Okay I'm gaming again . . . finally.
I got the coffin for my Xbox 360 on Thursday of last week. I immediately packed it up and shipped it off that same night. I then went straight to Game Stop and bought an Xbox 360 Arcade system. I wanted to find a Core system but couldn't. Besides this was a better deal. A used refurbished console was $250 and I got a new one (with HDMI connection) for $280.
So I go home and hook everything up. Yeah I'm gaming again! Except I've got to download everything before I play anything. Same hard drive but I guess since I have a different console it thinks I need to unlock everything again. Fine. Whatever. Just let me play some games.
I did. But not for long.
I was still having connection issues and getting dumped from games. I'm about ready to pull my hair out and give up gaming all together. I cool down and plug my PS2 back in for some nice relaxing Final Fantasy VII. I took Friday off from work to just play around and have fun and I did.
I met up with my brother over the weekend and after a lot of trial and error and a trip to Fry's Electronics I found myself the proud owner of a new router and a stable connection to the internet. Bring on the games.
The only problem was when I put in Chromehounds to play it wouldn't work. The last time I played it I asked my brother to put a tray under my Xbox 360 so it wouldn't be directly on the carpet. I had just put the disk in when he moved the system. A loud grinding noise could be heard and the disk was scratched. We cleaned it up as best we could and it worked later that night but it wouldn't work Sunday night.
I traded in a couple of games for store credit and bought another copy of Chromehounds and still had store credit left over. I also had to exchange the controller that came with the new system because the headset port kept registering my headset as active even when it was on mute. Depending on the game or situation you heard either static or me talking. I found that out the hard way in a game of Texas Hold 'Em. It's kind of hard to bluff when everyone can hear you on mute.
So outside of a few hiccups and hang ups I'm finally gaming again on my Xbox 360. And after all that I'm starting to wonder if it's all worth it. I remember when I played games without achievements. The thrill of the game was the discovery and plot twists or beating a tough boss after 4 or 5 attempts. It didn't come from a little pop out message saying I just picked up a skull or I just made X amount of kills with a particular weapon. I played and I explored just for the fun of it instead of looking for that hidden room or treasure for 20 gamer points.
I'll still play video games. I'm too much of an addict to stop now . . . or ever. I just need to find that magic tingling feeling you get when you really get absorbed in a good game. Maybe I'll put in Bioshock tonight. Or maybe I'll just take this little breather until I can play Call of Duty 4, Assassin's Creed, and Mass Effect. If those games don't do it for me than nothing will.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Xbox 360 Arcade console
Okay I'm really thinking about getting a backup Xbox 360. I can use it now and when (notice I didn't say IF) my brother's system crashes I'll let him borrow my backup as his back up. Isn't it just swell that we like each other?
I considered getting a Core system but I can't find any new. Then Xbox announced a new system. They call it the Xbox 360 Arcade console. At $280 it's still more than I want to pay for just a backup but I think I can live with that if it means I can play games.
It's essentially a Core with HDMI connection, 5 arcade games, a memory card, wireless controller and headset. It doesn't come with a hard drive but I haven't filled mine up yet. I would like a larger one but I can buy that separately when I get to the point when I need to. If I can find an Xbox Arcade console in the stores I might just pick one up today or tomorrow. My brother offered to let me use his system this weekend. That might be enough to tide me over for awhile but that won't last long.
I called and started my repair ticket last Thursday, but I still haven't received my coffin yet. Due to the fires in California if it's shipping that way it might take a little longer to get here (and longer to get sent back). Yet another reason to get a backup system. Maybe there's hope of me playing agian soon afterall.
I considered getting a Core system but I can't find any new. Then Xbox announced a new system. They call it the Xbox 360 Arcade console. At $280 it's still more than I want to pay for just a backup but I think I can live with that if it means I can play games.
It's essentially a Core with HDMI connection, 5 arcade games, a memory card, wireless controller and headset. It doesn't come with a hard drive but I haven't filled mine up yet. I would like a larger one but I can buy that separately when I get to the point when I need to. If I can find an Xbox Arcade console in the stores I might just pick one up today or tomorrow. My brother offered to let me use his system this weekend. That might be enough to tide me over for awhile but that won't last long.
I called and started my repair ticket last Thursday, but I still haven't received my coffin yet. Due to the fires in California if it's shipping that way it might take a little longer to get here (and longer to get sent back). Yet another reason to get a backup system. Maybe there's hope of me playing agian soon afterall.
