Proof of Xbox 360 RRoD Insider's Authenticity

8bitjoystick, who published "Inside Source Reveal the Truth About Xbox 360 'Red Ring of Death' Failures" (listed under Alternative Sources), provides photographic proof that his source for the interview is real, worked at Microsoft, and was a major engineer in the Xbox division.

[power of Green]

Well some how this crap got appoved but not before I graded the quality of the post. Its not proof of anything and the editing suggest news and proof but is only a photo. Maybe I'll use this photo so I can tell people I worked for MSFT.

[gamesR4fun]

what just use your last pay stub pog

[power of Green]

One comment sence January 25, 2008 on his blog.

I don't understand, is this suppose to the only time these photos have ever been on the Web? or the only person that has shown trophies? of this kind ever, I dont get how having these pics prove anything. Its great for media whores and people trying to win money.

Now I have them, they'll come in handy when I tell people I'v worked at MSFT.
Is his name on the trophies?.

Should have atleast photo shopped something.

[MikeGdaGod]

your level of denial is amazing

[marionz]

how did this slip through the approval process? i mean this is NEWS for gamers isnt it?

[power of Green]

And BAM!!! it was here.

The contributor is on a mission. They no longer look for anything other than fud.

No one even pays this 8bitjoystick dude any mind.

[Gina-get-u]

The man is essentially saying that launch model 360s, and to a lesser extent even the later models, have a higher than average chance of failing regardless of how carefully the manufacturer put it together because it's design is inherently screwed up, and MS knew, or should have known of these problems but sold it to the public anyway.

That's some pretty serious sh!te right there. Let's take a minute to think about it.

If what the insider said turns out to be false, whether because he outright lied or just played fast and loose with the facts, MS can sue for defamation, and take to the cleaners, not just the insider, but also every other website that reprinted his comments. Moreover, there would be some special hell for the publishers to pay if it turns out that the insider wasn't a real insider after all.

For those a little slow on the uptake, let me get a bit more obvious: if a court or jury ever determines that the insider's statements are in fact libelous, there may be a good chance that N4G TOO CAN GET HOSED for reprinting what he said, because each publication of the insider's claims would be considered a separate and distinct act of libel.

I know most, if not all respectable and well run websites and publications have internal procedures for vetting stories to avoid or minimize potential libel exposure. Most, if not all, also have access to retained libel counsel to help them steer clear of any major bumps. Also, most, if not all, pay libel insurance premiums, just in case.

But this is N4G. Respectable isn't exactly the first word that comes to mind when people think of this place. The patients run the assylum here.

I'm not saying N4G is in any kind of trouble already. Personally, I suspect a lot of what the insider is saying may be true anyway. And well, maybe N4G does have libel insurance and libel counsel on retainer, and that people here run a tight ship after all, appearances notwithstanding. But that would come as a big surprise to me. Did you guys a least sit down and talk about the potential crap before running with this tip? Didn't you notice that IGN and all the other major players haven't been scooping each other on this story, despite its potential magnitude?

[mighty_douche]

Im not really sure what the story is about?

Proof of RROD? whaa? im confused. Was there a previous story?

[Mr_Kuwabara]

The insider was pretty much talking about Microsoft rushing the 360, not giving the 360 proper tests including engineering, reliability etc etc.

[NextGEN Gamers]

It is a valid news story intended to clarify an earlier news story in which a former Xbox hardware insider was interviewed on the Xbox 360 hardware issue.

It is legitimate news, even if it is controversial.

[Mr Marbles]

I could care less if he worked for MS or not, he is a disgruntled employee, nothing more, seriously who cares what he has to say or if he is lying or not, not me.

[vidoardes]

Well I've reported it. Photo proves nothing, I can find this in flickr or google image search.

[Rocko]

This is ridiculous.

[NextGEN Gamers]

For the record, I approved the article because I felt it was legitimate news (whether you agree with the interviewee or not), and because it relates to a news article which generated a lot of discussion on N4G.com last week.

And for the record, I own all three next gen consoles and a gaming PC - so how I can be called a "Sony fan-boy" is beyond me.

[mighty_douche]

dude, theres no need to explain. If your a contributor and you believe its news worthy, approve it, simple.

If people dont think it has a place here, they can report it, or simply DONT READ IT.

[Bathyj]

So no doubt when the story first appeared you all said it was fake. Then when they try to verify the source, thats fake too.

No you guys are right, its all just FUD, Xbox is actually great hardware.

Why would anyone have to lie about Xbox being an unreliable console, when it so obviously is?

[Bathyj]

Another bubble gone just for asking a question you'se cant answer.
Sooks.

