Microsoft Loses Demo Unit At GDC To The Dreaded RRoD

Even the most die-hard Xbox 360 fanboys have to admit that they fear getting the dreaded RRoD. The latest study I've seen pegged the failure rate at roughly 16%, which isn't the greatest, considering the other consoles (PS3 and Wii) were about 3%. With a failure rate like that, it's only understandable that even Microsoft was bound to get stuck with a sour grape. Case in point: their demo unit at GDC.

This has got to be one of the most embarrassing things that could have happened to Microsoft at a trade show. How does it look when you keep telling people that the failure rates aren't that bad, and you can't even keep your own units from dying?

The particular 360 in question was set up as a demo unit for Microsoft's XNA software toolkit. I can bet that Microsoft isn't having a good time right now, as there's even footage of this dead console floating around from a BBC reporter. As he put it, "that's pretty embarrassing."

[via Reg Hardware]