Devil, I would seriously replace it.  I had something similar (different error or just a blank screen) where a reboot would fix it and I got my return unit back and I haven't had the problem since.  They really have a quick turnaround on the units and I wasn't without it for very long.

This was one of my most anticipated launch titles (which of course didn't make launch).  Then I played the demo.  That killed any hopes for me.  Maybe Burnout Revenge will be good?  I didn't play any other the versions on the other consoles, so even if it was just a port with better graphics, I suppose it would be new to me.

I have it and it is very fun.  I played multi a little bit and enjoyed it.  I would be up for some multi.  Gamertag is The Grue.

As an update to this, I got a new XBox sent back to me yesterday and so far so good.  The turnaround was really quick on it.  I sent it in last Friday and UPS tried to deliver it ot me on Wednesday, though nobody was home.  So, I got it yesterday, but should have gotten it on Wed.  Pretty darn quick and so far the thing has booted up like a champ.  I only made two attempts at it where I had long cooldowns.  One was when I first hooked it up and the other was this morning.  I played Kameo for a bit last night and it never locked up or ran hot or anything (not that my old one did either).

Just did the water boss battle and I just don't get what was so hard about it.  I beat her the first time I tried and in fact, I got rid of two of the orbs on the tentacles on my first sinking of the boss.  I was all prepared to be annoyed by the fight and it just never happened.

I have played all the handheld Castlevania games and I give the nod to DoS.

Anyone know if there's any criteria for making residents stay or is it random timing that they move in and out?

If you can catch themwhile they are just packed up to move you can talk to them and beg them to stay and they have in my experience.  However, if you don't talk to them for a bit and you get mail saying they left, it is obviously too late.

In better news though, Marble Blast Ultra is up on Xbox Live Arcade now and it kicks ass!

Hmmmm...where have I heard this before?

I had really been looking forward to this game, but after playing the demo, I don't think I will be buying it.  The framerate really suffered at times and I didn't like the feel of controlling the car.  The best I have placed was 4th, so I am apparently missing something with regards to how to compete effectively, but that wasn't what took away from my enjoyment of the game.  It just didn't seem to do it for me, which is too bad because it was my second most anticipated game behind Oblivion.

I bought the game last night and had a blast playing it.  I did a little mutiplayer as well and it was pretty fun.  Some of the courses on Intermediate are pretty challenging.

by the way, the coupon clearly says 'no copies'.  So, use at your own risk.  Every time I hear of one of these, take them in and try I always get rejected.  Good luck though.

I used a printout of that coupon the other night to pick up Kameo at Best Buy.

I have played Gauntlet and DOA4 over Live.  I need to try out Joust online as well, since I have it.  None of the other games I have have any Live multi, just Leaderboards.

You're gonna need the hard drive for Live arcade games or demos, if nothing else.  You may be able to get along without for awhile, but at some point the hard drive will be necessary.

Also, I read on the Oblivion fan Q&A that the game runs faster if you have the hard drive.  Arcade, to me, is worth the hard drive alone.  Also, considering you get a wireless controller and headset along with the hard drive for the price of the hard drive alone, there's no way I would have gotten a Core system.  I actually had a chance to get a Core system many weeks before I got my Premium and I passed it up because I knew I would regret it if I just got the Core.

Well, I found a thread on the XBox forums of people who have the same issue I have.  Many of them sent theirs back and the new ones they got have been working so far (although mine didn't do this the first few days I owned it).  So, I called and got them to send me a return box tonight.  I will update this when I get it all taken care of.

You gotta go to the Able Sisters' place!  Cool hats, shirts - and a running commentary from Sable about her parents UGH.

Lately she has been telling me the back story of Tom Nook.  Intruiging stuff.  One thing I can't figure out is the deal with the coffee.  There has to be something to the whol eletting it cool thing.  I feel like I have progressed with the pigeon, but then I feel like I go backwards with him and I am pretty sure it must tie into coffee and whether you let it cool and how much.

This morning I turned it on and got the E47 message.  TUrned it right off and back on and it worked.  TUrned it on and off about 10 times and it started each time.  It basically only happens the first time you try to turn it on after it has been off.  I guess I will see if it continues this week and if it does, I will call MS.  I would just hate to get one sent back to me that is worse and then keep having to send things back.  I haven't had the systme lock up or freeze when playing or anything like that.

Oh, today when I turned it on, I didn't have a disc in.  All the other times, I did and I took the disc out just to see if it would happen with it out this morning.  The unit doesn't run hot or anything and neither does the power supply, so I just find it odd.

No, the controller makes the system come on, but it just sticks at a black screen.  Then the controller stops responding.  So, it works at first and keeps working once I turn the 360 off and turn it back on to play.  SO, it isn't the batteries on the controller, but is the 360 getting stuck for some reason.  It only seems to happen when I have let the 360 sit for a bit.

Seriously. For the last two days, the first time I turn on the system, I get no picture and it just kind of hangs out doing nothing with a black screen. No controllers register. Then, I turn it off with the power button on the system itself (since the controller never registers) and turn it right back on and it loads up fine. Anyone else have this problem?

I bought this today and am enjoying it greatly.  My scores aren't that great yet.  I need to add many of you to my friend's list on XBL.  My nick on there is The Gru, so if you see me, please add.

Actually, on the Major Nelson podcast (who is a employee of MS and a member of the Xbox Live Team) a couple of weeks ago he interviewed the head of the MS Backwords compatability team and he said basicly the same thing that was in that story.

