The Xbox 360’s mysterious and widespread hardware problems gets a look from the New York Times of all places today.

What’s odder to you? That Microsoft acknowledges the problem but won’t say another word about it? Or that 360 owners don’t really seem to care about one of the worst consumer electronic flaws ever?

Stephano Nevarez can. Since he first bought his $400 Microsoft Xbox 360 in 2006, it has failed three times. Each time, he sent the game machine back to the company and waited weeks for a repair or a replacement.

“There’s nothing in the house that breaks down as much,” said Stephano, a 15-year-old high school student from Salem, Ore.

Yet he remains a devotee of his 360 console, the more so because he wants to play Halo 3, the latest iteration of a violent space epic due in stores on Sept. 25; it is available only for that game machine.

The game, published by Microsoft, could redeem the company going into the holiday selling season. Untold numbers of 360 owners have watched their machines break down, and then, in many cases, watched the replacement consoles do the exact same thing because of a severe and widespread manufacturing flaw.

But if the Xbox players keep coming back because of Halo 3, and if other gamers buy the console just for the game, then Microsoft could markedly improve its standing in its battle against rivals Sony and Nintendo.

“Halo 3 is Microsoft’s most important game,” said Dan Hsu, editor in chief of Electronic Gaming Monthly, a magazine for enthusiasts. Mr. Hsu, who has seen the game, said it delivers in spades, with one caveat: “Assuming your machine does work, it does what it sets out to do.”

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