XBox 360 Rally

Last week sometime while on Bomberman Live, I got the dreaded red rings. Inconceivable I thought, I mean, I just got a nice “new” refurbished machine no more than a couple of months ago. Before that, I was running on my launch console for years. Well, I shut down the machine and turned it back on ten minutes later with no problems since then.

Forward to this week, my Bioshock pre-order arrived, woohoo, game of the century and all that, I turn it on, I play for hours and hours. The next day, I play some more hours… then… it happened.. RED RINGS! I couldn’t believe it. I tried using that new service.xbox.com page Microsoft set up, it gave me errors. I didn’t want to towel trick just yet, because the 360 does work if I let it cool off, so screw it, whatever, I just waited to give a call as soon as I woke up (which was roughly an hour ago).

Spoke to my fine Indian friend at the Microsoft call center, I always have found them pleasant even though the whole situation is a hassle to have to make the call in the first place. As I was on the phone, memories of a gamer getting a free game out of Microsoft came to mind for having to get a third 360 because of the red rings (Note: I can’t find the link to that guy’s account, but when I do I will update this post so you see how he did it too). Either way, the long and short of the conversation was:

Me: Hey, I run an Xbox web site, this is now my second time having to get a refurbished machine, and I have only had this for a couple of months now, is there anything you can offer me, a controller, a free game, something, to make sure that I do not have to give Microsoft bad press over this issue.

Them: Hold on, let me check on that *puts me on hold*

*comes back* I have Kameo, Xbox Live Arcade Unplugged, Project Gotham Racing 3, and Viva Pinata which I can offer you.

Bam! So not only do they send me an extra 1 month of Xbox Live Card (if you have got a refurbished machine, you know this is what you get already), but now a free game. I highly highly suggest doing this yourself I am having no hopes of getting an HDMI machine, but I the free game is making me feel all happy. Now, if problems arise before I get my coffin, I will in fact just towel trick till I get the box to ship my 360 in.

There you go, get the red rings, get a free game, here is the cliff notes to do it yourself:

• Call 1-800-4MY-XBOX (Screw services.xbox.com)
• Say this is not the first time this has happened and you run a web site and will give bad press, tell them “What can you offer me!?” (be polite)
• Pick a game, say thank you.
• Now, just play the waiting game.

• “Ah, the waiting game sucks. Let’s play Hungry-Hungry-Hippos!’” - Homer J Simpson

  UPDATO MAGNIFICO:
  September 4th, and I have already received my copy of Viva Pinata! I thought it would be inside the box or something, awesome job Microsoft! (I guess it would be more so awesome if the machine never broke in the first place, but they admit their mistakes and are definitely fixing it!)

Take a good look at the above picture. It’s from a news story at a French website called GX-Mod.com. After running the article through Google Translate, the article explains that there are new warranty stickers on the refurbished Xbox 360s being sent back from the repair houses.

As of now it’s unknown as to whether or not these stickers are showing up on the newly shipped Xbox 360s. If you’re wondering as to where the sticker is, it’s under the faceplate. If you just recently purchased an Xbox 360, or got yours back from the graveyard, take the faceplate off and let us know if you’ve got a new sticker on yours, too.

(Original French Page)

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Are you tired of sending your Xbox 360 in to Microsoft every time you get that damned RRoD? Well, if you’re good with electronics, you won’t have to. Introducing the X-Clamp Do-It-Yourself Fix Kit.

But wait, what does this fix kit do? First, you need to understand what exactly causes the RRoD in the first place. What many people believe is that the RRoD is caused when the solder connection between the GPU and the mainboard breaks, usually after a few months. This is caused because the clamp is not providing enough pressure on the heat sink to keep the motherboard connected to the GPU. What this kit does is replaces the x-shaped clamp with a more sturdy, stronger support to keep the pressure on the soldering, which will prevent it from breaking.

It’s an interesting solution to a widespread problem. However, unless you are good with your electronics, there is little to no point in doing this. Unless you’re really feed up with shipping coffin after coffin to Texas for repairs. If you’re curious, there’s a how-to video after the break.

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Remember last week how it was announced that Borderlands will require a HDD to play by Gearbox president Randy Pitchford? Yeah, that doesn’t seem to be the case any longer!

Steve Jones, the lead programmer on Borderlands, announced on the Gearbox message boards that Borderlands will NOT require a HDD, as previously reported.

Hey everyone, my name is Steve Jones and I’m the lead programmer on Borderlands. While we are doing some amazing things in this game, the Xbox 360 version will NOT require a hard drive. The game will take full advantage of the hard drive if it is present, but again, it will not be required.

