This morning i was finally able to pick up my console. Having it pre-ordered since July 5, 2005, i've been anticipating this launch for oh so very long. More so then the previous generation.
So at 6:15 this morning i went into EB (preorder got to browse the store without the "other customers") and picked it all up.
Here it is:
(http://www.bundus.ca/images/stuff/Xbox360/DSC00439.jpg)
(http://www.bundus.ca/images/stuff/Xbox360/DSC00441.jpg)
(http://www.bundus.ca/images/stuff/Xbox360/DSC00443.jpg)
(http://www.bundus.ca/images/stuff/Xbox360/DSC00446.jpg)
(http://www.bundus.ca/images/stuff/Xbox360/DSC00447.jpg)
(http://www.bundus.ca/images/stuff/Xbox360/DSC00448.jpg)
..ive spent the last hour on Xbox Live Marketplace downloading games, trailers, etc. Probably the coolest feature this generation will have.
Ive tried to connect to my media pc, but im having a few issues with that, im sure its that im missing a windows update patch or something.
iPod works like a charm. Plug it in, it scans the directories and shows you your songs and playlists. A++.
The rest of the day is all about gaming. Though PD0 might be delayed till tomorrow!! Im gonna check out futureshop at 9:00 and see if they got it in, EB didnt.
Nice. Me want, me have no money to buy :(
Hmm..., I think the only way to do a decent job of describing my own situation right now is to blatantly copy this blurb from an article I came across earlier today...
"You?ve done the worst thing you could possibly have done: You told yourself you didn?t need an Xbox 360, resisted the lure of the pre-order schemes, only to wake this morning in a ring of sweat smelling of Mountain Dew and fear. Tonight other people would be playing a new videogame system without you."
Except for maybe that last bit - I could care less what other people are doing - I just want a 360 and PGR3. Of course, everywhere is sold out except a few of the core console kicking around, which I'm not interested in. Oh well - the experiment begins - we get to see how MS's distribution can keep up and how long it takes for a 360 to end up in my living room.
I was rather suprised at the lines this morning when i headed out.
PD0 on the other hand has eluded me thus far. Ive called everywhere and its sold out. Looks like im on the bench waiting for this one :(
Some interesting launch day blunders from Gamespot:
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6140287.html
This one being particularly funny:
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6140176.html
LOL
QuoteOn Tuesday, GameSpot staffers witnessed even more chaotic scenes at the local Target in Colma, on the Peninsula south of San Francisco. There, a lone security guard spent most of the night shooing an increasingly unruly crowd away from the parking lot. The situation nearly spun out of control around 7am, when the guard left his post for five minutes, prompting a mass influx of would-be customers eager to receive vouchers good for a 360.
When he returned, the security guard's attempts to get the over 100-person crowd to form a line were rebuffed until the arrival of police and a California National Guardsman around 8am. A trio of veteran GameSpotters witnessed the Guardsman quickly take control of the situation and move to the head of the line--where he promptly turned around and asked for a 360 voucher himself. The Guardsman then promptly fled the scene, voucher in hand, leaving police, Target employees, and a visibly agitated crowd to fend for themselves.
I wonder, if you play a Sony CD, do you get the rootkit? :lol:
Hmmm good question, I can bet, if it still exists, when you do it on a PS3 you sure will :P, if its not installed by default by Sony on their manufaturing of the PS3.
Friend of mine was told there would only be one more shipment before Christmas. If that's true it's going to be crazy. Expect $3000 x-box's in the papers.
Quote from: "Mags"Friend of mine was told there would only be one more shipment before Christmas. If that's true it's going to be crazy. Expect $3000 x-box's in the papers.
You mean like this:
http://cgi.ebay.com/XBOX-360-IN-HAND-AND-READY-TO-SHIP_W0QQitemZ8235328945QQcategoryZ62054QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Already one $5000 sold on eBay. It's nuts, there won't even be any good original titles until 1st Quarter next year.
