Microsoft, you crazy cats.

So because the disk is unreadable the console is screwed up? What if its just a shitty disk?

Embarrassing.

[sigh]

That's what you get when you recycle refurb'd/first-gen systems as your demo units*.

* = pure speculation. I wouldn't waste brand new units as demo consoles.

Wow... just wow

This thread to explode in 3...2...1...

remember to keep it civil in here guys.

Seriously, I don't know how MS manages to just pretend they don't have issues with hardware failure if they can't even have demo units work pretty flawlessly...

It's only an unreadable disc, eject it and put it back in and that usually works again. I've had it say that to me when I put gears in so re-inserted the disc and it worked.

@Gray665:

My 360 has been doing this several times in the past two or three months, but I'm not willing to sacrifice my XBLA content that I paid for. (Since I will indeed bring it to places to play games with my friends who don't have an Internet connection..)

@Gray665: That happened to me on Dead Rising and Halo 3. I think it's some kind of software problem with the 360.

HAHAHAHHA that reminds me when all those PS3 demo kiosks froze up durring E3 (or whatever they are calling it now).

"place joke about the RROD here"
"place xbox fanboy remark about RROD joke"
There done with most of comments for this post. :)

ironic

Poor.

It could all be just a big joke, perhaps MS are making fun of there screw up. Perhaps...?

Thats...wow...inexcusable to have problems like these at a trade event.

Couldn't it be a scratched disc? While it's entirely possible that it's yet another dead unit, it seems just as likely that it isn't lying to you when it says the disc is unreadable.

@Gray665: given the track record - YOU think that's the cause?
Maybe, but common sense points us elsewhere.

Awfully optimistic of you, the world needs more of your kind. :)

Ugh. This isn't going to end well. Someone get me my tylenol or advil please.

Microsoft got problems bigger than we could ever imagine!

Amen!

I don't get it... I thought Ko was obsessed with the 360...
I thought M$ was winning this console race...
I thought the PS3 is a puppy in comparison to the Bulldog X80X...
I thought blu-ray was the new beta max...

Turns out, the bandwagon is a comin' please don't hop on the ps3 train!

*sigh*

Is there something in the DNA of large console manufacturers that comples them to repeatedly f*ck up once they start to do well? I thought Nintendo insisting of expensive cartridges and rediculous add-ons was a one-shot bad call. Then Sony did everything possible to make the first year of the PS3 a failure. Now MS finally starts to establish themselves as a/the dominant game force (in NA), and they haven't had one piece of good news since December.

It's the Illuminati, I tells ya!

this happens to me all the fucking time with Immaculate disks!!!! GRRRR 360!

Relax. It's GDC. I'm sure the developers would take this over a console without any game and impossible to write code for. *ahem* P$hit3.

@Raikkenon:
irony has nothing to do with it...
irony would be a ps3 crapping out...

Can anyone read what game is in the tray? Can't seem to make it out... almost looks like it says 'Play Games'.

LOL i guess we should all forget all of the PS3 failures at E3 but that was never made public

The "scratched disk" error is actually an eloquent way for the console to cover for the games ass when it crashes, out of memory, or otherwise. It's a sekrit kept well by game developers everywhere!

Or... Haha Microsoft?

The Yugo of consoles

@busboy33:
the first year of the ps3 was the most enjoyable year i could have hoped for... just because people are too cheap to buy it, doesn't mean it failed. I loved it.
I liked the high price point... weeds out the scum.

well they will insist on putting their consoles in small plastic boxes.

Is anyone surprised? I thought it was an achievement to find one working in a demo unit ;-)

So what's that's like 20% and it's on day 2 of the show...

Ahaha. Ha.

Seriously. We know the thing fails. This is funny shit.

@LittlestLamshi: No Kotaku is quite unbiased, they just have a critical slant and Sony fanboys take that as them being anti-sony since Sony does ness up alot so the PS3 got more stick than the 360 but whe there is something to stick to the 360 (like RROD) here they are criticising it so it just shows Kotaku isn't MS biased.

@Ignatius: @Gray665: I'm getting the same error message on Mass Effect, and that was right out of the box. I agree with Ignatius. This has nothing to do with a shitty disk. This has everything to do with shitty hardware.

Oh, and @S2000: YOU FAIL.

@KeFkA666:
It was a brand new deal, they were still getting the thing together...

@LittlestLamshi: Fanboy trolling can gtfo, plzkthx.

@S2000: Same goes for you.

@Ignatius: Hey, my 360 was having the same problem, among others. M$ is currently screwing me, refusing to do a license transfer on my DLC to my new working console, since I just sold the old one.

As for broken demo units, I think it's only fair that M$ makes sure a certain percentage of them fail. You know, just so that the consumer can have an idea of what Xbox ownership is all about.

@S2000: seriously dude, you realize the bloodletting begins on monday right??

anyways, this is kinda funny. wouldn't they be using the x360's with the newest chipsets that are more 'resistant' to RROD?

@-Sigil-:
interesting

Come on guys get it together.

I laugh how most think this is a sign of a hardware failure. Someone probably put a fingerprint on the corner of the disc and when it accessed a specific segment of the memory it recroded this error. I have encountered this error a few times with various games and cleaning the disc always resolves the problem.

What is ironic is that there is not someone correcting these issues immediately to avoid this public backlash. We have all had a CD or DVD disc-read error at one time and 99% of the time it is not the hardware's fault. Sony fanboys will love this topic but at most it is a dirty disc due to dust or fingerprints. Hardly worth the news, but funny none-the-less.

Man, 2008 has just relly stunk for those big boys.

If you start to have the disc read error, does it mean your system will RROD soon, because mine is starting to do that and i am getting worried. i have not come across a difinitive answer to this, so I was wondering if anyone here knows?

So are the other gaming companies having system problems at GDC, or is everyone too busy looking for Microsoft fuck-ups to notice?

Or it's just a bad DVD. Slow news day or something?

@S2000: Why would such a nice car say such an ignorant thing? That's sad.

@S2000: You might want to open your eyes, fucking blind troll. There's always one of you lurking around.

@Norellicus:
How is putting aside $1B for repairs 'pretending they don't have hardware problems'. MS is fully aware and acknowledges the problem with their product. I'm not sure why RROD or other issues still make the news, I think it would be bigger news if MS could get through a trade show without having a single system fail. Now thats news!

@Tenth: It says "Play Game" which is probably because the system couldn't read what was on the disc to determine what game was in the drive. If you notice, when you put a disc in, the system takes a few moments to update and it says "Play Game" until it knows what game is in there.

It could also just be an older firmware, from before it read that data.

@fuenke: You say this near BAN MONDAY???

Man I hate when my 360 refuses to read a dirty or scratched disc. Why couldn't they have designed it so that it could perform repair on my damaged software?

Stupid cheapo MS!

Man...combine this with the Obama article and I get the feeling Kotaku's desperate for clicks.

Especially since both articles required you to go to the full page to see the (non)-issue.

1) Click to read Obama's non-inflammatory quote.
2) Click to read about the huge screw up that's just a damaged disc.

It's bizarro day at Kotaku!

@