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Microsoft Fires Red Ring of Death Whistleblower
By Tom Ivan
September 15, 2008
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“I don’t regret it. I’ll fight it. If they want to come after me, bring it on”
Microsoft has fired games tester Robert Delaware for speaking openly about Xbox 360 hardware failures, and may now pursue legal action against the former contractor for breach of his confidentiality agreement.
According to Venturebeat, Delaware was sacked for comments published in a recent report by Xbox specialist and journalist Dean Takahashi, which detailed the reasons behind the infamous Red Ring of Death Xbox 360 failure.
Delaware is expected to face civil charges from his former employer VMC (which tests games for Microsoft) and from the platform holder itself.
“I don’t regret it,” he told Takahashi. “I’ll fight it. If they want to come after me, bring it on.”
Delaware worked as a game tester for VMC between 2005 and 2007, during which time he reportedly “saw how Xbox Live updates embedded in retail games could turn working consoles into worthless hulks”.
Dear all, I'm not sure about the US (hell I'm not sure about France either) but in Hungary things work a bit different (at least they did for me). When my 360 broke down I called the local MS hotline and they didn't behave as expected. They tried to convince me that it's my fault, they even assumed that the machine was chipped (it wasn't). Then they promised me to send a coffin (they didn't), and eventually they just hang up the phone. I've waited for their call (they knew my number) but they did not bother.
Soon afterwards I sold the machine to a friend who intended to get it fixed via the unofficial way. Then I bought a PS3.
No wonder that people here just choose the "crooked path" when it comes to the 360, which is a shame.
Back on topic, I've seen several stores like this - it's a special industry here.
Interesting to hear.
One thing that the 3 year warranty doesn't cover and this is a bit off topic, is that the 3 year aspect of it only covers red lights. If it breaks in other ways, like disc read errors, or it says there's no disc loaded when there is (which happens to me once in a while with my launch day elite, not my newer one) the 3 year warranty does NOT cover that. The 1 year warranty covers EVERYTHING that could go wrong, 3 year only RRoD. They don't advertise it like that though. My bro-in-law's DVD drive wouldn't spin no matter what he did, and because he was past 1 year and the 3 year warranty didn't cover it because his xbox did not have 3 red lights, he had to pony up the dough. The representatives were nice (I made the call cause I didn't believe it). I told them I was selling my 360 for a PS3 (lie) the representative didn't seem to care though lol.
Took the picture myself, this store did not sell broken hardware. These consoles were genuinely broke. This was back in May08 when MS claimed there was no such thing as widespread RRoD. The stack was there to make a point about Microsoft's claims. I personally have to say that I later sold my 360 (early model) before the warranty ran out. Bought a PS3 instead. I so far have no regrets doing so.
Why would the store have the broken hardware??? People would return them or what? I didn't think stores would take hardware back from customers. And I think you have the date of May 08 wrong. If people brought their broken xboxs to stores in may, as someone else mentioned, they would have forfeited their right to get a FREE fix for their xbox. Only an idiot would give away a broken xbox that has a warranty and free shipping as well. They just threw away 300-450 bucks.
Just to reinforce what NickgamertagO1 has said, the May 08 date must be wrong as the RRoD 3yr warranty come into effect on May 5th 2007, this included refunds to those who had the problem before that date and had sent their 360 to M$ for repair.
I can absolutely assure you, that I know when I was in France and took that picture. It was around May 1st. Hard not to remember that date if you ever have been to France during that time. Secondly, those might have been the broken units, but (almost) all of them were missing their hard drive because those customers got a new one. They brought them to the store to be replaced and did not send the 360 to MS. How the store handled that with Microsoft I do not know. European warranty laws are a bit tougher, if your tech breaks down you get a replacement at the store, end of line. The retailer is legally obliged to handle issues of warranty in the first two years after the initial purchase and every piece of electronic is required by law to have a two year warranty.
