So my friend got an Xbox Arcade for his birthday. He wanted to use it primarily as a Media Center Extender, so the Arcade SKU made sense. When he opened it and tried to set it up, however, he discovered that the power cable they provided was not compatible with the Xbox SKU he’d received. It could literally not be plugged in (there was a difference in the middle section of the cable that didn’t match the middle section of the socket on the Xbox unit).
We took the Xbox back to the Big Box retailer and customer service told us it was the second one they’d had returned for that reason (I forgot to ask in how long, but it was in the rep’s recent memory).
There as no other Arcade SKU in stock, so we “upgraded” the Pro SKU, which had the same power cable as the Arcade, but a different socket on the Xbox unit which accepted it just fine (we checked in-store before leaving with it).
Seriously, by whose command did they build this frakking thing?
Eyes-on ASUS first gaming desktop: ARES CG6150 - Engadget
Were still waiting for the official press release, but thats ASUS first gaming desktop attempting to intimidate you from the CeBIT floor. The ARES CG6150 is said to offer “breathtaking performance in a menacing armor-cladded case.” Well see. One things for sure, theyve taken more than a few design hints from Alienware. Republic of gamers, unite.
Microsoft has more money than, well, any non-celestial being, which is great news for Xbox users, because they’re going to need it. If the failure rate wasn’t bad enough, adding WiFi (via the dongle), a decent-sized hard disk (for HD downloads, ‘natch), an HD-DVD soon-to-be-released BD-DVD (via external device), and (do they even have an option for?) Blue Tooth quickly prices an Xbox beyond even the hefty (and incredibly subsidized) PS3 asking prices.
Add in the failure rate, and even the compelling Windows Media, Zune, and other extender/integration features don’t make it a no-brainer purchase (though the games are admittedly the strongest in the industry — only so often can we play Wii Sports before jabbing the Wii-mote through our own eye-socket).
An inside source talks up what went wrong with Xbox 360 reliability - Paul’s SuperSite blog
A few interesting assertions from this interview:The failure rate for the Xbox 360 is about 30 percent. Newer versions fail at a rate of about 10 percent, though that is still too high.There’s no way to know when or if your Xbox 360 will fail: Most fail early, but even a particularly demanding game could put it over the edge.The failures are a direct result of Microsoft rushing the 360 to market in order to beat Sony.While a vertical Xbox 360 could be knocked over, that set up is “safer,” thermally, than leaving it horizontal, as it provides more surface area for cooling.External fans that draw power from the 360 power supply do more harm than good.The next generation Xbox “3″ is still years away. But Microsoft will release new and more efficient Xbox 360 designs every year or so to lower manufacturing costs.
If true, then bravo indeed. However, the magazine should make a point of getting these producers games anyway, even if later, and including them in a special review section all their own…
Journalism: 3 Companies Bar EGM From Coverage Following Poor Reviews
In his editorial column in the latest issue of EGM, editor Dan Hsu has named three companies that, thanks to negative reviews coverage, have stopped submitting products to the magazine. Those he names are Ubisoft, Sonys sports game division and Midways Mortal Kombat team. While theres always been a healthy dose of scepticism surrounding advertiser and publisher pressure on gaming press particularly in light of recent events, I cant remember the last time a major commercial publication came out and publicly named names like this. Bravo, Dan.
