I love you 4chan

[Grayfox]

4chan's fake Xbox One instructions convince users to brick their systems

With as many problems as Microsoft’s new gaming console, the Xbox One, has encountered in its rocky road to the holiday market, the real surprise is that 4chan managed to wait til December before creating the ultimate prank for anyone still holding onto their dreams of an Xbox not “fraught with frustrations.”

Yesterday, 4chan’s infamous /b/ forum—which a few months ago convinced a bunch of people to dunk their new iPhones in water—unleashed an elaborate infographic that promises a “hack” to provide backwards compatibility for the Xbox One.

MORE: Now 10 years old, 4chan is the most important site you never visit

There’s just one hitch: Actually following the directions will totally destroy your new toy. You know. The one that retails anywhere from $500 to $900.

The prank purports to “unlock” the console, allowing it to play games designed for the older Xbox 360.




Instead, it “bricks” the Xbox One completely, rendering it totally inoperable. And unfortunately for anyone who trusted the trolls at 4chan, it doesn’t come with reversal instructions.




4chan’s prank is pure evil. It's also somewhat clever commentary on the level of frustration gamers have felt with the console in the lead-up to its launch this year.

 

[dylansan]

4chan’s prank is pure evil. It's also somewhat clever commentary on the level of frustration gamers have felt with the console in the lead-up to its launch this year.

Clever commentary? Intentionally tricking people into ruining their day/console could hardly be construed in so positive a manner as a commentary.

Clever, maybe, but don't think they did this for any reason other than to cause frustration. It's the same as that iOS thing from a while ago.

 

[Zenith]

I don't feel bad for people who are stupid enough to open the developer console and make changes because a picture on the internet said so.

 

[mokocchi]

people still go to 4chan?

 

[High-Test]

Luckily, many of the people coming up with this nonsense will be single forever and won't have any progeny.

 

[G.T.Ace]

I find it highly amusing that the button prompt looks like a cheat for a '90's videogame.
Can't believe that you can enter the dev-console like this.

 

[Alex.]

I usually enjoy when people are idiotic enough to follow 4chan's advice, but sometimes it goes too far. There was a dude a few years back on the fitness board, someone advised him a diet of vitamins per day to build body mass, and we are talking GRAMS per day of certain vitamins. The guy took the course of vitamin intake and it destroyed his liver and greatly reduced his lifespan. Someone later worked out that the amount of vitamin C he took was equivalent to 100 oranges per day.

You have to be seriously stupid to take advice like that, but some of them end up being not funny.

 

[Zenith]

I mean, bricking a console or iPhone is bad in the short run, but it's probably for the best that these people learn not to act on advice from people they don't know just because it sounds clever.

These people vote.

 

[Ross]

That's actually quite funny. I wouldn't trust any instructions for anything if I found them on 4chan or 9gag. Just shows how stupid some people are.

 

[Sanji Himura]

"Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups." - Me

I'm willing to bet $15,140 in monopoly money that a lawsuit against MS would result from all of this BS.

 

[Joel]

Reminds me of deleting System 32. My computer has never been faster.

 

[Azuremen]

Reminds me of deleting System 32. My computer has never been faster.

1/0 too stronk. Much clock speed.

As a side note, I still feel Grayfox needs his own thread to put all this "slow news day" news into...

 

[CAMAROBOY69]

Never heard of 4chan. Doesn't sound like I missed anything important. Are they the same people that created the "waterproof" app for the new iphone?

 

[Mustangmiha]

Hahah, is there any way to set it back to the original state?

 

[TheDrummingKING]

Clever commentary? Intentionally tricking people into ruining their day/console could hardly be construed in so positive a manner as a commentary.

Clever, maybe, but don't think they did this for any reason other than to cause frustration. It's the same as that iOS thing from a while ago.

Thy did it for the lulz it's always for the lulz.

 

[Grayfox]

Never heard of 4chan. Doesn't sound like I missed anything important. Are they the same people that created the "waterproof" app for the new iphone?

They are the same people that said the iOS 7 will water proof your iphone.

