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Buying a Used Xbox 360 is Worse than Used Underwear
I've always been a fan of buying used video games and used video game systems. Since most games are only published and printed for a limited amount of time and each video game hardware system is only made in a limited amount for a limited period of time getting buying used stuff is often the only way to find anything older than a few years. However there is no way that I would ever buy a used Xbox 360.
Customers simply have no way of knowing what that system has been through and the state of the internal hardware. Since the Xbox 360 has design issues, parts supply, manufacturing and hardware repair problems there is no way that you can rely on getting a reliable system. Unless you know how an Xbox 360 system has been treated, used of if it's had any previous hardware problems. There is no way of knowing if it's been repaired once or a dozen times. Buying it from GameStop,Game Crazy, Ebay, Craig's List it is all the same. Places like GameStop will only test to see if an Xbox will boot up once or twice while they are deciding to accept it but they have no idea how reliable it is going to be in the long term. Getting a "repaired" system back from Microsoft is almost just as bad from getting one from a used lot. I would never ever buy a used Xbox 360 system and I think that places that sell used Xbox 360s are not being responsible to their customers.
Now this is not an anti-Microsoft rant since they don't make any money off used Xbox system or games and they make most of their profits off new Xbox 360 accessories.
Now used game controllers and systems could have finger prints, oil, and dust that is mostly dead skin flakes but most of that could be fixed by wiping them down with a hot damp cloth and letting them dry for a few hours. I got a used handheld TurboExpresslast week and am not worried any unwanted stuff left over from it's previous owners.
Most use game systems can have normal wear and tear and most problems with used CD/DVD based game systems can be from the disk drives failing over time. Worn cartridge connectors with the tray loading 8-bit Nintendo is the only other game system that you have to be worried about buying a used dud but a worn out NES connection slot is nothing like dealing with a used Xbox 360.
I have two side tangents, when getting a used game made darn sure there are no stickers of any kind on the disk. That the same for any game system and they can put unreasonable stress on both the drive by unbalancing the spinning disk. Also Microsoft cutting the price of the Xbox 360 HD-DVD drive is a very bad sign for the HD-DVD format. I don't think HD-DVD is much longer for this world.
I have no problems buying a cool old funky suit from Goodwill since you know that it's been washed and what you see is what you get. The idea of getting a used Xbox 360 is almost as scary as buying used underwear. You simply don't know where it's been.
Jake at February 12, 2008 
Games
Comments
Re: HD DVD. My wife and I were talking along the same lines as you the other day. The problem is, we own the HD DVD add-on and more than a few films.
I really don't want to put more money into a dead format, but it provides a great looking picture and sound so it's hard to give it up.
I'm thinking about getting rid of the 360 anyway, so I may just trade the add-on in with it and buy a standalone HD DVD player for a knock-down price.
Posted by: HellblazerUSA at February 13, 2008 4:36 AM
Did you change your GamerCard HTML code to something else recently?
I just came to your site and got redirected to a Xbox login page, telling my login had timed out. Once I logged in I was able to see your page (initially the login redirected to just your gamercard)
Posted by: Brian Kelly at February 13, 2008 5:16 AM
Ok HD-DVD is not dead says 40,000 peeps sign the petition online here. And im a orig 360 owner with no probs but noisy dvd drive manufactured 10-18-2005 :) http://www.petitiononline.com/SAVEHDD/
Posted by: DevilMan (www.mega-bits.com) at February 13, 2008 6:08 AM
Come on online petitions don't do anything.
Posted by: Jake of 8bitjoystick.com at February 13, 2008 10:01 AM
