Edit: Less than 24 hours after I wrote this story, another friend's Elite bites the dust. Sorry doughgeek. 35 in 50 gamers have failed consoles.

While 50 gamers is a small sample size for Microsoft, it's the majority of my gaming friends.

According to my friend's list, 34 of 50 gamers reported that their XBOX 360's have failed since purchase.  That's 68% for those of you scoring at home.  That's much higher than the 16% reported last week and 30% reported by retailers in mid-2007.

I posed the question to the 90 gamers on my friends list three weeks ago after my XBOX 360 Elite failed.  50 out of 90 gamers responded and 34 of them said that they have had to send off their XBOX 360 for repair or replacement at least once.

In one case, someone had to send their system to Microsoft 7 times for repair.  Another person reported that her husband also had to send off his system for repair as well.  There were several cases of people having to send off their console multiple times.

I am a heavy user.  My XBOX 360 is in use 10-25 hours a week.  I suspect that most of the gamers on my friends list are also heavy users.  However, the failure rate from my perspective is outrageous.

Is the XBOX 360 supposed to be an appliance or a gadget?

Am I supposed to look past these extremely high failure rates in my social sphere?

40 gamers did not respond to my questionnaire that was sent to their XBOX Live message inbox.  Even if they all said that they have not had to replace or repair their console, 38% of my friends list will have had failed XBOX 360's. 

XBOX 360 and XBOX Live is about being social.  It's about communities of gamers.  In my community, upwards of 60% of gamers have experienced a failed XBOX 360 in response to my survey.

I get that 50 gamers is a small sample. But, 50 friends is a good amount of friends and I've met all but about 10 people on my friends list.

Oh, I'm not on my friends list.  I've owned a Core, Premium, and Elite system.  They've all failed in 6-12 months.

What can we do? 

At least Microsoft is handling the situation by offering extended warranties and repairing consoles at no charge.  But, it's hard to be an XBOX evangelist with these high failure rates.

I would like to buy 30mins - 1hr of playtime on your Xbox360. I would like to purchase it after December 3rd.

I need closure on this mission of Mass Effect. Is the evidence enough to convince the Council to take action against Saren?? I don't know! I don't like not knowing. I hadn't even owned the damn game for 24hrs before my 360 died. I have to know.

In exchange, I have a coupon for a free chicken sandwich from Chik-Fil-A, the presence of my company, and some funny jokes. Some people pay a lot of money for a comedian, but I only want to play your Xbox.

Please.