Monday, October 22, 2007
A backup Xbox 360 or a new PS3?
Okay I'm trying to decide on whether I should get a backup Xbox 360 since mine has died or a new PS3.
There isn't a whole lot of games out there for the PS3 that I'm interested in right now. That will change I'm sure, but can I justify the cost of the system and a game or two if that's all I have to play on it? A couple of months ago this might not have been such an issue but after looking through how many games I bought for the Game Cube, N64 and Super Nintendo I want to make sure the system is going to be worth it for a long time. Especially at Sony's current price points.
On the other hand I hate the fact that I'm considering buying a backup Xbox 360. One system should be plenty. Two just seems like a waste of money. I bought my original Xbox as a factory refurbished and I haven't had any problems with it for years. So you would think that after I get my Xbox 360 back I should be good to go. Unfortunately I have friends that are on their 6th Xbox 360. Not very promising.
I could just bag both of them and get a Nintendo Wii but does it have enough game play for a single player? I don't know. Sometimes I just need to play a game alone. I don't want a whole system that I only bring out when I have friends or family over. I know I'd get Twilight Princess and Rayman Raving Rabbids (although I have it for the Xbox 360) but what else?
And what's going to happen in a couple of years when they announce the consoles for the next generation? I thought the original Xbox still had some life in it's legs before Microsoft cut them off at the knees. And the Playstation 2 outsold the Playstation 3 last month. Not bad for a system that's 7 years old. I know the "old" generation can't render graphics as well as the new generation of consoles but I'll take a good story and great game play over graphics any day.
I'm just a gamer with some money to spend, but I want to make sure it's worth it.
There isn't a whole lot of games out there for the PS3 that I'm interested in right now. That will change I'm sure, but can I justify the cost of the system and a game or two if that's all I have to play on it? A couple of months ago this might not have been such an issue but after looking through how many games I bought for the Game Cube, N64 and Super Nintendo I want to make sure the system is going to be worth it for a long time. Especially at Sony's current price points.
On the other hand I hate the fact that I'm considering buying a backup Xbox 360. One system should be plenty. Two just seems like a waste of money. I bought my original Xbox as a factory refurbished and I haven't had any problems with it for years. So you would think that after I get my Xbox 360 back I should be good to go. Unfortunately I have friends that are on their 6th Xbox 360. Not very promising.
I could just bag both of them and get a Nintendo Wii but does it have enough game play for a single player? I don't know. Sometimes I just need to play a game alone. I don't want a whole system that I only bring out when I have friends or family over. I know I'd get Twilight Princess and Rayman Raving Rabbids (although I have it for the Xbox 360) but what else?
And what's going to happen in a couple of years when they announce the consoles for the next generation? I thought the original Xbox still had some life in it's legs before Microsoft cut them off at the knees. And the Playstation 2 outsold the Playstation 3 last month. Not bad for a system that's 7 years old. I know the "old" generation can't render graphics as well as the new generation of consoles but I'll take a good story and great game play over graphics any day.
I'm just a gamer with some money to spend, but I want to make sure it's worth it.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Revoking my Star Wars fan license
I'm a self proclaimed Star Wars fan. I saw The Phantom Menace more than 32 times in the theatre. How do I know? I stopped saving the ticket stubs when I got up to 32. Yet I goofed with a reference to Star Wars in an earlier post.
It's not Sabacc.
It's Pazaak.
An honest mistake to be sure. Especially since I hadn't played Knights of the Old Republic for at least a year. But can you blame me? They even sound the same.
I know Sabacc is the card game that Lando lost the Millennium Falcon to Han Solo in. I know that the cards in Sabacc can change value. It's very similar to Pazaak. And since Pazaak is a game during Knights of the Old Republic it's quite possible that Pazaak is a precursor to Sabacc of Han Solo's era.
I played Knights tonight and my error was pointed out to me. Both games deal with playing cards. Both games become important to the story in some small way. Both have cards that can change value. Some Pazaak cards can be positive or negative. Can you blame me if I got those two games mixed up?
I hope my Star Wars fan license doesn't get revoked over this. It's just a minor issue right? Then again since when is something concerning the lore of Star Wars ever minor. Not to this fan anyway.
It's not Sabacc.
It's Pazaak.
An honest mistake to be sure. Especially since I hadn't played Knights of the Old Republic for at least a year. But can you blame me? They even sound the same.
I know Sabacc is the card game that Lando lost the Millennium Falcon to Han Solo in. I know that the cards in Sabacc can change value. It's very similar to Pazaak. And since Pazaak is a game during Knights of the Old Republic it's quite possible that Pazaak is a precursor to Sabacc of Han Solo's era.
