I received the dreaded Red Rings of Death (RROD) when I turned my Xbox video gaming console on one day. When I saw those red lights, I felt like everything in my world dropped. First thing that popped into my mind at this moment was, "what am I going to do now? I'll be bored! It's the end of the world as I know it! I miss being a nerd!" I didn't even see this one coming. There were no warnings or indications of this. I was playing my Xbox fine the other day. Even now with the RROD, my Xbox doesn't sound any different than when it was in optimal condition. Fans are working. No beeping sounds. No unusual sounds. I used the internet to investigate what I observed with my Xbox. Microsoft's official Xbox website never told me how to specifically solve my problem. "Youtube" videos happen to show many temporary solutions, and even definite solutions. Microsoft never shows any of this. They just direct you to check indicator lights, unplug stuff, and turn something on again. It never tells you what the problem actually is. They only call the RROD a "General Hardware Failure." Ultimately, all of this leads to Microsoft taking your money for repairs on your console. I found out myself that the problem may be something about the processing chip over-heating through time. I've had a problem with my Xbox before. The Xbox I have now with the RROD is actually my second owned Xbox! But I won't get into what the first Xbox problem was that I had. Microsoft's support was no different then. Microsoft should practically say, "If you want to spend hundreds of dollars on an entertainment device that will just break on you eventually without a warranty covering workmanship, then go ahead and buy my product." I took the initiative to start the process of having Microsoft repair my Xbox console. I only did this with confidence because my Xbox was still under a three year warranty for RROD problems. Actually, I found out that my Xbox was just over its warranty time by a couple of days. Did Microsoft plan for my Xbox to secretly shutdown with the RROD problem just in time? I'm not the only one that has had this problem. Statistics say that over thirty percent of Xbox owners have had this situation happen to them before. That's plenty of people. The internet proves this because most everyone reports to the world on the internet about problems like this. I have to eventually succumb to Xbox's conspiracy, and hand them over more of my money in order to fix my Xbox. This situation is compared to simply throwing bills in the trash, or creating my own flame with my bills. If I go out and buy a brand new Xbox, it will be another unit sold in Microsoft's numbers game with Sony. Whoever sells the most units are the individuals on top of the market. Sure it's cheaper to pay Microsoft over one hundred dollars to repair my console than buy a brand new console between two hundred and four hundred dollars, but I just can't afford that right now. Not after I've bought two Xboxs in my lifetime within a five year period! I continued to feel the pain. I was already missing being that trained killer in Washington DC that is mad about his daughter's fictional death. Or what about that guy from the vault with no name that wanders the future wastelands of America in search of a way to make the world a better place? Those are all experiences that I was missing out on. My Xbox count of games played were well over three hundred games, and I loved to keep the count going month by month with my game rental service. For my Xbox's failure to stop those experiences from happening gave me the nerdy pain I've never felt before. Just sheer brilliant interactive entertainment for all us nerds out there. No worries. The amazing wife I have suggested me to try this local person she saw on one of her visits to a local flea market located in a gutted bowling alley. This local person in question claims to fix Xboxs. I had confidence that he could do it after viewing "Youtube" videos of peopling fixing their Xboxs. I knew I could have fixed my Xbox myself, but I'm too lazy to do that. Yes that's right. I also do other things besides playing video games. I wanted to give this local person a try at fixing my Xbox for me. I went over to this flea market. The Flea Market had twenty or more rooms in it. It seemed to be a bowling alley that simply had walls put down in it to create several rooms. My wife told me that the Xbox repair guy would be located in the very back of the flea market. I really wanted to bring my concealed handgun in there with me, but there was a sign on the entrance door that said, "firearms prohibited." I really wanted to get my Xbox repaired in this sketchy place, so I proceeded. It was very easy to find where this Xbox repair guy resided. There was a big yellow sign in front of his space that said, "Xbox 360 Repair". I went in there to do business thinking that I would pay no little than Microsoft would charge me for console repairs. In the end, I came out of there smiling and feeling relieved. This was because this Xbox repair would cost me no more than twenty five dollars. It would cost me this much either way because this was the basic diagnostic fee. This was the fee that would pay for the guy just to look at my Xbox to determine whether it could be repaired or not. If it could be repaired, it would be repaired, and would not cost any extra. What a good deal. Now I can look forward to gaming in Xbox greatness very soon. That Gamefly rental game I have sitting by my TV won't have to go too long before I play it. I can't wait to finally save Washington DC, and make the world a better place by purifying that radioactive water in the wastelands. Bottom line is that you should not be like me and let Microsoft rip you off with your Xbox repairs. This goes the same for Playstation owners because they also have similar problems. See if people out in town can fix your console instead of letting the company that made your console fix it. This is not any different than your car repairs. Everyone knows that it's cheaper to get your car fixed elsewhere than at the dealership that you bought the car from. Xbox Support would have cost more, and taken longer by weeks to repair my Xbox. I only had to wait a couple of days, and paid no more than twenty five dollars to get my Xbox repaired by someone local in the community. Support your local community by giving that guy at the flea market a try, then you may be gaming in no time.

