Yeah, Microsoft screwed this one up again. Or maybe it was a combination of Microsoft and Ubisoft. Either way, it’s another overpriced error on the Xbox Live Marketplace which does not bode well for Microsoft’s image.

The Rainbow Six: Vegas Black Pack was released last week to a bit of an uproar, as it was available on the Xbox Live Marketplace for 800 MS Points ($10). It’s the same price as the previous Red Pack, which had much more to offer. After a couple days, the Black Pack mysteriously disappeared. Well, Major Nelson now sheds some light on the situation: the Black Pack should be free. Yes, free.

‘Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas Black Pack Downloadable Content for Xbox 360 Live was originally intended to be free content for the fans of Rainbow Six Vegas. We apologize for the error. All players who purchased the Black Pack will be reimbursed automatically.* The Black Pack will be posted Saturday June 30th and will be free of charge. Also, as a token of our appreciation for the Rainbow Six community, we are making the Red Pack free as of Friday July 6th as well. Thanks for playing and we hope you enjoy this free content.’

Glad the error is being corrected, although Microsoft is saying it’ll be 8-10 weeks to reimburse people who paid for the content. Giving away the Red Pack for free is a huge plus as well. I’ll be downloading these as soon as possible.

Oh how the PR spins fly. Dean Takahashi of the San Jose Mercury News recently grilled Todd Holmdahl, Microsoft’s corporate vice president of Gaming and Xbox Products Group, about all the hardware issues surrounding the Xbox 360.

Surprisingly to no one, Microsoft acts like nothing is going on. Holmdahl was pressed time and time again by Takahashi, but wouldn’t budge from his crystal palace.

When asked in business terms if a high defect rate would hurt the company’s bottom line, Holmdahl flat out denied that there’s any problem. “I would say we don’t have a high defect rate,” he said. “The vast majority of people are really excited about their product, and that we are targeting profitability for next year.”

Right. There’s no high defect rate. That’s why I’m on my 8th Xbox 360 since launch, and over 75% of people I’ve spoke with are at least on their 2nd box. Dean Takahashi should have just smacked the guy in the side of the head.

Microsoft is being investigated by the European Commission for Consumers about the disc scratching issues with the Xbox 360.

According the The Inquirer, there are apparantly over 1000 complaints from The Netherlands alone, and Commissioner Meglena Kuneva ” wants and expects Microsoft to respond to worldwide complaints about the problem.”

Well, Microsoft responded in their normal fashion, saying there’s absolutely no problems. In a statement to website MCV, Microsoft Belgium stated that it has responded to the inquiry and that scratched discs are likely to have been caused by ‘improper use’ of the console.

“If used properly, Xbox 360 consoles do not damage discs… there is no single root cause or systemic issue with any of the Xbox 360 consoles.”

I’m going to call shenanigans here. Come on Microsoft. If there really wasn’t a problem, why the bloody hell would you be replacing any scratched Xbox 360 games? You don’t just drop that kind of cash on replacements for something not being caused by your product.

I really hope that one day, Microsoft will come clean and admit how many problems the 360 is having. I’m not holding my breath though…

It seems there’s some major issues going on over at Microsoft and Bungie. Apparently, the servers won’t unlock the demo for those with Crackdown, so the majority of the beta users can’t download the file.

Yeah, I know, I posted three Halo 3 posts in a row, but it’s a big day in the Halo world, and there’s a lot of angry users out there right now.

Bungie is aware of the issue, and Frankie issued a statement:

With any luck this will be a short delay. People enetering the Beta through other methods – Friends and Family, Rule of Three and so on, are unaffected.

There’s some threads on the official Bungie forums stating that Xbox Support is telling users it will be a full 24 hours before the Halo 3 Beta will be available using Crackdown.

That’s some bravo sierra right there. You’d think that both Microsoft and Bungie would be ready for this?

There’s a few bugs in the most recent Dashboard Update for the Xbox 360.

