Reports on the internet are flooding in about the spotty reliability of the Xbox 360.

• Micromart, an independent repair center in the United Kingdom, has refused to service bricked 360s, saying "This problem is endemic on the Xbox 360 console...and the volume has made this repair non-viable." According to a Micromart employee quoted on Shacknews.com, the problem "has been identified as a fundamental motherboard problem....The level we experience is unusually high and information on the many website forums seem to suggest it is far more widespread than our own information."

• Another source is reporting that U.K. repair centers have been so overwhelmed by returns for repait, they are outsourching the fix-it jobs to other countries.

• Microsoft's reponse has been close-to-the-vest. Y'know, things break," commented Microsoft's Peter Moore in May. "I'm not going to comment on individual failure rates because I'm shipping in 36 countries and it's a complex business." Microsoft has claimed a 3% failure rate for the console and has stated it is within acceptable limits for consumer electronics.

ShackNews: Independent Repair Center Refuses Xbox 360