Luckily I've not had a ring of death with either my AU Xbxo360 or our US one but to help reduce the fear and uncertainty of the one year warranty Microsoft has announced they're going to extend the warrant to 3 years to cover the problem.

The best news is for existing customers who've had to pay for the fix...you may just get some money back.

For the full story read the open letter on Xbox.com or check out the FAQs.