Xbox Kills Infant - Microsoft and Wal-mart Sued

Microsoft and Wal-mart are being sued by the family of an Illinois infant that died in a house fire, claiming that an Xbox 360 system sold by Wal-Mart Stores had overheated and sparked a power socket on fire, killing the child: "The fire was a direct and proximate result of the overheating of the game's power supply and wiring," claims the lawsuit, as InformationWeek reports.

The family is suing the electronics giant (manufacturer of the Xbox) and Wal-mart for 50K. That's not much, but what about the two companies' image when issues such as this "spark?" The same site refers to another similar incident: "In 2005, a U.K. woman was pulled unconscious from a blaze reportedly sparked by an overheated Xbox system, according to the British online tech news site The Register."

However, the suit mentions an Xbox 360, while the tragedy occurred in 2004, long before the 360 was out, thus it could only be an old generation system. Ever heard of typos in lawsuits...? Anyway. These two cases aren't at all the only bad news surrounding the Xbox 360. Practically, all SKUs have had something wrong with them and still do. The Xbox 360 Elite hasn't even launched properly and already there are reports of malfunctioning.

Some of you may say that this is all bogus and that there's a frustrated family out there trying to make a buck off their child's death, but that's not at all true, as in February 2005, Microsoft announced a recall of more than 14 million Xbox power cords, warning of "fire" hazard.

The company's response to the suit recently brought to them:

"Microsoft recently learned about this tragic incident that occurred in December 2004," a Microsoft spokesman said in an e-mail. "Our sympathy is with the family. However, we are not aware of any evidence that an XBox caused the fire. Also, the complaint specifically states that an XBox 360 was involved, but this version of the product was unavailable for purchase at that time."

Guess that whoever wrote "Xbox 360" in that suit is getting some hard time from the hurting family now, huh?