Microsoft Sued Over Xbox 360 Defects

Robert Byers of Chicago, IL, has launched a class action suit against Microsoft over what he claims are systemic defects in the manufacturing of the company's recently launched Xbox 360 console. According to Byers, his and many others' new systems tend to overheat, which leads to software freezes when playing games. Byers' suit was filed in Illinois federal court on Friday. In it, he seeks unspecified damages, as well as legal expenses and a recall of Xbox 360 systems. As of yet, it's unknown how many others have joined Byers in the class action motion, but reports of similar problems when using the system both on and offline cropped up shortly after the system's November 22nd launch. Microsoft has dismissed the claim that the problem is due to rushing the console to market, leading to design and manufacturing flaws, as Byers has claimed in his suit. "We have received a few isolated reports of consoles not working as expected," said Microsoft representatives to Reuters when the first malfunctioning consoles were reported, but said the number of complaints was a "very, very small fraction" of the total shipment.