First of all, I want to talk about graphics (I’m not quite sure that the word graphics would really apply to today anymore). Video games for the most part through history have been fueled by better and better graphics, and that has been one of the main things that have gotten peoples’ attention. Video Games seem to be reaching a plateau in graphics. Look at the Sony Playstation 3. It is supposed to have more than two times the graphics power of the Xbox 360, but both systems look almost identical in graphics. There isn't much else the gaming industry can do with graphics to progress the industry, except make hardware and software tweaking cater to help platforms keep track of more information at the same time (put more polygons in a character's face to show more of the realistic bends and motions). I think the only thing left in graphics that can help progress the video gaming industry would be Motion Capture (which greatly helps animation, which was one of the main factors for Nintendo and its games for the fun factor), and Artificial Intelligence (great example of this is in a new game for Xbox 360 called Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion). The only way to truly continue the progress of the Video Gaming Industry is with great original gameplay, not like hollywood and commercialism that newer games display. Most of the games I play, I rent and never buy them. That is because these games are short and sweet, and have no immersive gameplay to keep me playing. Just like going to the movie theater and watching a really good movie, but one that you wouldn’t want to watch again. There are only a few next-generation games I can say that have the gameplay I'm talking about and give me the desire to buy them, and those are games like Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion, Project Gotham Racing 3 and a new title, "FEAR". It does come down to what a person likes however and one thing these days that help gameplay is online play. Refering to an Itunes Podcast from Gamespot.com (Designer Threads episode June 29, 2006 featuring Ron Gilbert), the Gaming Industry is not like the movie industry when it comes to Independent Producers. Look at a movie like “Napoleon Dynamite”. It was a movie made by an independent source for only $250,000 , but was a huge success. The same does not go for Gaming when it comes to Independent Developers. This is because people can see a difference between games made by Independent Developers and ones made by Huge Gaming Companies like Electronic Arts (which is actually a Third-Party game developer). Most gamers lose interest with independent developed games and get distracted by the “Big” games out there. When it comes to movies, you can’t tell the difference because a movie like “Napoleon Dynamite” looks the same as the next Hollywood movie that might cost over a million dollars. Movies is a media that people have gotten very used to and understand, so there is no need to make movies with special effects to be on the box office charts. They make movies in ways that they were made over two decades ago. People don’t understand video games like this, so Independent Video Game developers suffer, because games have unfortunately been tuned by technology. Xbox Live has done a good job supporting Independent Game Developers with the Xbox Live Arcade, and soon the Nintendo Wii might do the same. I don't know how it will be for new gamers that are starting their gaming with the next-generation games, but these are my thoughts, being a veteran gamer since the 80s with the original Nintendo NES and Sega Genesis. I think it is a good idea that the Nintendo Wii (new Nintendo) will let people download any and all games ever created for Nintendo and Sega, and that Xbox Live is already doing so. I think that it is great that the traditional games have not died and are coming back (like 80s music still playing on the radio). These are all my thoughts, and hopefully these thoughts will go out there on the World Wide Web and make some kind of difference if a very little one. I can understand that Video Games are an industry like any other, and the way they progress is out of my hands and in the hands of the people that deal with the money, but I can’t deny at least hoping for a future of better gameplay, just like the old days when I was a kid. -Thanks for listening, Greg My Website: www.myspace.com/tango_buster

Most Anticipated Xbox 360 Game: Gears of War (Sept 2006) Gears of War is in my opinion the most anticipated Xbox 360 game right now. A lot of original games have been coming out because of the Xbox 360's new technology, and this has to be the most original yet. This action game looks to have the best thrills out of any game I've known yet, and offers a mixture of different genres in one including horror. Check the game out at Gamespot.com (the site I use for all my news) (my username on this site is sausn2002). Another thing, I have a video link of the game that goes to Youtube.com Link to "Gears of War" on Gamespot.com: http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/gearsofwar/index.html Below is a video of "Gears of War" from YouTube.com: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGmypqrBCzU

Video Game History 101 Heres alot of links from a free enclyclopedia website that will cover everything to do with some deep gaming knowledge and history, which alot of new gamers probably don't know about: -Term: Console Wars (describes what this term means and how it pertains to the video gaming market) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Console_wars -Seventh Generation Game Consoles (describes the current generation of game consoles, which is considered to not be here yet, which is why Xbox 360 is considered the first of the "next generation" consoles) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seventh-generation_video_game_console -Third Generation Game Consoles (Describes the "first" modern era of video gaming. Most gamers started gaming at this time) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_video_game_consoles_%28third_generation%29 -Video Game Crash of 1983 (If it wasn't for Nintendo during this event, video games would not be as big of an industry as it is now or even not exist) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_crash_of_1983 Theres much more on this site, but I can't put all links on here. You'll have to explore yourself. -Greg

I like Microsoft's "Gamertag" concept for the online component of Xbox 360. I've always played my games non-competitevely and by myself or with friends, just basking in the goodness of video gaming technology (or these days now defined as "recreational" gaming). I'm now turned onto the Gamertag, and I have made an online gaming persona with the Xbox 360. I think because of this new "Gamertag" concept, Microsoft has a great chance of winning the "Seventh Generation" war of consoles (with Nintendo's Wii and Sony's Playstation 3). After playing games for a great number of years, since the days of the Third Generation game consoles, mainly the Nintendo and Sega Genesis, I get to this point and find it hard to be refreshed by video games when I've "seen it all", but Xbox 360's Gamertag formula has brought me back to the beginning when I was immersed in gaming and couldn't wait to see what the industry would have in store for the future. Now, gaming is a recognized sport of sorts, and I'm engaged in it. I'm no longer a recreational player, but now a professional player, being defined as winning through all diversities and wanting to gain that gamerscore. I will not always be able to play games all the time (because I have a life, and college to take, and no way in heck will create a dangerous addiction like what is all over the news these days), but whenever I play them, I have something to shoot for, which makes it much more fun, and can compare my results with other gamers. Believe me, theres no way I can obtain the highest gamerscore. Last time I checked, one of the Top 3 (a guy from Japan) has a gamerscore of like 35,000 or higher. Which would be higher now. -sausn2002 = my gamertag: Aluminum Lancer