GTA4 describes your gameplay in it's stats screen in the pause menu.  The game is currently describing my gameplay as Detox/Retox.  Funny.  It doesn't know that my 360 has been jacked up for 2 months and that I have just recently got it back, or more correctly, I got a new one.  I have about 50% of the game completed.  I am not sure, but I feel like I am about done with the story mode.  It feels like the game has built to a crest and that Niko is about to find the "man (he is) looking for."  Even without finishing story mode, I have to say that the quality of the story, voice acting, character modeling, facial modeling, and character development combined with the technology deloped for the game blend to make this the most intereting and funnest game I have ever played.  That being said, the pool and bowling mini-games are not much fun - especially the pool.

Ahhhh.  I have been enjoying my loaner 360.  Last night I got down on some GTA 4.  It took my several attempts to finish the mission where Niko and Lil' Jacob shoot down the helicopter.  Got some other missions done, too.  Man, I dig that game.  Today, I did some xp farming (to earn costumes and money) on Marvel Ultimate Alliance.  I use the Super Skrull Mission from the Stark hub to farm xp.  Today I was able to get two more costumes for Hawkeye while simultaneously watching my 9 month old and my 3 1/2 yr old.  Nice!  I believe I only need to unlock 6 more costumes to unlock ALL of the character's costumes (including the add-on pack characters).  I need all 3 for Sabretooth, 2 for Cyclops and 1 for Hawkeye.  Now that I have leveled up Haweye he is a bad man.  He has a multi-arrow attack that you can power up by holding the button down.  Additionally, you can power up his bow attack (which would include this attack) with money via the costumes.  Nice!  I played through the mission once with my 3 year old (playing as Spider Man).  She was able to follow the other characters around and smash "A" a little.  We got to the end of the mission without her dying.  Nice again! 

Hopefully I will get some more game time in tonight!

- Dan

This weekend I was able to borrow a 360 and play some GTA4.  This is the first time I have got to play in 5-6 weeks due to the "Unplayable 360" fiasco and my wrangling with Microsoft over getting my WARRANTIED 360 fixed.  Right out of the gate I finished an awesome mission, got a 20 point achievement and had a blast.  I rolled through several more missions and had a generally good night.  That was last night.  I hope to play some more GTA tonight and maybe get some more of Culdcept Saga's story mode out of the way.

Today I made, what I HOPE, is my last call to MSoft's tech support.  I now will send in the 360, and I have accurately determined that each component works fine besides the damn box itself.  The controlers, wireless NIC, power supply, HD, cd/dvd drive, my recipticles at the wall - everything except the motherboard or processor (most likely) works fine.  I asked the tech if he thought I would get a replacement (after 10+ calls in for assistance) and after sending in the unit for one repait that didn't work.  He thought that I should, and that I probably will.  I will send the 360 in Monday.  You can be sure that I will post more regarding this.

For the time, I hope that I can borrow the 360 I have.  While Twilight Pricess is o.k., it is no GTA 4 or Dead Rising (which I also have been jonesing to finish lately).  I even want to chip away at The Simpson's game achievments....... - Dan

Being that my 360 is unplayable and in limbo as far as getting repaired, my wife and I bought a Wii.  What a joke Wii Sports is!  I have a daughter who is 3 1/2.  She can legitimately bowl a nearly equal game to me and she can occasionally par a hole (albeit on beginner) on the golf.  She is three and a half years old.  I bought Twilight Princess for myself.  The game is ok, and while nostalgic, you can tell it is not graphically modern.  The controls are innappropriately complicated.  Even so, I like it and I like the puzzles.  The content is "g" rated enough that my daughter can watch and help guide me through the game.  Overall, it seems like a really good Gamecube game with the controls tacked onto the Wiimote.  Gaming has passed by this game.  A game like GTA4 has set a new standard for gaming and Twilight Princess compared to GTA4 shows the years that seperate their releases.  Maybe I should have got Super Mario Galaxy or No More Heroes or something else...   Right now the Wii really seems like a waste of money.  It seems like an expensive toy for my daughter.  My hope that more mature content may come for it was squashed somewhat at this year's E3 and with Nintendo's focus on casual gaming.  At least I can play a decent game, Twilight Princess, while I sort out this 360 thing.

I really should call MS tomorrow and get the repair in (again).  I couldn't get it done today.  My wife was at work and I was in charge of the girls....

I can not believe the level of stuff that I have had to sift through to get my 360 fixed.  Currently I have a problem where it reboots, without an error code or a RROD, after about 5-10 minutes of playing a game.   The 360 is then unresponsive and then it reboots again to the dashboard a few minutes later with the disc reading as "unplayable."

Symptoms to get Reboot Error/Troubleshooting: The game can be playing from cd or hard drive.  I can be playing from a cd without the hard drive attached.  I have detached the wireless NIC.  I have tried different power supplies.  I have tried different controllers.  I have tried to reattach the hard drive.

Are you kidding me?  My 360 is under warranty, as I purchased an extended warranty, and I have sent the 360 in once for service on this issue.  It was sent back and immediately upon playing it, it had the same symptom - reboot.

I have called Microsoft multiple times to get this issue resolved.  They are quite unaware of what can be causing this issue and they suggest different problem solving techniques each time that I call.

Up until recently I had not had the problem without the hard drive attached (and I thought that I had a bad hard drive), but troubleshooting, I bought a memory card, transferred my files and used it instead of my hard drive.  When using the memory card I had the same problem.

I need to call Microsoft again, cancel my current RMA (I was going to get a new HD only) and once again go through the inane stuff with them on the phone to explain all of this and hope to get my console replaced.

Am I the only person having this problem?  I have found some references to this online...  I bet there are more people having this problem...

In my severe frustration I have actually bought a Wii.  I am past the first dungeon of Zelda: Twilight Princess.  The graphics stink and controls are clunky (especially the boomerang), but I am having fun, nevertheless.  I would much rather be playing GTA4, working on the story mode of Culdcept or literally any of my 360 games, though…

Man the Microsoft hardware blows.  I wish they didn’t have so many damn good games and their hardware didn’t kick so much rear when it runs.

- Dan