Supreme Court says game over for Xbox 360 console-defect class action

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The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that the tens of thousands of gamers who complained that the Microsoft Xbox 360 console scratched game discs cannot sue Microsoft together in a class-action lawsuit.

A class-action lawsuit, brought in 2012, claims that small movements or vibrations of the console could result in the optical drive scratching discs. The suit accused Microsoft of knowing about the alleged issue before the Xbox 360 launched in 2005. The suit claimed there were 55,000 complaints about the issue by 2008.

The court's highly nuanced decision rested on federal appellate procedure. But the outcome means that if aggrieved gamers want to sue Microsoft over the issue, they must do so individually-at least for now. That's a big deal for a variety of reasons.

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