The old Xbox 360 will shut off to prevent itself from overheating, too. It flashes two red rings instead of three, and when you turn it back on it explains that it shut itself off to protect itself from the heat. I've had this happen to me before when I had my Xbox 360 in my entertainment center, playing GTA4 in the summer without the AC on.

On another note, I wonder if the new 360 supports the old HD-DVD drive that he's probably watching those movies on... :P

You could probably hang on to that hardware. I still fire up some games on my old PC I built back in 2005 with a 3.2GHz P4, 2GB DDR400, and a GeForce 6800 GT and it runs most things okay, although not up to anyone here's standards. Yours has a much faster CPU so I think you should be alright for a while.

I think half the reason Microsoft released the re-designed Xbox 360 is to break away from the bad image of the old one, so... I hope there won't be as much RRoD.

Portal 2 is listed under EA's booth because EA is publishing the game. Valve is the developer.

I'm hoping against hope that a version of CS Source or Black Mesa makes it on the 360. I would crap out of my mouth in excitement.hillelslovak

I'm thinking the same thing. I don't see why they have yet to release CS: Source on the 360. The latest CS:S beta adds achievements and killcams and such, which makes it a little more appropriate for the 360. Since the update has to be due in the next few months, it seems like prime time to announce CS:S for the 360, hopefully as a DLC.

It seems kind of weird saying this, but... The Orange Box.

I was a devout PC gamer for years and Half-Life 2 has always been my favorite video game, period. Since my PC is out of commission I picked up The Orange Box on the 360 and despite the pile of other 360 games I have I've probably gotten more enjoyment and play time out of The Orange Box than any of the others, so I would say it's probably my favorite 360 game.

Valve has definitely confirmed they're going to be at E3. Originally they were supposed to be hosting a Portal 2 event, but they're saying there's still a Portal-related surprise planned.

Even though Episode 3 is starting to look like a pipe dream, if Valve makes this the third consecutive year since Episode 2 without any word of the game, I'm going to be a lot more pissed about the fact that they managed to release an entire new IP and a cheap sequel in the time since (Left 4 Dead).

I usually have it on. I mostly play for fun these days, and as an ex-PC gamer aiming with a controller can drive me crazy.

I hate how ridiculously serious it often is. I'm usually really deterred from getting into multiplayer games because there's such a high barrier of entry. COD4/MW2 is just about the most off-putting game for newcomers because everyone else seems to play the game religiously, and you die so f!@#ing quickly it takes hours of gameplay just to figure out the map, much less what you're supposed to be doing. Much less getting a kill.

Few games pull first impressions off very well. I eased into Team Fortress 2 really quickly because the game doesn't revolve around killing endlessly--there are fun things to do and the maps are neat and relatively safe to explore. I never made it past a few matches in Halo 3 because the maps are huge, don't make any sense, and everyone else is already a frickin' professional.

With the Logitech Z-5500 Digital kit I'm pretty sure you have to get RCA couplers to extend the length of the speaker cables. Logitech used to use regular speaker wire on their older high end kits like the Z-680s and the Z-560s, but now they use those annoying RCA plugs. You can pick the couplers up for cheap at radioshack and probably Best Buy or some other major electronics retailer.

As far as the control unit goes, there's no easy way to extend the length. It uses a D-sub connector but I don't think it's a standardized number of pins. Also, those cables don't get a lot of range so it might not even work if you do make your own wire.