Ok, so that would make sense. If the retailer is involved in the factory warranty process then that would make sense. They are functioning in sorts as the delivery man then. Although, if that were the case, the retailer SHOULD be allowed to send broken 360s back to MS and have MS send fixed units back to the retailer so the cost is put on MS to replace unit, not the retailer. Do the retailers take the burden of the cost, or does the manufacturer? And if MS were responsible to reimburse the retailers, wouldn't MS require the consoles be sent back to them for repair? It all doesn't make much sense. I can't look at the pic because my work filters block it, but I believe its true. Just sounds like the warranty process is different and those customers received working xboxs one way or the other.
Due to the European law, I the customer only have to deal with the retailer, never with the manufacturer. That means that I get my replacement very quick if the store has the right package in stock. The store then deals with Microsoft to get his money back. By that time, the customer is at home with a new console and the broken 360 is in the store. Why would MS want that broken 360 now? Repairing it costs money, sending it back and forth costs money, on top of that MS can't sell the repaired console. So the retailer simply gets his money (or a brand new replacement for his opened arcade pack) and the broken consoles rot.
Some shops will not do it strictly by law, because MS is not liking that one bit as you can imagine. They enforce their repair scheme onto retailers and customers. That saves money compared to replacing the console each time. So German stores will usually ask you to wait for the repair and send it in. Microsoft saves money this way. But French shops are far more uncompromising. Customer right, customer service, MS putin, here is your replacement, au revoir. And they get away with that, getting their money back from MS. And so the piles rise.
"MS putin, here is your replacement, au revoir."
You made my day.
@4thVariety Judging from the stack of PS2s and the old Xboxes in the collection i'm guessing that this is a shop that sells on old and broken hardware, that being the case then, other than a slight feeling of puzzlement that these people didn't take up the 3 year guarantee and get a replacement 360 ( if they are indeed RRoD victims and not just 360s people have sold), what's your point?
The point is that the 360's hardware build is crap.
C'mon, the old hardware was crap, but with the new smaller cpus and eventually GPUs have made it much more durable and reliable. I haven't had my new ones break and I've had them for while. My elite is the original build so that one is as loud as a damn jet engine, but my other one (wife's xbox) is the newer one with the smaller CPU and it has lasted a long time with no problems (and is much more quiet). I wish people would move on past this RRoD crap. Just like PS3 not having good exlusives story is getting old, this story is getting old, too.
But this is the point. The RRoD problem was caused by a number of things, poor design choices with how things were placed in the case, cheap materials and poor ventilation/cooling. The problems with the hardware are improving with each revision but they are apparently still way above industry standard. The problems are still here and its a bit beyond that MS hasn't got on top of it yet.
The only way MS is going to be able to lay the RRoD ghost to rest once and for all is by releasing an outwardly updated model.
Ok, for fear of repeating myself, they have fixed it, here is a link giving all the details;
http://beta.ivancover.com/wiki/index.php/Xbox_360_Revisions
So, if you have some firm evidence to back up your claims then please post any relent links or information, and if you don't i'd equally like to know why you feel the need to keep talking about the RRoD. Is it perhaps because you are unsatisfied with the console you own, so you feel the need to attack one you don't?
I think what MAY be happening is people who's orginal xboxs hadn't broke yet may be having their's break now so it appears as though its still a problem with the nearer chipset models when in fact its just the older ones that have managed to live for a while. As more time passes by, the instances of the RRoD should be down to a point where hopefully people don't talk about it any more. I used to see people on my xbox live friends list droppin off live due to broke 360s, I haven't had a friend have their xbox break in a long time. I think you're right nolim, without proof, its just people talking.
The only thing more baffling than the photo is that people continue to buy that POS.
Number of inhabitants of the European Union: 500 Million
Number of inhabitants of the French city this shop was in (including towns around it): 25.000
Chance of owning a 360 in Europe: 1 in 100
Number of dead 360ies in the store: I made a picture, so people would believe me.
http://img181.imageshack.us/my.php?image=failut7.jpg
Photoshop lasso + copy / paste abusing??