My Xbox 360 sleeps with the fishes...

It started this afternoon when I tried to play a little over my lunch hour. About forty-five minutes into my session, my console made a little buzzing sound and froze. I had to go back to work, so I turned it off and left.

I fired it up tonight and it took about 15 minutes before it did the little buzz/freeze thing. But this time, when I turned it back on, I got the dreaded Red Rings of Death.

Luckily, I bought the little service plan from Best Buy. If they have any in stock, I'm exchanging it tomorrow. If not, I'm probably just going to send it in and get an Elite. Stay tuned...

I probably should have finished it about three days ago, but there was ONE King Richard flag that I couldn't find and my anal-retentive side wouldn't let me just go on. I went around the world about four times before I finally found it. At any rate, I finished an awesome game and unlocked all 1,000 achievement points. The review should be up sometime later this evening.

***EDIT***

Two new reviews...Assassin's Creed, and I finally got around to writing the Oblivion review. Enjoy!

Well, I've finished and reviewed Rumble Roses. It falls in the "meh" category. The review should be up anytime. I've also decided, since I've done just about everything available in the retail game and since The Shivering Isles is considered separate, that I'm going to consider Oblivion finished. I'll be reviewing it soon.

I've also cashed in for the second of two Xbox 360 games available on club.live.com. In approximately 12 weeks, I should have Kameo: Elements of Power to go along with PGR3in my mailbox.

Speaking of free games, it looks like I'm going to cash in for the four 360 games in the Coke rewards program. I've been holding out in the hopes that they would restock the Wii, but it doesn't appear likely before this phase ends. I'm stockpiling codes for the next phase (if there is one). Thanks again to all of you who've helped out. I really appreciate it!

That's all for now. I hope everyone has a great holiday season, no matter what (or if) you celebrate. I'm about six hours away from three days off, so I'm pretty stoked. Take care, everyone!

It's been awhile since I've done anything other than game updates on here. I think it's high time for some boring, random musings, don't you?

-The My Coke Rewards thing has been a success...sort of. I've got the points necessary to getthe Wii that used to be listed. Unfortunately, it's still in the "used to be listed" category. I've heard that they've extended the program though, so maybe it'll come back when Nintendo can catch their production up with the demand.

-Speaking of free game stuff, in approximately 12 weeks, I'll be the proud owner of Project Gotham Racing 3 (X360). Why twelve weeks? Because apparently that's how long it takes for Microsoft to send it out. The short story is that I've played enough stupid word games to rack up 2,500 points (or "tickets", as it were), which is what the game costs. They also have Kameo: Elements of Power and a wireless 360 controller up for grabs on there. If you've got some extra time on your hands, try this... club.live.com

-My 360 is currently not getting along with the internet. When the good folks at my ISP set up my stuff, they didn't have a router in stock. It wasn't a big deal, so I didn't really pursue it.Then I got my 360. I had to start unplugging my computer and plugging in my 360 whenever I wanted to play online. Well, the modem has stopped assigning my 360 IP addresses, so now it refuses to connect to the internet. My sister's boyfriend has suggested a fix...we're going to see if that works tonight because Assassin's Creed is calling me (which I realize is not on Live, but with updates and all that jazz...). If this doesn't work, back to Rumble Roses with me (bleh).

-I've waited until all the hubbub died down to weigh in on the whole Gerstmann thing. To be honest, I've never read a review done by the staff here. If I can't decide for myself whether or not to purchase a game (which rarely happens), I'll check their scores, compare that to other media sources to see what the general professional consensus is, take into consideration the armchair reviewer's opinion, and then make a decision based upon that group of factors. I've spent enough time on this planet to know that anything is up for grabs to the highest bidder.I've also worked in advertising for a radio station. A media source, regardless of what it is,will do anything short of blatant lyingin order to keep the advertising money rolling in. If that's why Mr. Gerstmann got fired, them's the breaks. It's a shady, crappy thing to do. But it's the way of the world. Everything you watch, see, listen to, play is affected by the same thing. But, since it affected something so near and dear to so many people here, there is a massive outcry. At any rate, I've made a bunch of friends here and genuinely enjoy the community, so I'm going to stay put.

Well, that's about it from here. I'm betting I'm going to wind up with a couple more games for Christmas next week and I'm trying to figure out how to turn the massive pile of swag I hauled home from my dad's this weekend into either Rock Band or the beginnings of a PS3. That's all for now. Take it easy and have a happy holiday season everyone.

Wow...it's been almost three months since I've written anything in here. It's about time I made a mess, huh?

Alas, it will not happen today. It's currently 2:30 am and I just finished The History Channel: Civil War on the 360. And I do mean FINISHED. I played through twice in order to unlock all fifty achievements. The review will probably be up sometime tomorr...er...after I sleep.

*EDIT* Review's up. While I consider the game to be an easy bunch of achievements overall, the playthrough on hard difficulty landed it, on average, as a hard game. Either way, it wasn't very good.

Well, there's good news and there's bad news...

The good news is that I now have 3,720 points out of the 6,250 needed for the Nintendo Wii on the My Coke Rewards website. To all of you who have sent me codes, thanks again! You've all been a big help.

Unfortunately, this leads to the bad news. As bamafan3414 so kindly pointed out (thanks for peeing in my pool, man...:P ), the Nintendo Wii is no longer listed among the available rewards (neither is the DS, for that matter). A little bit of panicked research told me that the items were no longer in stock.

