Saturday 1 May 2001.
Microsoft Offices.
The X-Box was still on fire in the market, and Microsoft was currently focusing on generating more titles for their console. However, the meeting today was not about software schedules, third-party support, or future exclusives. Bill Gates had received an uncomfortable rumor from several online forums, and the rumor sounded ridiculous enough to make him frown. Some players were claiming that certain X-Box units were not merely ejecting discs, but launching them out of the tray at high speed.
Bill Gates sat in the meeting room with several members of the engineering and hardware teams. On the table were printed forum posts, internal test reports, DVD drive specifications, and a dismantled X-Box unit with its top cover removed. The atmosphere was not exactly panic, but it was tense enough that no one was laughing too loudly. A console with a strong launch could survive a lot of things, but a rumor about flying discs was the kind of story the internet could turn into a permanent joke.
"So is this rumor true?" Bill asked, looking at the head engineer. "Can our disc suddenly eject very fast? As far as I know, our DVD drive does spin at a slightly higher operational speed during gameplay to reduce loading time, right? Is that causing the issue?"
The head engineer adjusted his glasses before answering. "So far, sir, all of our normal tests show that it should not happen. Yes, the drive can spin at a fairly high speed during data streaming, especially when the game is pulling large textures, audio files, or map data from the disc. However, when the eject command is triggered properly, the firmware should first send a spin-down command to the spindle motor. The disc should decelerate, the optical pickup should park safely, and only after that should the tray motor open."
He pointed at the exposed DVD drive on the table. "The eject mechanism itself is not powerful enough to throw a disc like a projectile. The tray only moves forward on a small motor and gear rail. If the disc is already stopped, it simply slides out. For a disc to be thrown, there would need to be residual rotational energy still present when the tray opens, or the clamp would need to release before the spindle has fully slowed down. That means the problem would not be the tray. It would be timing."
Bill narrowed his eyes. "Timing between the firmware and the mechanical release?"
"Yes," the engineer replied. "In theory. The drive firmware is supposed to follow a strict sequence. Stop reading, park the lens, reduce spindle speed, confirm rotation has dropped below a safe threshold, release the magnetic clamp, and then move the tray. In our lab environment, that sequence is working normally. We tried standard gameplay, dashboard eject, power-off eject, and repeated stress cycles. We have not reproduced a high-speed ejection."
Another hardware engineer added, "There is one possible edge case, but we have not confirmed it yet. If a game is still actively streaming data while the dashboard or online service sends a disc-change request, the software layer might believe the game has already yielded control, while the drive firmware is still completing a read operation. Normally, the system should block that request. But if the console is online, under network load, and switching between game states, there may be a race condition between the game process, the dashboard command, and the DVD drive controller."
Bill leaned back in his chair. "So the disc would not be thrown because the tray is too strong. It would be thrown because the tray opens while the disc is still spinning."
"That is the only technically believable explanation," the head engineer said. "Even then, it would require a very specific sequence. The disc would need to remain spinning, the clamp would need to release early, and the tray would need to move before the firmware fully confirms spin-down. If the disc is slightly unbalanced, scratched, warped, or not seated perfectly, it could wobble and jump when the tray opens. Most of the time it would just rattle or scrape. In a worst-case situation, yes, it could leave the tray quickly."
The room became quiet for a moment. One engineer looked uncomfortable before saying, "To be clear, sir, we still think the online rumor is exaggerated. We have no internal reproduction yet. The retail drives passed safety tolerance testing. The spindle speed is within specification, and the tray mechanism is not designed with enough force to launch anything by itself."
Bill tapped one finger against the table. "But if this is a firmware race condition, then normal hardware testing might miss it."
"That is correct," the head engineer admitted. "A pure mechanical test would not show it. We would need to test the exact software condition. A game running from disc, online connection active, dashboard overlay involved, and a disc-change prompt triggered while the game is still in a live session. If the command queue handles the state incorrectly, we might see behavior that our standard eject tests never covered."
Bill sighed. "So the answer is not yes, but also not impossible."
