A Chicago man who bought Microsoft's new Xbox 360 has sued the company, saying the new video game console has a design flaw that causes it to overheat and freeze up.
The proposed class action claims that in Microsoft's (MSFT) bid to gain share in the $25 billion global video game market, the company was so intent on releasing the Xbox 360 before competing next-generation machines from Sony (SNE). and Nintendo that it sold a "defectively designed" product.
Robert Byers, who brought the suit, said the power supply and central processing unit in the Xbox 360 overheat, affecting heat-sensitive chips and causing the console to lock up.
Complaints about the problem surfaced quickly on gaming enthusiast websites after the Xbox 360 debuted on Nov. 22.
Console owners reported that some systems had crashed during regular use as well as during online game play using the Xbox Live service. Problems included screens going black and the appearance of a variety of error messages.
At the time Microsoft spokeswoman Molly O'Donnell declined to say how many reports Microsoft had received and said that calls reporting the issue to the company represented a "very, very small fraction" of units sold.
The lawsuit, filed on Friday in federal court in Illinois, seeks unspecified damages and litigation-related expenses, as well as the replacement or recall of Xbox 360 game consoles.
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Free speech intact: A federal judge in Illinois has blocked a pair of laws that would have made it illegal to sell or rent violent or sexually explicit video games to minors, finding that the laws violate free speech rights.
The ruling comes amid an increasingly bitter battle over the content in video games, which in the United States comprise a $10 billion industry that rivals the box office of Hollywood movies.
The decision applied to two Illinois laws which had been slated to go into effect on January 1 that would have imposed fines on retailers for violations.
U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly on Friday issued a permanent injunction blocking the restrictions, saying they would have a "chilling effect" on the creation and distribution of video games.
The judge said that there was no evidence presented to support the view that playing violent video games has a lasting effect on aggressive thoughts and behavior. He also said the definition of "sexually explicit" was vague.
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Na na-na na-na na: Australian record companies accused owners of the popular Kazaa file-sharing software of ignoring a court order to install filters aimed at curbing music piracy by Kazaa users.
But Sharman Networks, which owns Kazaa, said they had complied with the order by preventing people in Australia downloading the latest version of the popular software.
Federal Court judge Murray Wilcox last week gave Sharman until Tuesday to develop a new version of its Kazaa Media Desktop software with a filtering system built in which was to include 3,000 so-called keywords, most likely the names of popular recording artists.
Instead, when users log onto the Kazaa site in Australia, they are greeted by a page carrying a warning in red letters which says: "The download of the Kazaa Media Desktop by users in Australia is not permitted."
Australian users who try to download the software are prohibited from doing so.
Record company lawyers now are expected to return to court to claim Sharman is breaching the order and to demand action.
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Compiled by Keith Axline. AP and Reuters contributed to this report.
