You would think that a company as enormous as Microsoft would put of better products... Bethesda came correct with The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind on the ol' X-Box (4 years playing...), so I was kinda hyped when I heard that the next installment was going to be on the 360. I eventually get one and am fired up to get down with some The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Now this franchise is open-ended, so the game can go on forever, doing whatever, going where ever, just like the previous one. I would put mad hours into the game, and yeah, I had to use some cheat skills here and there. Shiiiiiiiit, that game is insane type hard if you trying to play normal. I don't have the patience for that.
The game starts acting up, glitching, and freezing... just like the previous one. I try restarting, cleaning the disc, making sure the 360 isn't vibrating, it's not, but it continues to act the same. I read online that there were problems with the disc drive on the 360, or something like that, and it applied to the earlier models, which was exactly what I had. I was like forget sending that thing in, I didn't have the funds. So I tried some of the suggestions that were posted online. I didn't get much established with this other than frustrating the hell out of myself and getting the horrendous "Red Ring of Death". If you have owned an X-Box 360 at some point in your life then you are aware of what I'm talking about. This is when 3 of the 4 green lights that surround the power button on the 360 are glowing RED and blinking. This usually means that it's time to take Ol' Yeller 'round back, but in this case, it was just me screwing around. Aside from the Oblivion game freezing everything else worked fine.
Now let's flash-forward about a year or so. Word in the video game world is about this new game from Bethesda; Fallout 3. Aw yeah, if it's anything like The Elder Scrolls series then I gotta get my mitts on a copy. I go pre-order that bitch and occupy myself with some other rpg's (Role Playing Game) until it arrives. When I get the word that my copy had arrived I couldn't get to Gamestop fast enough. Shyt son, I was like that dude in the Burger King commercial that jumped out of his still moving car cause he couldn't wait to get in there for that breakfast meal. I get home and am so excited that I can't even play the game at the moment. It takes me about a day to calm down and get started.
This game absolutely blows me away! From the storyline, environment, gameplay, to the music. It reminded me a lot of Bioshock. I'm playing this game now, and I have to take breaks every now and then 'cause the PTSD has me experiencing things on a more life-like level than other gamers, thus the reason I don't engage in any of these actual combat-type games. It will become just a little too real for me, heart pounding, sweating, shortness of breath, etc. I remember laughing maniacally like the mad scientists in the movies- lightning flashes and all- when I came across a cheat technique that allowed me to level my skills quicker. Then I hit that damn level cap, sonofabitch. The game was still pretty fun, and I love exploring and taking out bad guys with a headshot. Until, one day...
I started the game up in order to show someone how badass it was when suddenly the game started acting up. It was like when your DVD is dirty or scratched and the picture looks like some of the squares are tripping out. I stop it, clean the disk, and try again, same thing. When I finally do get it to stop looking all funny the damn thing freezes on me. This happens EVERY time from that point on. Then comes the cherry on top, or should I say, the cherry on the power button. The "Red Ring of Death". You see it and you know that it's Game Over. Shyt, what's the use of playing anything else on the 360 if I can't play any of my beloved Bethesda games? I decide to give something else a try. That something else turned out to be the infamous "symbol of nerdhood gaming", The World of Warcraft.
I had played some games before in my day, but this motherfather took the cake! I understand how people become addicted to it. The game is just THAT awesome! I'm not going to go into details, but I became a WoW addict, once putting in 18 hours of play in one sitting, ignoring everything else around me. The curse was finally one day broken and I was able to step away from the monitor and resume living in the "actual world".
Shortly before I was able to step away from WoW I began to see commercials on television advertising the newest game from Square-Enix; Final Fantasy XIII. Alright, now anyone that knows anything about RPG games KNOWS that Final Fantasy VII was one of the greatest games to grace mankind. I think the developers though were like, "You know what? Final Fantasy VII is such a mindblowingly great game, how about we make a follow-up game that's pure crap, with stupid card games that are impossible to win, and have the player launching their PlayStation across a field?" Those cats are probably the same ones who called up Rockstar Games and told them to add stupid ass helicopter missions to the Grand Theft Auto Games.
So, I'm hearing about this Final Fantasy XIII, seeing the commercial looking like this might be the second coming of Christ, and I'm like I gotta get the 360 up and running for this. So I take the advice of one of my bro and contact Microsoft about getting the necessary repairs done. I fill out all the little online ish that I need to, pay the repair amount, $100, since it is past warranty now (slick bastards), print out the little postage info, and take the 360 to the nearest UPS store. When I get to the store though, the lady there is like "Do you have such and such?", and I'm like "damn", 'cause she wasn't even questioning what it was, where it's going, or anything. I ask her if she gets many X-Boxes for repairs and she's said that it was common (Damn you Microsoft).
I forgot how much time passed, just under two weeks I think and I get a package from Laredo, TX. The 360 has returned. I open the box and there's a note which in my opinion stated that my 360 was an outdated piece of crap and they just replaced it with a newer refurbished one. Naw, I think they just have a stash of refurbished ones on standby in order to keep the turnaround date from taking too long. I plugged that bad boy in with the thought that I would finally be able to play TESIII: Oblivion again. This was not to be. The same thing as before happened again with the game freezing...damn. Ok, well let's try Fallout 3...works fine, but it's been so long since playing it that I lost interest. So I head out to pick up a copy of FFXIII.
Ok, firstoff, who in the HELL decided to make the first boss of the game super-hard. The game was crazy, graphics, storyline, music, all that! Was kinda annoyed with the linear storyline in the beginning and then the annoying repetition of the point I played up to afterwards. I quickly grew tired of impossibly difficult creatures and having to switch damn fighting positions/jobs. I'm grateful the VA meds kicked in and caused me to lose interest in all forms of video games.
After this the X-Box saw usage as an occasional DVD player, until... one day... I go to turn it on and I'm greeted by an old familiar "friend". The ol' Red Ring of Death hath returned! Attempts at returning the ring to it's happy green resulted in nothing but failure. Finally I just gave up on it. I don't get how such an innovative piece of technology can become a total piece of crap in no time at all and a Nintendo from 1985 will still run like a champ with the occasional blowing into the console and rapping the cartridge against your hand. NES FTW, 360=FAIL. How soon will complaints about the connect start pouring in?
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