HumanityPlague

In this post, I'm going to show some pictures of the XDK Dashboard.  I also have pictures of the Apps on the xbox, but I'll split that into another posting, so that this doesn't get too huge.
 
Date Menu (when I turned on the console, I was hit with this at the start):
 

Well, I finally got my Debug Xbox.  I found a seller on Craigslist, e-mailed him, and we eventually worked out an ebay transaction.  The unit came in today, so I took a bunch of pictures of it.  This posting will be the Hardware pictures only.  In my next posts, I'll show the dashboard/software pics.  All pics were taken with my iPod camera.
 
 
Front shot of the console: 

1. Amped 3
2. Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise
3. Any of the Gears of War games (so really, 3-5)
4. Infinite Undiscovery
5. As with Gears, any of the Halo games, except for Halo Wars, or ODST.  So, Halo Reach, Halo 3, or Halo CE.  6-9
6. Crackdown 1
7. Banjo Kazooie N&B
8. Geometry Wars 2
9. Alan Wake: American Nightmare
10. Ms. Splosion man
11. Iron Brigade
12. Forza 3 and 4
13. Trials HD
14. Toy Soldiers: Cold War
15. Uno Rush
    

Yeah, Geoff should've been in Forza 4.  Missed opportunity.

Vietnam is good (with original, offensive music, not the edited stuff).  Polar Special is great, especially Jeremy's expression when James surprises him with wine.  The USA special (season 9, episode 2) is great, just showcasing how awful the US is, lol.  If you want an episode highlighting the quintessential Top Gear, probably Season 14, episode 2, where the guys build Geoff.

Glad I got paid today.  @VinceNotVance buy it on the 360, so we can play together.

Well, the other problem is, the disk tray isn't opening correctly.  It'll slowly open about 3/4ths of the day, then slam shut.  The motor is probably dirty and such, but I'm in no real position to fix it.  Besides, 30$ for a PS2 isn't bad.

Actually, each copy was only around 20$, which isn't too bad.  As far as Dreamcast games, isn't that copy protection essentially broken at this point?  Even on a non-modded console?  I'd look into that.

So, about a year ago, I bought a used copy of Shadow Hearts: Covenant at my local Gamestop.  The disks looked fine, had the manual, and original case.  A good deal, actually.  I didn't play it at the time, because I also bought like 14 other PS2 games, and just stuck it in a drawer to be played sometime in the future.
 
Well, about 3 months ago, my laptop was getting repaired (took about 2 weeks) so I figured it was time for me to dig up SH:C and give it a go.  I know it's well regarded (in it's day), and I was curious.
 
So, put the disk in my system, started the game, and my PS2 just showed a black screen, for like 5 minutes.  
 
I should divulge that my PS2 is soft-modded.  Specifically with the FMCB package, including HDLoader.
 
So, thinking the mod might've caused the problem, I removed my memory card, and tried again.  Now I got no black screen at all.  When I select the game disk from the PS2 menu, my disk drive makes a click, click sound, and just dumps me back to the main menu.
 
Thinking it might be the game disk's fault, I cleaned it off, tried it again, got the same result.  I then tried installing the game to my PS2 hard drive, via HDLoader, and it installed fine.  I booted the game that way, got about 4 minutes in (hit the first battle) and the game froze.  Apparently, it's one of the few games that HDLoader doesn't support.
 
About a month went by (got my laptop back in the mean time), and I found another copy of the game for sale online.  I managed to snag it (for like 20$), tried it on my PS2, and got the exact same results.  So....think it's safe to rule out the disks being at fault.
 
In further support of this is, I tried both disks on my laptop via the PS2 emulator PSCX, and both copies booted, no problem.  I can't play the games on my laptop, because the speed varies heavily, but I could at least get to the main menu.
 
So, I posted all this info on a msg board, and one person suggested using a "clean" install of the game to HDLoader.  Basically, installing the game from my laptop to the hard drive, because there's something wrong with the laser in my PS2.
 
Well, I did that.  Connected the drive up, made an iso, copied it into HDLoader just fine, etc.  Booted the game back up with HDL, and started playing.  I got about 20 minutes into the game, hit the first boss, and killed him.  RIGHT at the treasure/exp screen, the game froze again.
 
The gods, they are a laughing at me.
 
In a few days I plan on grabbing another PS2 (from Gamestop) and beginning the process all over again.  Should be a headache-inducing adventure.

So, with the Steam sale come and gone, I thought I might go over my poor, poor purchases, both that I made myself, and got friends to make for me.  
 
I'll start with what I got myself (title, and price)
 

1. Fable 1, 2.50$
2. Cargo,  5.00$
3. Lego Batman, 5:00$
4. Sonic Generations, 15.00$ (from Amazon/CAG)
5. Renegade Ops, 3.00$ (from Amazon/CAG)
6. E.Y.E.: Divine Cybermancy, 2.50$
7. Rainbow Six Vegas, 2.50$
8. Railworks Train Simulator 2012 Deluxe, 4.00$
9. Rock of Ages, 2.50$
10. Sequence, 1.24$
11. Puzzle Agent 2, Quake 4, Magic 2012 expansion, Xotic, Fallout New Vegas: Lonesome Road DLC, Deck Pack 1, Duels 2012 Deck Pack 2 -- total was 18.63$
12. L.A. Noire, Rochard -- total was 17.48$
13. Spore Complete Pack (Spore, Galactic Adventures, Creepy & Cute), and Darkspore -- total was 44.97$
14. Shogun 2, 2.50 (actually was 7.50 on Amazon, but I used a 5$ off coupon on it)
15. Crazy Machines Complete Bundle, 20$