Want a Poster to remember your first Xbox Red Ring of Death?
Microsoft are selling Red Ring of Death posters for ONLY $24.99
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Picture this, it’s Christmas 2005. You’ve seen the hype building up towards the next gen console, you’ve begged your parents for it but they kept telling you to wait for Christmas or your birthday. It’s been the longest month ever, this wait has been too much and you’re starting to lose help.
But the day has come, it’s Christmas Day and you see it there… Under the tree, a large box. There’s no way? Or is there? You shred apart the wrapping and see it, it’s finally yours. The Xbox 360.
Remember the joy that came from your first Xbox 360? Now… Do you remember the day it died? On the opposite end of the emotional spectrum, from the joy you felt when you first got it to the sheer despair and misery upon seeing those three flashing red lights. What does it mean? Why won’t your console turn on? For some of you, you had your console for year before it suddenly died. For a more unfortunate few, you only had it for days before these cursed red lights flashed in the dark.
The Red Ring of Death
So what exactly was the Red Ring of Death? Well it was represented by three out of the four LED lights on the Xbox turning red. A problem which basically meant there was a hardware failure. And it was advised to send your console in for repair. Some people simply got rid of their console at that point, while others had to wait for their consoles to return to them either fixed or replaced.
This wasn’t just a problem for the customers and gamers. No, Microsoft suffered a great financial loss because of this fault, as they needed to repair the consoles. Former Xbox chief, Peter Moore went on and said: “By the time we looked at the cost of repairs, the loss sales that we factored in, we had a $1.15 billion problem.”
Clearly, this fault wasn’t an intentional one to get you to buy a new console. As many Red Ring sufferers did send their consoles back for repair.
The Red Ring of Death Poster
Well, perhaps to make up for this substantial loss, Microsoft have sown off some new Merch. But people seem to have taken a certain interest in the Red Ring of Death Poster. Both for the fact that it’s priced at $24.99 and the imagery itself. Most people don’t remember the Red Ring of Death fondly, nor do they want to reminisce on the time either their or their parents’ hard earned money felt as though it had gone to waste.
Granted, Nostalgia does sell well but I think Microsoft overestimated how fondly we might look back on our consoles dying. I know I wouldn’t want to get a Poster that proudly showcases my Switch’s controllers drifting!
Either way, this shouldn’t distract from Power On: The Story of Xbox which is what all this is orbiting around. A series of videos that are showcasing the history of the Xbox and the many games around it. If this sounds like something you’d enjoy, you can check it out here!
