Industry commentator Dean Takahashi has this week exposed just how troubled the 360's launch period was, revealing in a new VentureBeat article that the original system suffered from a whopping 68% failure rate in the four months prior to the console's launch.

Apparently, according to Takahashi, the initial yield of the IBM CPU inside the system was just 16%. Little surprise that the console has suffered from very high failure rates since garnering an official launch, it would seem.

These details come from a number of insider sources, we're told, the writer also claiming that MS execs pushed on with the launch despite the manufacturing problems.

Microsoft eventually had to implement a free replacement program, when 1.2 million consoles were returned as of early 2007.

Apparently, Microsoft's high-paced design process left the console vulnerable to flaws - and such were initial problems that the factory had to be shut down in 2007 while the firm tried to resolve their ongoing issues.

"This new story repeats old information, and contains rumors and innuendo from anonymous sources, attempting to create a new sensational angle, and is highly irresponsible," reads an official response to these claims from Microsoft.

By Luke Guttridge