Everyday Gamer

Gamefly subscribers who live in the Midwest can now rejoice - Gamefly has announced the opening of their Austin, TX shipping center. This make a total of 4 shipping centers, the other three covering the Southwest, NorthEast and SouthEast portions of the US.

Before moving back to California, I lived in Missouri for a year and had extremely slow shipping times when sending and receiving my Gamefly games. I eventually canceled and went with my local Blockbuster’s Game Pass instead. The selection of games totally sucked but I could return to the store and grab a game whenever I wanted. However, I’m sure the new shipping center will solve the long wait for Midwest subscribers. And of course when I moved back to California last year, I re-instated my Gamefly subscription.

I went to my local barbershop recently and saw an old Street Fighter 2 arcade machine that was just put in. Being the Ol’ Skool Gamer that I am, I just had to put it through its paces. Putting in that quarter brought back a lot of memories of me beating up the competition back in the local arcade.

Before I continue, I should explain a couple of things. Back in 1988, arcades were going the way of the dinosaur. Thousands were closing left and right leaving only a few to give hardcore gamers their fix. Add to that, the Nintendo era and you can see why arcades had a tough time. Then along came Street Fighter which caused a minor stir but 3 years later in March, Street Fighter 2 would come along and single-handedly revive the arcade business.

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Part of Sega’s effort to bring their mascot out of the drudge from a series of sub-par games, Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood for the DS takes the Sonic series to a new level with RPG-like gameplay. The trailer doesn’t show much of the actual gameplay but does provide some of the backstory for the game.

After shipping my dead Xbox 360 console two weeks ago I received my replacement unit via UPS yesterday. After opening the box and un-wrapping the unit, the first thing I did was look at the manufacturer’s date on the back which read 1-18-2008! Now this alone has me thrilled - a newer Xbox console means a lower chance of the RROD happening to me for a third time. In addition to the replacement unit, Microsoft also placed a 1 month Gold Xbox Live subscription card in the shipping box.

I plugged the console in and slapped my HDD on top, pushed the power button and the familiar whirring noise and a green ring presented itself. After setting up the initial console settings and downloading two updates I was back on Live and ready to go. Before I popped in GTA IV, I went to my 18 purchased Arcade games and loaded a few up to just make sure they didn’t revert back to trial versions - and they had not. Satisfied with that I loaded GTA IV and played merrily for the rest of the evening. (more…)

Gamerscore Blog has details on the latest Xbox Live Arcade titles hitting today: Buku Sudoku and Warlords. Buku Sudoku is based off the popular puzzle game of numbers and is available for 800 MS Points. Warlords pits you up to four opponents and offers 3D and old school pixel modes and is available for 400 MS Points.

As reported by Yahoo! Gaming News, the voice actor for GTA IV’s Niko Bellic, Michael Hollick, only made $100,000 for 15 months of work.

“It’s tough, when you see Grand Theft Auto IV out there as the biggest thing going right now, when they’re making hundreds of millions of dollars, and we don’t see any of it,” Hollick told the Times. “I don’t blame Rockstar. I blame our union for not having the agreements in place to protect the creative people who drive the sales of these games.”

The pay discrepancy stems from the fact that Hollywood has yet to make provisions for electronic media, including video games or the Internet. Instead, actors get paid standard Screen Actor’s Guild day wages for their work (roughly $730), leaving them out of the lucrative residual loop should a property become financially successful. When it becomes as successful as GTA IV, an actor could be out literally millions.

Ouch that stings! Hollick also feels he is owed residuals for his voice used in online and television trailers. With media being shifted to the Internet in the form of viral ads, blogs, podcasts and videos, perhaps it’s time for the unions to catch up to the 21st century.

[Source: Yahoo!]

Xbox Live Activity, week of 5/5 - Major Nelson

Shenmue 1 & 2 on Wii? - Joystiq

Banjo Kazooie 3 Screens - TrueGameHeadz

NYC vs Liberty City - The Gaming Globe

19 Year-old Gamer Elected Mayor - GamePolitics

Upcoming Sony Produced PS3/PSN/PSP Games - Evil Avatar

Ben Patterson at Yahoo! Tech has put together a wishlist of improvements he’d like to see either for the Xbox 360 or future iterations of it.

Better cooling system: Overheating seems to be the main bringer of the Red Ring of Death-the dreaded ring of red light that signals a major hardware failure. The upcoming 65nm graphics chips for the 360 should go a long way toward keeping new consoles cool, but a top-to-bottom redesign of the entire cooling system is also in order. Which brings us to…

Quieter cooling fans and optical drives: The Xbox 360 must be one of the loudest gadgets I’ve ever owned (well, the 20-pound, 4MB hard drive my dad bought in the mid-80s might take the cake). After spending some time with my relatively whisper-quiet PS3, I’d gladly fork over more cash for an Xbox that doesn’t roar like a jet engine, especially when the DVD drive is spinning. And that reminds me…

A slot-loading optical drive: Again, I’ve been pretty happy with the slot-loading drive on the PS3-why not one for the Xbox 360 (er, 540)? It would definitely be a step up from the flimsy DVD tray in the current model, which tends to get jammed in the closed position. And speaking of optical drives…

A built-in Blu-ray drive: This one will probably have to wait for the Xbox 720, circa 2012 or so, but still, it would be a nice touch.