I can't confirm the total number of shipments from now till x-mas, but when I asked at Future-Shop when they'd be getting more the dude told me 2nd week of december (which happens to start in a little under 2 weeks), and that they aren't taking pre-orders for that shipment.
Edit: EB saying 2 weeks till next shipment, Best-Buy has no idea when their next ones are coming. Seems odd to me that Best-Buy (the launch partner) doesn't know when more are coming but everyone else does.
Rogers on Jasper is getting 2 for sale tomorrow. Its a long shot, but possible Cova (same price too $499)
As for no decent titles till Q1 2005, Perfect Dark & PGR3 are incredible. Though im a little annoyed that you are right in that my next couple purchases are early 2005 (Full Auto, Oblivion, Gears of War, Ghost Recon).
Overall, after spending the day with it, im very impressed.
Speaking of $1000 xboxes, at EB this morning a preorder guy bought his, took it to the parking lot and sold it to a guy waiting in line for $900. I was asked if id sell mine for the same price as i was heading to my car...i thought about it, but the guy inside told me 2 weeks till next shipment...thought better of it.
Come mid Feb their will be such a surplus im sure their will be regrets.
Sorta-on-this-topic: Yay, the Southgate E.B. just opened in the old CompuCentre location. It's bright and roomy in there right now, i.e. scarce stock (lots of XBox and PS2 games, natch) but at least it's finally open :)
Just saw some reports on Xbox-Scene that many units might be defective and are crashing regularly.. Lets hope it none of those made it to Canada.
Ya - I also just came across a bunch of reports of people with unstable 360's. Let us know Shayne if you have any problems at all with yours.
And thanks for the tip about that Rogers - I'll give 'em a call in a moment but since they opened hours ago they're prolly sold already. If anyone does come across one for sale though (the $500 package, not interested in the core package, not interested in prices way above MSRP either) put it on hold for me and gimme a call. PM me or call Melbosa for my cell #, or e-mail me @ work @ robbaum at nait dot ca and the message will be forwarded to my blackberry.
Ive put in about 10 hours of gaming so far, no issues (played 4 differnet games (PGR3, PD0, Madden 2006, CoD2). PS2 release issues (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/1113698.stm) after doing a bit of research it seems that the GameCube released basically problem free (top loading tray, no dvd playback).
With the rushed timeline, etc. Im not suprised. Also having the units shipped during the more cold and humid time of the year might also be cause for concern. Im also sorta curious to the actual failure rate percentage.
However i do have one complaint. When i have a controller plugged into the charger, and i turn on the xbox, no matter what i do the one plugged in always gets the player 1 position. If i turn off that controller throught he gui, turn on the second controller its still in player 2. The work around is to unplug the charged one turn it on, activate the one you want, reconnect to the charger.
The controllers cannot be charged while the unit is off as well.
Early adopters always get burned. I waited a year before I got my PS2.
Come to think of it, I've never had a problem with any Nintendo hardware. Other than the lameness of "The Glove" but that was built in.
Quote from: "Mr. Analog"Early adopters always get burned. I waited a year before I got my PS2.
Come to think of it, I've never had a problem with any Nintendo hardware. Other than the lameness of "The Glove" but that was built in.
You never had to blow into your NES carts? That seemed to be a common problem. But Ya, I have to agree Nintendo hardware has been fairly fault free. The only other one might be the GBA dark screen.
I've had lots of NES-related problems, but to be fair I think they are all caused through years of abuse, not a defect in the product. Everything from blowing in cartridges, controller-buttons that take more and more pressure to activate, and eventually stop working, etc. The NES does still work, which is impressive, but only 1 controller still has all usable buttons, and the unit will only boot games loaded through the game-genie, not when they're inserted and clicked into the down position.
