Red Rings claim display 360 at GDC
Caught on film, too.
One of the Microsoft demonstration Xbox 360 units at the Game Developers Conference has rather publicly fallen foul of the infamous 'Red Rings of Death'. Whoops.
Thankfully, BBC technology editor Darren Waters (now enjoying some celebrity status) was on hand to film the all too familiar sight, as three red rings flashed ominously around the console power button.
"Microsoft wants consumers to believe that its problems with the Xbox 360 console in terms of hardware failure are over. But wandering through the Game Developers Conference halls and it's clear that the problem persists," said Waters on BBC blog dot.life.
"On Microsoft's own stand at the show one of the demo consoles has a rather familiar problem - the red ring of death. There's no way of knowing if this particular console was manufactured before or after Microsoft identified the problems with the machines.
"But at the very least it's embarrassing for the company that its own stock of demo machines is still susceptible to the problem," he added.
Earlier this month SquareTrade, a firm specialising in selling electronic warranties, claimed the failure rate of the Xbox 360 was up at 16.4 per cent.
Last summer Microsoft posted heavy losses in its Xbox division after setting aside a massive USD 1 billion to tackle Xbox 360 repairs.
And to top it all off, Eurogamer had three of its staffers suffer Xbox 360 breakdowns within the last month.