athaniel loved his Xbox 360, and it loved him back. Purchased at launch, the Nathaniel brought his beloved console everywhere he went, and it showed. The case was lovingly festooned with signatures from Bungie staff, Xbox 360 team members, and even a sketch from Rooster Teeth Comics Luke McKay. His 360 was covered with fond memories, but the outer beauty was soon betrayed by the inner ugliness. Nathaniel' s 360 died, and he had no choice but to send it in for repair. He took every precaution to make sure that he would get his friend back in the same condition he sent it, getting assurances from the phone support specialist and even including a heartfelt letter in the packing box, sure to catch the attention of even the most mindless of Microsoft repair drones. And it worked! Soon he was holding his beloved Xbox 360 in his hands - and probably crying.

cleaned360.jpgThe serial numbers matched of course, but the case would never been the same. Completely blank save for a few smudges thought to be the remnants of diluted permanent ink. Unless they somehow printed up a new serial number sticker to match the old one, someone had cleaned off the case completely. No signatures, no custom artwork - nothing.

I cannot even begin to imagine what was going through the head of the person who did this. Perhaps there was an accident of some sort - some thinner spilled or something - and rather than return the case with a smudge they simply cleaned it off. Maybe someone was just being a sadistic bastard. I' ve no clue, but knowing the reason why won' t help. That' s the saddest thing about the whole situation. Nothing will bring those signatures back, so what could Microsoft even do to appease Nathaniel? Even if they somehow got the case passed around to the various signers and had the artwork redone it could never be the same. What a complete and utter nightmare.

As with all stories of this sort, there' s always the chance this could be some sort of hoax, though I highly doubt it, as other than discrediting Microsoft I see no real gain from making this up. We' re currently trying to reach Microsoft for comment on the situation.

Hit the link below for the full story, including the text of the letter Nathaniel wrote and more pictures of the formerly signed 360.