No BC update until March, because the team was on vacation for pretty much all of January, then it would take some time to get the emulator to work on some of these other games.

It's show #154 and is really very imformative about the whole BC process.

http://www.majornelson.com/

I was going to post something similar, but you beat me to it, Hetz.  The other thing I learned from that podcast was how they choose games (or sometimes not choose them).  People got all up in arms that Barbie Horse  Adventure was BC.  He said they basically had to do nothing to get it to work.  Other games, though, they have to do a lot of coding.  So, if a game just works or works with little effort, obviously that game will be easy to add to the list.

I have DOA4, Joust, Gauntlet, and Geometry Wars.

Personally, I can't figure out why people want to purchase a new icon for Live. Yeah, they're dirt cheap, but it's like a new faceplate for your 360 - who's gonna see it or frankly care what it looks like?

It isn't for others to care about.  It's for you to care about.  And if people want to pay money for a different icon, then so be it.  If they had one that I thought was cool enough, I think I would do it.

I got my 360 the other day and I will second how impressive XBLA is.  I douwnloaded a bunch of the demos to try out and now I have to force myself not to buy every one of those games.  I need to figure out which are my favorites and limit myself. Geometry Wars was a lot of fun.  Basically a Robotron of sorts.  I liked it a lot.  I also liked Wik a great deal.

Early NPD leaks indicate the PSP slightly outsold the DS in December. Both handhelds were over 1,000,000 for the month.

Are these world numbers?  If so, keep in mind that Nintendo ran out of them.

Got mine from EB online today.  I played around with it a bit and I think it is very cool.  I need to read the manual to see what all I can do to affect the sond.  Keep in mind that this is definitely not a game.  I see it more as an art piece, really.

I just ordered the game frmo Lik-Sang the other day.  Don't have it yet, but I also took the free shipping.  I can't wait to get it.

Okay.  I've just decided to leave my gates open here, so anyone with cherries feel free to come by and drop some off.  I thank you in advance.  I have the DS plugged into an outlet, so I will leave my town open all day.

I must have missed you, Dimmona because I don't see you on.  As for weleavefossils, I hadn't checked the list in a while and didn't see all the new additions.  You are now added.  Man, there are more people on that list than slots for friends codes.  That's too bad.  At any rate, I will keep checking for you two to be on.  Thanks.

Anyone have cherries in their town?  That is the one fruit I am missing.  I connect online and I rarely see anyone's town open anymore.  Everyone bored already?

At any rate, if one of you has cherries let me know and I will contact you trying to set up a time when I can come over.

This thread alone makes me glad I am waiting to pick one of these things up.  I wonder how long we have to wait for a hardware version to be produced that doesn't seem to have so many issues.

See this for answers:

http://www.majornelson.com/2006/01/01/xbox-live-leader-boards-stats/

It isn't really a game or anything.  It is more of a music/art toy.  I want it to tinker around with, but I also didn't think it would be 34.99 so now I am thinking I might hold off, especially since I just ordered Ouendan, which cost a decent amount of money.  I will probably break down, though, just maybe not on release day.

Gamestop.com is preselling it now.

And according to the site, it's online only.

So...anybody care to direct me to a preview/review of this most definitely 'different' title?

Oh.  For some reason when they said it would be sold online only I assumed it meant from Nintendo's site only.  Thanks for letting me know.  Time to go pre-order.

I keep trying to figure out how to pre-order it.  I went to Nintendo's site the other day and didn't see a way to do it.  The site you link is in Japanese.  Do you know how to pre-order it and how much it is going to be?  I definitely want it.

I own both the DS and the PSP and I play my DS way more than my PSP.  The PSP games have tended just to be ports of PS2 games, whereas the DS games are games (for the most part) created just for the DS.  Now, if you want a multimedia device that you can also happen to play games on, the PSP is the way to go.  However, so far, the DS is by far the superior machine for playing actual games, despite the fact that the graphics are severly lacking when compared to the PSP.

I played it and finished it.  I enjoyed it, though I can see how it would not be everyone's cup of tea.  I think if you like games like Harvest Moon, where you perform daily tasks, it would be likable for you.  If you don't enjoy that kind of thing, it would probably be boring.  It has no replay value, though, so after beating it, I don't think I will be going back.  In fact, you get to play the story from the girl's side after you beat it as the boy and all the girl really does is sit around waiting for the boy to bring food back to cook.  I stopped playing it right there, though it also had a lot to do with Castlevania coming out.

I won my town's fishing tournament with a mere 52" sea bass.  I got a microwave for it, which confuses me because I thought I was getting a trophy.  I guess the microwave is the trophy?

It's a Christmas miracle!!!!

I think msduncan will understand.  Well, would understand, since surely what you have done to him will send him to an early grave.


I keed, I keed.

On a side note, people who pay people $300 cash for vouchers are dumbasses.  Hell, he should have just gotten the $1000 pre-order bundle from Gamestop.

Scott, I agree with you.

I prefer the PSP, but love Nintendo.. and I just dont get the appeal of Animal Crossing. I dont have the time that kids have to pull weeds.

I bought it based on the GG effect and it was not my game.

LOVE those Wario Games.

There really aren't that many weeds to pull.   What I do is play for about 15 minutes per day.  It being on the DS now makes it the perfect pick up and go game.