G35ff's Blog - 2old2play

Microsoft extends warranty on 360 - 3 YEARS

Microsoft lengthens Xbox 360 warranty
Microsoft extends the warranty coverage on its Xbox 360 console.

By Ben Silverman

No longer content adhering to the adage, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it," Microsoft on Thursday announced that it will extend its Xbox 360 warranty coverage to three years from date of purchase. The warranty covers any consumer who experiences the general system failure indicated by three flashing red lights, more commonly referred to as the "red ring of death." Both shipping and repair costs will be covered.

The new warranty will represent a $1 billion pre-tax charge on Microsoft's earnings for the year's final quarter. This marks a notable setback for the company's Entertainment & Devices division, who reported a $315 million operating loss in the third quarter.

"The majority of Xbox 360 owners are having a great experience with their console and have from day one. But, this problem has caused frustration for some of our customers and for that, we sincerely apologize," said Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft's Entertainment & Devices Division.

The warranty also retroactively reimburses the small but vocal community of console owners who have already paid to get the error fixed. Though the company has not revealed the cause behind the hardware malfunctions, it claims to have "identified a number of factors which can cause general hardware failures" and "has made improvements to the console."

The announcement is intended to soothe the tide of disgruntled gamers who have experienced the failure, many of whom have meticulously documented numerous failed attempts at getting it repaired. In a conference call, Bach acknowledged an increase in the amount of attention the issue has been receiving. Although he didn't mention a specific number of problems, he called the rate of repair requests "too high for our liking."

Peter Moore, corporate VP of Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices division, has posted an open letter on the official Xbox site further explaining the decision.

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Transformers - Movie

All I have to say this should easily be the BEST MOVIE OF 2007 - It is action packed from the beginning to the end the 2:30 hours goes by very quickly. Definitely check it out, you won't be disappointed. The special effects were incredible, I only felt this way before when I saw Terminator 2 and this movie blows that away. Even my wife whom didn't want to go see it said, "OH MY G-D THIS MOVIE WAS AWESOME" -

Optimus Prime RULES

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GameFly - GottaPlay Video Game Rentals

Alas, I am sure you all at some point buy a game and after spending your hard earned money you come to realize the game really wasn't what you expected let alone you probably thought damn I wish I didn't waste my hard earned dollars on this game! Well after constant complaining about me spending $60 per game from the wife. I decided to join GameFly. At first I was very impressed how well their website was setup and their "GAME Q". The "Game Q" is a list of game you would like to rent, so in theory you put your games in sequential order on which ones you would like to receive and they sent it out to you? Well it worked well the first few games I asked for since they weren't the top new releases. After about 2 1/2 months I blew through games pretty quickly. Hell, I even bought a few used games from them since they were way less expensive than the local GameStop retail stores. Well, the story saddened after the 2 1/2 months I started requesting newer games - and for 2 weeks straight I kept receiving games from the BOTTOM of my QUEUE. They would show what game were in inventory and I did have a few games in the middle of my queue but they decided to send me the games at the bottom of my queue. That being said I wrotre them a nasty letter asking why they kept doing this - I get the standardized form letter of they didn't have any of the games at the top of my queue so they picked whatever they had in inventory. Well, I didn't think that was fair, so I cancelled my membership. It turned out that Gamefly only ships from California. They did open another warehouse in the midwest but I never received any games from them. I am now a member of GottaPlay whom has many locations throught the country and as bad as their website is compared to Gamefly - and even though they have many more distribution points still the new game availability is still as bad as gamefly. The fees are basically the same as well. 2 Games out is like $22.00/month. Figure if you are avid gamer and play daily you can rent about 4 games a month. If you had to buy those games that's $240/month!!!! The good thing is that if you like the game (and it is available for sale) you can purchase it at a used price. So all around they are very good plans. Overall, I think Gamefly is the better service since they offer you rewards and discounts on used games after being a member over time. I wanna give Gottaplay a chance to see how well their service is since I just became a member about 9 days ago. I will keep you all updated on how well their service is.

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Xbox 360 Repaired!!!

I just received my 1st box back from Allen, Texas XBOX 360 repair center. I had asked when I was following up did they fix mine or give me a refurbished one, they said they have no way of knowing what they did. They sent me a refurbished one. I have to say its a lot quieter than my original box. I guess time will tell. I had already bought a 2nd XBOX 360 Core System as a backup which didn't make the wife too happy, but how can you go without an XBOX for 1 whole month in the Florida rainy season

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xX Alpha Alliance Xx Clan

I guess I have played Battlefield 2: Modern Combat long enough with the regular XBOX Live (non-clan) games. I wanted to see what it would be like to join a clan for this particular game. I have never joined any clans before so It should be interested to see what really goes on. So I put in an application to join. I just received notification that I was accepted. I wonder once they realize how old I am will they still keep me? LOL

I know clans play organized games and every person has an individual role that makes up a part of a whole team. If anyone is familiar with this clan I would love to hear what you know about them?

Further notes to follow...

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Wii...Game System

I finally was able to get my hands on a "USED" Wii System for my 8 year old stepson. I know the target audience from what I have seen is for the younger group. I found the controllers to be ultra sensitive and annoying as HELL! The graphics are definitely old school, the gameplay is okay. We've rented Excite Truck racing, Sonic Rings and he is playing the Pokemon Battle Revolution. One cool thing that I liked was he was able to upload his Diamond/Pearl Pokemon into the Wii to play on the Pokemon Battle Revolution game. I also see him not using the Wii game system all that much. He much rather use his playstation 2 or my Xbox 360!

I know millions of people like the Wii but is it just a GIMMICK SYSTEM? I guess time will tell. I know everytime we go into a store they are always sold out of the Wii System. To me, it is priced right at a mere $249.00. Though I think the game prices are too expensive considering what it offers in terms of graphics and gameplay.

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Xbox 360 and the Red RING OF DEATH!

I originally waited 1 full year to avoid the plague of the original launch - yet to my surprise I still fell victim to it. What I am talking about is the 3 Red Ring of Death. I bought my XBOX 360 in Dec. 2006. I worked flawlessly until the beginning of June, then I was playing online my machine froze - it never froze ever! I tried to turn it back on and got the 3 red ring of death. I spoke to a lot of people online apparently there still is a large problems with heat issues with the console. I called customer service 2 times until I finally received my empty shipping box to send my xbox 360 in for repairs. It took 10 days to receive the empty box, 3 days to ship it back to Allen, Tx, another 7 days to fix it and finally another 3 days to get it back. It should arrive TODAY! I am leary if they fixed my or gave me a refurb? I will let you all know.

In the meantime, I went out and purchased a core system and just attached my hard drive from the original premium console. I will probably keep the core system as a backup as I have heard people having to have their boxes repaired multiple times!

WHY doesn't Microsoft FIX THE PROBLEM??? It's not like they aren't making money!???

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