Posted on Kotaku (TODAY FOR THE RECORD!!!!):

Daily Mail: Elite RRODs have cost Microsoft 500 million (nearly 1 billion USD):

http://kotaku.com/397956/daily-mail-elite-rrods-have-cost-microsoft-500-million

It's coming from the Daily Mail, so make what you will of that, but the British tabloid is claiming that Microsoft is setting aside £500 million - which is just shy of USD$1 billion - to help cover the costs of an increasing number of faulty Xbox 360 Elite units. They'll also apparently be offering a three-year extended warranty for Elite owners. Both the value and warranty are the same as those offered last year, when Microsoft was forced to pay up and extend the warranties for owners of original 360s. The Elites, however, were meant to be improved consoles, nowhere near as susceptible to the red rings of death as their off-white cousins. We'll update when we hear something a little more...official, because really, we find it hard to believe they've sold that many Elites.

It's a tabloid. It says that M$ is putting aside a billion for Elite models IN EUROPE, IN ADDITION TO what they did last year, because THAT WARRANTY EXTENSION FROM AUGUST 2007 only applied to ORIGINAL 360s (you know, before the Elites came out?) If anyone (primarily starcraft) thinks this is "Microsoft FUD" then you're delusional. It's not old news. It's new news (lol). This is talking about Elite models. Elite models weren't covered last year. All that's being said here is that the warranty extension (and the amount of money associated with it) that affected original 360s last year is now getting a version for Elites. I mean, if the Elite just came out last year and was supposed to be an "improved" model, why would you worry about RROD at that time? It took some time for some of those units to break down, and NOW M$ is covering them too, on top of what they did for the original 360s. All M$ fanbots, get your heads out of your collective (explitive deleted) because just because M$ has to pay out doesn't mean the 360 automatically sucks.......or are you getting confused and think this is a situation of mistaken identity, since most seem to think that since Sony lost billions that they sucked?

The Daily Mirror story (not a blog but a national newspaper) story went out today.  Whether the facts are old the story is new.  How can this be so hard to understand?

A quick search on internet shows me that this story is on front page of most (all I checked but I won't say all in total) videogame reporting sites.  It is a potentially damaging story for MS at this time as it seeks to gain ground in Europe in general and UK in particular.

Or to put it another way I doubt MS see this as old news - they will no doubt be reviewing the details and if they think it is in error going after some form of retraction.

MS want more general gamers.  They read papers (some will read the Mirror) and watch TV they don't read videogame magazines nor look on videogame sites.  For many readers of Mirror this may be first they've heard of RROD.

It's current news in terms of its impact not the data behind the news - get it?