XBox 360 Rally

Let my friend be a cautionary example to the rest of you…

Mark* is a late bloomer when it comes to video games and next-gen consoles, but he is an enthusiastic newbie at any rate. He is a Madden freak, so much so that he bought a guide book for it. I mean, yeah, I like Madden 09 just fine, too, but not enough that I am going to plunk down an extra 20 bucks just to read about the back-up kicker on the Miami Dolphins and what are the general defensive strengths of the Detroit Lions (ha, that last one was a trick — the Lions have no strengths).

Anyhoo, my Red Ring Of Death moment happened last October. Mark’s just happened.

He was devastated, naturally, and he worried about Microsoft fixing it, as he bought his Xbox 360 off of craigslist from some other guy. He was in luck. Microsoft would fix it, and all seemed okay. He dutifully sent it into the service center, like we all have, and about two and a half weeks later (he was freaking out because MLK Day kept his beloved 360 out of his hands for an extra day), he got his Xbox back.

I haven’t heard from him since. But then I talked to a mutual friend who worked with Mark last night.

Oh, Mark got his Xbox back. He plugged it in and played happily for ten minutes. Until the RROD happened…again.

I don’t know the whole story at this point but it seems that the Xbox was further damaged after the RROD occurred. Mark went to Circuit City and now owns a totally new Xbox. I imagine as Circuit City is going out of business that he got a great deal. Or at least I hope he did.

Don’t be a Mark. The RROD will be fixed by Microsoft, and if not, there are videos out there showing you how to fix it yourself.

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In case you haven’t heard, Bill Gates had his CES keynote address last night. While most of it was boring and unoriginal, the ending was… something entirely different. Taking a page from Peter Moore’s disastrous attempt at rocking out at this past E3 (boy did I get the Code Monkeys prediction wrong or what?), both Bill Gates and Microsoft President Robbie Bach took decided that it would be better to have others stand in for them as they used Guitar Hero III to settle a $20 bet.

Bach brought out the insanely hot Tipper Queen, who threw down to the opening licks of Guns n’ Roses’ classic “Welcome to the Jungle”. However Gates, being Bill Gates, one-upped Bach by bringing out the equally talented, if not slightly less-hot Slash. To give you a hint: He’s the one in the hat.

One complaint: A bet of $20? Come on. Bill Gates hasn’t even SEEN a $20 bill since 1974!

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People, with the new year now upon us, and the old year now behind us, I think it’s time for us to look back at our past. At what came before us. In order to truly appreciate the games we have now, and will have in the future we must always be mindful of our humble beginnings. Before there was carjackings and shootouts in beautifully rendered streets, there was a dog and some ducks. Before there were expansive 3D worlds that were fully destructible, there was a 2D city that you could smash as a lizard, or ape.

Hell, before he was blue and red, he was this kind of off-brownish kind of color. Regardless, to embrace the future we must remember the past, so here is a video from All Games Radio founder that shows the evolution of gaming from then to now.

Happy New Year, everybody. See you again on Wednesday.

Hey folks, figured I would pop my head in to share something as a new writer for the site here is being figured out (Applications still being accepted!). I love how to this day, KoToR 3 talk still persists and some peoples Xbox 360’s are being wrapped in towels, awesome.

Onto the news, the Halo 3 map pack is out. With it came the news that it will be free at some point. Awesome. Unlike Lost Planet, they never tell you that the things you buy would eventually be free!!! Ahem..apologies for that outburst, that is buyers remorse talking. Well if you want to buy now, it actually seems like a pretty decent set of maps. Want a little preview of them before buying ? Of course you do, so here is the great guys at Red vs Blue showing off the new DLC:

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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!

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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You know, these people at the Sony Defense Force are a joke. Even by fanboy standards, these laughably bad bloggers are pathetic. After all, I’m sure we all remember their putrid attempt at a BioShock review a few weeks back, yes? If not, give it a read — you’ll then understand why I hate these guys.

Either way, now that the Halo 3 hype machine is in full swing, the fanbots at SDF have come up with their own spoof on the popular Halo 3 museum ad campaign. You can tell that it’s a spoof because it has none of the originality or brilliance of the item it’s spoofing.

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Here is the first entry in a series of character spotlights revolving around the upcoming BioWare opus Mass Effect. The characters featured in pt. 1 include:

• Jeff “Joker” Moreau
• Urdnot Wrex
• David Anderson - Keith David owns your life
• Tali’zorah Nar Rayya
• Nihlus

• As though I needed yet another reason to get excited — we can’t show the HD video here, but if you WATCH it, you can see just beautiful this game is looking. Holy God.

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I don’t know who commissioned this Halo 3 marketing campaign, but it is, in a word, brilliant. Here is the third, 90-second installment, of the Halo 3 “Believe” campaign.

If this model set made it’s way to eBay, I would mortgage my house to own it.

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GameTrailers has released their list of the top five reasons why they can’t wait to play Halo 3. All the Wal-Mart advertising aside, it’s a pretty kick ass list of things to be excited for. However, I don’t think this is so much a list of things to be excited for, as it is a list of reasons why Halo 3 will own you, your family, your friends, your spouse, your dog Sparky, your job, your manhood, your spleen, your car, your self-esteem, and after about two weeks, your hygiene.

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