Microsoft’s new Kinect, the hands-free controller for its Xbox gaming console, may be behind a string of console failures. Some users are reporting that soon after plugging in the Kinect, their console fails with the infamous “red ring of death”.
The Kinect was launched last November, to much fanfare. Its motion sensors pick up a players movements, allowing them to interact with a game without the need of a separate device, such the Playstation Move or the Wii controller. This means much greater flexibility of interaction, as seen in even conparatively simple games such as Kinect Adventures.
Xbox gaming forums are buzzing with stories of console failures soon after the Kinect is plugged in. The BBC was contacted by several owners who testified that the failures happened very soon after the Kinect was connected to the console. Microsoft, however, are adamant that there is no correlation between the Kinect and console failures, saying instead that such failures are purely coincidental. Microsoft say that the Kinect is designed to work with every Xbox 360 ever sold. Some commentators point out, however, that many of the failures appear to be with older consoles, those produced between 2005 and mid-2010, when the new, more efficient (and, it has to said, quieter) Xbox 360 S models were made available.
The Kinect is one of the successes of the Christmas period, with over 2.5 million of the hands-free controller selling in the first month, with some reports of the popular Xbox 360 250GB Kinect bundle outselling the Playstation 3 Move bundle by a factor of 5:1. Rumours abound at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), which opens in Las Vegas on January 6th, after a slide in a Microsoft presentation appeared to show a new Kinect feature, dubbed “Avatar Kinect”, will be used to map players movements to their Xbox Live avatar.
Yeah, I have heard that it has been crashing down certain people’s Xbox consoles. I would suggest sticking to the PS3 Move, no issues with that thus far
I’d have to disagree. The Kinect is awesome. We have two older consoles in our home and have had no problems whatsoever! The whole family plays and loves it, not to mention its great exercise!
Our Xbox crashed within a few hours of connecting it to the Kinect. I think there is something to it affecting the older consoles. Ours is about 3 or 4 years old.
Nothing wron with the X-box and Kinect. What may happen when you use the USB-port at the back is the video cable might move.