As we speak, videos of Xbox Series X consoles that appear to have smoke coming out of the top fan are surfacing on Reddit. The console has been out for a day, and already it seems to be braking. But is it actually on fire? As dedicated members of the vape nation, we gotta say: “I don’t Rick, looks fake to me”.
Smoking Xbox Series X
There are multiple Reddit threads trending right now, showing smoke coming out of the Xbox Series X. At first glance, it might look like something inside the console caught on fire. Some Reddit-users subsequently claimed they had problems as well. To make it more confusing, the linked post gained a lot of traction but has since been deleted by the moderators of the Xbox sub Reddit.
Same… pic.twitter.com/QcnWY9VQBF
— Arek Adamowicz (@Arek_Adamowicz) November 11, 2020
Fake?
A Spanish content creator was quick to debunk the alleged faulty Xbox Series X by smoking himself. Vaping, to be exact. As you can see in the video below, vape pens create this thick, offwhite smoke that dissipates quickly. A lot like the smoking Xbox Series X, seen above, right?
CANSADO de las FAKE NEWS.
Os dejo un video MIO explicando porque es Fake lo de la consola "Quemada" y como han logrado este efecto incluso estando la consola "APAGADA" pic.twitter.com/LfXzIBSu6N
— Xbox Studio (@XboxStudio) November 11, 2020
That does however not explain the initial video of a smoking console, hilariously dubbed the ‘Xbox 420’ by a genius Reddit commenter. It may be the lighting, but the first video seems to show a black-ish smoke. Let’s just say if that comes out of your vape, it’s definitely time to replace it!
Still, that smoke also dissipates very quickly. The video is quite short too, suggesting pre-applied smoke to be the culprit here too. So it might be obvious, but we don’t buy there alleged faulty consoles. Until we’ve seen a longer video, showing the smoking console from all sides, we call bullshit.
Hot take
Whatever the explanation, it’s very likely in this day and age that it’s a stupid internet joke. But if we’re being critical, this type of ‘joking’ is quite dangerous, as it damages the reputation of the Xbox needlessly. Criticize, discuss, bicker all you want, but do so based on actual information.