XBox 360 Rally

Hi, boys and girls. It’s just me, your friendly neighborhood JW, here to remind you all that we’re currently looking for people to replace us here at Xbox 360 Rally. All you have to do is go HERE, fill out the form, and wait to hear back. It’s really not that hard.

So, get to it already — so Paco and I can get to the NEW site!

I don’t know if it is unfair for me to bundle all Halo related news into one post, or is it unfair for all the Halo related news to attack me on a daily basis where I can see www.Halo3rally.com happening.

First up is some interesting news for those who need a Halo toy that goes beyond what Todd McFarlane can do (which is already amazing), comes a one of a kind statue that is being auctioned off on eBay of a female Spartan. The user is kindly donating 10% of the winnings to the “American Breast Cancer Foundation.” I found the link which was described on Digg as being “Super Hot” which already made me not want to like it, but as you can see, it is amazingly detailed with sniper rifle in hand, not all cartoony Jessica Rabbit over boobified/assified and such, this can easily be labeled as just plain bad ass. Not $1500 bad ass, but if you have the cash and you are that much of a fan boy, definitely place your bid cause you only have a couple of days left. (Click here for auction page which also has a lot larger pictures in different poses)

Our next Halo blip comes from a recent Penny Arcade comic that hit close to home with me. Click the thumbnail below to read the comic.

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Ok, people, here’s the deal — Paco and I are on our way out. We’re taking over at 1PStart.com in an effort to restore it to it’s former glory. …that, and I just plain want to write about another game every once in a while, is that so wrong?!

Anyways, here is what we’re looking for: A competent, capable writer with a love for all things Xbox. Now, by competent writer, we mean someone who spells “you” correctly, and knows when to capitalize. If you can do that, you’re a shoe-in. So, CLICK THIS DAMN LINK, do the required stuff, then get paid to play video games and write about stuff.

…hell, Mike and I did the hard stuff already, and YES, the GTA4 Banner contest will continue, and I will still give you a copy of GTA IV… or something. So, hop to it.

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From what JW had confirmed and now I am reading from hahauk.com, it seems people are using the below method to get extra people in and selling beta’s on eBay. I think you know how we feel at The Rally about selling things early on eBay (if not, you are an idiot, don’t support this sort of crap!). Well a nice guide has been made for you to not go and become one of the retards who put bad things one eBay, this is a guide for you to get your friend into playing the Beta with you! Your only requirements is the GamerTag and Pass of the friend in question and a second controller, easy enough so far:

• 1. Plug in 2 Controllers.
• 2. Sign Controller 1 into the shared account (the one with the Beta)
• 3. Leave Controller 2 signed out
• 4. With Controller 1, go to ‘Account Management’ under the Marketplace Blade then ‘Download History’
• 5. With Controller 2, press the Guide Button then A to access profiles
• 6. With Controller 1, select YOUR account and sign in
• 7. Press B on Controller 2 (to exit the guide) then unplug Controller 2
• 8. Select the COD4 Beta onscreen, then press ‘Confirm Download’
• 9. The Beta will now download with YOUR account and once done, will work with your account

• At the time of me typing this, I hope this still works out for you! Just remember you are doing this at your own risk

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!)

The great CheapyD of Cheapassgamer has performed one of my favorite tricks, but on video! He is entertaining and pulled it off perfectly. So if you still have a case of the Red Rings, check this video out now!

The servers are melting. Paco spilled his cola on the keyboard. JW’s out back trying to wrangle the horses. In short, we’re all kinds of FUBAR, so we may not be able to update as much as we’d like today.

Sorry, peeps. We’ll be back soon.

There has been a lot of controversy regarding a recently posted rumor regarding SEGA’s possible Tokyo Game Show line-up. Now, I was originally very defensive of this piece because of who sent it in. He, a long-time go-to guy named Rob, has sent me exclusive tips for four years, and until this most recent one, they were ALL accurate.

Regardless, after the link had been posted by reader “Cedge”, I immediately contacted Rob via GoogleIM.

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Designer of Bioshock, Ken Levine, plays host in this video that shows how Bioshock really will be a unique FPS. Showing you enter a room a few times, and how you can handle yourself and the enemies in different ways. Much nicer than just “should I use the machine gun or the pistol,” which does pretty much describe most FPS out there. Still can’t wait for this game, also my impatient ass still can’t wait for Microsoft’s E3 coverage.

Over on the Forza Motorsports forums, user Neubourn shows how you can take art, turn it into a bunch of shapes, and then turn them back into art for use on your Forza 2 car.

See the finished product below. If you are an owner of the game, get your ass in gear over to forums.forzamotorsport.net and see how you can take one of your favorite pictures and actually pretty easily, just maybe a little time consuming, turn it into a new paint job. (Just in case the images in the thread go down, click here for a back up of the page with the full tutorial and pictures)

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As always, thanks to the mighty Destructoid. As you know, Demo’s are sometimes released in exclusivity to certain areas of the world… well.. Nick “Brutal” Chester breaks it down. He writes a great article with information that some may or may not have known, that isn’t the point, he simplified it so we all now can enjoy a Demo of a game that they don’t normally offer us U.S. city folk.

To ensure this was all accurate information, I became a lab rat, and it has paid off, I am at 31% complete of getting and enjoying the demo of a game I have wanted for so long…. now if only they had a Blue Dragon demo (oh why can’t I be satisfied). So what you all need, the instructions, click to read below: (more…)

So, in an earlier post I stated my Xbox 360 had a “Red Ring of Death.” As I posted and worried in many forums, Destructoid, hell, even the official Xbox forums. Choices were coming down to ending up selling it off used @ $150 and using the money to get a new Core system, then mention of the towel trick came up. I remember a while ago reading about someone thinking about using the Towel Trick, a great user on DToid named Grim. At this point, I was willing to try anything (it had only been a day without my 360, and already I was getting the shakes)

I get home from work (5:20am or so, I instantly grab some towels, as per the good “FAQ” I read on the subject of the towel trick [source] I did the directions perfectly, so here I shall share with you all. Before starting, take out your hard drive, and controllers, have a nice surface where you can put your 360 down on.

1- Put one towel down, put the 360 on top, add another towel on top, cover all sides/backs/etc. This is key, you have to have that Xbox covered. When you can’t see it, finger around to find the power button and turn it on. Wait 10-15 minutes. I started at 5:22am, and then started to do crap on the computer to kill time.

2- Then I got so into other stuff, I ended up turning the system off at 5:37am, so I did the full 15 minutes, no biggie. Now it was..

3- Cool down time. I waited 15 minutes before turning back on the system as recommended.

Turned back on, I got a chubby when all I seen was green lights. I turned off the system to put back in the hard drive and throw in a game.

For a really great video tuturial, look no further than down. (more…)