Hats off to Microsoft for a quick turn around. Less than a week ago I shipped my Xbox360 back to them for repair after falling prey to the Red Ring Of Death. I checked on its progress today and it’s on its way home. It left the factory in Germany yesterday (25 August) and this morning (26 August) is leaving UPS in Belgium.
Microsoft have also kept me up to date via email which is a nice touch. Customer service like this is hard to find these days.
I knew this day would come but it made me sad tonight when I switched on my Xbox360 and was shown the Red Ring Of Death (RROD). I’ve owned for this console for over 2 years so she’s lasted well. I called Microsoft to see what they could do and they informed me that they’d email a pre paid postage label to me to ship the console back for repair, result. Another result is that I call UPS and they’ll collect it from my home.
Repair will take up to 2 weeks but can be returned in 10 days if all goes well. It’s going to be a long 2 weeks I think.
Looking for a great game to play this halloween? An excuse to shit your pants and not feel bad? May I suggest you buy EA’s latest game “Dead Space”?
It’s been a long time since I’ve played a game on the edge of my seat, fearing what I might find round the next dark corner but boy does this pull it off well. The atmosphere is dark enough to make you feel on edge but not too dark making it hard to see what’s going on around you. Sound effects also had me stopping in my tracks to make sure my weapons were fully loaded and ready for action.
Finally, Disco see sense and buys an Xbox360 Premium console admitting that the Wii is a party console. It’s taken a long time for the old boy to come round but I’m glad my old PC gaming buddy has taken the plunge.
With the addition of Disco to my buddy list he’ll also bring along at least 3 of his buddies who are Xbox Live players. Could this be the MTB clan making a come back? I hope so, we had some good battles back in the day.
First games he’s going to try out are Rainbow Six Vegas 2 and Call of Duty 4. I know a third person with RSG2 so a little pursuation may be needed for some 3 way online co-op fun. Come on J, stick with it, it’s a great game.
When ever I boot my xbox360 up I fear the Red Ring of Death. I guess us 360 owners have learnt to live with this worry but Lian Li have stepped up to the mark and offered a breath of fresh air. A new case which offers better cooling and quieter running.
I’m not sure if I’m taken by the design, I think the original xbox360 case is a great looking box of gaming fun. This new Lian Li case reminds me of the Mac Pro, a little darker and smaller of course.
Xbox360 owners wanting to upgrade to this case will have to do so at their own risk. You buy the case, strip the old 360 down and fit all the guts into the new case. Not sure if Microsoft will honour the 3 year extended warranty if you’ve ripped the console apart though. Could be a high price to pay to avoid that red ring of death!
It’s now 7:25 and I’m waiting in the Q for my new iPhone 3G. Been told they have enough iPhone for the entire Q which is nice.
They’re handing out chocolate muffins and water now, nice, I missed breakfast this morning.
Now I’m back in Xbox360 land I decided to sign up to the Live Gold account. What does that mean? Online gaming. Boy have I missed gaming with strangers. The trouble I have at the moment is 2 very good games. Call of Duty 4 and Rainbow Six Vegas 2. Controls vary just enough to screw my game up if I try to swap between the two. Because of this I’m trying to get equal amounts of game time in on both. COD4 mainly on line and RSV2 in single player mode.
The BBC have announced that it’s popular iPlayer service will be coming to the Nintendo Wii on 9 April as one of the Nintendo Wii channels.
Earlier this week ISP’s complained about the extra strain on their networks as a result of the iPlayer asking for financial assistance from the BBC to upgrade their infrastructure.
We no longer use our internet connections purely for surfing the net and sending/receiving emails. It’s grown into an entertainment gateway but I fear the gateway is far too small. Action needs to be taken to boost the capacity of the local networks but at who’s cost?
BT have announced that they will be providing the capability to use the Xbox360 as an IPTV set top box. Not sure when this system will be put in place but it’s good news for us Xbox360 owners.
My only concern is that the Xbox360 isn’t the quietest of consoles. Even more reason to crank that surround sound up 
More rumours from the Nintendo rumour mill. Downloadable games for your Nintendo DS via your Nintendo Wii. Not sure if these will be full games or just playable demos but the idea is damn fine.
Download the game to the Wii using its wifi internet connection then I’m assuming you connect the DS to the Wii like you would in a DS system link game. Maybe a memory card could be used in the DS to store the game on?
I’m not sure why the DS couldn’t stream this game data directly from the wifi connection, bypassing the Wii. It does after all have it’s own wifi connection.
It would be nice to see Nintendo making better use of the Wii’s wireless internet connection though, seems wasted to me at the moment with very few on line games.
London City Arpt, UNITED KINGDOM