As you can imagine I was pretty excited. I would much rather have the wireless guitar over the wired guitar. But as quickly as I noticed it was a wireless guitar, I noticed something else. The guitar was lacking a certain green color. Something was off just a smidgen. Then I took a closer look at the Xbox 360 jewel (you know the button with the 4 green curves around it that can turn on the console) and to my surprise it didn't have it's signature green X on the button. Instead it said "PS".
Remember the extra guitar that I received from EA last week? Well last night I got around to opening it and as I thought it was another Rock Band guitar, but this one was different. At first I didn't recognize the difference, but then I realized there was no cord. This mama jama was a wireless guitar.
At this point my heart broke and all the great moments I imagined having with the wireless guitar disappeared. I'm not sure why EA sent me a PS3 wireless guitar, since I never requested one and I don't own a PS3 yet. Something in their automated system must not have been tested well because they sent me 2 guitars instead of one and one of the guitars is for the wrong console. I started a thread on the Rock Band forums about it. Thanks EA.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Guess What EA Sent Me? (Part 2)
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Xbox 360 Arcade Review
First, what does it come with? The Xbox 360 Arcade comes with a wireless controller, a 256 MB memory card, standard video cables(no HD connection) and a copy of Xbox Live Arcade.
I bought the Xbox 360 Arcade yesterday to replace my busted Xbox 360 Premium. The Arcade is the new Core system from Microsoft. It's definitely better than the Core system was. Here's some of my thoughts about the Arcade system.
The wireless controller is definitely a nice change from the wired controller that used to come with the Core system. Plus, I've been meaning to get another wireless controller for a long time now.
The 256 MB memory card? Meh. I guess it's alright for saved games if you don't have a harddrive. I just transfered over the harddrive from my dead 360.
Standard video cables are ok if you don't have an HD TV. I used the component video cables from my Premium. One cool thing about all the new 360's are that they all have HDMI outputs, the 360 Arcade included. Unfortunately, the HD TV my 360 is hooked up to is too old to have an HDMI input. If you are lucky enough to have an HDMI input, you'll have to buy the HDMI cable seperately.
Xbox Live Arcade is five XBLA games on a DVD - Uno, Pac-Man Championship Edition, Boom Boom Rocket, Feeding Frenzy and Luxor 2. This was a pleasant surprise. I had thought they might just include download codes. This makes up for the fact that I already own two of these XBLA games. Now I can delete them off my harddrive and save a little bit of room.
So far, my Xbox 360 Arcade runs pretty cool. It doesn't heat up too much even after hours of play. It's also pretty quiet. Overall, I'd say some of the upgrades Microsoft has been implementing are working pretty well.
Saturday, December 8, 2007
My 360 finally died!
Played some this morning and after a short amount of time the lines came back. But now they were everywhere - Mass Effect, the Dashboard, Beautiful Katamari. Powered it down again.
Went back later and got an E-74 error message. I've gotten the E-74 error from time to time since getting my 360 in January 2006. Usually a quick reset and it's gone. But now my 360 refuses to do anything other than show the E-74 error.
An E-74 error means there is a 90% chance it's a scaler chip problem (the "ANA" or "HANA" chip near the AV cable connection). It can also be caused by a faulty AV cable, but I checked that. In rare cases, it is a problem with the GPU.
I talked to Microsoft, and they made me try a bunch of stuff I already tried on my own(unplugging and plugging back in cables, harddrives, etc). Shockingly, none of it worked this time either. So it needs repairs.
Of course, their system is down right now so they can't take my repair order. I should call back in 2-4 hours. And I asked about costs. Since I'm not under warranty and it's not the 3 Red Rings, it'll cost me around $99. Plus the time away from my 360.
I'm thinking about going out and picking up an Xbox 360 Arcade system and just throwing my harddrive on it.
On a positive note, I like the program who answers the phone for 1-800-4MY-XBOX. I've dealt with a few of these programs recently and Microsoft's seemed the most friendly and realistic. Of course, I still had to repeat most of the information to the real person I eventually talked to.
Friday, December 7, 2007
I Denounce Xbox Originals!
Now, as we discussed in the podcast, I was disappointed with the announcement of Xbox Originals since it is $15 a game and there are no additions to them. There are no Achievements, no live capabilities, etc.
I was playing around with some of the new Xbox Live features after the Fall Dashboard Update. I put my name and location in. I browsed some friends' friends lists. I tooled around the Marketplace and downloaded some free stuff. Then I checked out the Xbox Originals.
Now the layout for the Xbox Originals is pretty nice looking. However, as I was looking at the Xbox Originals on the Marketplace, I noticed something else I didn't like. The size of the files.
I suspected they might be large files. They are complete games after all. But they are between 2-4 gigs each. I rarely have 2 free gigs on my 20 Gig Xbox 360 harddrive! I suspect that as well as being a way for Microsoft to make money off of old games, it is also their way of influencing people to go out and buy the 120 Gig harddrive.
I'm not against playing old games. Old games can be great! But if you want to play them, I suggest you go to the used game stores and try to find them there. Many times, you'll probably find them for cheaper than $15!
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Hey look, it's Ryu [update 1]
Capcom released the first jab in its raging demon of screens and info about it's long awaited/overdue Street Fighter sequel.
On a personal level, I don't know that I like the return to the creepy SFII beefcake iterations of the classic SF characters over the more stylized Alpha/SF3 style, but beggars can't be choosers, ya know.
If you can't hold your combos for the EGM issue full of real info, hit the link below to read 5 paragraphs of non-information on 1-up's site and check out a high-res version of the screen shot to the right.
[Link]
Update:
Just kidding! New leaked screenshots reveal Street Fighter 4 to look like a butt:
[Link]
Also, check out this shot of "We <3 Us Some Golfin'" featuring Capcom cameos. +100 points for including Arthur in full knight armor. -1 million for using new-comer Apollo Justice instead of the infinitely more bad-ass Phoenix Wright.
