Microsoft Denies Claims that Kinect Causes Red Rings

[Logan Westbrook]

Microsoft Denies Claims that Kinect Causes Red Rings

Xbox 360s breaking down after using Kinect is just a coincidence, says console maker.

Microsoft has denied that its motion controller Kinect causes the dread "Red Ring of Death" in older Xbox 360 consoles. This denial comes after a segment [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/106674-BBC-Reports-Kinect-Causes-Red-Ring-of-Death] on the BBC Radio 4 program You & Yours that featured a number of people who had experienced hardware problems after using the controller.

The program interviewed ten-year-old Adam Winnifrith, and his father James. Both expressed their dismay that the Xbox 360 was broken, and both were convinced that the brand new Kinect controller was the cause. Unsurprisingly, Microsoft had a different take on the situation, saying that any hardware issues that people might be experiencing following the use of Kinect were purely coincidental, and that there was no correlation between the RRoD and Kinect.

Without a lot more information, like how many of Kinect's eight million users have actually experienced Red Ring problems, it's hard to do anything other than speculate about the problem. It's not outside the realms of possibilities that one of the various Xbox 360 chipsets doesn't like the controller as much as it should, but it's equally true that, as Microsoft says, it could all be just an unfortunate coincidence.

Source: MCV [http://www.mcvuk.com/news/42390/MS-rubbishes-Kinect-RROD-claims?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+mcvuk/oXMK+(MCV:+games+industry+news)]



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[Anton P. Nym]

(pedant) I think there's a typo in the headline... "Kinect Cases" looks to be a substitute for "Kinect Causes"(/pedant)

I'd guess that the RRoD/Kinect connection is simply that people play with any new toy a lot more at the start than they do routinely; if an older console is already on its way to doddering over the edge, then all the extra wear-and-tear due to the added play time will push it over the brink sooner.

-- Steve

 

[Hippobatman]

Microsoft Denies Claims that Kinect Cases Red Rings

I'd re-read that, Logan

As for the console issue, without solid proof that the Kinect overheats the older consoles, one can only speculate.

I'm not sure how likely it is, though. Microsoft deliberately made it compatible with the older consoles, so I'm thinking this is a coincidence. If they thought this would be a problem, they could just have skipped the old consoles and only make it work with the slim 360 version.

Anyway, I don't have Kinect, and I don't plan on buying it unless they make some fantastic games to go with it.

EDIT: Ninja'd on the typo. We're attentive us grammar enthusiasts ^^

 

[Alien Mole]

Microsoft Denies Claims that Kinect Cases Red Rings

Without a lot more information, like how many of Kinect's eight million users have actually experienced Red Ring problems, it's hard to do anything other than speculate about the problem. It's not outside the realms of possibilities that one of the various Xbox 360 chipsets doesn't like the controller as much as it should, but it's equally true that, as Microsoft says, it's all just an unfortunate coincidence.
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Don't want to be overly pedantic, here, but shouldn't that read 'plausible,' 'it could be equally true' or something? I kind of understood that as Microsoft's side of the story already having been more or less confirmed. Could be a failure at reading comprehension on my part - apologies if so.

As for the issue at hand, it seems unlikely to me that a cross-platform compatible USB device would cause a standardised motherboard to fail, but would play fine with all the different motherboards and configurations a PC user can plug it into. Still, stranger things have happened.

 

[the_pleasure_is_mine]

I'd say it's plausible that Kinect is causing the red ring... possibly because the processor now has to deal with a lot of input and output data.

But I wouldn't really know. I'd like to think this is a coincidence.

 

[Celtic_Kerr]

8 Million people buy a connect, and the news starts up with about 5 of them getting issues... Hmm... Not confirmed yet by far. get another half million in there and you might be onto something. Then again, I know alot of people who have purchased new 360s to replace old models, or simply bought a second or third system, so it's REALLY hard to tell just how many of those 8 Million have the old machine.

For all we know, the only 5 people with the old system are having issues (highly unlikely), or somewhere in that general field.

