The Dreaded RROD
XBOX 360 RROD
The dreaded RROD (Red Ring of Death) has hit my XBOX 360 console. A few months back I experieced the disc unreadable error while playing Mass Effect. The error was quite annoying as it happened at key parts of the game where I didn’t have a checkpoint to revert to. However, I could take the disc out, restart the console and continue playing.
Since that time, I haven’t had the time for any gaming and with the release of Fable II I thought I’d spend some time with the X360 again, and now the disc unreadable error has progressed into it’s inevitable end resulting in the RROD.
Thankfully, with Microsoft’s new policy on the RROD, though my console is out of warranty, I have been setup with free repairs and will likely get a different console than the one here (hopefully a newer console. 
). Unfortunately, the turn-around time for the repairs will run right into my vacation, so I will only be able to play Fable II and other games after I return in December. Shucks!
Cheers
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (SW: TFU) has a demo up on the XBOX Live and I grabbed it today to check out the gameplay for myself. The game was previewed some time ago with spectacular force powers. It also has particle and physics technologies like DMM and Havoc which are said to heighten the effects of the overkill force powers.
The demo allows you to take control of the Apprentice through the Tie Fighter factory hunting for a Jedi master. You come pre-equipped with force push, lightening, grip and of course your trusty lightsaber. The game is set to be released in a couple of weeks, so a demo is appropriately timed to hype the game in addition to the plethora of videos readily available on any gaming website.
Call it a Mulligan
Well darn it, I died again.
In the little gaming time that I get these days I’ve been slowly traversing the massive world of Mass Effect. Without giving any of the plot away, I’m on the planet of Noveria and have essentially been stuck at the pivotal part of the game for the past couple of months now. I’ve tried various tactics to get past this point and all of my efforts have been faced with the inevitable fade to black.
Death of HD DVD
The battle of the next-gen format between HD-DVD and Blu-Ray might be finally coming to an end. My XBOX 360 has the optional HD-DVD accessory and I chose not to get it for the fact that I don’t own that many movies and it sure would be a shame to buy either system until the format for the future was chosen for certain.
All the recent buzz and a article on eWeek seem to declare the demise of HD-DVD and Blu-Ray the chosen format. I wonder what this means to the XBOX 360.
I guess in this case early adopters of HD-DVD are the ones that will pay dearly to not only abandon their current HD-DVD players but potentially pick up a Blu-Ray player or PS3?
Updated 02/23/08
Turns out that Toshiba decided to waive the white flag on HD DVD officially. All early Blu-Ray adopters now get to walk around with their nose held high and tongue sticking out at anyone who’d question their Next-gen HD choice. I guess Sony’s choice to bundle the Playstation 3 with Blu-Ray players was a smart idea after all.
Cheers
Sony PS3 Price Drop
Sony has cut the price of the PlayStation 3 by $100, or 17 percent, in the United States, a move that should boost the video game console’s lackluster sales.
The PlayStation 3, which includes a 60-gigabyte hard drive and a Blu-ray high-definition DVD player, will now cost $500, or $20 more than the most expensive version of Microsoft’s Xbox 360. #
This is definitely a start and now if the game catalog were to get better perhaps Sony might have a chance after all, no?
Classic Gaming Goodness
I have fond memories of playing the original Prince of Persia on my PC in the early 90’s and enjoyed it immensely. The games involved some hair-raising moments and a fun game play. The newer 3D iteration of the game, in my opinion, were no where near the hits that the original was. The graphics were surely cutting edge for it’s time, as well as audio. The class side-scroller was also key to this game, but unlike other games the progression wasn’t forced upon the player.
Like a wonderful blast from the past Ubisoft is set to release this awesome classic on XBLA with updated graphics and probably a new story. I just can’t wait for this one!
Another classic find of mine recently was the open-source version of Star Control 2 called The Ur-Quan Masters. I have vivid memories of the countless hours my friends and I spent in melee with the variety of ships. I had never spent much time in the game itself, but having since found The Ur-Quan Masters, I’ve take the opportunity to check out the game as well and am really enjoying the quirky humor.
Unlike POP, this is a true to it’s origin port to make the original classic work on newer machines. The game runs under Windows, MacOS X, Linux and BSD. One of the best parts of this game was the awesome music for each race in the game. Listening to this music again just brings back a flood of wonderful memories.
Cheers
XBOX 360 Elite
After quite a lot of speculation and rumor mongering, the XBOX 360 Elite has been announced by Microsoft.
The basic summary of changes include a console in black, a HDMI port, 120 GB hard drive, but still no official word on the small 65nm processor which supposedly runs cooler. The only “upgrade” here that I would even remotely consider is replacing my stock 20 GB hard drive with the larger 120 GB variety.
I currently use the component cables to connect my X360 to my TV and optical audio cables to get the games surround sound. With an HDMI option I would just need to run a single cable to get everything. However, since I already have 2 HDMI devices plugged into my receiver I would need to invest in some sort of an HDMI switch to get this 3rd device going. In my book, that’s just not worth the extra money, not to mention that the XBOX 360 Elite already costs about $479 to start with.
Perusing a few of the gaming forums seem so to indicate that I’m actually in the minority of existing X360 owners who has no intentions to trade in their existing X360 at a loss and fork over lots more money to get the Elite version. Many of these people also don’t have a TV that have HDMI inputs, so this must be the true definition of a fanboy.
Cheers
Dashboard Update
The XBOX 360 is getting another dashboard update today. Features included in this update include support for 1080P video modes, HD DVD player support, play videos from CD/DVD disks, and whole slew of video upgrades. #
Rainbow 6 Vegas
I got a chance to play the Rainbow 6 Vegas demo last night. This demo hasn’t been released in the US yet due to some exclusive deal with OXM so you will have to the trick of I talked about here to get your hands on the demo. I already own G.R.A.W and found that gameplay to be fairly tough. The controls are a little tough to get used to and I feared that R6 Vegas would be similar.
I was glad to see that the controls are a whole lot easier. However, learning the tactics of a squad based game and directing your squad mates will take a little bit of time. I’m used to just running around shooting by myself. The game employs some fairly simplistic measures for directing the squad. Moving them from location to location is a simple as pointing to the desired destination and hitting the A button. Can’t get any more simple than that. Read the rest of this entry »