[Imalwaysright]

W/e is interview imo wasnt “fake” and if was it still doesnt change the fact that 360 has a 33% failure rate so for those calling him a liar prove him wrong and find what is really causing the hardware failures on the 360 or atleast admit that what he said could be the truth because the number 33 is here to stay.

[titntin]

Arguments about valid story aside, I don't see that the initial story needed any 'proof'?
Anyone who read the interview with a reasonable unbiased viewpoint, would see clearly that here was a guy who understood the intricacies of bringing such a product to market, and more over, appeared to know the particulars of the 360 design and manufacturing structure extremely well. It was certainly not the kind of interview that could be constructed by someone faking knowledge - I have higher level Electrical and Electronics qualifications and feel confident I would have spotted BS if I had read it!

Nobody denies that the 360 has had a bad time of it in terms of hardware reliability (I've had RROD twice myself), so the article was an interesting insight into an issue that has caused a great number of us some hassle. I didn't need to be a threat to die hard supporters of the machine, and indeed, acknowledging the issues that created the fault is the first step towards truly fixing it and avoiding it in the future.
So having this information out in the open will eventually actually help the Xbox cause! At least I hope so, no one really wants gammers to continue to experience failures do they? I will certainly buy the next machine MS brings to market, and I sincerely hope these issues have been fully fixed and the lessons learnt by then!

[power of Green]

Sounds good if thats what you're wanting to hear.

Most of what you said could still be anybody that could research the claims. We all read what was said.

I mean come on man who's to say you have ever owned a 360 as a point I'm trying to make. Based on most of your comments; makes me personally think theres no way in hell you could have ever owned a 360.

Seem like a gothic anti "the man" hardcore anti MSFT far left type. No offence.

[INehalemEXI]

Ive had 3 , 360's 2 replaced , and I have proof. Ive seen lots of people on GS say things like my 360 is in for repair. You can not hide that failure rate.

[titntin]

@POG

Actually mate, I make games for a living and have owned just about every single games machine created since the fist pong machines(yes I'm that old).
In all that time, and through all that hardware, I have only ever had to replace one other machine - my PS2 laser finally wore out after many years of good service and I replaced it with a 'slim'. I bought a 360 as it was released, and didn't regret it. But I've had 2 rrod, and thats 2 too many for my liking.
If a hardcore fanboy truly wishes to believe I don't have a 360, I guess thats your perogative, though I can assure you my household contains a PS3, a 360, a WII, 2 x PSP, 2 x DS and my home office contains 2x high spec PC's and a linux RAID server. I've been a games developer for 15 years (technical artist and animator) and have worked on titles for just about all the major developers (E.A, Sony, Microsoft to name just a few).
I make my comments on this site as a fan of video gaming that has seen the industry evolve since the very beginning, and as a mature man who makes his living from the business. NOT as an arrogant kid who seems to be inextricably tied to single restrictive format and constantly spewing the viral marketing of a single large corporation.

If you fail to see value in my comments then please simply ignore them. Trying to cast some doubt on them through childish aspersions indicates a truly puerile mentality that is only confirmed by your posting history on the site.

[jeenyus]

How come this is called "news" ?
X360's RROD is something real,a known fact,it happened and will happen again.What's new about it ?

[SoulReaper]

I dont know maybe Microsoft should man up and fix the problems..Instead of screwing their loyal fanbase..

[Nostradamus]

They did.

They spent a billion dollars, I call that manning up.

[gamesR4fun]

not like they had a choice Nostradamus it was either pony up or face a mass recall.

[JohnRico]

Wow is the guy who posted that picture a moron ? Are the Sony Droids who believes this idiots ? First it has a logo for THE ORIGINAL XBOX on it & the dates on the picture go back to THE ORIGINAL XBOX. This proves nothing & only proves how Sony runned this web site is. This idiot is nothing more then a pissed off employee that got laid off back when THE ORIGINAL XBOX came out.

[THE TERMINATOR]

Xbox 360 = crap plain and simple.

[Sarick]

Look at the text in the bottem center. Something like "everytime .. is shipped brings us one step closer to our goals." Rather the more stuff we ship the more popular we're going to be. Studies show that to more pronounced you make yourself the higher influence you have over your environment. This RROD issue a perfect example. The consoles breaking give MS a bad reputation but MS says we support our product and more people are interested.

Take a person who is a disgruntled employee he complains and complains about the fire hazard of the office. He then decides complaing is never going to work so he causes a minor accdent and suddenly the company wants to fire proof. Everyones eyes are open to it. When corporate says look at that it's a hazard people suddenly listen.

MS counts their sales by new units shipped, are they counting the ones they replace to?