Steve Jones
Lead Programmer
Gearbox Software

So is this finally the end of the story? We know that at this very moment Microsoft requires that all games be playable withOUT the HDD, with the sole exception being MMO titles like Final Fantasy XI. However, that can always change.

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For $179.99, you will get the HD-DVD player (that works not only on your Xbox 360 but computer as well), the HD King Kong movie will come with that. Now, choose three other titles such as The Departed, Batman Begins, V for Vendetta, and some more not too shabby flicks (see the list of those movies here).

Now to top it all off, they still have that pick 5 movies offer with select choices on what you can pick, Print up this PDF and choose 5 additional movies.

So for $179 you are getting the player and 9 HD-DVDS!. I do not even own an HD tv set yet, but I think I will be jumping in on this offer.

Dean Takahashi with the San Jose Mercury News has been able to confirm that the new 65-nm “Falcon” processor-equipped Xbox 360s will be here this fall.

Falcon is coming your way this fall. The first Xbox 360s with it are probably on ships coming from China.

Awesome, but what does this mean for you, Joe Consumer? Well, for one the 65-nm processors mean that the Xbox 360 costs less to manufacture than they did before, which could open the door for further price drops in the future. Secondly, the 65-nm processor will run cooler than it’s 90-nm counterpart, meaning (hopefully) less RRoD reports from gamers who’ve played BioShock for a week straight.

Here’s the deal, however — Microsoft isn’t going to tell us when the new Falcon systems are on the market. Makes perfect sense, considering they’ll probably want to empty out their current inventory. But, if your 360 has indeed died, then your best bet would be to wait until the fall. That way you can maximize your chances of getting a 65-nm system.

[San Jose Mercury News]

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If you’re a big racing game fan, odds are you own the Wireless Xbox 360 Racing Wheel from Microsoft. If you do indeed own the Wireless Racing Wheel, Microsoft is now providing a free retrofit to combat, out of all things, overheating.

In a press release issued by Microsoft, the retrofit is a precautionary measure to combat overheating inside the wheel chassis, which could smoke and potentially cause a fire when the AC/DC (Who’s got big balls?) power supply is being used. However as of now, there have been no reports of fire or injury.

This is just what Microsoft needs, isn’t it? First their consoles are dropping left and right due to overheating, now they’re “offering a retrofit” (which is code for “voluntary recall”) of their wireless racing wheel for the same problem? Not cool, Microsoft. Not cool.

Press Release after the break.

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Remember how Microsoft said that all games would be playable withOUT the HDD add-on, before they said developers COULD develop games that used the HDD? Yeah, Gearbox apparently didn’t get the memo. Gearbox president Randy Pitchford has officially gone on record as saying that the upcoming Gearbox title Borderlands will, indeed, require a Hard Drive to play.

If it weren’t for where the 360 and the PS3 have gone, with big hard drives, and lots of memory, and powerful processors, there’s no way you can conceive of this as a console game.

That is what Pitchford said to 1UP about the decision to use the HDD as a storage source.

On a personal level… this is absolutely bogus. Absolutely. Bogus. But what do you think? Do you have a problem with companies developing games that will require the HDD, or does it really not bother you?

[1UP]

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I got sent a fact sheet from Nyko, then corresponded back with them to make sure I had all the details right, and after further examination, I think it might be a good idea to pick up Nyko’s guitar and buy the Rock Band and Guitar Hero games separately. Here is a quick fact sheet on the new “Frontman Wireless Guitar”:

• 80 hours of play from just three AA batteries
• Play up to 25 ft. away
• If doing , it works with the original Wired Guitar Hero guitar
• Has the tilt sensor and whammy bar
• Very responsive fret buttons
• 3 changeable pick guards with some stickers included (but you know you are going to use your own)
• D-Pad design is better and easier to use

Now, some clarification on that little box that looks like an amp or an effects pedal, that is basically what makes the device wireless. Seeing as how Microsoft is sort of dicks on how they handle giving out their information on how to make controllers Wireless, that little box will plug into any USB port on the 360, then you need to plug in one of your regular controllers into the amp/pedal box. Presto! Now you have wireless technology without Microsoft’s help, kudos to Nyko for figuring this out. The guitar will then transmit the keys pressed to the box which then uses the code from the wired guitar in order to communicate those key presses to the 360 (so simple!).