Built-in Wi-Fi: From the start, Microsoft’s $100, snap-on wireless adapter seemed like a rip-off. Just build Wi-Fi into the console and be done with it.

Slimmer design…maybe: I guess it would be nice, but frankly, I’d happily trade a slimmer console for all the points I just mentioned, especially since overheating has been such a thorn in the 360’s side.

I agree with his first and second suggestion whole-heartedly. In my house, my Dreamcast and 360 are in constant competition for being the loudest console, not to mention the recent RROD issue I have with my Xbox. I believe with the design of the Xbox 360 shell, they wanted to get away from the fug-ness that was the original Xbox, and I believe they did. I like the way the 360 currently looks but if a better case design coupled with a better cooling system will prevent the Xboxes from dying then I’m all for it.

The newest LEGO branded game, Indiana Jones: The Original Adventure, demo is available for download on the PC. LEGO Indiana Jones will release for the PC and Xbox 360 on June 3rd.

Part II

As I mentioned in my previous article, my Xbox received the red rings of death (RROD) and I was going to attempt at going through the normal process of calling the Xbox customer support hotline. Before I could even get the chance to make the call today, my house phone rings and I glance at the caller ID which displays: Microsoft. Normally I’d joke “Bill Gates is calling me!” but I had a feeling it had something to do with my Xbox. Turns out I was correct, it was the Microsoft Escalation Department - who already had all of my contact & account information from my previous Xbox’s death. I explained how my current Xbox died, and was told I should receive a shipping box probably by the end of next week. I asked the Microsoft representative about one of our reader’s Xbox, seeing as Microsoft had told her she had to pay to get it fixed. The rep asked me to check to see how the reader’s Xbox died and if it was anything other than RROD, then it could not be fixed for free, unless the warranty was still active. So xChickamungusx let me know how your Xbox died, and it if was RROD, then I can probably get you some assistance.

Funny, how this worked out, I totally was expecting to go through the process like everyone else - to which I do feel a bit guilty that I got another pass this time to get my Xbox fixed quickly. I am leaving my original article up with the hope that it points out the issues that Xbox 360 users are going through a) to get their Xbox 360s repaired and b) dealing with them breaking multiple times. I do appreciate the customer service I received from Microsoft today - the representative was professional and addressed all my questions. I can only hope that I will not have to deal with another RROD issue again, however, for those who are on their 6th and 13th Xbox 360 units, I wonder how much is too much.

[Related Article: Xbox 360 RROD Part I: Another One Bites The Dust]
[Related Article: Xbox 360 RROD Part III: Green Means Go]

Need help with your Xbox RROD issues? Try these tips

The Xbox 360 has become the first current generation console to break the 10 million mark in the US.

“This year will be the largest in the history of the videogame industry, with Xbox 360 leading the charge in the U.S. and abroad,” said Don Mattrick, senior Vice President of the Interactive Entertainment Business in the Entertainment and Devices Division at Microsoft. “History has shown us that the first company to reach ten million in console sales wins the generation battle. We are uniquely positioned to set a new benchmark for the industry.”

Xbox Live subscriptions also shot up, thanks in part to the release of GTA IV. Microsoft also touts having better games for their success in console sales:

Games not only sell better on Xbox 360, they play better, too: Xbox 360 has 91 titles with a Metacritic review score of 80 or higher, compared to just 22 for Wii and 50 for PS3.

[Source: Xbox.com]

According to The Consumerist, an gamer with the gamertag “the GAYERgamer” recently turned on his Xbox 360, only to find that his gamertag was banned. After calling customer support, he is told that the “greater Xbox Live community” found it offensive and therefore banned. Well if Xbox Live wants to ban anything offensive, why not the online players who shout “omgz that’s gay” every time they are killed in deathmatch? What about those who shout racist ephithets for no reason during online games? Also why not ban the sexist gamers who call females “sluts” or are sexually harrassed when they play online just because they are women? It’s for those reasons alone I mainly only play online with friends.

I agree with Xbox Live on banning the gamertag if they thought the gamertag was making fun of gays or just believed was it inappropriate content - however, it needs to be done across the board and that includes online play.

Part I

Since GTA IV came out, it would seem like the perfect time to get lots of fun gaming in. After enjoying the game for week after purchasing, my Xbox 360 freezes up on me as I’m driving Niko around in a sweet ride I had just busted into. “What’s this? Dammit, that car took me a good minute to find. No problem I’ll just reset my Xbox. GASP!” After resetting the Xbox I get the obligatory sign that your Xbox is a goner - the three red rings.

After staring at it for several days now I have the unfortunate task of trying to get my 360 repaired by the company that built it (figuratively speaking). Now after reading horror stories and finding tips on dealing with Microsoft customer service… I’m finally ready to give it a try. (more…)

Xbox 360 blogging website, 360Voice.com, will be hosting a GTA IV Community Game Night on May 16th - 18th. In addition playing with the 360Voice community, you’ll have a chance to win prizes which include a Xbox 360 game of your choice.

If you’re not a member of 360Voice, then sign up for free to see what your Xbox 360 will blog about! Be sure to add MadL1on to your watch list!

Game designer Cliffy B shows off the first scenes of Gears of War 2 gameplay. From what the video shows so far, Gears of War 2 will be bigger, better and even more bad ass!