Rumor: the real reason for the RROD revealed
by Richard Mitchell 
{ Jan 21st 2008 at 11:45AM }
You may recall when Bungie leaving Microsoft was only a rumor. You may also recall most of the internet calling the source of this rumor as crazy. You may also also recall that the source was soon vindicated while the rest of the internet (including us) were made to look like gibbering idiots. All of this recalling is being done in order to reveal the following: the same site -- 8Bit Joystick -- is now reporting that an inside source at Microsoft has uncovered the ultimate reason behind the Xbox 360's egregiously high failure rate.
The truth behind the Red Ring of Death, says the anonymous source, is that Microsoft rushed the Xbox 360 in order to beat Sony's Playstation 3 to market. This ambition led to lackluster quality assurance and not nearly enough product testing, and the result -- as many 360 gamers will tell you - was disastrous. Furthermore, the source notes that there is no single culprit for failures, but rather a group of faults that can lead to an RROD. Whether it be substandard heat sinks, bad solder joints, or even bad chips, a myriad of issues can lead to hardware failure.
Is it all true? It's certainly not out of the question that MS may have rushed the 360 in order to beat Sony. After all, even with the 360's very real hardware issues, it currently enjoys a healthy lead over the Playstation 3. One thing we can be relatively sure of: Microsoft isn't about to confirm the veracity of the interview either way.
[Via Joystiq]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Cerixus @ Jan 23rd 2008 3:46PM
Can I be the first to say "duh" or did someone already do it?
Hey Apples @ Jan 21st 2008 11:56AM
Through some clever detective work, I've unmasked the identity of the "inside source."
His name is Captain.... Captain Obvious.
RighteousDork @ Jan 21st 2008 3:05PM
Took the words right out of my mouth. HAHA!
xenocidic @ Jan 21st 2008 11:56AM
This is hardly groundbreaking news
xenocidic @ Jan 21st 2008 1:01PM
an interesting read, nonetheless
bigmac375 @ Jan 21st 2008 6:37PM
still its nice to have concrete figures and explanations from someone that works in the division, rather than someone named l3eT_bUbBleSuars32 who worked at a best buy once trying to explain stuff out his ass.
xenocidic @ Jan 22nd 2008 9:22AM
yea I shot my first comment from the hip (as I so often do) after just reading the summary and then when I read the actual article it was more enlightening than the summary indicated, so I added the second comment.
Knight Marquise @ Jan 21st 2008 11:57AM
Hmmm..sounds like an article I'd find on PS3 Fanboy...
Larry *not allowed to say cheevo* @ Jan 21st 2008 12:10PM
booyah! BURN! ooooh, it's BURNS so bad. DAYUUMMM! hahaha... just kidding.
Seriously though, this is news? I have been reporting this cause for some time. I guess I had the scoop all along.
Tron @ Jan 21st 2008 12:01PM
If you're gonna use a word like 'myriad' in your blog post, at least use it correctly.
TORO @ Jan 21st 2008 12:38PM
Hey grammar whore, Richard's use of "myriad" is not universally considered wrong. You may use it as noun also.
http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/myriad
I got your back Rich! ;)
Richard Mitchell @ Jan 21st 2008 12:43PM
Indeed it can. In fact, not only is it not universally wrong, it's not wrong at all!
TORO @ Jan 21st 2008 12:50PM
That's true, but as we can see it still receives criticism lol
mattclarkie @ Jan 21st 2008 2:35PM
I see no issue with the way "a myriad of issues can lead" has been used in this context.
So go suck on that.
Naes @ Jan 21st 2008 12:04PM
Makes sense. I was just got hit with the video out problem that seems to be bricking a lot of 360s lately.
http://forums.xbox.com/10/17830899/ShowPost.aspx#17830899
mattclarkie @ Jan 21st 2008 12:06PM
I read the article yesterday, and it seemed convincing. I have so far had very little trouble since launch, and it has not suffered catastrophic failure. But it is clear the system suffers serious design flaws.
