NASCAR 08

For all of this games faults with the online part of this game, I raced with a new bunch of friends on  XBL and had the absolute best time of my life.  The two unranked races we ran at Daytona were by far the best races I have ever been apart of.  This showed what NASCAR08 could be.  It was a drafting ( damage was set to visual only) lead swapping all out slug fest.  I literally had white knuckles and was hold my breath.   I am looking forward to trying to get the group back together tonight to try it again.  If you are a clean racer send me a friend request on XBL and you will get invited to the best race of your life!!!

Posted by smittdog8 @ 6:52 pm EDT | Permalink | 0 Comments

My take on NASCAR 08

The offline portion of this game is pretty cool.  The controls are really, really touchy.  I used the steering wheel, tweaking it for my preference.  It works extremely well.  The graphics are cool but I thought that they should've been better here and there.  There are also a few audio clitches here and there.  Aside from that, the game functions pretty well.  The online portion is a whole other story.  To put it simply.... it really sucks.  I have raced  6 races and have not finished a single one.  EA's servers are garbage.  They say that you can race up to 11 other people... I am here to tell you, they have a problem hosting 3-5 people never mind trying 12.  Lagging is a major issue as well as the game just freezing and also the frame rate drops off big time from time to time...Also, how stupid is it to have it display who is talking (in the middle of the screen) while you are trying to race?  Did they quality assure this game at all??  When it works (which was rarely) it works pretty well.  If you are going to buy this game just for the online part... SAVE YOUR MONEY!!!  You will have a way better experience with Forza2. EA has some major issues to contend with to get this game "in the game".......

Posted by smittdog8 @ 12:58 pm EDT | Permalink | 0 Comments

Got my 360 back/ saw the Transformers movie!

Well, I got (my) 360 back. I should say "a" 360 back. As I was told by many, I would get another "refurbished" unit...and I did. I just hope it lasts as long as my original. I have had it for a while now. Funny, I haven't had the time to play it much. I was on it this evening pretty heavily playing COD3. I'm rusty from almost a month off but it is coming back to me. Can anyone clear up the rumor about NCAA Football 08 and uploading homemade rosters? I had heard that if you do, your 360 will no longer be able to connect to XBL. I have held off on buying this game because of it. Right now, I am waiting for next week and the release of NASCAR 08. Should be pretty cool with the steering wheel.

As I stated, in the header, I went to the movies today and saw the "Transformers" movie. If you liked that stuff in the eighties, you will LOVE this movie. It was visually one of the best movies I have ever seen. The plot was a little far fetched at times but what the heck, it's a SCIFI movie anyway. (And it worked) The acting was a little dry in spots but again, the effects more than take up for it. It is worth the price of admission. It will be worth the price of a DVD too!!! If you like this kind of stuff at all.... you have got to go see this movie. On a scale of 1 -10 (1 being the worst, 10 being the best) I would give it an 8. It's not the best movie you will ever see, but it is really, really good, and definately worth the money for a movie ticket....

Posted by smittdog8 @ 11:51 pm EDT | Permalink | 2 Comments

New 3 year warranty

Well, It is nice to see something done right for a change. It is so easy to feel ripped off with the familiar song and dance. You are not under warranty, you will have to pay. That's basically what I was told earlier this week by the Xbox customer support team. As my last blog entry states, I was under the impression that any machine built before 1/1/06 was covered only to have Microsoft tell me otherwise. I must admit, I was pretty bitter about it. Funny how things work. The same day I recieved a replacement 360, they change the warranty on all 360's. http://www.xbox.com/en-US/support/petermooreletter.htm I laughed because I am so used to the same old crap. It is nice to see that Microsoft is making things right for all of us who have 360's that have/ will fail from the red ring of death, hardware failure. This shows me two things about Microsoft. 1) They are worried about having the 360's legacy be it's short life span. 2) They have heard the complaints and fear that the 360's customer base could be edged in another direction for a more reliable machine. I'm not a Sony fanboy at all but the only thing holding that machine back is the price and the lack of quality games. I believe that both will change in the future. As the price of the blu-ray drive comes down, so will the price of the console. Also, as the programmers and game developers get a grip on the PS3, better game titles will result. I believe that Microsoft is taking a huge step in the right direction. With a quality machine, Xbox Live and great games, the 360 is worth the trouble you may encounter in the future. (Near future for some who still are lucky enough to have a machine that hasn't died.) Let's hope that day never comes for you.....

 

Posted by smittdog8 @ 6:32 pm EDT | Permalink | 0 Comments

Finally! My 360 is coming!!!!

According to UPS, my xbox should be delivered on the 5th.  Does anyone know anything about Microsoft paying for repairs to machines that were built in 2005?  (Or was that just a year extension of the warranty?)  I've been given conflicting stories and had a long talk with a few people at microsoft. If I have to pay, then I can deal with it, but if they are screwing me over, I'd like to know....

Posted by smittdog8 @ 6:15 pm EDT | Permalink | 0 Comments