Now, the 3 pick guards (seen in the black, pink, and transparent) are there to help customize your guitar. Then they include the 3 stickers for customizing further. Keep an eye out on people who are going to use the transparent guard, as that is going to allow you to put your own graphics/photos underneath. I am expecting Forza 2 customizations type action will be shown once this is released.

There you have it, personally not a fan of all Nyko products controller wise, this one is actually looking to be not only well designed and durable, but possibly better than the official ones that Harmonix has put out themselves (ie more customizing + wireless). So far the release date is listed as October 1st and will retail at $79.99 so look for it.

Those Xbox message boards are always a cornucopia of information that Microsoft really doesn’t want us to know. That seems to be the case again, as Xbox.com forum goer by the name of “Post Up” has posted what appears to be the list for what we can expect in this fall’s Dashboard Update…

…which you can read after the break. Ha ha.

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We’ve all known for a while that the Xbox 360 Core is going to die. It’s just something that we knew was going to happen. However, Gamernode is reporting that the Xbox 360 Core will, indeed, be phased out. However, the Core console will live on, rebranded as the ‘Xbox 360 Arcade: Just Play’ pack.

The new Core package (since, really, this IS a Core) will come packaged with five XBLA titles and a 256MB memory card, but will still carry a $279 price tag. Also, while not confirmed, it is believed that the new Core will have a HDMI unit, but no HDMI cable.

As you can see from the image above supposedly taken from the Microsoft PowerPoint presentation… they OBVIOUSLY believe in staying in-house with their photo editing. No photoshop there. Nuh uh.

[Gamernode]

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Sometimes reading the Xbox 360 positive news ends up sound more like a pissing contest between the 360 and the PS3. Instead, lets just look at two recent quotes that stood out as just more so overall positive rather than being attacks against other consoles, this isn’t a news story or an article, just two quick blips to make you happy you own the best console:

“…the 360, which is the platform we do a lot of the initial work on, as it’s very developer friendly and contained…unlike a PC, where even in the office it can be hard to get the same results on everyone’s system. That’s one area the 360 really excels–awesome development tools.” - Todd Howard, Bethesda (Elder Scrolls: Obvlion) producer, interview regarding Fallout 3’s demo using the 360 version for their displays.

” it makes financial sense to focus on finishing the games for the Xbox 360 first because there are more 360s in the market than PS3s. More consoles means more potential sales for EA.

…such a dynamic was nothing new — and that in the last generation of consoles it sometimes made more sense to push out a version of a game for the PlayStation 2 before publishing one for the original Xbox.” - Jeff Brown, EA spokesperson on why Xbox 360 version of their games get more manpower.

Oh, and what the hell, here is some fuel for the fanboy fire, DiRT PS3 vs Xbox 360 Graphics Comparison.

[Karate Kid YTMND with the best music EVAR]

It’s been a most interesting week, hasn’t it? This whole damn week has been one giant “t3h w31rd” segment. After all, when one of the most anticipated games of the year gets released a week early by the largest toy retail chain in the nation… it tends to make a few headlines. It almost seems like we’ve heard SOMETHING about BioShock every day this week.

So, it is with that in mind that I promise you all a BioShock FREE Edition of “t3h w31rd”.

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*sigh*

I thought these damn SKU rumors were going to die after the Elite. Then the Halo 3 SKU was unveiled, and again, I thought these SKU stories would finally die.

I am a very stupid and gullible man.

Rumors have begun spinning regarding the Xbox 360 “Ultimate”. Apparently the Xbox 360 Ultimate SKU is being designed to act as a broadband-connected PVR device that will also include a 320GB Hard Drive. The DVD Drive is also rumored to be replaced with a fancy, newfangled internal HD-DVD Drive.

Now, as an Xbox fanboy, I have but this to say: NO MORE SKUs!

[Stuff.tv]

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Microsoft is currently having their Gamefest 2007 (yesterday and today), in it they discuss everything from programing for Windows, 360, and XNA, as well as audio, certification, and everything under the sun having to do with games and Microsoft. 1up was able to sneak their way in and snap a couple of photos that told us something we already knew, that 360 games can require a hard drive. Though the games are decided on a case by case basis, this is going to ensure that titles that require connection to a server (MMO’s) will be able to utilize the hard drive if they deem necessary.

Two things worth noting, first, if you are only using a Silver account, and want to play that new Marvel MMO coming out next year, you do not have to upgrade to a Gold Live account, however you will still have to pay whatever fees that the MMO itself would charge. The second, is as shown in the picture of the slide above, that they must print how much space would be required on the box, however they are giving it the leeway of saying basically that it is ’subject to change.’