PEACE!!!!!!!!
At least some of you got to play Forza 2. Mine wont even start up and it freezes. Had the same problem with Quake 4 (after 5 mins of gaming). All other games working ok, so far. Occasional sticking with Gears of War tho.
I told you Micro$haft was shit.
lol i bet one of the microsoft mod’s say the thread and its total post count and called their supervisor with the message …
ITS OVER NINE THOUSAND!!
