Microsoft has bitten the bullet and admitted that there have been isolated reports of technical problems with its new Xbox 360 games console. Users have complained of crashing during start-up or game play - games will sometimes freeze, graphics would be distorted or the screen would go blank. Microsoft are, though, downplaying the situation somewhat.

"It’s a few reports of consoles here and there not working properly," said Molly O’Donnell, a spokeswoman for Microsoft’s Xbox division. "It’s what you would expect with a consumer electronics instrument of this complexity."
The company has urged any Xbox 360 owners who are having problems to visit www.xbox.com.

If the problem could not be resolved immediately, she said, Microsoft would pay to ship the console to and from a repair centre, or provide a replacement if the fault could not be repaired.