The head engineer gave a reluctant nod. "That would be the most accurate answer, sir. Under normal conditions, no, the X-Box should not eject a spinning disc. Under a very specific software and firmware timing conflict, we cannot completely rule it out yet."
Bill Gates slowly nodded. "I thought so... But why do these kinds of rumors even exist in the first place?"
One of the engineers exchanged glances with the others before answering carefully. "Honestly, boss, it is probably just how the internet works now. Some people exaggerate things for attention, some people genuinely misunderstand what happened, and some probably want to slow us down by damaging the X-Box image before we fully establish ourselves in the market."
Another staff member added, "And the problem is getting worse because the internet is spreading information too quickly. A single forum thread can suddenly appear on multiple websites within hours. By the time someone checks whether the story is true or false, thousands of people already believe it. Right now, it is becoming harder and harder to separate rumors from reality."
Bill quietly nodded again. He understood exactly what they meant. A few years ago, strange hardware stories would mostly remain inside niche gaming magazines or small local discussions. But now things were changing rapidly. Forums, online communities, and video platforms were starting to create an entirely different kind of internet culture. Information moved faster, jokes spread further, and embarrassing moments could suddenly become worldwide entertainment overnight.
What worried Bill the most was not the technical issue itself. If there really was a firmware conflict, Microsoft could eventually patch it or revise the drive behavior in future hardware batches. The dangerous part was perception. Once the internet gave a product a humiliating nickname or meme, it could stay attached to the brand for years.
One software engineer awkwardly joked, "At least people are talking about the X-Box, right?"
A few people in the room laughed quietly, though the laughter sounded more nervous than amused.
Bill finally sighed and leaned back in his chair. "Alright. Keep testing the firmware interactions and reproduce the condition if possible. I want confirmation, not guesses. But for now, let's move on to the next game development topic."
With that, Bill changed the subject, though the atmosphere inside the room still felt slightly uneasy. Even if the rumor turned out to be rare or exaggerated, everyone there understood one thing very clearly.
If somebody eventually recorded proof and uploaded it online, the internet would never let Microsoft forget it.
Meanwhile, at the same time on YouTube, a content creator called "RULY!" was currently livestreaming. RULY was already fairly well known across the growing FPS gaming community because of his chaotic but hilarious montage videos. He often played games like ZAGE Counter-Strike, Half-Life, Duke Nukem, and many other FPS titles released by ZAGE. His editing style was loud, fast, and ridiculous, filled with dramatic zooms, terrible sound effects, over-the-top reactions, and intentionally stupid jokes that somehow made his videos even funnier.
Recently, however, he had been heavily focusing on HORI, one of the X-Box launch titles. HORI was a post-apocalyptic FPS game that mixed survival gameplay, ruined-city exploration, and aggressive gun combat. The game itself was actually receiving fairly positive reactions from players because of its atmosphere and intense online matches, which made it a perfect game for streamers and montage creators.
Still, today's livestream was not really about HORI gameplay. Instead, RULY was focusing entirely on the strange X-Box disc-launching rumor currently spreading across the internet. And because of his growing popularity, people were paying attention. RULY already had around twenty-one thousand subscribers, which was considered absolutely massive for a gaming creator in these days.
Now RULY appeared live on his channel. Even though streaming technology in 2001 was still rough and unstable, live broadcasts like this were already possible if someone had enough patience, decent equipment, and internet fast enough to survive constant buffering. The image quality was blurry, the audio occasionally crackled, and the frame rate sometimes dropped whenever the chat exploded too hard, but none of that stopped thousands of viewers from flooding into the stream.
RULY immediately shouted into the microphone while grinning like a complete maniac. "YOOO GUYS! You are NOT gonna believe this! You know those rumors about the X-Box shooting discs at insane speed when you eject them!? IT'S ACTUALLY TRUE!"
He suddenly lifted a damaged HORI physical disc directly toward the blurry webcam.
"And honestly, I already became the victim! LOOK AT THIS!"