 

[Rage Racer]

Damn, I love imageboards.

 

[Müle]

people still go to 4chan?

4chan is where sites like Reddit and 9gag steal all of their content from, and where basically every "meme" in the last 10 years started, including the one you just posted.


So yeah, lots of people still go on it.

 

[Jimlaad43]

Reminds me of deleting System 32. My computer has never been faster.

:idea:Hey, my computer's been slow recently, would deleting system32 help me?










[/sarcasm]

But seriously, I think this prank is hilarious. 4chan does have its highlights. Just scrolling through the images on imgur, there are loads of greentext stories that are genius, mostly by getting a well known plot-line (eg Star Wars or Pokemon) or song lyrics and rewriting the story so it seems real and getting you at the end.

 

[Grayfox]

:idea:Hey, my computer's been slow recently, would deleting system32 help me?

No, since windows these days is 64bit you need to delete sysWOW64

 

[Jimlaad43]

No, since windows these days is 64bit you need to delete sysWOW64

I'm running vista though...

 

[LMSCorvetteGT2]

Clever commentary? Intentionally tricking people into ruining their day/console could hardly be construed in so positive a manner as a commentary.

Clever, maybe, but don't think they did this for any reason other than to cause frustration. It's the same as that iOS thing from a while ago.

People are too gullible and 4chan is just having fun, I don't blame them I blame people that don't do their homework which is why I don't talk to the ignorant masses on my facebook feed.

 

[LeMansAid]

People are too gullible and 4chan is just having fun, I don't blame them I blame people that don't do their homework which is why I don't talk to the ignorant masses on my facebook feed.

I actually quite admire the non-cynical, and despite the occasional hiccup like this, I bet they generally have a lot more fun than I do. While I'm busy noticing subtle cgi imperfections in an otherwise quite good movie, they're having a riot with anything and everything they put in their dvd player (yes, they don't even care if it's not blu-ray).

That said, even I get excited about stuff every now and then, and sometimes common sense goes out the window. How many of us have assembled new things without reading the instructions ("homework"), even though we know we should read?

This is one those situations where the joke is only funny if someone is hurt by it, and the more that are hurt, the funnier it becomes. Not a joke I'd like to be responsible for. Now, if it ends up coming down on Microsoft, there would be more of an argument that there is some "just desserts" involved. Even then, who are we to judge?

 

[LMSCorvetteGT2]

I actually quite admire the non-cynical, and despite the occasional hiccup like this, I bet they generally have a lot more fun than I do. While I'm busy noticing subtle cgi imperfections in an otherwise quite good movie, they're having a riot with anything and everything they put in their dvd player (yes, they don't even care if it's not blu-ray).

That said, even I get excited about stuff every now and then, and sometimes common sense goes out the window. How many of us have assembled new things without reading the instructions ("homework"), even though we know we should read?

This is one those situations where the joke is only funny if someone is hurt by it, and the more that are hurt, the funnier it becomes. Not a joke I'd like to be responsible for. Now, if it ends up coming down on Microsoft, there would be more of an argument that there is some "just desserts" involved. Even then, who are we to judge?

Though someone is getting hurt (usually what comedy is), it doesn't change the fact that people need to be more responsible for what they do and really that is what 4chan does and has done. Now they'd say it more harshly but as someone who use to troll and do such things before settling here, people are there own undoing especially when things like this are extremely obvious.

Blaming someone else for your mistakes isn't being honest. Hey but you're right who am I to judge, I'm just an overly paranoid person that isn't susceptible with these type of things because I use common sense.

 

[Ziggler]

people still go to 4chan?

oh the Irony..

 

[Moglet]

Though someone is getting hurt (usually what comedy is)

Er....there's plenty of comedy out there that involves hurting nobody.

 

[Grayfox]

That is called stand up, not as funny.

Dark humor is the best.

 

[sparkytooth]

That place looks fun.

 

[DQuaN]

It's the arse of the internet.

It can be fun...

 

[Villain]

I'll just stick to reddit.