Microsoft Denies Kinect Red Ring Connection

Is Microsoft's Kinect peripheral causing Xbox 360's everywhere to fail? That's the question a BBC report asks. Microsoft says that all of this talk of "Red Rings and Kinect" is coincidental.

Admittedly, BBC Radio 4's You and Yours program doesn't gather much evidence on the matter. The program talks to a ten-year named old Adam Winnifrith, whose console "red-ringed" after connecting the Kinect to it. The next morning, his Xbox 360 continued to show the dreaded international distress signal for "Xbox 360 down."  

"We plugged it in the day we got it but only played it a few times before we got the red lights," said Adam. "The next day when we tried it again we still had the red rings of death and haven't been able to use it since."

Microsoft says that this is all mere coincidence.

"There is no correlation between the three flashing red lights error and Kinect," said a Microsoft spokesperson. "Any new instances of the three flashing red lights error are merely coincidental."

The BBC also mentions other users complaining about a similar situation where their older Xbox 360 gave up the ghost after connecting the Kinect. This thread on the Xbox forums details a few users with the same problems.

Microsoft is not accepting that these problems are related to Kinect, so users who want the problem fixed for free will more than likely have to pay a fee - mainly because most of the consoles this is happening to are well past the warranty.

We will have more on this story as it develops. Most of the complaints seem to be happening in the UK. Source: BBC by way of Gamasutra