Tony @ Jan 21st 2008 12:21PM
As I said elsewhere about this, as long as MS keeps fixing mine for free I'm not really too upset about it... what's going to suck is years down the line if I want to play a 360 game and can't.
Which opens up a whole new line of questions... as to whether the next Xbox will play 360 games and, more importantly to me, whether or not I can import my XBLA games to it. It'd suck to be given the option to buy yet another version of Pac-Man.
Dissappointedn360 @ Jan 21st 2008 12:28PM
After the second return of my 360 for the rrod, I have went to the ps3. I like it much better than the 360. This last time I returned it, MS took a month to get it back to me. MS need to kiss Bungie butt because I would have gotten rid of this piece of junk along time ago if it not for Halo. MS has a long track record of putting things out to the market that don't function very well. Seems to be their new MO. We will put it and fix the problems after the fact. They do it to just get our money. I and many other people have lost faith in MS quality with anything with the MS name on it.
Toysrme @ Jan 21st 2008 2:48PM
Seriously... I like this website but this kind of stupid obvious shit makes you look like a dumbass Richard. Don't post stupid things everyone already knows...
chigthemnky @ Jan 21st 2008 12:40PM
New MO? Do we need to revisit windows Millenium? They have been doing this for a LONG time which is half of the reason so many people are against the 360. The Microsoft name is damaging the 360s reputation. If another company, just for arguments sake say Sega, was responcible for the 360 i think it would cut some of the fanboy talk out of both sides.
carnage rules @ Jan 21st 2008 12:47PM
No don't go please stay no don't go don't go please don't go no please stay no no don't go don't please don't go please stay don't go please don't go no don't go please stay don't go stay please GO
mattclarkie @ Jan 21st 2008 2:42PM
I was reading up about old consoles, I was bored, and the Dreamcast was conceived, designed, and built in less than 2 years 1997-1998.
We all know what happened with that rush job. What has redeemed MS is that their console is so brilliant. I know I would be piss'd if mine broke, but when I am playing on it I forget what a hash they made of the manufacture.
What has actually saved the 360 is the fact that MS is behind it, if another company such as Sony produced this the community would be so up in arms that the console would never survive.
Richard Mitchell @ Jan 21st 2008 3:18PM
Toysrme,
You may be right, but this is the first time that someone close to Microsoft has come out and said what we're all thinking. The reliability of the source in question is debatable, but the words are especially damning coming from someone from MS.
It may not be "news," but confirming a widely held assumption is just as important as the assumption itself.
Magic Whiskey @ Jan 21st 2008 12:41PM
Two points:
1. I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if this was fact. It's not exactly the Pinto of gaming consoles, but it should have either been in development a tiny bit longer. Ah, well..the 360 is enjoying the big lead and some can be attributed to the head start in the market...and Microsoft paid out the butt for RROD failures later, so all's well that ends well, I think. I haven't heard much about the issue recently. Mine has bricked on me once, but I know if it happens again I'll only be out of the game a month or so..meh.
2: Microsoft found it's audience, for the better or worst. Regardless, they do LISTEN, and I'm terribly confident that the next Microsoft console (I refuse to say 720; that just sounds stupid) will be very reliable, or at least much more so than the 360. They know there's too many eyes paying attention and blood pressure systems that would be ready to pop if the next console was anything less than foolproof.
I'll say this again; I think the next console should be direct-to-drive digital download ONLY..no optical drive whatsoever. The less that moves, the better. The industry is heading that way anyway.
Ethan Rom @ Jan 21st 2008 12:56PM
If they go that way, we better get a huge hard drive plus the means to "rent" any game to try it. Imagine how pissed Gamefly and all the other rental services would be if they went to download only. Plus, no buying used copies of games from stores. Sounds great for MS and their bottom line, not so good for us.
mattclarkie @ Jan 21st 2008 2:48PM
What if your HDD died. The only way would be if every game your purchased was recorded in your online account so you can download it again if that happened.
