[Edit: This offer was rescinded shortly after we announced that we were extending the warranties from 90 days to 1 year in North America. At the point this was originally written,  the consoles were past the 90 day warranty period, but it hadn’t been a year from launch. Once we extended the warranties to one year, this launch console offer was rescinded because all consoles were covered at that point.]

We’re getting some questions about the new policy we put in place earlier this week in the US and Canada, for those needing repairs for consoles sold last year. 

Even though the vast majority of Xbox 360 owners are having an outstanding experience with their Xbox 360, we noticed a higher than usual number of consoles coming in for repair.  Upon further investigation, we discovered that the bulk of the units were isolated to a group that was part of the initial manufacturing run of the console. 

While there is no single problem here – returns for repair are coming in for a variety reasons – it’s a higher rate than we are satisfied with.  So, we’ll be covering the out-of-warranty repair costs for consoles purchased in the US and Canada before January 1, 2006.  We're also providing a refund to the small group of customers who have already paid for repairs. 

Most of those that purchased a console during this time period are having no problems, so you shouldn’t be concerned if you have one of these consoles, and you haven't had any issues with it.

As usual, if you have any problems, call 1-800-4-MY-XBOX.