The first bug is affecting Windows Live Messenger. If either your Xbox Live or Messenger account was setup prior to being age 18, you can’t use Messenger on your 360. I know someone who is currently 24 that can’t use his Messenger account on his 360 because it was setup when he was 17 years old.

The next bug is with the official wireless networking adapter. Users with the official wireless adapter are having problems auto signing in to Xbox Live. Changing from the wireless adapter to a wired connection solves the problem instantly, as does using a wireless bridge or third party wireless gaming adapter. Changing the auto sign-in options for both Live and Messenger to Enabled does not solve the problem.

In a call to Xbox Support today, they confirmed they are aware of both issues and are working on fixes. When they’ll be available, no one knows. I’d expect within a week or two.

Have you experienced these or other issues with the most recent dashboard update? Let us know in the comments.

So here’s a nice little problem with the transfer process for the 120GB hard drive on the Xbox 360 (thank you to a friend who lent me his transfer cable). While transferring data, if you disconnect anything, the process stops and dumps you back to the dashboard. This includes HDMI handshaking when using the Elite.. So if you change the input on your TV or turn off your TV, the process stops. I found out the hard way after an hour of watching some crap on my DVR.

I guess I’ll have to switch over to component video while I’m transferring the data over, so I don’t have to leave the TV sitting with a nice static image for an hour.

Hey Microsoft… can you please make some of these processes easier?

We’ve had numerous reports coming in of users getting 3 red lights on their brand new Elite consoles this morning. While this is a daily occurrence with 360 Premium and Core systems, we thought Microsoft would have had a better handle on the situation with the Elite.

We’ve all seen the pictures of the motherboard changes. I assumed that these would protect the console better from heat and such to make sure less consoles would die. But alas, no. Microsoft has introduced another new product that is failing at a higher than normal rate.

To top it all off, the disc scratching issue is back. Seriously Microsoft, what the hell? Did you completely get rid of your QA department?

My good friend Chiwotweiler sent word that there’s some major issues with the new Halo 2 maps when you try to buy them on your Xbox 360.

Numerous reports from both the Xbox forums (here and here, as well as countless other threads)and Bungie’s forums (here, here and here, as well as many other threads) show users getting multiple error messages when trying to buy the maps. Many users see “Purchase failed. You will not be charged for this transaction. Please try again later.” This is happening even with a credit card associated with the Gold account. Another error users are seeing is “Installation of content failed”.

There’s also many reports of big glitches in the new maps, such as multiple invisible walls in Tombstone.

Did Bungie test these maps thoroughly on the Xbox 360? Sure, play-testing is one thing, but making sure users can actually buy your premium content is another thing.

Microsoft said they were aware of a problem and were working on resolving it, but there’s been no formal announcement or acknowledgement.

Pictures of one of the errors after the jump…

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Yesterday we reported on the rumored release of the first downloadable content for GH2 for the 360. Today, it’s real, albeit much more expensive.

Microsoft and Red Octane released 3 track packs, each containing 3 songs from the first Guitar Hero. Each pack goes for a hefty 500 MS Points.

I’m sorry, but this is insane. The rumored pricing of 150 MS Points would have been a good deal. But 500 Points for 3 songs? Microsoft needs to get their heads out of their asses. I will be at the Guitar Hero event in NYC today, and I’ll try to corner Major Nelson and shake him down for some information.

Hit the jump for more…

It’s becoming increasingly common these days for products to not work properly. The video game industry is a huge culprit here. From consoles to accessories to games themselves, everything is broken when it ships.

Let’s start with consoles, shall we? I’ve never had consoles die on their own accord. Sure, there have been wrestling matches when I was a kid where a Genesis or NES got smashed, but you have to take those in stride. Even with the last generation, hardware problems weren’t that prevalent. Fast forward to today, and we see hundreds upon hundreds of Xbox 360’s failing every day. Personally, I’m on my 6th Xbox 360. Microsoft knows there’s something wrong. They wouldn’t be changing the warranty and upgrading their product replacement systems if there wasn’t. Maybe some testing could fix the problem up front.

Hit the jump for more…