Also - I just put some $ down at EB on a 360 (everywhere else is refusing to take pre-orders on any future shipments). But I'm still interested if anyone hears of one for sale somewhere - I'd like to have the unit before xmas, and the waiting list at EB is potentially into febuary. I did confirm with the EB dudes that I can get my deposit money back if I find one for sale elsewhere earlier - I don't think they're afraid of having too many in stock that they can't get rid of.
you see, I'm playing it smart. I'm waiting until February (when i have money), when all the hype goes down and I can actually ff ind one in store :)
Quote from: "Brendan"you see, I'm playing it smart. I'm waiting until February (when i have money), when all the hype goes down and I can actually ff ind one in store :)
Hehe my plan exactly.
/shrug - I have money now, and a serious craving for some PGR3 action.
Quote from: "Lazybones"Quote from: "Mr. Analog"Early adopters always get burned. I waited a year before I got my PS2.
Come to think of it, I've never had a problem with any Nintendo hardware. Other than the lameness of "The Glove" but that was built in.
You never had to blow into your NES carts? That seemed to be a common problem. But Ya, I have to agree Nintendo hardware has been fairly fault free. The only other one might be the GBA dark screen.
Oddly no, my cartrige lever never even got squeaky. I sold my NES about 10 years ago, I misses it I does.
<- the only kid in school with a SMS and not an NES
Quote from: "Shayne"<- the only kid in school with a SMS and not an NES
I had the SMS, and the 3D flicker glasses.. Everyone else had an NES, and blew on there cards all the time.
Choplifter, Shiobie, Hangon, Afterburner.. those where the days.
Space Harrier was the death of me. I played so many hours of that damn game.
---
If you have a defective Xbox you can call Microsofts toll free troubleshooting hotline where they will take you info, send you a pre-paid shipping box. Once they recieve your unit they will send you another. They claim that when you hang up the phone it triggers a system that will have you a new machine within 5 business days.
Impressive if it works. At least Microsoft is stepping up to the plate with what i concider a fantastic policy other then the typically expected "take it back to the place you bought it."
Over heating PSU's might be the cause of some crashing..
http://www.gamespot.com/forums/show_msgs.php?topic_id=23998153&page=0
Funny since the power cable and PSU where the cause of fires with the old ones.
Quote from: "Lazybones"Over heating PSU's might be the cause of some crashing..
http://www.gamespot.com/forums/show_msgs.php?topic_id=23998153&page=0
Funny since the power cable and PSU where the cause of fires with the old ones.
Recycled parts?
My PSU is at the back of my stand out of site, pretty much right below the TVs Vent, its warm, but not all that warm. Could very well be the PSU though, but ive read reports of it being memory related.
From Xbox Scene
Quote* The flash is encrypted with a per-box key
* The key is stored inside the CPU
* The boot ROM is stored inside the CPU
* Also inside the CPU is a hypervisor that verifies the running state of the kernel, making sure there is no modification (RAM checksums), else the Xbox360 panics and blows up!
* The CPU contains RAM inside of it to store the checksums
* All interrupt/exception handling is done by the hypervisor
* All code runs in kernel mode
* The emulator for first generation games can be updated via an official Microsoft download burned to CD by the user, though the CDs' content will be encrypted and signed with public key cryptography.
The Xbox 360's Hard Disk appears to connect to the Xbox 360 via 7-pin SATA, internally the drive connects to the external connector through standard SATA data and power connectors. This should be of some help.
Hacking the CPU outta be interesting. Mods might be hard to come by if this is the case. Have to wait and see.
Rogers Video will be getting more in next week, probably 2 or 3 per store. Alyson (store manager of the Jasper Ave store) told me that you cannot pre-order it unless its a full payment.
ROGERS DOWNTOWN HAS IT IN. IF YOU WANT IT CALL THEM RIGHT NOW. Ask for Alyson, say that Shayne sent you, she will put it on hold for a couple hours for you.
hehe - called Rogers downtown - had to wait on hold for Alyson. When I get her "Hi, I'm looking for an xbox 360", reply "You're from the forums eh?".
Anyways - should have one in my living room by later today.
