Select Page

What every Xbox owner dreads

Aug 11, 2008 | Xbox 360

See those lights on the right? They’re red.

They are supposed to be GREEN dammit!

This is, er hem, *affectionately* known as the Red Ring of Death!!
(or RROD for short)

And it’s FAR worse than the Windows blue screen or the Apple bomb …

This is a hardware issue and means that I now have dig around for the receipt (somewhere!!),
then spend gawd-knows-how-long on the phone to Microsoft, talking to some dumb-ass chick
who will keep me on the line for about 45 minutes, all so that I can get one stupid little
reference number. Then I have to schlep all the way out to Makro and convince them to either
repair or replace the thing. Yeah … I’ve had to do this before.

So now, that’s a 100% fail rate in our house – all 3 consoles FUXORED 🙁

Rockband for Xbox 360

May 21, 2008 | Xbox 360

I’m anxiously awaiting the release of this game here in South Africa. It’s coming out in Europe on Friday, so hopefully we don’t have to wait too much longer before it hits our shelves. We’ve got Guitar Hero III, which is fabulous fun but Rockband has loads more features, what with singing and drums too! I have always, always wanted to play the drums =)

     

Rockband Features:

  • Unrivaled song library! Major record labels and leading music publishers have signed on to provide unrivaled access to master recordings and legendary rock artists – from punk, metal and alternative to classic and southern rock.
  • Rock ‘n’ Roll Never Dies! Full support for downloadable content delivers never-ending challenges.
  • Play together in your living room or across the world! Rock Band offers deep online functionality, allowing players to rock together whether they’re in Rhode Island or Reykjavik.
  • Create your own rock avatar! Mold a unique rocker using Rock Band’s character creator. Chose from gender, body shape, face, hair, clothes, tattoos and signature moves. Don’t forget to pick your specialized rockin’ instrument.
  • Drumming in the spotlight! Showcase a real drum solo with Rock Band’s freestyle drum fill windows featured in each song. Break out your own rhythm and style as anything goes!
  • Call out the crowd! Vocalists can bring the crowd to their feet during Rock Band’s freestyle vocal fill windows. Ad-lib your own words or shout to the crowd to raise the rock intensity of the performance.
  • Save your mates! Band mates can fail out of a song for poor performance, but the band still plays on. Rescue your failing mate by busting out signature moves and blistering solos to wow the crowd with showmanship.
  • Boost your bonus! Earn bonus points for your band during Rock Band’s Unison Phrase opportunities if everyone plays perfectly. A single mistake blows the phrase for everyone.

Xbox Live in SA?

May 14, 2008 | Xbox 360

I’ve just read that the next Live update is going to happen soon, although no-one knows quite when. According to Eurogamer.net, details of the update have allegedly been leaked and although most of the update features will include unimportant stuff, there are one or two interesting developments. For me, the most significant one reads: “New payment methods for international users.”

OMG!! Are we FINALLY going to be able to pay for Live access and points directly through our consoles? I’m holding fingers and toes that this is true, that it’s going to become a reality at last. I know we don’t have proper broadband here and this is the reason for Microsoft not supporting Xbox Live in South Africa, but really! At least let us pay for access and buy points directly, and in our own curreny. Having to pretend I live in the UK so I can have access to Xbox Live is a pain. Not being able to buy points has also been a headache, although I’ve recently started using www.gamepointsnow.com as they now accept credit cards online. It’s not ideal – I have to go through a bit of a lengthy process to actually get the points into my Live account, but at least it works. However, how awesome would it be to bypass all that time-consuming nonsense and be able to do it directly from my console?!

Gosh, I hope this really happens for us here in South Africa.

Bits ‘n pieces

May 9, 2008 | Gym, Movies, Websites, Xbox 360

I’ve decided not to go to gym today. I’m still behind on work and I can’t really afford to give up those 2 hours, not right now. Jeesh, all those public holidays and being sick have seriously wrecked things. I may try and get some light cardio in on the weekend, just spend 20 or 30 minutes walking on the treadmill or something, but the weather forecast is very bleak for the next couple of days and it may not be clever for me to venture out into the cold, get all hot and sweaty and then cold again, not until I’m 100% healthy … dunno. I may just dash out to buy some wood and get the fire going soon. Winter is definitely here! Time for lots of reading, movies, knitting, and snuggling of course =)

Heard a couple of rumours:

And here’s a fun website! Check it out.

Mmk, so I can’t stick around for much longer now, have to get some work killed before the kids get home from school. I’ll be back …

Bits ‘n pieces

Mar 20, 2008 | Medical, Shopping, Work, Xbox 360

Yesterday was an odd day. It started off with half my team getting stuck in the most horrendous traffic jam, spending hours on the road trying to get to work and not arriving till lunchtime. Apparently a truck on one of the highways overturned and fell onto a car, killing the 2 female occupants. What a shocking reminder of how quickly our lives can end hey? There you are, just driving into work one morning and in the blink of an eye, you’re dead. No warning, no control, no future, your life is just over … Anyway, half the city was gridlocked after that while they tried to move a crane in to lift the load off the car and remove the bodies from the wreck. Oh boy, my team was NOT in a very good mood when they eventually arrived. Who can blame them?

My mouth is still sore from my recent dental trauma and I can’t chew anything properly so breakfast was just a protein shake yesterday, after which I went to gym and nearly passed out from not having eaten enough! I made it through the hour though, just, and then picked up a smoothie with my Kauai voucher. I managed to get through loads of work yesterday and even got to do some designing again, which was a nice change =) Dinner was a peanut butter sandwich on really squishy white bread. I can’t put ANY pressure on the tooth that had the root canal treatment, so it took me ages to delicately chew my through that sarmie.

I played some poker on my Xbox 360, but didn’t do very well at all. This new game is much tougher than the last edition and it’s really hard to win (I keep getting the worst cards?!) They’ve also included some versions of the game that I dont know anything about (what’s Omaha?) so I’m stuck in those parts which is frustrating. I’ll have to Google the game names and see what I can learn. I think I’m going to try Tombraider tonight – I got the anniversary edition a while ago (an impulse splurge)  and I haven’t played it yet, been too occupied with LOST Via Domus, which I have now finished – was great fun (when the dreaded black smoke didn’t nail me!), but far too short.

Today has been good so far. Despite not having slept too well, I’ve been feeling quite strong for a change. I got through quite a bit of work this morning and I even managed to run around and do some errands I’ve been putting off for a while – boring stuff like collecting my new credit card from the bank and paying some bills. The shopping centre was like a total mad house though! Sheesh, with Easter Weekend coming up, people are shopping like the shops will never open again, it’s crazy! Why do they do that? Every year it’s the same thing and yet the shops are open on Saturday! I have to go out again just now and brave the masses – running out of food and now that the boys are on school holidays, I need a whole lot more stuff to feed them. Wish me luck …