H3-Minus 30 Hours

The Halo 3 Beta becomes available for download in 30 hours! Then I get three weeks of being taunted by American 13-year-olds who like asserted that they are better than me and that I am a homosexual. Somewhere in amongst that I'd like to think I'll be playing lots of games on Snowbound, Valhalla and High Ground (the three available maps).

My previous post was about how my Xbox 360 has started to overheat sometimes... it hasn't played up since then. But the weather's been cooler, too. I'll just hold off for a few weeks...

Oh, I ordered the Halo 3 "Cat Helmet" Edition (a.ka. "Legendary Edition")... AUD$200! I am like putty in Bungie's hands. At least I'll be putty with a cool Spartan II helmet come November. Looking forward to the midnight launch, and the ensuing two days locked up playing through the single-player campaign!

Flatmate situation: no change. Tobi's in Bali for two weeks, so I doubt he'll be researching new digs until he gets back.

Burninating!

Well, my Labor day weekend didn't go so well for my Xbox 360. Less than a month old, and it's started locking up, showing two red lights after a few hours playing Halo 2. After a few hours, I tried again - same thing. Did it again the next day after an hour in Crackdown. The rumours are true!

It runs okay at night, when the ambient temperature is lower. I've requested a repair from Xbox Support, and the process is underway... but the Halo 3 Multiplayer Beta is in 6 days! I'm going to delay sending it in until I absolutely have to.

Getting a 360 is a bit of a lucky dip. I wasn't so lucky... I got a console with a build date of October 2006; so it's got an older, noisier DVD drive and seems to have problems dispersing heat. Nothing I can do, except:

1. Put up with it
2. Get it repaired (now or after the H3 Beta)
3. Trade it for a 360 Elite!

I have my doubts about the repair. Yes MS owes it to me to ensure I have a working console (for a year). But when something goes wrong, practically right out of the box, I have visions of it breaking every 3 months... but we'll see. I'll definately be up for the 2-year Extended Warranty when it's due.

The Elite idea isn't SO crazy. It should be $750 RRP when it gets released in Aus, some time before October. Random-EB-Games-Guy told me that 360's get a trade-in value of $400. If I trade in a few games aswell, I should be able to get a brand new, recently manufactured, better console. Then mine can be someone else's problem!

Whatever I do, I'm going to ensure I get my value out of the Halo 3 Beta first! :)