Do you own a Kinect? Did you know that the Kinect sensor and the power supply cable that comes with the the sensor have two DIFFERENT warranties? That’s right. Unfortunately I found this out today while on the phone with XBOX Kinect support. About six months ago, I purchased a Kinect to give to me two sons as a birthday present. They absolutely loved it, and spent a lot of time playing the bundled Kinect Adventures.
About a week ago the boys fired up their XBOX to play, and got a message that the Kinect sensor was getting insufficient power. I checked it out and did some troubleshooting, but could not get it to work properly. I checked the XBOX support page for help, and also googled the issue. It seems like it is a moderately common issue for the AC power cable to go bad. I opened an online case with an agent (mistake), and after asking me a few troubleshooting questions was told that I should probably call the support line for additional help. I waited until today to call so I would have plenty of time to get this issue corrected. The first agent talked me through all of the usual troubleshooting, and we determined what I already knew. The power cable was bad and would need to be replaced. Then came the bad news…..”the cable is actually out-of-warranty, so it will cost you $39.95 for a replacement.”. I was a little surpirsed by this and asked him to repeat it to me. Evidently the sensor is covered by their hardware warranty which is one year. The power cable is considered an accessory, and as such only carries a 90 day warranty. He then asked if I would like him to charge the card that is on file, and I responded “absolutely not”. I ended the call rather frustrated to say the least. After stewing over it for a few minutes, I decided to call back and move up the chain. When I explained to the second agent the situation and what I was just told by the prior agent, he apologized and said that it was probably a misunderstanding. So we revisited the issue and he was getting an order set up to send me a replacement cable. Then came the kicker…..”Sir, can I put you on hold for a few minutes?”. When he returned to the line, he said that they would ship a replacement cable out right away. They just needed authorization to charge my credit card in the event that the warranty should turn out to be expired. I reminded him of what the other agent had told me about the warranty difference between the sensor and the power cable, and told him that I was not authorizing any charges whatsoever. He then said that they would not be able to send the cable out because I did not agree to pay the charge. So basically he was using a very underhanded tactic to try and charge me for a replacement cable. I asked to speak to his supervisor. The supervisor pretty much held the same line, that I would not be getting a replacement cable unless I paid $39.95 for it. And he even went as far as to tell me that if he had this issue, then he would have to pay the same $39.95 to replace his cable as well. Seriously?? Look dude, you can crap in a box and slap a Microsoft label on it and I will buy it. But don’t throw a load of BS my way and expect me to accept the situation because you say that you would be in the same boat if you were in my shoes. That kind of stuff is condescending to a customer.
The bottom line in this story is that it is completely asinine to have a peripheral that REQUIRES an external power supply for the XBOX360 Elite that I play on, and that the entire package would have pieces with different warranties. Granted, I can completely understand that an accessory like a controller may not deserve the same one year warranty as a new console. And I can completely understand that if you purchase the XBOX360 Slim bundled with Kinect, the power supply is not included (or necessary) and as such it would be an accessory if purchased separately. However you would think that a company as large as Microsoft, with their very well documented XBOX hardware issues, would want to make sure that hardware issues are handled correctly. A power supply that came included with a standalone Kinect package should be covered by the same warranty that the sensor has. An “accessory” power adapter that can be identified by serial number can be covered by their 90 day accessory warranty. What is really backwards is that support was quoting me $39.95 to replace the cable. The official Microsoft Store is listing the power supply for $34.99. Unfortunately Microsoft is more concerned about my money than taking care of a loyal customer that has an “8″ next to his gamer card on XBOX Live. If you have an older XBOX with a Kinect, be sure to baby your power cable. Evidently it is very fragile. If you don’t have a Kinect yet, don’t buy one unless you have the newer model console.

Details are sketchy, but rumor has it that Disney, the parent company of the ESPN networks, is planning to stream live sports via XBOX Live.  According to the short article that I read, it will be similar to the ESPN360 service that is currently available online.  As an avid sports fan, ESPN is one of the major reasons that I still have cable at all.  If this plan comes to fruition, I will almost definitely kiss my cable bill goodbye.  Between Hulu, Netflix, and this, my entertainment needs will be satisfied.

During my morning Gizmodo read, I came across a post where John Shappert, VP of Interactive Entertainment at Microsoft has stated that he thinks that they’re less than halfway done with the 360. I realize that Project Natal is a huge step for the console, but less than 50%? Come on. The original XBOX was released in 2001 and was discontinued in 2006. That’s 5 years for you math majors out there. This November will mark the 4th birthday for the 360, which would make one think that an XBOX 720 (or maybe XBOX Natal) could be coming next year. Apparently not. Don’t get me wrong, I think that this is a good thing. Maybe the poor sales performance of the PS3 to date has the console makers reevaluating their strategies. Why sink an outrageous sum of money into research and development of a completely new console when it will take you a few years just to break even (or even longer if you are Sony). It makes much more sense to stretch the life of the current generation, and spend those R&D bucks on innovations like NXE, Natal, and anything else they may have up their sleeves, which aren’t nearly as expensive to develop. Another reason why I hope this is true is because I don’t feel like dropping a few hundred bucks more on a new console. If things like Natal are as good as advertised, they’ll get my money. I have a lot of games for my 360, and I hope that it continues to adorn my entertainment center for years to come (with only GREEN lights). Full article is over at Gizmodo.

Ok, so I am jumping the gun and not listing details. This is definitely a developing story, so I’ll be back with more if someone else doesn’t beat me to it. Microsoft has unveiled the 306′s motion control unit, and there is no Wii-mote required. The few shots that I have seen are pretty sweet. This could be A LOT of fun.

**UPDATE**
OK, so the new motion control setup is called Project Natal, which I think is kind of a strange name, but whatever. Rather than using a controller like the Wii setup, this unit can detect your motions. You can kick, jump, move, etc, and it get translated into the game. At first look, this is utterly amazing. However, although seeing is believing, I want to really SEE it. How much of the demo is Hollywood smoke and mirrors. Another super-cool feature is that when the camera sees your face, it can automatically sign you into Live. I am not ready to declare the Wii dead, but this defilitely takes a lot of wind out of their sails. Now let’s see what Sony’s counter is…..other than the PSP Go.