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Xbox sales suspended in Japan: Microsoft wound-licking starts in earnest

Shocking news from Japan - Is the Xbox doomed?

Posted by Staff
simply not enough
simply not enough
Japanese translation by, and thanks to Madman's Cafe: Serving Game News Fresh off the Grill since 1994.

It has emerged that some retail outlets are suspending sales of Microsoft’s fledgling Xbox games console, following a troubled launch that saw only 124,000 units sold.

This poor launch was then compounded by reports of problems with the Xbox hardware, with specific complaints relating to the machine scratching game discs and DVDs.

Major Japanese retail chain Loax has completely suspended sales of the machine for an unspecified period. This suspension will affect all Loax outlets across Japan. In a vicious statement, Loax simply said, “We are suspending temporarily sales of the Xbox console itself in order to supply credible products to our customers.” To enhance the impact of the message, the firm posted this on Xbox hardware units in its stores.

This calamitous news comes just one day after Microsoft agreed to replace any machines that were found to damage discs during the course of normal play. In an attempt to appease angry gamers, Microsoft issued the following statement:

Concerning the effects on DVD/CDs when running on the Xbox and the actions to be taken:

Thank you very much for using our company's product on a regular basis.
This is an announcement “concerning the effects on DVD/CDs when running, and the actions to be taken” for our company's videogame console Xbox, released on February 22nd.

We deeply apologise for causing great inconvenience to our customers, business partners and others involved, concerning the phenomenon of some Xboxes "creating scratches on the outside of DVD/CDs after use".

While we have not received any reports such as "the game won't run any more" or "the DVD/CD won't play back any more" from customers calling in to Xbox support or from researches within our company, it has been decided that we will be taking actions as followed below.

If the "DVD/CD gets scratched", or problems occur with the Xbox console/game, or other problems concerning DVD/CDs occur from the use of the Xbox, please contact Xbox customer support (Tel: 0570-019-602, 10:00AM-6:00PM excluding Weekends and national holidays).

We will promptly take action with repairs or exchanges. - Furthermore, we will also correspond to DVD/CD disks scratched by the Xbox by exchanging them with the same item, brand new.
We will strive to offer products which will further satisfy our customers, from now into the future.

The latest news on this issue will continue to be released through the Japanese Xbox site (http://xbox.jp) and other methods.


As the European launch for Xbox looms, Microsoft will no doubt welcome the switch of attention to a new territory. March 14 will come as a welcome PR break for the Xbox.
Companies:

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