I played Knights tonight and my error was pointed out to me. Both games deal with playing cards. Both games become important to the story in some small way. Both have cards that can change value. Some Pazaak cards can be positive or negative. Can you blame me if I got those two games mixed up?
I hope my Star Wars fan license doesn't get revoked over this. It's just a minor issue right? Then again since when is something concerning the lore of Star Wars ever minor. Not to this fan anyway.
Friday, October 19, 2007
My heart's just not in it
I miss my Xbox 360. I know it's only been 2 days and I went longer than that on my self imposed hiatus, but this time it's different. This time I CAN'T play no matter how much I want to.
Last time I'd look at the white box sitting quiet and peaceful and say "nope I'm not going to play today." This time I look at the white box sitting quiet and peaceful and say "still dead." I almost can't wait until I can ship it off so I don't have to look at it any more.
Off and on I've been considering buying a new Xbox 360 so I always have a backup but that's an awfully expensive backup. I've looked through Craig's List and ebay but I'm a little leery of buying used. How do I know what those machines have gone through? With a console that has a proven history of problems I don't want to be taking on someone else's headache. If I could find a new Core system I think I would get it that way I could swap my hard drive between the consoles and it would be cheaper.
But right now my heart just isn't into gaming. I'm trying to get caught up in Final Fantasy VII. I had played quite a bit (got my characters up to level 48 or something) when I realized I sold a one-of-a-kind Materia when I was hard up for cash. No big deal, right? I read in the back of the book that there is another "Master" Materia you can pick up that you have to master all the other Materia of the same color in order to use. Unfortunately from everything I could find in the book I wasn't going to be able to get another copy of this Materia so my choices were to continue on or restart and pick it up (and keep it). I decided to restart. Now I'm finally back to the Gold Saucer area (way behind where I was before) but I just can't seem to play.
I miss playing with my friends. I miss the thrill of killing them and the agony of getting killed. I miss slow playing someone into going "all in" and knocking them out of the tournament. I miss watching my rank go up (but not it going down) when I play ranked matches. I miss changing my gamer picture to suit my mood (doing it through xbox.com just doesn't offer as many choices). I miss rubbing it in when I've unlocked an achievement that I know a friend has been working on for awhile. I miss my Xbox 360.
I know I've got a long ways to go before I can play it again (unless I break down and buy another one). And I know that after a few days I'll be back in the swing of gaming on my PS2, Game Cube or whatever. Right now it just doesn't seem worth it. My heart's just not in it.
Last time I'd look at the white box sitting quiet and peaceful and say "nope I'm not going to play today." This time I look at the white box sitting quiet and peaceful and say "still dead." I almost can't wait until I can ship it off so I don't have to look at it any more.
Off and on I've been considering buying a new Xbox 360 so I always have a backup but that's an awfully expensive backup. I've looked through Craig's List and ebay but I'm a little leery of buying used. How do I know what those machines have gone through? With a console that has a proven history of problems I don't want to be taking on someone else's headache. If I could find a new Core system I think I would get it that way I could swap my hard drive between the consoles and it would be cheaper.
But right now my heart just isn't into gaming. I'm trying to get caught up in Final Fantasy VII. I had played quite a bit (got my characters up to level 48 or something) when I realized I sold a one-of-a-kind Materia when I was hard up for cash. No big deal, right? I read in the back of the book that there is another "Master" Materia you can pick up that you have to master all the other Materia of the same color in order to use. Unfortunately from everything I could find in the book I wasn't going to be able to get another copy of this Materia so my choices were to continue on or restart and pick it up (and keep it). I decided to restart. Now I'm finally back to the Gold Saucer area (way behind where I was before) but I just can't seem to play.
I miss playing with my friends. I miss the thrill of killing them and the agony of getting killed. I miss slow playing someone into going "all in" and knocking them out of the tournament. I miss watching my rank go up (but not it going down) when I play ranked matches. I miss changing my gamer picture to suit my mood (doing it through xbox.com just doesn't offer as many choices). I miss rubbing it in when I've unlocked an achievement that I know a friend has been working on for awhile. I miss my Xbox 360.
I know I've got a long ways to go before I can play it again (unless I break down and buy another one). And I know that after a few days I'll be back in the swing of gaming on my PS2, Game Cube or whatever. Right now it just doesn't seem worth it. My heart's just not in it.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Red Ring of Death
Well, it finally happened. After two weeks of trying to fight it off my Xbox 360 succumbed to the Red Ring of Death. What I thought was just a router issue has turned into something worse.
