If you’ve recently purchased the Kinect console accessory for your first and even second gen Xbox 360 and you’ve experienced issues then you might not be alone.
A thread on Microsoft’s official Xbox support forums showed a number of users who are experiencing the notorious ‘Read Ring of Death’ (RROD) issue with their Xbox 360s shortly after setting up and installing Kinect. “It froze up while calibrating the Kinect. When I shut it down and turned it back on the RRoD reared its ugly head” wrote one poster. Another forum commenter posted their experience:
“It wasn’t until I got my kinect that I had problems. right after getting it, worked fine. Day one of getting it, worked fine, day two, constant freezing and eventual RRoD. My xbox NEVER had froze or anything before this.”
The RROD issue is the nickname for a series of glowing red lights on the face of the Xbox 360 console. The three flashing red lights signal a general hardware failure. Early Xbox 360 models suffered the most from the RROD problems as the software giant refined both the hardware and software in later models.
Microsoft has not officially commented on the RROD issues with some early Xbox 360s. Despite the news of issues, Microsoft’s Kinect has been extremely popular. Microsoft launched its controller-less console accessory for the Xbox 360 across the world last month. The Kinect sensor is a horizontal bar that sits at the base of your TV. The device has an RGB camera, depth sensor and multi-array microphone which runs proprietary software. Kinect allows for full-body 3D motion capture, facial recognition, and voice recognition. Owners will be able to interact with games titles using just their body. Pausing TV and fast forwarding movies can be achieved using a mix of hand movements and voice control.
Microsoft recently revealed that it has sold 2.5 million Kinect units worldwide in just 25 days. The company expects to sell 5 million units by the end of 2010. The popularity of Kinect will likely contribute to the long shelf life of the Xbox 360 as it celebrates 5 years of sales and sits comfortably at the top of the U.S. sales charts.