[WilliamRLBaker]

a picture proves he's telling the truth >_~ ok...

[Chuck Norris]

We all know the reason behind the RRoD. You see, I suck at FPS (if I wanted to kill someone I'd hit em with my beard) but I just can get enough of it. Everytime I lost at multiplayer I take it out on some guy's 360. So what if he got lucky enough to kill me in COD4! I zapped a random 360 in revenge.

Don't ever mess with Chuck!

PS I don't even own the 360

[caffman]

you can't roundhouse kick in COD4!

[darkshiz]

He can round house kick a person's 360 from anywhere in the world and any time.

Chuck Norris took out thousands or even a million 360.

Red Ring Of Death is the bottom of Chuck Norris's shoe sole.

[Leathersoup]

...is that the source worked on the Xbox. It doesn't say anything about the Xbox 360.

[wageslave]

No. It doesnt prove that either. What it proves is that he can use a web-image search engine.

What it does prove is that the N4G submission system is being gamed. And that the article-author is laughing all the way to the bank with the traffic he is generating by posting his FUD.

Thats what it proves.

[Madbrain]

because people must be informed of what products is good to buy and what products is for the trash bin

[DEIx15x8]

I looked through google images and they all have a name bracket or engraving near the bottom. This photo intentionally left that out. Since that is the only part of the photo that could be used as evidence this photo proves nothing. It could easily be found online. The credible evidence to back something up is evidence that actually has a connection to the person, this does not.

[DJ]

There was absolutely no bias. We got full on facts about how the management within both the Engineering Department and Microsoft corporation worked, as well as the under staffing and managerial decisions to push ahead with the launch even though the failure rate was 70%.

Hell, we even got legitimate reasons why people who send in dead 360s are getting faulty ones back.

[Rusted]

I think we don't need pics to prove the RROD...

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

I'm sorry I have to agree with the above, it sounds like disgruntled employee. Remimnds me of that guy that went all "coo-coo for coco coco puffs" over at FASA for getting fired.

[joeynox]

this is bull sh!t. He probably gooled or live searched for the award image. If it had the guys name on it then I would believe it.

[joeynox]

this is bull sh!t. He probably gooled or live searched for the award image. If it had the guys name on it then I would believe it.

[ASSASSYN 36o]

Cool the ORIGINAL xbox ship it award. I heard about those. Meanwhile, back to xbox 360...

[MRMagoo123]

All in all noone can hide the fact that the 360 was built badly im not saying that it is crap for games just that they made it badly and that is ms problem they like making stuff that breaks or doesnt work properly that way they can rip you off even more.In a study i read about xbox the logo installs disstrust in ppl where sony installs reliability.dissagree all you want but it is true. Now back to cod4

[DJ]

So there's no way he could ever recieve a "360 Shipped" award. I doubt he'd even want it anyway, considering how embaressing that product is for both the people who worked on it and Microsoft Corp. The reason he quit was stated in a published book several years back about the hidden development of Xbox 360 (as well as some neat facts about the original Xbox).

He publicly stated that the 360 had an extremely high failure rate due to poor QA/engineering after leaving his position (and right before the console's release). He was at first called a disgruntled employee and flat-out liar...but then a few 360 Demo Kiosks started to die. And then a few thousand consoles were returned. Then a hundred thousand. Then a few million...

[Rice]

honestly, im still getting a 360 cuz i want my ps3 to be accompanied by another next gen console... and i want to play bioshock and gears... most likely my purchase would be around next year or 2010, im gonna be broke this year with all the Ps3 games coming out.

[gamesR4fun]

ya we got the 360 a while ago but since Im too cheap to pay for live when I got psn it doesnt see much use..
still nice to be able to rent the games and we do own a few decent titles...

[HarryEtTubMan]

Xbox 360 is a piece of SH!T

[bizi6498]

the proof that you idolize and defend people who knowingly sold you faulty products means nothing?

are you competing with global warming deniers for the most appalling stupidity in human history?

or is it a mass sado-maso experiment you jumped in?

WAKE UP BABOONS!

[hardcorehippiez]

mine rrod , it seems to me that xbox diehards would rather keep replacing the system in hope that the problem is fixed instead of actually admit it and force microsoft to do something about it. for the sensible gamer tho , this should be good that all this is coming out into the open because maybe just maybe they will actually fix the problem. If they do fix the problem then they will have another sale to me and my guess is that there are many people in a similar situation to me. hurry up microsoft we are waiting for you to fix the problem.

[bizi6498]

- religious crooks faced with scientific break-through
- political crooks faced with documented genocides
- US greedy crooks faced with global warming
- xbots faced with overwhelming evidence that they were massively screwed.