Xbox Goodness

Just realised I forgot to mention this (tut!)...when the box arrived from Frankfurt, bearing my Xbox 360 (repaired), it didn't actually contain my xbox at all...instead, it was a brand new one, complete with extended warranty and a free Xbox Live voucher!

Heard something very nasty about Sony the other day (after the "day the earth stood still"), turns out, if your PS3 has the "yellow light of death" and is out of warranty, they charge you £119 and send you someone else's old reconditioned console... :(

Microsoft 1 Sony 0

So near, and yet so far...

Oh how maddening is this? My Xbox left the UPS office in Brussels at 9am this morning and arrived during lunchtime (at 12:56 to be precise) in Barking - so basically, if I look out my window I can probably see the depot where it is currently sitting...I suppose there's just a *chance* they can get it Redhill today, but most likely it will be tomorrow... :(

Xbox Fixed!

Wowie! My Xbox only set off to Frankfurt (to Xbox hospital) at lunchtime on Monday and it's already on it's way back, all better (and with an extended warranty for bonus points)!!

Can't wait! :D

(UPS tracking page - Excited tapping of F5, F5, F5, F5, F5, F5, F5, F5, F5 etc.) ;)

Xbox 360 Red Ring of Death

Wah... :(

It's been happening for a while now, slump down onto my bean bag and poke the power button anticipating a nice bit of batarang action around Gotham City or perhaps throwing a few chain lightning bolts around Stonehelm and instead of the boot up routine three of the little lights around the power button flash annoyingly at me in a dismal red...I tut and hit it twice again to turn it off and back on and after a heartbeat the greens merrily cycle and the Xbox starts up normally (happy mayhem and evil cackling then commencing)...but Saturday last saw the end of my goon bashing and the suspension of my channeling the awesome power of mother nature...after at least twenty attempts, my pout getting bigger and bigger as my crest fell I was finally forced to accept that my Xbox had finally and fatally succombed to the infamous "Red Ring of Death"...

After an uncomfortable half an hour (trying to keep Thomas happy while) struggling to remember what ancient email account I twinned to my gamertag (and what the password was), I finally managed to register my xbox (about 4 years late), and wincing as I submitted my repair request (on a screen showing in a familiar red colour the words "Warranty Expired") to Microsoft in anticipation of a large bill...What popped up on the receipt page was both a shock and a very pleasant surprise - the amount they were going to charge me for the repair was (*gasp*) 0.00 GBP.

From there on, things only continued to improve (yes, odd I know, considering this post is about a broken gaming console) the email that arrived shortly afterwards told me to box up the Xbox not in it's original packaging (for some reason probably to do with dishonest appropriation with the intent to permanently deprive the original owner) slap on a return label (also sent on an email) and call UPS to arrange for (wait for it) FREE SHIPPING to the Xbox hospital for poorly consoles (which is in Frankfurt, just in case you were wondering)!

It turns out that Microsoft has taken this issue so seriously that in 2006 they put aside One Beeeeeeeeelion Dollars to combat the problem (or just enough for either $100 worth of shipping and repairs for every single Xbox 360 ever made, or to completely replace 1 in 3)...

Cherry on the top? My next door neighbour is going to stay with his Gran for half term and she has a Wii, so he's not using his Xbox... ;)