The disc had visible scratches near the outer edge and a small dent close to the center ring. It was not destroyed completely, but it definitely looked abused enough to make the chat explode instantly.
"BRO WHAT THE HELL."
"NAHHH THIS IS FAKE."
"THE X IN X-BOX STANDS FOR X-GUN."
"MICROSOFT REALLY MADE A WEAPON."
"BRO GOT HIT BY A GAME."
RULY almost fell out of his chair laughing while reading the comments. "I SWEAR I'M NOT LYING! The thing flew out insanely fast! Unfortunately, I couldn't record the first accident because it happened too suddenly! One second I was ejecting the game, next second my HORI disc almost became a ninja star!"
He proudly pointed toward two HORI game cases sitting beside his LCD monitor.
"And you know what? I already bought TWO HORI discs for this experiment! One for actually playing the game and another one specifically to sacrifice for science. Because yes, apparently I am now a professional X-Box weapons researcher."
The chat somehow became even worse.
"THIS MAN DIED FOR CONTENT."
"TOP 10 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY."
"PLEASE WEAR HELMET."
"BRO DISCOVERED THE SECRET MICROSOFT DEFENSE SYSTEM."
"X-CANON IS REAL."
Even RULY himself could barely breathe from laughing at this point. The viewer count kept rising rapidly as people shared the livestream link across gaming forums and chat rooms. Some viewers genuinely thought the bug was fake, others were demanding another test immediately, while a few people were already making conspiracy theories that Microsoft had secretly designed the X-Box to attack PlayStation players.
RULY finally calmed himself enough to point dramatically toward the X-Box beside him.
"Alright chat, listen carefully. I already figured out exactly how to reproduce this bug. And today... WE ARE DOING IT LIVE."
Then RULY quickly approached the X-Box like he was walking toward a dangerous animal at the zoo. He even moved slightly sideways, as if the console could smell fear.
"For this to happen, I know one thing," RULY said while pointing at the machine. "First, you have to put in a playable game, then connect to X-Box Live."
He inserted HORI into the console, logged into X-Box Live, and entered an online match. The connection indicator flickered several times, and the match loaded with the kind of delay that made every old internet user immediately understand pain.
"Next!" RULY continued, raising one finger like a professor teaching the stupidest science class in history. "Do NOT use the new Fiber at Home connection! You know those super-fast internet lines ZAGE recently started rolling out in the U.S.? Don't use that! This bug does not respect rich people internet. This requires normal cable internet. The slower and more annoying, the better!"
The chat instantly began laughing.
"BUG REQUIRES POVERTY CONNECTION."
"FIBER USERS ARE SAFE."
"BRO FOUND PAY-TO-SURVIVE FEATURE."
RULY ignored them and continued the demonstration. "After that, while you are still inside the online match, press the Menu button. Don't quit the game. Don't exit properly. Just open the system menu while the game is still running in the background and still talking to the server like an overworked office worker."
He pressed the Menu button, and the X-Box interface appeared over the game. Behind the menu, HORI was still visibly active, with his character standing frozen in the middle of a ruined battlefield while other players moved around like confused ants.
"Now this is the cursed part," RULY said, lowering his voice dramatically. "You look for another game you already played using a disc. In this case, I will choose ELF Adventure because, yes, I played that game Insane Underhwelming name. ELF AND METAL are insanity!."
The chat immediately betrayed him.
"ELF ADVENTURE IS GOAT!."
"ZAGE LEVEL SHIT"
"THE ELF LOVES HARD METAL."
"ZINK IS LINK but COOLER CHANGE MY MIND!"
RULY clicked on ELF Adventure, then hovered over the option labeled Put Disc.
"Normally, this should pause the current game, close the active process, send the disc-change command, spin down the drive, eject the disc, and then show the prompt asking you to insert ELF Adventure. Very normal. Very safe. Very boring."
He slowly leaned closer to the webcam.
"But if you are still online in a match, and your connection is slow enough that the game and the system menu start fighting each other like two drunk uncles at a family wedding, the X-Box gets confused. HORI is still streaming data, X-Box Live still thinks you are in a session, the menu thinks you want another disc, and the DVD drive is just sitting there like, 'Boss, which order do I follow?'"
