Red Rings
I knew it was coming when the other half started complaining of distortions and tearing when she was playing Kameo; not that knowing made it any easier when I heard a shout of "The Xbox isn't working!" across the house on Saturday evening.Yeah, so the glowing red ring showed its face. I was annoyed, as one would be, but at the same time somewhat proud that the thing had survived 3 years of service - two of which were served to a friend from whom I purchased the black box of imminent failure, although the last year that I've owned it, it's seen more than its fair share of hammering. My girlfriend tends to use it for watching various TV series' while she works (all day) and then we spend the evening gaming or watching films on it.
For those that have experienced the issue, you'll know that 3 years is the cut-off point for repairs. Knowing that, I set out the next day to buy a new one; Game happened to have an Elite bundle in-store for £200 bundled with Just Cause 2 and Battlefield Bad Company 2, on which I loyally drained my bank account in order to take home.
I very almost managed to immediately return the two bundled games for a neat £80 (knowing I'd be able to get them cheaper somewhere else/later on), but the store manager turned up at an exceptionally inappropriate time, preventing the unwitting sales assistant from completing the return.
We got the new one home, put in the old hard drive, did a license transfer and everything is working as it was. Great when a transfer goes that well.
What was the fate of the DeadBox you ask? Well he's sitting right next to me at the moment, in various states of indecency, as we await a set of Torx screwdrivers (T6, T7 and T8, if that interests you), so my girlfriend can continue ripping him apart in an attempt to resuscitate the poor fellow. She's in to pulling apart electricals, so when presented with these instructions for a potential fix, before I knew it, she had a screwdriver in her hand.
We're waiting for the screwdrivers because there's a few tiny black screws which we can't get out without them; here he is, waiting:
Hopefully we'll get it back up and running - if anyone has any suggestions as to what else we should try once we get it open, let us know.
I know I'm going to get a bunch of 'should have got a PS3' comments, to which my pre-emptive response is:
- I will. I want one.
- We've already made an investment in Xbox games, and I do genuinely think the Xbox is a fantastic console for multiplatform games.
- The Xbox gives me a warm fuzzy feeling, it has a soul, it's comfortable, it's my friend. The PS3 makes me shiver, it's cold, it could stab me while I sleep.
- My girlfriend's really in to some of the exclusives; Viva Pinata, Kameo, to name but a few.
Gadget Things
I went to the Gadget Show Live at the NEC (Birmingham, UK) last week. It's basically a show with lots of companies showing off their latest technology, arranged by a TV channel over here which runs the 'Gadget Show' (a TV show about technology) - which I don't actually watch. Anyway, the show was fun, absolutely packed full of people but lots of interesting things to see. These, for example (excuse the awful picture quality, they're mangled by my iPhone):
Some crazy environmentally mapped video:
And strange robotic flying creatures, inspired by nature:
So that was fun.
Wrap-up
Quests are awesome. They're making me do things I wouldn't usually do, like post this blog. You guys are all great for helping us out with spam, playing along and giving people clues, and just generally being part of this awesome community.This editor is absolutely terrible for doing any sort of serious editing, sorry ethan. We love you.
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