I personally like the idea of owning a disc/cart with the game. The only solution would be if SSD became cheap enough to release the games on, like the old ROM cartridges.
Magic Whiskey @ Jan 21st 2008 3:32PM
I like the idea of no optical drive for a lot of reasons. You wouldn't have a spinning drive to worry about, so no wear there. No discs to worry about scratching either. On the retail front, less used discs in stores means less trade-in, which means more profit for game developers (since they don't cash in when you buy games used, only new.) This also benefits you by having impulse purchaseability, no need to reserve copies any longer, and lost reserves/insufficient copies on hand are things of the past.
Environmentally, the lack of an optical drive helps too; less resources needed on all fronts; no discs to be pressed means no disc pressing facilities (which means no used up fossil fuels in many ways.) No garbage landfills with defective optical-drive consoles or gaming discs (assuming the rest of the console works just fine.)
Of course this console would need a huge HDD, or preferably four redundant smaller ones equaling a terabyte or more. I just feel the industry is headed this way in general. If the powers that be would demand an optical drive, one could be offered via accessory (like the new Macbook Air which does away with the drive.)
Lastly, having games downloaded directly to drive would totally cancel out the Blu-ray discussion entirely and even open up more capacity in the long run.
The only flaw this system may have is for those without a high-speed internet connection game downloads may take a few hours, but most of us have that already.
Ryan @ Jan 21st 2008 12:46PM
You guys should feel luck you even have the RROD. My f@ckin stupid xbox360 broke about a month before christmas and it shows no RROD....so I have to pay $100 to get it "fixed" only to hope it doesnt happen again and I have to pay another $100. I don't know about you but Im not happy paying $100 to fix a console I've owned for less then 2 years now that cost me only $400 to buy brand new. F@ck Microsoft...they should fix every problem the 360 has and not just RROD.
Chuckles @ Jan 21st 2008 12:57PM
Why didn't you overheat it with a towel or something and make it RROD. Then it would be covered under warranty and the other problem would be taken care of as well. It's not to hard to figure things like this out when $100 is on the line. Don't get me wrong I think MS should have extended the warranty for more problems, but you have to adapt to the situation when necessary.
Dissappointedn360 @ Jan 21st 2008 1:06PM
right on
Ryan @ Jan 21st 2008 12:48PM
Oh and the issues im having is the stupid graphics card crapped out. I get sound and no video...its boots just fine but absolutely no video. And before you even say yes ive tried another cable and yes another port on my tv and yes another game blah blah blah. Ive check on the forums and other kids have the same issue as me. Like I said before F@ck Microsoft...fix my xbox360 for FREE!!!!!!!!!!
ryan @ Jan 21st 2008 12:59PM
damn dude, i feel like you've been wronged so bad. they say your given a warranty but only on a problem that you DONT even have. thats stupid of MS!
MicroSoft, fix this guy's console for Free dammit!
Chuckles @ Jan 21st 2008 12:59PM
See above reply.
UNSCleric @ Jan 21st 2008 12:48PM
How is this news? Who cares, MS fixes them for free, they're not ripping everybody off like Sony did with the PS2.
Ryan @ Jan 21st 2008 12:49PM
UMMM your freaking wrong! They do not fix everything for free....unless you have the RROD your sh!t out of luck and have to pay $100 for them to "fix" it. That is BULLSH!T.
Knight Marquise @ Jan 21st 2008 12:56PM
Thank you for pointing that out.
I owned several PS2's last gen as well, and not that it makes any difference scientifically, I went through several PS2's at launch. Yet we never hear about that inflating the PS2 userbase, nor about those issues Sony had with that console.
Personally I think it's simply en vogue to trash any American Company, if said company happens to be Microsoft, so much the better.
Knight Marquise @ Jan 21st 2008 1:03PM
Ryan,
They will fix =anything= for free the first year.
No console manufacture will fix =anything= (for free)after that first year, and only Microsoft extends any portion of their warrenty, such as the RRoD for 3 years.