Then RULY reached under his desk and pulled out his shield.
It was not a real shield. It was a huge pillow wrapped in several layers of tape with a frying pan handle attached to the back.
The chat went absolutely feral.
"IS THAT A PILLOW SHIELD?"
"BRO CRAFTED LEVEL 1 ARMOR."
"SURVIVAL AT IT'S FITTEST"
RULY held the pillow in front of his chest and gave the camera a serious nod. "Safety first, chat. I may be stupid, but I am not unprotected stupid."
He stood in front of the X-Box, swallowed once, then pressed Put Disc with his controller.
For a second, nothing happened.
Then the console made a strange grinding sound, followed by a high-pitched spin that clearly did not sound healthy. The tray began to open while the disc was still audibly slowing down, and RULY immediately raised the pillow shield.
"WAIT—WAIT—WAIT—"
BANG!
The HORI disc shot out of the tray, skipped once against the edge of the plastic, and smacked directly into the pillow with a loud, flat slap. The impact was not strong enough to break anything, but it was fast enough to make RULY stumble backward like he had just blocked an attack from a tiny mechanical ninja well maybe he exagerated it but who cares?.
For half a second, the stream went completely silent.
Then RULY slowly lowered the pillow, stared at the dent mark on it, stared at the X-Box, then stared back at the webcam.
He let out a long, exhausted sigh.
"DAMN, LOOK AT THAT! Imagine if that hit my head directly! I'd actually get injured! X-CANON IS REAL, CHAT!"
The chat immediately exploded into complete chaos.
"MICROSOFT CREATED SELF DEFENSE TECHNOLOGY."
"THIS IS WHY I PLAY iPLAY"
"BRO JUST PARRIED A DVD."
"iPLAY GOATED FOR FAILURE"
"PIPPIN ARE MY HERO!"
"X-BOX LIVE MORE LIKE X-BOX FIGHT."
"THE FUTURE OF GAMING."
"+10 DEFENSE PILLOW BUILD."
Some viewers were laughing so hard that they could barely type properly anymore, A few people even started demanding speed calculations.
"CAN SOMEONE CALCULATE THE DISC VELOCITY?"
"GET A PHYSICS TEACHER IN HERE."
"BRO DISCOVERED NEWTON'S FOURTH LAW."
RULY himself looked half terrified and half amazed. He carefully picked up the HORI disc from the floor while still holding the pillow shield like a knight returning from battle.
"Okay nah... that was WAY faster than I expected," he admitted while inspecting the disc. "I thought it would just kinda pop out aggressively, not actually fire itself into another dimension."
Then he suddenly looked back toward the X-Box suspiciously.
The console was completely silent.
The tray was still open peacefully.
It somehow made the entire situation even funnier.
RULY narrowed his eyes at the machine. "Why are you acting innocent now? Don't look at me like that. We ALL saw what you did."
The chat somehow became even louder.
"THE X-BOX IS GASLIGHTING HIM."
"BRO THE CONSOLE IS HIDING EVIDENCE."
"IT YEETED THE DISC THEN PRETENDED NOTHING HAPPENED."
"THIS IS CINEMA."
Clips were already spreading across YouTube and ZAGE and X-Box forums at ridiculous speed. Some people thought the bug was hilarious, some thought it was fake, while others were genuinely worried after seeing the disc launch live on stream.
Meanwhile, somewhere far away, Zaboru was watching the livestream with complete disbelief and amusement.
AN: I know it sounds stupid, but it's based on my own experience, lol!
It's actually pretty funny. My friend had this "modified" PS3 Fat. Yeah, he was some kind of tinkerer, and I honestly don't know what he did to that PS3, but somehow, whenever I played a game and suddenly pressed the "Eject" button, the disc would shoot out at insane speed.
And yes, it actually hit my forehead. I still can't forget it, lol.
So I thought, why the hell not add this as a funny bug? Hahaha.
To be continue
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