Microsoft fixing Xbox 360 smoking wheels
In all seriousness, Microsoft needs to publicly flog their hardware people. Microsoft now reports that they'll be offering a service to retrofit their official Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel following reports that the thing overheats and releases smoke. Unlike their refusal to say what's really wrong with the Xbox 360, Microsoft admits that a component in the wheel overheats when the AC/DC power adapter is used to power the wheel. Microsoft says you should contact them for the retrofit and not use the power adapter, but it's fine to just use the battery. They have also notified the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, no word yet on Microsoft Europe's plan.
"There have been no reported incidences of fire, personal injury or property damage resulting from the component failure in the wheel," Microsoft said in a statement. That's great, but it's definitely looking like the next iteration of the Xbox is going to have to scream engineering perfection for the sake of consumer confidence. Not only are the consoles going RRoD left and right, but now official peripherals are smoking. The next generation of Xbox is going to have to sell reliability above all else.
