Xbox 360s scratching discs over the years...?

[Exodus]

I have owned two Xbox 360 consoles from 2006 to the present day. The first one was part of the '06 batch for Australia, and I got it in August of that year. It RROD'd a month later, and I fixed everything up from Microsoft at around January of '07.

Issues plagued this particular Xbox at least until 2009. Overheating, the graphical thing where colors screwed up, you name it. The place it was put was a flat surface with plenty of space for air flow, yet it always seemed to overheat or die of another problem eventually. By the end of '09 it had died of these issues and been sent back and forth at least four times... can't remember exactly. Anyways, by Christmas it was already showing signs of screwing up again, so I finally got sick of it and bought a cheap Jasper Arcade, which became my family's primary console.

Fast-forward to about August of 2010, when I pulled out the near death original Xbox for my new room. At first I pulled it out for curiosity, and if it was worth storing it or if was just a waste of space. To my surprise, it worked for about three months without any issues, and I came to the conclusion that it just needed its rest all this time.

WRONG.

Not only did it start to occasionally red ring by January of this year, which was usually fixed after a couple of on's and off's, but it began making louder noises in the disc tray. Sure enough, I was playing a new copy of Two Worlds II at the time, pulled the mofo out one day when the disc drive kept being really, really loud, and found multiple scratches around the outside of the disc. Now, they were not the big circular scratches like many others have had and reported all over the internet. But these mofos were still significantly evident. I was of course, annoyed and frustrated.

So, I ceased playing disc-games on this launch Xbox 360 and instead use it for digital viewing via USB or Arcade games. I played all my new release ones on the Jasper Arcade. This baby seemed and still seems good as new; quiet as hell, no issues of overheating or ANYTHING.

But lately I've been going old school and playing some of the first few games we played only on the new console, such as ODST, Fallout 3, Gears 2, so on. I have noticed the same or less amount of the mini scratches on the outsides of these discs. They are very prominent; they do not affect the gameplay or the disc working, but they're still scratches. And they will and have added up over the years to be a potential disaster when selling or playing them for nostalgia. I don't want that but apparently both of Xbox 360s and their terribly designed disc drives won't give me peace for pristine or otherwise well-conditioned discs.

This all got me thinking if this was an issue apparent with many other 360 gamers. I mean, I know that scratches WILL occur no matter what as a result of general wear and tear, but these discs, especially the ones that have been played a lot for multiplayer like Gears 2, are littered with scratches that I cannot simply logically accept as being part of this general wear and tear. Again, Gears 2 has been played solely on the Jasper, so it cannot attribute to the problems commonly associated with launch 360s, which mine has perfectly embodied as detailed previously. The newer games are starting to succumb to this now very evident problem, including my recently obtained copy of the very rare PAL version of Tales of Vesperia, which I am extremely mad about.

I am a perfectionist and am very obsessive of taking care of our games and consoles after the disaster that was me letting my N64 and GameCube deteriorate terribly over the years. I always handle the 360 discs with care, and so do my brothers, who are frightened of my obsessiveness and I know they always take care. Even my girlfriend, who hates video games, knows how to take care of them. But still, all this scratching shit happens.

I have never bumped the console, whether by accident or intentionally, so that erases that as a possibility for screwing up the disc drive. I get very annoyed when researching this problem and seeing similar people getting responses like, "oh it's your fault you probably bumped it" and crap like that. These people seem to ignore a very evident problem and reason that everyone who has it must bump their console to get it. I just don't see the logic in that.

I am just wondering if long-term Xbox 360 users like myself have generally noticed their older games used in seemingly good and working consoles, and that have been littered with a level of scratches logically above the norm of "wear and tear".
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[XtremeXfactor]

I am another person who gets a bit antsy in regards to keeping my game discs in "new" condition for as long as possible, to the point where i limit myself where i buy games from (only purchase at stores that guarantee SEALED stock).

In regards to the console doing it, i had a period with my old Falcon console that was the catalyst whereby i opted to use GAME's extended warranty (which i wasn't sure i needed at the time, but still got it "just in case") and swapped it for the 2009 Jasper console. I have not had a scratched disc since (well that wasn't my own doing - eg: rushing to put the disc in the console, or taking it out of the tray and back in the game case).

Basically the Falcon console started scratching game discs, majority of the time it was light marks, but occasionally there would be very deep one's. Despite the questionable dvd drive in the console (i have also read how inconsistent they can be, some failing earlier than others etc).

Even so i take a lot of precautions based on where i sit to play games in the lounge room, it is a recipe for disaster if there is any vibration nearby (be it opening/closing the front door, which is beside the wall adjacent to where i am, opening/closing the side gate, car doors being slammed in the drive way etc). Just a theory in that with the vibration that does on when a door is opened or closed (slammed, or normal) - it's bad for the console - akin to picking it up, moving around.... or shaking it like it is a maraca Peter Allen style .

[Exodus]

You're lucky you had the warranty man. I wish I grabbed that for the original launch box, but I thought I "didn't need it". Bleh. I am very careful when it comes to the vibrations too, but the Xbox and where it is situated, on a very solid surface, is far from the door and that wouldn't affect it much. No-one really walks by it as our living room is spacious. It's just a piece of crap hardware.
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[XtremeXfactor]

Ahh yeah i get what you are saying, i was just relaying my own experiences with my console scratching my discs, i never narrowed down the cause as such.... the vibration is just one of my wacky theories.

[Exodus]

Nah I know you weren't narrowing down the cause to that, there's just so many possibilities as you have suggested with the vibration theory. I am just so frustrated because I love the 360 games library and the hardware just seems so badly designed in the long-run. What's going to happen in the next decade when I want to relive the old 360 days? The box won't survive as long as the N64 and SNES have. They should have taken more time in these little things like the disc tray.
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[Island_Wolf]

I get the same with the PS2, 360 and PC so it is definitely the disc tray. However, for my 360, I only had light scratches but where my 360 before I moved it was prone to be kicked at and that what my mother did when I was playing the 360 one day (she was walking around with a phone in her hand not knowing she was near my console), which scratched the disk like no tomorrow. Went to the local movie hire store to get it buffed and it was working again. Nothing wrong with the console after being kicked hard though (still proud to have 100% of no issues with console rate).
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[Exodus]

It's still a temp fix though, disc buffering. The trays will still scratch and scratch, and by the time mine would be fixed I might as well just grab a whole new Xbox. Annoys me how much money I have forked out for this system... the games are the main reason I picked the 360 and always prevail, but it still sucks. And you're very lucky to have no issues! You must treat your console extra, extra good.
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[Furianshi]

Never had a problem with 360 discs getting scratched myself (40+ retail games).

Actually, the one time one of my games and the disc drive got into a fight, it was the drive that lost and had to be sent away for repairs.

But there was the incident with my PS2... I was gonna play some Resident Evil 4, but at the last second I changed my mind because I realised I was actually more in the mood for Tourist Trophy. With my ninja speed and reflexes I quickly went to grab the RE4 disc out of the tray as it was closing, except I miscalculated by 1/10 of a second and the tray shut with the disc half hanging out. It was stuck there and the tray wouldn't open because it was still trying to shut, so I had to pull it out even though it was jammed in there really good.

The disc wasn't the same after that. Even a buff didn't help it. Luckily, Ada's bonus playthrough wasn't effected, but Leon's game would always freeze at a certain point. I was spewing because Resident Evil 4 is like one of the best games on PS2.

[FalconDude]

[Exodus]

You two are both so lucky. Maybe I am just cursed with consoles...
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