Wannabe Xbox One Hackers Are Actually Just Troll Bait

No matter how many times it happens, some people never learn. Let's say it again, all together: Hacks that sound too good to be true are, in all likeliness, too good to be true.

The latest prank to dupe gadget enthusiasts has targeted Xbox fans who are clearly a little overexcited in their delight at owning the new Xbox One console, or perhaps in their dismay that it doesn't quite do everything they want it to. Eager to make the most of their machines, they've been following a hack to supposedly "unlock" their console so it's compatible with earlier games—and destroying their new toys in the process.

The hoax started with the notorious internet pranksters 4chan (who else?) when a user posted a set of instructions that spread across the message boards. They wrote that entering a variation on the Konami code, switching around a few settings, and pressing reset would make the Xbox One able to play games from its predecessor, the Xbox 360. But according to news reports, this sequence actually sends the console into a continual reboot loop, which turns the $450 gaming centre into little more than a $450 box.

In case you hadn't got the message yet, do not follow these instructions. Even if you see them in the form of a cute little Xbox-green info box, they will destroy your console.

To be clear there is no way to make your Xbox One backwards compatible & performing steps to attempt this could make your console inoperable

— Larry Hryb (@majornelson) December 6, 2013

It's quite astounding how successful this sort of fake hack still is. I mean, this prank originated with the same people who, just a few months ago, convinced some iPhone users that the iOS 7 software update would make their phone waterproof.

The problem is that, these days, everyone fancies themselves as a hacker. The world of hacking, with its secret handshakes (or rather, secret button sequences) and sticking-it-to-the-man mentality has an unmistakeable allure, and everyone wants to be part of the club. The idea of circumventing restrictions set by technology companies and governments has never been more fashionable, while our increasing technological proficiency has given us a false confidence in our abilities.

For people who torrent movies, download music illegally, and maybe even surf the dark net occasionally, the premise behind the Xbox One prank sounds entirely feasible. There's a work-around for everything, right? Add in a touch of conspiracy theory around the big bad tech giants, and it's easy to see how it could ring true. Of course Microsoft would purposely lock down the ability to play older games on the console, even though it just takes a simple hack to make the feature available!

The trolls, of course, play off this mentality. As one wrote:

So there has been rumors that this is just a troll by 4chan or something, but that is not true, Microsoft is doing anything they can to keep people from knowing about this. Why? So that in a few years they can release a new Xbox One "Slim" or some ******** that allows backward compatibility. Don't fall for that. If you follow the instructions in the picture it will work, I've even done it myself.

To reiterate: it won't work. And if you're going to follow unverified advice from anonymous users on notoriously shady forums, you might as well spend your money on a badly-printed photo of an Xbox than an actual console.