Acting cautiously in the wake of reports that a component in the Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel gets ‘overheated’ and emits smoke when plugged in, Microsoft Corp. announced Tuesday it will provide customers with a free retrofit that is designed to fix the problem.
After being informed of a number of incidents of a malfunction in the Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel, the world’s largest software company Microsoft decided to recall a part of the wireless steering wheel.
Microsoft has issued a warning that a component in the Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel "may in rare cases overheat and release smoke". The problem occurs only when the unit is plugged into an AC outlet, so Microsoft is advising gamers to stop using the power supply and continue using the gadgets with battery power until they receive the retrofit.
“While operating in battery mode, the force feedback feature will not be available. Once retrofitted, owners may run the Wheel using AC power and reactivate this feature, Microsoft said in a press release.
The Redmond, Washington-based company said it has received 50 reports of the glitch in a component in the wheel chassis that may overheat and release smoke when the AC/DC power supply is used to energize the wheel. However, it has not received reports of fire, injury or property damage as a result of the defect.
"There have been no reported incidences of fire, personal injury or property damage due to the Wheel malfunction," said Microsoft.
Despite no known safety incidents, the software company is voluntarily providing its customers with a free retrofit to the Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel, manufactured during 2006 – 2007, as a precautionary measure, Microsoft said.
Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel is a steering wheel-shaped controller that mimics the physical sensations of race car driving for games such as "Forza Motorsport 2."
Priced at $130, the force feedback steering wheel controller for driving video games was introduced at E3 2006 and was released in November 2006. It includes the standard game-pad buttons along with floor-mounted accelerator and brake pedals. Although the wheel is capable of running off the rechargeable battery pack, use of the force feedback and active resistance features requires an external AC adapter.
About 230,000 have been sold to consumers worldwide, a company spokesperson said Thursday.
Gamers will receive the retrofit free of charge. Microsoft has made a downloadable order form available on the Xbox site. Microsoft advises the owners of the Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel to print out the retrofit. Owners can also call at 1-800-4my-Xbox to register to receive the retrofit.
The latest controller malfunction is the second next-generation gaming console-related problem this summer. Before this, hardware problems in the video game console forced the company to spend more than $1 billion to repair hardware problems in the Xbox 360 console and extend the warranty period for its console to three years.
Xbox 360, the future-generation game and entertainment system from Microsoft, represents a dramatic leap forward in high-definition gaming and entertainment experiences. Xbox 360 has ignited a new era of digital entertainment that is always connected, always personalized and always in high definition. It faces fierce competition from rival video game consoles including Nintendo's Wii and Sony’s PlayStation 3.
Although Xbox 360 is immensely popular in the United States, it still lags behind its arch rival Nintendo’s Wii. The three biggies in gaming arena, Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo, are locked in a fierce battle for dominance in the $13 billion U.S. video game market, and for the moment, Kyoto, western Japan-based Nintendo is leading all the way with its Wii video games console, the least expensive of the so-called next-generation consoles that costs US$250.
Microsoft recently has slashed price of Xbox 360 in US, Europe and Australia in order to keep its pace with rival console makers. It has dropped price of the 20-gigabyte Xbox 360 system from US$399 to US$349 in its home market. Besides shaving the price of its high-end version of gaming consoles, the software titan has also reduced the estimated retail price of its cheaper "core" package by US$20 to US$279 and its higher end "Elite" package by US$30 to US$449.
Microsoft said it working with regulatory agencies, including the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to deal with the problem.
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