The recently-concluded GDC 09 in San Francisco yielded a lot of interesting news about the gaming world. That excitement apparently flowed over to our Xbox 360 blog as we got a fair share of cool news and updates. We've got the people of Halo 3 doing a back-and-forth with whether or not there'll be more content for the franchise, the dismal and disappointing launch of the exclusive XBL DLC for Fallout 3, The Pitt, as well as some mahayjor drama in the MS offices, with an employee suing for homophobic discrimination, BBC pwning MS for the disc-scratching issue, and more.

Although the initial outrage at the Xbox 360 disc-scratching problem has died down somewhat, BBC is bringing the issue back to the attention of the public with a feature in their consumer awareness program, Watchdog. The general tone of the feature accuses Microsoft of not taking care of its customers or its own product.

Details after the link, as well as Microsoft's reply.

BBC's "Watchdog" is investigating the Rings of Death, and the BBC TV show may just be one of many PR problems Microsoft may have to fend with. Ars Technica's Opposable Thumbs bites from another direction: Customer Service itself. The short story is: Customer Service is not being of service to our broken Xboxes.

The article was triggered by the Ars author's receipt of so many letters from people's experiences with MS Customer Support. The last straw was a "well-written letter" from a Northrop Grumman manager who explains that the entire tedium of talking to Customer Service, and going about fulfilling their requirements (for example, requiring him to fax in a bank statement) is costing him time and money - either of his paid leave or weekends.

"This is terrible to hear," the Ars author writes. "Your company's product has cost me time and money," said the Northrop Grumman manager.

Compelling argument or the Whaambulance Emo Edition? There is that cliche about losers only whining about their best (don't ask what winners do), but an Xbox 360 is an investment. Consider the multiple experiences of people cycling through new Xbox 360 consoles or sending them back to Microsoft for warranty repairs (and paying for the boxes). Now add the BBC investigation.

Now you can really see that these allegations of a Byzantine customer service don't exactly become a welcome sight for PR.

Said the Ars author:

Fix this. Hire better people for the phones. Stop treating people like you think they're trying to rip you off. Get replacement systems to people faster, and do it in a way that doesn't inconvenience them. Remember that this is YOUR problem, Microsoft, and not the customer's.

Cost-efficiencies of replacement vs. warranties aside, remember the two parts of the Hippocratic Oath. (a) First do no harm. And (b) a patient that b***hes to you is still your patient.

In case you don't have good plans for tonight, you might want to tune in to channel BBC1 at 7 p.m. GMT. Why? Because at that time, the TV station will air a special edition of consumer affairs program "Watchdog" and will feature potential faults and issues with Microsoft's Xbox 360.

Gaming site Games Industry somewhat got a preview of the said episode and according to the site, the program will focus on the ring of death problem. To those of you who might have already forgotten, earlier versions of the console encountered this issue more frequently compared to the later versions.

Also, "Watchdog" will probe why Microsoft agreed to offer complimentary repairs to owners of faulty consoles manufactured before January 1, 2006 in the U.S. but not in UK. The said program will also reveal interviews of consumers who have experienced the problem but weren't able to benefit from the said repairs. These consumers were asked to pay between GBP 80 to 90 GBP (US$ 156 to US$ 175) to have their consoles fixed. Well, we guess we will all find out the truth tonight, so don't forget to watch that show.