Sounding the 360 death knell.

MicroSoft launced the XBox 360 a good year earlier than their immediate competitor, Sony's PlayStation 3. During this year, they managed to secure a sales lead that is still untroubled. At the same time, dealings with several developers led to exclusive titles on the MicroSoft console, and exclusive downloadable content for several of the multi-platform games. Finally, MicroSoft have developed XBox Live to be a system for everybody. From the hardcore gaming fraternity, right through to the family groups, there is a game for you to play, and most importantly content for you to buy.

Sadly, all is pretty far from rosy in 360-land.

The console itself is a technical powerhouse. Graphically, there are simply no complaints that can be thrown at it. The ease of programming allows developers to try many clever things, as they are confident with the system. Compared to the PS3, which is known to be tricky.

In terms of software, too, the 360 easily outshines its rival. The vast majority of all multiplatform titles are superior on the MicroSoft machine. This is due to the aforementioned ease of programming, as well as the one year lead. A lot of games found their home on the 360, and were rather under-subscribed by the time they eventually appeared on the PS3.

With all this in mind, what I say next may surprise you :

You should NOT buy an XBox 360!

I know what you are thinking. I know what the statement is going to lead to. I am ready for the attacks. But, I have to say what I believe.

The simple fact is that MicroSoft were in a hurry to release the first next-gen console, and in their haste they made a few mistakes. The most infamous of these is the high failure rate. Some 30% of all XBox 360 consoles in existence have so far greeted their owners with flashing red lights, otherwise known as the 'Red Ring of Death'. This is the consoles way of telling you it no longer works, and that it is time to phone MicroSoft and get them to fix it, or ship you a new one.

One in three consoles break. This is frankly a ridiculous figure, and one that no right-thinking company could be happy with. That MicroSoft have extended the warrantry to three years for this specific failure is a sign that they realise they have gotten things seriously wrong.

Only, it is not the sole problem the console has. Even if you have a console that somehow avoids this "general hardware failure", your DVD drive is not guaranteed to be a good one. Some of them have been known to destroy the discs inserted in the drive. Others simply fail to recognise that a disc is in it at all. Many people have attempted to play a game only to see a screen bearing the legend "To play this disc, please insert it into an XBox 360 console." Are you kidding me? Clearly, this is meant for DVD players. How is it possible that the 360 forgets that it is a games console?

These reasons would be enough on their own, but there is one further reason to avoid the 360. And that is XBox Live itself.

A recent update to the operating system of the console itself made the marketplace more visible, but has impacted negatively on the actual accessibility of the games. Upon loading the console, the user is greeted with adverts for content to buy. Sometimes, this content consists of content that you have already bought! If it were possible to customise the layout so that this 'spotlight' channel did not appear, then this would not be an issue. However, it is not possible. The user is forced to endure these adverts every single time they switch the console on. Considering that often the user will switch the console off and on multiple times in an attempt to actually read the disc in the drive, and you start to see the annoyance.

Naturally, making marketplace more visible has led to increased sales of content. However, whilst sales are going from strength to strength, something rather curious is occurring. Rules of supply and demand appear to be working in reverse, causing MicroSoft to raise the prices as more people buy things from them. Whereas themes once cost 150 MS points, (MS points being the fictional online currency used to buy marketplace content with), they now cost 250. And whereas games on Live Arcade were once priced at 400 points for retro re-releases, or 800 points for original titles. Since the launch of the New XBox Experience, however, 400 point titles are a thing of the past. 800 appears to be the new minimum, and 1200 is the new norm. This week, the Arcade title was R Type Dimensions, a compilation of the first two games in the series. Were they released seperately last year, one would have expected to pay 400 for each title. However, MS have decided in their wisdom that the cost should be 1200 MS points. Despite there never being an announcement that the pricing policy has changed, the official line now seems to be to charge as much as they believe they can get away with.

When developers post in their own blogs that they are being forced to charge for content despite not wanting to do so, or when they complain about not being able to develop their own games without going through an unreasonably long certification process, then something is going wrong. MicroSoft are taking the power away from the creators, and instead putting it into the hands of the accountants. In doing so, they have disregarded the gamers themselves. A developer must be free to set their own price for games. If they choose to give content away, then they should simply be allowed to. That MS is dictating the policies is to no gamers benefit.

It saddens me that this has happened. For, the XBox 360 has every potential to be the best console of all time. But, when the competitors offer online gaming for free and MS insist on charging for it, when developers find their hands are tied, when your console can not be guaranteed to work from one day to the next, then the question simply must be asked by gamers : Why am I still going along with this?