Xbox 360 Elite – Red Rings of Death

rrodkoLooks like even the Elite version of the Xbox 360 is not free from the red rings of death. When I left for vacation earlier this year my Xbox was in perfect working order and I just finished a good session on Live with some online friends of mine. Before leaving the house I unplugged the console, tucked it away comfortably in the corner, and didn’t touch it for a little over a month.

My vacation went well and I returned home looking forward to a couple games of Call of Duty 4 which I was itching to play for over a week already. I plugged it in, booted it up and the screen froze up on me. I thought it was a fluke. Again, I shut the console down waited about 30 seconds and boom, it happened a second time. Finally on my third attempt instead of freezing the three infamous red lights turned on and from that point on I knew it was done.

Honestly, I forked out the $450.00 for the Elite expecting this problem to be fixed already. Apparently the term “you get what you paid for” is not always true. I’ve only owned the box for a little over 11 months and calling the repair department at 1-800-4MY-XBOX is more of a chore than a service. The automated voice gives you a complete run around and it gets pretty difficult to speak to a service representative right away.

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New Halo Game in the Works

Taken from:Photo Giddy's Flickr photostreamLooks like Bungie is up to something again and we haven\’t seen the last of the Halo franchise. According to reports at joystiq.com there was supposedly a E3 announcement canceled by Bungie’s publisher Microsoft regarding the upcoming release of a new “Halo” game. Bungie president Harold Ryan wrote this memo recently regarding his disappointment:

For the last several months, we’ve been building toward a reveal of something exciting that Bungie is working on. We were looking forward to sharing that with our fan community during the week of E3. However, those plans were just changed by our publisher. We realize that many of our fans are disappointed by this turn of events; members of the Bungie team share that disappointment. When the right time comes, we look forward to sharing this exciting announcement with you. Until then, we appreciate your continued support and patience.

I have seen the official site for Halo Wars and read rumors about Peter Jackson’s upcoming Halo Chronicles, but this is actually the first news I’ve read about a new “Halo” release coming. Hopefully this means another first person shooter. I love my FPS games.

A lot of people are turning to free games in the wake of the recession. With PS3 games not cutting the list of necessities people are turning to cheaper forms of entertainment. More and more people are playing free action games online instead of paying for entertainment.

Halo2 on Xbox Connect

Xbox Connect is perhaps the best thing to come out since Napster back in the day. I cant stress the word free enough. It basically creates a game for you online as if you are playin a LAN game on your PC. I use my router to set up games via my XBOX. The great thing is that you dont pay a cent and their services are great. Users provide very quick and efficient servers. I spent 6 hours straight last night online in Halo2 Slayer and Capture the Flag tournaments. Its alot of fun. Just be sure to have the necessary equipment before installing. They also have PRO editions of the program for those who are seriously hardcore and want to support their project. Be sure to check it out if your a Halo2 fan. Almost 1,000,000 accounts already!!!

XBConnect is “Next Generation” Game Console Tunnel Software for Windows that allows you to play Microsoft XBox System link, and Sony PSP games over the internet.

No more Single Player Campaign/Career modes! With XBConnect finding players to play against is a breeze and an essential part of the XBox experience.

XBConnect acts like a bridge between your game console and the internet. Its like plugging your console into a lan that stretches around the world. Your friends can be on the other side of the planet and you can still link up for gaming fun. This is an evolving project.