Microsoft extending 360 warranty to three years

An apologetic software giant to replace any console suffering "Red Ring of Death" for free; extension applies to every console sold since launch; will take $1.05 billion charge.

Today, Microsoft announced that is once again revamping its warranty scheme for the Xbox 360. After mounting anecdotal evidence of the system's failure rate due to the dreaded "red ring of death" (three flashing red lights on the console's front panel), the publisher is changing its warranty to cover systems affected by the red ring for three years from the date of purchase. Any console which suffers the aforementioned failure--and only the aforementioned failure--can be returned to Microsoft for repair for free, as the warranty also includes shipping charges.

"As a result of what Microsoft views as an unacceptable number of repairs to Xbox 360 consoles, the company conducted extensive investigations into potential sources of general hardware failures," the company said in a statement. The three-year extension is for all 360s, and will be retroactively applied to every console bought since the 360 launched. That means anyone who bought a console in November 2005 will be covered until November 2008.

Gamespot have the whole news article, you may want to check it out!