Be interesting to see where this goes

 

[DaxStrife]

Xbox 360s breaking down after using Kinect is just a coincidence, says console maker.

They then went on to say, "They probably would have broken down without the Kinect."

 

[Logan Westbrook]

Xbox 360s breaking down after using Kinect is just a coincidence, says console maker.

They then went on to say, "They probably would have broken down without the Kinect."

That is what the statement implies actually.

 

[Bobic]

Why do big companies never just say 'whoopsie daisy, my bad'. They always have to deny everything.

 

[wooty]

Of course Microsoft are going to deny it, its hardly likely that they would say "yes it does cause your console to die, but please buy it anyway.....look a cuddly tiger".

Be bad for business if they told the truth.

 

[MurderousToaster]

Why do big companies never just say 'whoopsie daisy, my bad'. They always have to deny everything.

Well, if you were a gigantic multi-national hardware/software company, would you say that your product would cause people's consoles to die because of one person out of eight million who had bought the Kinect?

 

[Veloxe]

Why do big companies never just say 'whoopsie daisy, my bad'. They always have to deny everything.

Well, if you were a gigantic multi-national hardware/software company, would you say that your product would cause people's consoles to die because of one person out of eight million who had bought the Kinect?

Exactly, can't expect them to go "Ya, there is a slight possibility that things could go wrong because of Kinect." Much more likely to say "No, you're crazy, the Kinect dispenses skittles and rainbows of awesome!"

 

[Bobic]

Why do big companies never just say 'whoopsie daisy, my bad'. They always have to deny everything.

Well, if you were a gigantic multi-national hardware/software company, would you say that your product would cause people's consoles to die because of one person out of eight million who had bought the Kinect?

There were plenty more than one person on the BBC's radio program. And I'd at least say something like 'we're looking into it'.

 

[ace_of_something]

Given Microsofts track record with 360 failure rates and things of that nature... I'm not going to give them the benefit of the doubt if it turns out there are more people like this.

Though right now one and a handful does not a pattern make when you're talking about something that sold in the millions.

 

[MurderousToaster]

The program interviewed ten-year-old Adam Winnifrith, and his father James. [/url]

Why do big companies never just say 'whoopsie daisy, my bad'. They always have to deny everything.

Well, if you were a gigantic multi-national hardware/software company, would you say that your product would cause people's consoles to die because of one person out of eight million who had bought the Kinect?

There were plenty more than one person on the BBC's radio program. And I'd at least say something like 'we're looking into it'.

According to this article, there was one Kinect purchase (a boy and a father). I haven't actually heard the programme, so if there was more than that, I apologise.

 

[CrazyCapnMorgan]

Aside from greed and a host of other known corporate rhetoric...

Why is it that companies of this nature always go "Duhhhhhh, is not OUR fault dat it doesn't work, (insert name here)" instead of just going "Due to our past involvement of complete incompetence in product design, we are going to investigate this matter to make sure we don't look even MORE incompetent than we already appear to be".

Personally, I can't wait for another round of RRoD complaints to plague Microsoft so that everyone can go "What. A. Shocker." and Microsoft can move on to their next abomination. I've had no problems with my XBox Elite, but that's probably due to the fact that I don't overuse it like most of my country's governmental officials (USA) overuse the entitlement to be periodic idiots.

 

[Super Toast]

It's just a freak coincidence, right? RIGHT?!

 

[gigastar]

I remember sometime earlier last year there was a news post stating tha the Kinect would use up around 15% of the new 360's power. Considering that the older versions were obviously probably not designed to use Kinect its just pushing old 360's towards an early grave and thier owners to buying new 360's.

In essence, its seems Microsoft is now passively trying to suck our bank accounts dry.

 

[Antari]

I'm already on my second Xbox360. When this one dies, I sell off all my Xbox games. Outright denial is nice from the lawyers perspective, but they might want to look very closely at the situation before they start loosing customers. This reaction certainly wouldn't encourage me to pick up a new system, even if I had just bought Kinect for Christmas.