Some Xbox 360 owners are complaining that the Kinect is driving their consoles into the grave, inflicting them with the Red Ring of Death.

The BBC cites anecdotes from users with older model Xbox 360s who say Kinect causes RRODs soon after they hook them up. Xbox forums are lively with echoes of such problems.

Kinect — which has sold 8 million units so far — requires an additional electrical outlet on older-model Xboxes, but draws its power directly from the redesigned models. It’s unknown whether the difference causes more stress on older units.

The BBC story includes a response from Microsoft:

Microsoft said the Kinect had been “designed to work with every Xbox 360 sold to date.”

“There is no correlation between the three flashing red lights error and Kinect. Any new instances of the three flashing red lights error are merely coincidental,” it added.

If your Kinect isn’t playing nice with your Xbox 360, let us know.

Kinect blamed for ‘red ring of death’ Xbox 360 failures [BBC via Joystiq]

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.