Apparently, this has happened before. But either way, I need to rethink my strategy. I'm not convinced that they will restock again. If they don't, I've got nearly 4,000 points with which to do something.

That said, I did notice for the first time that they have a few Xbox 360 games listed. Nothing special, but none that I have either...

Open Season-1,250 points
Import Tuner Challenge-1,500 points
Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII-1,500 points
Over G Fighters-1,500 points.

Like I said, they're not exactly triple-A titles. But they're logical since I actually own a 360 as opposed to cashing the points in for a game on a box I as yet don't have. And I'm going to have to think of an alternative prize (or prizes, as the case may be) to spend all these points on in the event that the Nintendo items aren't restocked.

But, as I've said before, thanks to all for the help you've given. While it's starting to look like a moot point, I appreciate it nonetheless. I'll obviously still accept the points if you want to take the time to send them, but it's no longer a high priority thing.

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Hey, Oblivion players!!! Does anyone have any suggestions for beating Will-o-the-Wisps with a melee fighter? My Destruction skill is crap and if I try to hack at them, they just suck me dry. Ideas?

After getting to the last three missions and having the entire save file glitch on me, getting on Xbox Live and updating the game, and then playing through it all over again, I finally finished Saints Row at about 12:30 AM last night (this morning?). Then I ventured into the multiplayer game and spent about an hour dying. Overall, pretty fun. The review will be up sometime this evening.

That said, if anyone has Saints Row and wants to play some multiplayer, let me know. That hour I spent was the first online multiplayer anything I'd ever played, so I'm pretty awful at it. But if you need some achievements and some fresh meat to help you obtain them, I'd be happy to get myself killed a bunch to help you out!

************EDIT************

Review's up...I ran into this little XBL game called Catan. Kinda threw my schedule a bit out of whack...enjoy!

I had originally intended to update this once a month, but it's been a busy summer for me and I haven't gotten a chance to do it for awhile.

First, I really want to thank those of you that have sent me codes. Every point counts, and you've helped me a bunch. Thanks again!

As of today, I have 2,316 points out of the 6,250 necessary to win the Wii. It's been a couple of days since I last calculated it, but at last check I needed to average approximately 23 points per day from now until the contest ends on January 31, 2008. I should mention that I will undoubtedly get a free gaming device out of this either way...they have a DS Lite available for 3,250 points. There are also a few select games available (which I was not sure about at first), but not many.

So, as always, any help is greatly appreciated. If you drink Coke products and don't use the points, feel free to PM me with the codes!
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In other news, I have recently (and quite belatedly) joined Xbox Live. My Gamercard (complete with laughably low score) is over there. Add me if you want, but please be sure to mention that you're from GameSpot. I have a bad habit of denying invitations from people I don't know.

My Xbox 360/PS3 decision very quickly became a toss-up between the Pro and Elite versions of the Xbox 360. I decided to go with the Pro after I realized that the major reason I was holding out for the Elite was the fact that it was black. Once I made that choice, I went out and bought a Pro and am now thoroughly enjoying Saints Row (which I've had since the day it came out...:roll: ).

I also purchased a new TV on which to play my games. I upgraded from a failing 20" flatscreen to a 27" SD flat screen. I actually caught a deal on it...it was the floor model, had a couple cosmetic damage spots, and no remote. So I got a $300 TV for approximately $215. And since I've been thinking about a two-TV set-up, it's a great start toward that end.

Now, here's a question for anyone who can answer it. Does anyone have any suggestions for racing steering wheel/pedal setups for the PlayStation or Xbox? I've found that after playing Gran Turismo 3 and 4 with the Logitech Driving Force Pro that I can't play sim-racing games without a steering wheel. I'm also pretty sure that the wheel I've got is pretty much better than anything out there for the PS1 or Xbox. But anything that's even close would be good enough. Thanks for the help, folks!

I have a choice to make.

You see, a week ago, someone crashed into the back of my truck while it was parked in front of my house. Because the person who decided that my truck was a pinball bumper didn't stick around to own up to his mistake, I'm out $500 (gotta pay the deductible, after all). But I'm still receiving a significant amount of money. I've found a suitable replacement for approximately one quarter of the amount of money I'm going to receive.

That said, I've decided it's time for me to join the new generation in gaming. Question is, which direction am I going to go? The Wii is out; partially because I still can't find them, and partially due to the My Coke Rewards experiment that I am now conducting. This leaves the PS3 and Xbox 360. Here are the factors I'm looking at for each one...

PS3

-I'm thinking that I should maybe get the most expensive console out of the way when I have plenty of funds.
-Metal Gear Solid 4, Grand Theft Auto IV, Gran Turismo 5...all new installments of favorite series (I realize that GTAIV is comingout for the 360, but since I have all the other GTAs on Sony consoles, it kind of feels proper to continue the series on Sony consoles).
-I can't find 360 Elites anywhere, and that's the model I want.

Xbox 360

-Way more games that interest me right now.
-Cheaper (even the Elite).
-Easier to build a semi-large inventory due to the fact that there are Platinum Hits titles currently available.

So, in which direction do I go? PS3 or Xbox 360? Do I get the big black obelisk or do I wait until I can find the Elite I'm looking for? I'm open to opinions, suggestions, debate.