Revenge of the RROD!

Microsoft . . . you're breaking my heart. Sometimes I feel like a battered housewife that just keeps coming back for more helpings of emotional abuse. Why do I keep putting up with this? This is not the first time I've had the much feared "Red Ring of Death" (RROD) happen to me. It's not even the second time. This is the third instance of this problem for me. And I just bought the XBOX 360 Elite this past August. I've had it for less than 6 months and already this fatal flaw in the gaming console has shown up.

Thankfully, this is not the only XBOX 360 that I have sitting around the house. I still have my original, twice RROD'ed, XBOX 360. And while I know I can get the Elite one fixed at no cost because of the extended warranty that Microsoft placed on the machine because of all the RROD failures, it still bothers me. What happens if my backup fails while my main machine is out for repair?!

When is Apple coming out with a gaming console already. I bet you that shit would never fail.

XBOX 360 Boxed Up

Today, I send out my XBOX 360 for repair. I had the red-ring-of-death hit my most favorite gaming console at the beginning of the week, and Microsoft finally delivered the packaging needed to send it to their repair center in Texas. Why Texas? I don't know, but it seems to be a pretty popular place to get your shit repaired, specially if it has to do something with technology. I remember the last couple of times that I had to send in my Apple iBook (before I got the intel-based MacBook) for repairs for a faulty motherboard, it went to Texas as well. I don't know what they do over there. Maybe strap it on to a mechanical bull and the rest is Texas-magic. But whatever they do, I hope they can get it back to me before the 4th of November. Partly because I miss playing games, and Gamefly just delivered "Beautiful Katamari", a game both my wife and I had been dying to play since we downloaded the demo, but also because I will be going out of town for a week, and when they return the XBOX 360, they need a signature to confirm delivery. If I'm not here, I can't sign for it. And that would be pretty fucking inconvenient if they have to send it back to Texas because I wasn't around. But, I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Hopefully it can be back here and hooked up within the next couple of weeks.

It might be a good idea to call up Microsoft to see if they can arrange a delivery either before or after I come back. That's something worth thinking about. But now, I must venture out into the world so I can find me one of those UPS stores, so I can send the broken bitch to get fixed.

Red Ring of Death

Yes, my XBOX 360, my favorite appliance of all (fuck you refridgerator!), has red-ringed on me today. After a year and a half of relatively trouble-free next-gen gaming, it finally showed its design flaw. I'll be out of gaming commission for the next 3 - 4 weeks while Microsoft sends me a box to send it to them via UPS so they can repair the console. I guess I will be spending the next few weeks watching more television, reading up on books I bought a couple of months ago but never got around to reading, and generally missing "Halo 3" and all the other games I currently have rented (through Gamefly) or own. This sucks, but at least this particular red-ring-of-death problem is covered under the warranty, and Microsoft is picking up the bill on the repair. I so want to go out and buy one of those black "Elite" versions with the bigger hard drives, but I'm broke, and I've grown quite attached to this console. *Sigh* C'est la vie.