Games of November... Expensive Month :(

[Thorin]

JENGA + VODKA = FUN

ROFL

[TheDruid]

No xBox, No Problem

If I?m lucky I?ll get mine back before Christmas. Ring a death is a bitch, even worse when it?s the second time.

First time i got it: Right after i bought Guitar Hero II
Second Time: Right after i bought Guitar Hero III

I should probably steer clear of Rock Band, maybe it will take my TV out

[Mr. Analog]

What the heck is ring of death?

I've heard other people talk about it but I got no idear what it is :?

[Shayne]

Your 360 gets 3 red lights circling the power button.  means the machine is dead.

[Thorin]

Flashing red lights on the Xbox 360?s normally green ring of light is a bad sign, no matter how you cut the cake, but all red lights don?t mean a visit down south is necessary. Some issues can be resolved from the comfort of one?s own home. The Xbox 360?s ring is divided into four separate quadrants. Each division turning red indicates a separate problem, all with a different way of resolving the issue. It should be noted that when gamers call the support line about their defective unit, the standard procedure of operation is to have gamers unplug all cables from the unit, reinsert them, and try booting the system again. The support worker will also have players remove their hard drive and reboot the system to check and see if that is the problem. In the hope of speeding the process along, it might be a wise thought to run through those procedures before calling the Xbox 360 support line.

As mentioned, each quadrant on the set of flashing red lights indicates a different issue. If all of the lights but the first section are flashing, this means a general hardware failure has occurred. There is little to be done other than trying to unhook and reattach your cables. This problem is a sure sign a visit to the repair center is in your console?s future. If the problem is indicated in the second quadrant of the system, it is merely overheating. As too many hours of GRAW will do that to a unit, the proposed cure here is to unplug the unit from the power supply, let it sit to cool down, and perhaps begin scouting for a better location to store your precious investment.

A problem indicated in the third quadrant of the Xbox 360 ring of light is diagnosed as a hardware failure. Once again, try re-inserting all of your cords and cables, but this problem should definitely be dealt with by the repair center. If all four lights are flashing on the front of your console, this is perhaps the easiest problem to fix. This is an issue with the AV cable not being properly inserted into the back of the console. The cure? Just make sure the cord ?clicks? once it has been inserted into the unit. If that doesn?t work, of course call the repair center, but the four lights are the easiest of the problems to rectify.

So...  What lights were red on your box, Druid?

[Thorin]

Looks like you read my mind

[TheDruid]

The one exactly as shown is Shayne?s pic, all but the top right. Just as it was the first time i sent it for repair. Just as well, i could always tell the rebuilt one they sent back to me the first time was @%&#. It was in much worse shape than my original one, it crashed more often, i think it had a faulty DVD Rom in it because read errors were frequent. I?ve heard that Microsoft screws you if you have a hardware failure of anything other than the ring of death. But i had a feeling it would only be a matter of time, just didn?t think it would be this soon.

I requested a brand new one this time other than a rebuilt one, hoping to grab sympathy with this being my second incident. Although i did ask for a new one the first time and they flat out denied me, this time they at least noted the request on the issue ticket, and Shayne did mention that some are getting new ones.

If i don?t get a new one i think I?ll just buy a new one anyways. Apparently they are paying me back for the warrantee work they did for me the first time. Yes, they actually charged me $168CND the first time to fix this, because it was right before their revised warrantee announcement.

The arcade version at $299 should do. I can just use my current hard drive and it should be no different. At least it will have HDMI, which is another thing that pissed me off about the old one not having it.

[Mr. Analog]

Ouch! That sucks man

[Shayne]

In a podcast that i listened too right after Microsoft increased to 3 years people were wondering if it covers dvdrom, etc and they were told no but their is nothing stopping you from sending it in claiming its the red ring.  tongue in cheek like. 

[Thorin]

I've lost the flavour for the WWII games

Too bad.  IGN is raving about Medal of Honor: Heroes 2 on the Wii.  Apparently it's the best console-based FPS controls they've ever played with and they're impressed with the depth of the game.

Maybe we might actually get a T-rated console FPS in the house...  Then again LEGO Star Wars: Saga is rated pretty good, is e10+, and sounds like it'll take a long time to get through.  Or maybe we'll buy Nintendo and get T-rated Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, which sounds like great fun as well.

<sigh>

Need more time to try all these games

[Mr. Analog]

I might give MoH a rental, just to see how it controls...

[Melbosa]

Hmmm Beowulf looks pretty good too: http://www.gametrailers.com/player/27783.html