Microsoft has refuted claims that use of the company's Kinect add-on can increase the chances of Xbox 360 hardware failure saying "any new instances of the three flashing red lights error are merely coincidental."
The company was responding to a BBC report aired yesterday that featured owners of Microsoft's Xbox gaming console blaming Kinect for causing their consoles to fail.
Ten-year old Adam Winnifrith told BBC Radio 4's You and Yours program that he had only used his Xbox with the Kinect a couple of times before it failed. "We plugged it in the day we got it but only played it a few times before we got the red lights. The next day when we tried it again we still had the red rings of death and haven't been able to use it since."
The BBC wrote that online gaming forums have been "buzzing with accounts of consoles showing the Red Ring of Death shortly after plugging in Kinects", a claim that Microsoft refuted.
“There is no correlation between the three flashing red lights error and Kinect," said a Microsoft spokesperson. "Any new instances of the three flashing red lights error are merely coincidental."
The infamous triple red light error, known colloquially amongst gamers as the "Red Ring of Death" was changed for the Xbox 360 Slim model, which instead features a glowing light that turns red when hardware issues pop up.
The system has been dogged by hardware issues in recent years. At one point the Xbox 360's system failure rate climbed to as high as 23.7 percent.
Um. From what I recall, the Kinect has a very high power-draw: the extra strain could tip an Xbox 360 over the edge. Admittedly, on the old-type models, you have to use an external PSU for the Kinect sensor bar; but could the bar still be trying to draw power over the USB cable?
However, to give MS the benefit of the doubt: I'm wondering if perhaps this is more due to people having not played their Xbox 360 for a while prior to playing Kinect? If the unit is old and/or has dust built up internally, then an overheat wouldn't be too surprising...
This claim is true. It happened to two of my Xbox 360s. I never had any issues with them since I bought them until I connected my Kinect.
I did not get the RROD, but I did get an E74 code on both of them. After calling their customer service, the gentlemen told me that the Kinect draws a lot of power and it seemed it was too much for my Xbox. To clarify a little, this applies to the original models and not the newer, slimmer upgrade Xbox 360. So he kind of slipped up, then when he realized it, tried telling me it was probably expected to fail eventually. I was like, "you're kidding, right?" It happens over time, blah, blah, blah.
To rewind a little. I did some research and it seemed I wasn't the only having this problem. At first I noticed pink scan lines when playing my games (this is when I called) and they told me the 'Kinect' err that the system video had failed... so they directed me to clear my cached, turn off my system, and turn it on, then TADA.... E74! Twice, for both systems... and that it was my fault (they didn't say my fault, but implied it) due to how long I had it and regular use. < which is bull, because I hardly play my 360 these days.
So we tell friends and everyone else NOT to buy the Kinect IF you own the older model Xbox 360. My wife has been telling her customers (at gaming retail store) to be wary and would be best to upgrade to the slim before purchasing the Kinect for their existing Xbox 360.
The Kinect is great, but is not really 100% reliable to play on the older Xbox 360 console. Backward compatible...yes. However, you may not end up owning a working system by the end of the week.
I find it interesting, that the moderators on the official XBox forum seem to lock and delete threads on this topic, cause they say, people start insulting each other (http://forums.xbox.com/35460995/ShowPost.aspx). From what the moderator and the users say here, this happened several times this week.
Maybe they were insulting each other, but locking and deleting threads on your site, were people try to discuss about a POSSIBLE failure of the hardware you sold to them, looks pretty bad, regardless if it's true or not.
I didn't said it was evidence for anything (right now, unless something else is proven I think, MS isn't so dumb to release a hardware, that can destroy existing hardware, cause they already have such a track record with faulty 360s) I only said it doesn't look good, if you do something like this.
I think that's why they are responding so quickly. They're trying to head off the rabid media before they can create an illusion of a problem that doesn't exist.
If the problem does exist, then that's another matter entirely, and would be very disappointing given the original red ring fiasco.
So why would they deny it? Just say we are looking into allegations that some older models may crash after adding the peripheral and we are going to work to resolve this issues with our customers if this is the case.
There are too many idiots who love to claim sonething new wrecked their console...you see it happen with every new game that comes out...there are a dozen Rtards on forums going (Game X killed my console). This is no surprise, it just a fad among overly vocal people who like to immediatly assume a connection between the he two. It no different from when Black ops came out and the kiddies who played it 24/7 for the first week fried their console and then hop online to blame it on the game, rather than blame themselves for having the console on 24/7.
However, to give MS the benefit of the doubt: I'm wondering if perhaps this is more due to people having not played their Xbox 360 for a while prior to playing Kinect? If the unit is old and/or has dust built up internally, then an overheat wouldn't be too surprising...
I did not get the RROD, but I did get an E74 code on both of them. After calling their customer service, the gentlemen told me that the Kinect draws a lot of power and it seemed it was too much for my Xbox. To clarify a little, this applies to the original models and not the newer, slimmer upgrade Xbox 360. So he kind of slipped up, then when he realized it, tried telling me it was probably expected to fail eventually. I was like, "you're kidding, right?" It happens over time, blah, blah, blah.
To rewind a little. I did some research and it seemed I wasn't the only having this problem. At first I noticed pink scan lines when playing my games (this is when I called) and they told me the 'Kinect' err that the system video had failed... so they directed me to clear my cached, turn off my system, and turn it on, then TADA.... E74! Twice, for both systems... and that it was my fault (they didn't say my fault, but implied it) due to how long I had it and regular use. < which is bull, because I hardly play my 360 these days.
So we tell friends and everyone else NOT to buy the Kinect IF you own the older model Xbox 360. My wife has been telling her customers (at gaming retail store) to be wary and would be best to upgrade to the slim before purchasing the Kinect for their existing Xbox 360.
The Kinect is great, but is not really 100% reliable to play on the older Xbox 360 console. Backward compatible...yes. However, you may not end up owning a working system by the end of the week.
Maybe they were insulting each other, but locking and deleting threads on your site, were people try to discuss about a POSSIBLE failure of the hardware you sold to them, looks pretty bad, regardless if it's true or not.
I'm not denying your conspiracy theory, but this isn't especially damning evidence.
If the problem does exist, then that's another matter entirely, and would be very disappointing given the original red ring fiasco.
So why would they deny it? Just say we are looking into allegations that some older models may crash after adding the peripheral and we are going to work to resolve this issues with our customers if this is the case.