Less than a week after launch, Xbox 360 owners have started to complain about several problems with their new Xbox 360, mainly over heating and disk scratching. What seemed to be isolated cases several days ago, now appears to be more prevalent.

A reader of Xbox Today claiming to be an Xbox LIVE technical support worker, believes that nearly half of the Xbox 360s are broke.

I estimate at least half the 360's out there are broke... nothing but constant calls" explained the source

Regardless of whether-or-not the source does work for tech support, there is still a growing number of concerned Xbox 360 owners with broken Xbox 360s.

The question that most people are asking is; did Microsoft launch the Xbox 360 prematurely?

Last time around Microsoft actually launched too late. Sony sold more than 20 million units by the time Microsoft sold its first 1.5 million. This time around, Microsoft has the head start. The Nintendo Revolution and the PS3 are both expected to be released in 2006, at least 6 months after the launch of the Xbox 360. However, with the obvious shortage, and the growing number of complaints, MS large head start may have less impact then previously thought.

As the next few months play-out it will be interesting to see if MS can overcome the concerns with technical issues as well as the obvious shortage prior to the launches of the Sony Playstation 3 and Nintendo Revolution. Either way, 2006 is shaping up to be a great time for gamers.