A gamer named Nathanial had a launch Xbox 360 that he had taken around to both Bungie employees and Rooster Teeth staff, receiving not only autographs, but a custom drawn Master Chief on the case.

It really is a beautiful thing… or it was. Much like not only myself, but my cohort here James Walker, we have received the dreaded “Red Rings of Death!!” It sucks, but as an early adopter of what was the only “next gen” system at the time, the consequence has been faulty hardware. Microsoft knows this, we all get a 3 year warranty, so off the Xbox 360 would go to the repair centers like so many others.

“360? More like three shitsty!“Of course since the value of this particular box was so great (both sentimental and easily twice its monetary value on eBay), Nathanial made sure he received confirmation from the 1-800-4MY-XBOX call center that they would not replace this 360 with another one, but instead repair this specific machine. Well, that is exactly what happened… sans the signatures. The serial numbers on the back of the console matched his original machine, as well as leftover imprints from where the art and signings were located.

The conclusion to all this according to the original source, Hawtymcbloggy.com, is: “Microsoft has responded to Nathaniel personally. They are looking into the issue and working to correct the situation.“So is that really it? I am not sure if Microsoft can keep taking beatings like this within the internet video game communities. There are some that blame Nathanial for this whole mess up, saying he should have known better, and a side of me agrees with that… however, this is all still under Microsoft’s watch, they obviously must feel the same if they are taking responsibility to fix this mess. No doubts there is some MS employee out there trying to get all those original people to sign another 360, as well as some brand new ones (Bill Gates!), but what can Microsoft do to help repair this bad publicity that is making its waves through the web?

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