I wonder if they still go for 50% to 100% more on Ebay.. might be worth grabbing one for extra Xmas cash. :twisted:
http://www.xbox-scene.com/xbox1data/sep/EEFFuAApAVZKpeatFV.php
Possible disk scratching on some systems.. Probably over blown and hyped like everything else.
Just helping you out Cova.
The disc scratching happens when you take the console from vertical to horizontal stances while a game is in the drive. Clearly states in the manual to DO NOT DO THIS.
Its really not a microsoft issue. Bad PR though, cant deny that.
Quote from: "Shayne"Just helping you out Cova.
Thanks for the tip - got in a lot of gaming on the weekend (and not nearly as much working as I'd intended). So far I've picked up the premium console, second controller (wired), PGR3, CoD2, and an optical audio cable to use with the included HD kit - total price just under $800. Now I need a mod-chip and big HD so I can stop paying for these damn games.
Quote from: "Cova"Quote from: "Shayne"Just helping you out Cova.
Thanks for the tip - got in a lot of gaming on the weekend (and not nearly as much working as I'd intended). So far I've picked up the premium console, second controller (wired), PGR3, CoD2, and an optical audio cable to use with the included HD kit - total price just under $800. Now I need a mod-chip and big HD so I can stop paying for these damn games.
I think working mod chips are a long ways off.. I have been following the progress of info on the system through xbox-scene.. There are already two know hardware revisions making things hard from the get go. Previous mod chips just had to bypass some hardward security, but this time the seccurity is IN the CPUs.
Then again the weakest link is probably the developers rushing for a deadline.. There might be openings found there.
I've also been reading all about the modding effort, I'm guessing 6-months to a year. I'm also assuming that there will be lots of hardware revisions (especially after chips finally do come out), and having an early-revision 360 will be an advantage for me when I'm trying to mod it.
But for now, I'm taking advantage of having a non-modded one and my free month of live gold service, and checking out what live can do since I've never been able to try it on the modded original box.
Modding the way i see it happening is going to be more "addon" then piracy. I could see underground ways of adding bigger drivers (not the removeable drive way we are seeing now), divx videos by hacking the media center functionality, etc.
Piracy and the way the majority of security is thorugh the CPU is gonna be uber tough.
Quote from: "Shayne"Modding the way i see it happening is going to be more "addon" then piracy. I could see underground ways of adding bigger drivers (not the removeable drive way we are seeing now), divx videos by hacking the media center functionality, etc.
Piracy and the way the majority of security is thorugh the CPU is gonna be uber tough.
Unless the private key gets leaked, like it did with DVDs, but that didn't even happen with the first XBOX so it probably won't this time.
As for Media Centre, I don't think the unit even has deconding for more than DVDs build in. As an extender device the video is transcoded from the sending device, requiring it to run MS Media server. Not nearly as flexible as XBMC on a modded origonal XBOX.. But having said that the origonal XBOX has trouble decoding ultra high res video in some cases.
The project with the most community behind it right now seems to be the guys wanting to run linux on the 360. To do this, they're either going to have to modify the 360 to run unsigned code (I'm calling it unsigned, as the xbox code is - whether the 360 is encrypted/etc. I dunno), or they'll have to crack the signing/encryption to fool the 360 into running whatever they want. Personally, I'd love to see the second option happen, such that any 3rd parties could publish whatever they want to run on the xbox. Then you could just download XBMC2 and have it install onto / run off the xbox hd just like the arcade games, and get access to all the good stuff that the 360's media center app doesn't do.
As for cracking the hardware in the 360, getting mod-chips and stuff, it'll be a while, but it will happen.
Hmm, in typical American fashion, someone decided to sue Microsoft (http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=174901240) over the overheating problem.
Quote from: "Thorin"Hmm, in typical American fashion, someone decided to sue Microsoft over the overheating problem.
Hopefully this gets thrown out right away, otherwise I'll be on the phone to General Electric over some light bulbs I bought from them that failed after only a years worth of use...