After some shipping delays with UPS, I was finally able to get my Xbox back last night. For anyone that follows my twitter, you already know that shortly after I posted my most recent update, Microsoft declared the repair complete and shipped it out to me. Coincidence or not, I'm glad to finally have it back. Instead of getting back my original console however, I was given a replacement unit. I don't know if that's standard procedure or not, but as long as it works, I'm okay with it. I'm also okay with the free month of Live that they gave me.
The only quirk with the whole thing is that I now have to "re-download" the licenses for my downloaded items if I want to use them while not logged into Live. I was getting ready to do this, following the handy instructions they sent along with the box, but I realized that I've got a ton of stuff downloaded, and I hardly ever am not connected to Live, so it's not really worth the time investment - at least not at this moment. Perhaps one day when I'm no longer connected to Live it will be, but until then I'd rather spend the time playing than re-downloading everything.
Speaking of playing, first thing I did once I'd gotten everything set back up the way I wanted was to plug in Assassin's Creed II. I love the game still, but it's one of those that it's a little difficult to come back to after having been away for a few weeks without a refresher. For instance, I knew there was a way to pull up my "weapon wheel" and select weapons other than the ones easily selected with the directional pad, but I couldn't for the life of me remember how to do it. Finally I broke down and dug through the control scheme to find it. Not difficult in any sense, but considering it's not a feature that I use on a regular basis, it was kind of annoying having to do that. Shooters, for the most part, require the player to use all of their skills on a regular basis (skills, in this context, meaning reloading, aiming, crouching, etc.), burning them into the mind. Games like AC2, however, have some nice features that get used so infrequently, it's difficult to recall how to access them. Personally, I see this as a failure of design if the player feels that they have to go through a tutorial any time they are away from the game for a significant period of time. Starting over from the beginning would get me the information I needed, but it's not really an option considering how close I was to completing the Villa upgrades.
Speaking of upgrading the Villa - I finally did it, and now I'm raking in over 10,000 florins every 20 minutes. This is gonna make purchasing all the weapon, armor, and other upgrades a piece of cake. I'll just have to make sure I check back at the Villa on a regular basis, as there is a cap to the amount of coin I can keep stored (every 80 minutes I'll need to empty my bank, or I don't get anymore).
So that's the final update on the Red Ring Saga. Things worked out pretty well, with only a couple hiccups (largely due to UPS) and an expected three week delay. Good experience, Microsoft!
Also, the Iron Man 2 trailer is out. I'd embed it, but it's easily worth the HD download if you've got the resolution and bandwidth for it. Check it out now!
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Update and More
So I promised some updates on the repair process to my Xbox 360. There's not a lot to report, I'm afraid. I've been checking the support website every few days, just trying to track the progress. The night before Thanksgiving I saw that the shipment had arrived and the repair started. Then last week I got an email saying the repair had been started. My guess is it's an automatic status change from "received" to "repairing", and they only send out the email itself once they've begun the process.
Still, my understanding is that all they do with the RROD error is swap out motherboards and ship it back. While I understand the Xbox is not exactly as simple as a computer, I don't really understand why it would take more than a day or two to actually physically repair the system. Heck, my personal record for completely tearing down a PC (without destroying components) is under three minutes. Given the proper tools and experience, how much longer could they need to take the Xbox apart? Putting it back together can't take much longer, can it? And yet, the status when I checked just minutes ago was still "repairing".
There's also been a few interesting stories swirling around the games industry lately that I wanted to take a quick look at. So I'll link to the stories and give my take.
CNET is reporting that Brazil is looking at potentially banning "offensive" video games, citing reduction of "violent tendencies" as a reason. I'm not convinced of the link between violent games and violence in reality, but even if I were, this seems like a knee-jerk reaction to me. Assuming violent games beget violent behavior in children, the proposed legislation does eliminates only one avenue for said children to be exposed to violence. Nothing (as far as I'm aware) is on the books about violent television, violent movies, violent literature, or music that espouses violence. If they are really so concerned about kids and the violence they are exposed to, they should pass legislation that all people under the age of 18 (or the legal equivalent in Brazil) be completely separated from society until they are adults and can, ostensibly, handle the violence. What would that look like? Isolating them from all human contact in nature I imagine. Of course, then they might be exposed to the violence inherent in nature, like predators hunting, killing, and eating their prey. Oops, can't have that either. So maybe Brazilians should just gestate their offspring until they are the equivalent of adults? Good luck with that, guys.
In much better news, Redbox may be stocking videogames in the near future. Video rental options are severely limited in my area, and game rental options are non-existent. There is a Redbox tower in one of the local grocery stores though, so I'm hopeful that I'll be able to rent games through them soon. And coupled with the recently released iPhone app, I can imagine the day where I don't even have to leave my house in order to make sure I can rent the latest game I'm not sure I want to buy. This can, I think, only be a good thing.
Finally, just for a little fun, I wanted to point you to CNET's list of the 30 most anticipated games of 2010. As with all lists, not everyone will agree (is anyone actually looking forward to Dante's Inferno?), but there are several on there that I'm certainly looking forward to. Mass Effect, Splinter Cell, and Star Trek top my list, but I haven't really looked further than the first few months of the year. Still need to wrap up the games of 2009 first! What games are you looking forward to in 2010?
Still, my understanding is that all they do with the RROD error is swap out motherboards and ship it back. While I understand the Xbox is not exactly as simple as a computer, I don't really understand why it would take more than a day or two to actually physically repair the system. Heck, my personal record for completely tearing down a PC (without destroying components) is under three minutes. Given the proper tools and experience, how much longer could they need to take the Xbox apart? Putting it back together can't take much longer, can it? And yet, the status when I checked just minutes ago was still "repairing".
There's also been a few interesting stories swirling around the games industry lately that I wanted to take a quick look at. So I'll link to the stories and give my take.
CNET is reporting that Brazil is looking at potentially banning "offensive" video games, citing reduction of "violent tendencies" as a reason. I'm not convinced of the link between violent games and violence in reality, but even if I were, this seems like a knee-jerk reaction to me. Assuming violent games beget violent behavior in children, the proposed legislation does eliminates only one avenue for said children to be exposed to violence. Nothing (as far as I'm aware) is on the books about violent television, violent movies, violent literature, or music that espouses violence. If they are really so concerned about kids and the violence they are exposed to, they should pass legislation that all people under the age of 18 (or the legal equivalent in Brazil) be completely separated from society until they are adults and can, ostensibly, handle the violence. What would that look like? Isolating them from all human contact in nature I imagine. Of course, then they might be exposed to the violence inherent in nature, like predators hunting, killing, and eating their prey. Oops, can't have that either. So maybe Brazilians should just gestate their offspring until they are the equivalent of adults? Good luck with that, guys.
In much better news, Redbox may be stocking videogames in the near future. Video rental options are severely limited in my area, and game rental options are non-existent. There is a Redbox tower in one of the local grocery stores though, so I'm hopeful that I'll be able to rent games through them soon. And coupled with the recently released iPhone app, I can imagine the day where I don't even have to leave my house in order to make sure I can rent the latest game I'm not sure I want to buy. This can, I think, only be a good thing.
Finally, just for a little fun, I wanted to point you to CNET's list of the 30 most anticipated games of 2010. As with all lists, not everyone will agree (is anyone actually looking forward to Dante's Inferno?), but there are several on there that I'm certainly looking forward to. Mass Effect, Splinter Cell, and Star Trek top my list, but I haven't really looked further than the first few months of the year. Still need to wrap up the games of 2009 first! What games are you looking forward to in 2010?
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