E3 2010: RROD RIP

The Xbox 360’s technical problems are officially over. Microsoft has guaranteed that the new Xbox 360 S will never present you with the Red Ring of Death.
That’s not to say that it won’t break. All machines break eventually. But in designing the new console the platform holder decided that it might be best to remove the red LEDs that its machine have become so famed for.

Instead, Microsoft has opted for a still unspecified ‘messaging system’ when it wants to break some bad news to its owner.

Now obviously, the box has a way to communicate to you if something has happened but yes, three red lights are not part of our sequence of telling somebody something is wrong,” Microsoft Game Studios’ corporate VP Phil Spencer told IGN.

Obviously if you look at the success rate of the original 360s, we’re very proud of both the way the company stepped up to support the customers that we had as well as the success rate we have with the box today. I think we’ve learned a lot. That learning has gone into the development of this new box.”

As suggested by a colleague, perhaps the new machine signifies technical problems by issuing the cry of the vuvuzela for 90 minutes?

UPDATE:Kotaku repors that if a new Xbox 360 S does suffer a problem, it informs the user by changing the green power icon at the centre of the power button to red – something the site refers to as the ‘Red Dot of Death’ (RDOD)