I'm sure after the sadness has passed I'll look at what good might come out of this. Now I'll have more time to play some long forgotten original Xbox games along with my Playstation games. I might even have time for the Game Cube and other systems.
Only just a couple of days ago I had started to consider buying a 2nd Xbox 360 for just this situation. I'll have to think a lot more about that. Unfortunately this comes at the same time as a discussion about a PS3 game. Folklore. From what I've heard it's a really good game. Enough to buy a PS3? I don't know. But I do know I can't buy both a PS3 and a replacement. And that's not counting the DS Lite and Wii that I had planned on buying before the end of the year.
I have decisions to make. But first I must deal with my grief.
I'm sure after the sadness has passed I'll look at what good might come out of this. Now I'll have more time to play some long forgotten original Xbox games along with my Playstation games. I might even have time for the Game Cube and other systems.
Only just a couple of days ago I had started to consider buying a 2nd Xbox 360 for just this situation. I'll have to think a lot more about that. Unfortunately this comes at the same time as a discussion about a PS3 game. Folklore. From what I've heard it's a really good game. Enough to buy a PS3? I don't know. But I do know I can't buy both a PS3 and a replacement. And that's not counting the DS Lite and Wii that I had planned on buying before the end of the year.
I have decisions to make. But first I must deal with my grief.
Monday, October 15, 2007
Out of sight, out of mind
I've been having a whole lot of problems with my connection to Xbox Live lately. I keep losing it. I log in. Things seem fine. Then BAM!!! Or should I say bleep. That little pop up comes up saying I'm "disconnected from Xbox Live." Oh really!
I've been playing a lot of Catan ranked matches and that is the worse time to be getting that message. You're blown out of the game so you don't even get credit for playing and everyone sends you bad feedback for "quiting early." Once I started having this problem I had to make sure I only played free tournaments in Texas Hold 'Em. I wouldn't want to lose my buy in because I lagged out. (Especially when I'll probably lose my bankroll when they reset the boards to get rid of cheaters again.)
My brother and I ran some tests and different set ups and it looks like it might be a router issue. I've currently got my Xbox 360 connected directly to my modem and last night it worked fine. There's only one problem with this set up; my computer is not connected to my modem when I do this.
My route is at least four years old but since it sits behind my TV I never really see it. So I never really think about it. Out of sight, out of mind. I should have figured that it might start to go south on me after all it is a piece of electronic equipment. And related to computers as well. We all know how long computer equipment lasts before it's outdated. I'm sure I'll have to replace it and hopefully that will fix the problem completely.
I was ready to give up my Xbox 360 for good. Pack it away so it never sees the light of day again. But then I remembered that Assassin's Creed comes out November 13th and I can't wait to play that game. If I packed it away I'd have to pull it out then and still have to deal with the problem. I think it's best to figure it out now so I can enjoy the game then. I'm even considering taking a day off of work to stay home and just play the game when it comes out. Maybe I'll take a day off next week just to play games.
I've been playing a lot of Catan ranked matches and that is the worse time to be getting that message. You're blown out of the game so you don't even get credit for playing and everyone sends you bad feedback for "quiting early." Once I started having this problem I had to make sure I only played free tournaments in Texas Hold 'Em. I wouldn't want to lose my buy in because I lagged out. (Especially when I'll probably lose my bankroll when they reset the boards to get rid of cheaters again.)
My brother and I ran some tests and different set ups and it looks like it might be a router issue. I've currently got my Xbox 360 connected directly to my modem and last night it worked fine. There's only one problem with this set up; my computer is not connected to my modem when I do this.
My route is at least four years old but since it sits behind my TV I never really see it. So I never really think about it. Out of sight, out of mind. I should have figured that it might start to go south on me after all it is a piece of electronic equipment. And related to computers as well. We all know how long computer equipment lasts before it's outdated. I'm sure I'll have to replace it and hopefully that will fix the problem completely.
I was ready to give up my Xbox 360 for good. Pack it away so it never sees the light of day again. But then I remembered that Assassin's Creed comes out November 13th and I can't wait to play that game. If I packed it away I'd have to pull it out then and still have to deal with the problem. I think it's best to figure it out now so I can enjoy the game then. I'm even considering taking a day off of work to stay home and just play the game when it comes out. Maybe I'll take a day off next week just to play games.
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