Ryan @ Jan 21st 2008 1:11PM
I never said I have the thing for a year...im well aware that they will fix anything for free for a year. But ive had my console since the launch and it just came up on 2 years and it broke one day when playing call of duty 4. So im Sh!t out of luck....but im gonna take someone's suggestion and put a towel over it and make it so it overheats...Ill be home all day today so im gonna watch it until it gets the RROD. Hopefully this works and I wont have to pay M$ their $100 they want.
xenocidic @ Jan 21st 2008 1:35PM
Ryan if you would actually read the replies to your first post, Cluckles gave you an excellent idea - to "induce" an RROD in your broken boxen by wrapping it up in a towel and letting it run for an hour or two (watch closely in case it catches fire)
Cameron @ Jan 21st 2008 12:55PM
Well I grabbed a Falcon(Xbox 360 Arcade) and left it on for 24 full hours - when i wok up it didn't have the RROD nor was it too hot 0.o - But if you voided you warranty or "want to" I suggest the X-Clamp Fix.
EmptyEnergy @ Jan 21st 2008 12:55PM
Guess MS tried and succeeded to get a lead in the market with a rushed product. In hindsight, maybe MS should have taken responsibility for a faulty product before hand, rather keep silent. But, with the extra warranty given, and 'minor tweaks', they are at least remedying the issue.
armin @ Jan 21st 2008 1:02PM
what does this tell us...This tells us nothing.
Tony @ Jan 21st 2008 1:27PM
LOL @ post #1...spot on.
refinedsugar @ Jan 21st 2008 1:30PM
Now you just gotta balance it out: is beating the competition to the market worth a billion dollar recall program?
atrax1 @ Jan 21st 2008 1:46PM
My friend and I discussed this last year and this knuclehead just figured it out? M$ doesn't care about the consumer they only want good sale numbers and your money. Jumping the gun has proved fatal in two ways for them. 1) Not enough product testing and wanting too beat Sony and 2) Joing up with Toshiba for the HD-DVD add-on. Why usher in this "era of HD gaming" and you release a system with no HDMI then you realize you made a mistake and put out another 360 with HDMI. You say you don't want too force the consumer into buying something they won't use or don't want like the Hd-DVD add-on. Your basiclly saying we will support it until it fails that's why we are not releasing games using that format because we don't want waste money on development.
Knight Marquise @ Jan 21st 2008 2:04PM
Atrax,
Don't be an idiot. HDMI is all about DRM. The call it HDCP, High Bandwidth Digital Copy Protection.
Roto13 @ Jan 21st 2008 2:33PM
I honestly wouldn't even consider this news.
Don't expect Microsoft to ever confirm it, though. They don't like to own up to their mistakes.
Robert Delevere @ Jan 21st 2008 2:49PM
I guess I did sound like an idiot saying that.
Efeez1986 @ Jan 21st 2008 3:03PM
I'm sick and tired of you die hard xbox fanboys who attack anyone who says something negative about Microsoft, even though it's true. Stop making up excuses for Microsoft, their a multibillion dollar company. The reason MS isn't trying to fix the 360's is because you fanboys keep making up excuses for them.
Knight Marquise @ Jan 21st 2008 4:33PM
Lol..
This coming from a PS3 Troll. Next time you want to trash the 360/MS/This Site...make your profile private first, dolt.
You're a Sony tool, and your credibility of objectiveness is zero.
Some of YOUR QUOTES from PS3 Fanboy:
Jan 18th 2008 6:59PM by Efeez1986:
"The american media is obviously bias against the PS3."
"The PS3 is outselling 360 in everywhere in the world except America, so that shows, but for some reason Microsoft and xbox fanboys seem to think that America is the only country that matters when it comes to gaming"
"Uncharted is hands down the best game of 2007"
Jan 17th 2008 12:49PM by Efeez1986:
"Please, i don't want to hear anymore about Halo or Bioshock. Both of those games are highly overrated"
Dec 3rd 2007 2:50PM by Efeez1986:
"I hate how everybody doubts the PS3."