How does a brand new Xbox 360 sound? How about a free year of Xbox Live? Not too bad, right? All you've gotta do is be enrolled in the current beta that provides Xbox 360 gamers with an update that readies the Microsoft console for updated retail discs with more space for developers.
Oh, and your Xbox has to be one of the few models that refuses to read the updated discs. Goddamit, it's like the f****** lottery. One beta tester received an e-mail from Microsoft support stating:
Following a recent update to our system software, we have become aware of an issues that is preventing a very small number of Xbox 360 owners from playing retail game discs. We have been able to detect this issue over Xbox LIVE and want to replace your console with a new Xbox 360S with 250GB hard drive at no charge to you.
Avery Penn, the lucky gamer who received this e-mail said:
Checking my e-mail earlier today, I found a rather interesting message from Xbox Customer Support, saying that a software update is stopping some Xbox 360s from reading game discs. Saying they were able to detect the issue over Xbox Life, Microsoft went on to say that, after jumping through all the necessary hoops, they'd send me a brand new Xbox 360S and a year's free Xbox Live. At this point my jaw hit the floor.
This particular gamer said that his Xbox 360 was still playing discs at the time he received the e-mail and that his Xbox was a 60GB Pro console from 2009. I don't know about you, but my Xbox 360 is older, has a smaller hard drive, and sounds like a jet engine. I'll happily go without it for a few days if it means getting a new unit.
[Update]: Major Nelson has confirmed that the replaced Xbox 360 was not the result of the upcoming Spring Dashboard Update. The Xbox 360 was replaced due to a hardware failure as a result of an old update.
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