This dude went though 11 360's.(1up.com)

Keep scaring me off Microsoft, I want to hold on to my money.

I have 3 friends with launch day 360's. All are working fine, but to a man they feel like they are living on borrowed time.

If my Elite croaks like the standard versions, I will be seriously pissed off. Supposedly there are some physical differences between the Elite and the standard versions, but it doesn't have the new heatsink like the most recent refurbs. Makes me nervous as hell.

Anyone else pick up The Darkness? I did based on mostly positive reviews and for simply looking badass. Turns out it is a fun, if somewhat flawed, game. The graphics are impressive, the story is immersive, and some of the darkness powers attained are pretty damn sweet. Unfortunately, the whole "shoot every light in a room before entering to maintain your darkness meter" mechanic is pretty bunk. That, and the controls are a bit sketchy, kinda loose feeling. It is violent as all hell though, and I can safely say that ripping the hearts out of dead enemies and devouring them never really gets old. Good old fashioned fun for the whole family.

I also preordered Bioshock while i was picking up The Darkness. I need that to come out now.

Did you know that for $10 extra you could have ordered the Bioshock Special Edition, which comes with a Big Momma figurine? Worth it in my book.

Oh, my buddy picked up The Darkness on PS3 and has been really disappointed by the visuals and the A.I. Reviews have been mostly great, so I'm surprised by his opinion.

I have 3 friends with launch day 360's. All are working fine, but to a man they feel like they are living on borrowed time.

Because I don't have a GC and you'd have to force me to buy a Wii.

i tried tracking down a wii today. oh how i tried. any tips/tricks/helps? please?

i tried tracking down a wii today. oh how i tried. any tips/tricks/helps? please?

I thank my lucky stars everytime I play my Wii that I have a friend who works at a GameStop. Heh heh.

i do too, he's just a huge dick.

Word on the street is Katamari might be coming to the Wii.

Word on the street is Katamari might be coming to the Wii.

I'm flying out to Santa Monica on Tuesday. It's my first E3, yet it's so much smaller than in previous years.

I got RE4 in the mail in record time yesterday and have played for a couple hours already. It's... fun?

AP
Xbox 360 Repairs Will Cost Microsoft $1B
Thursday July 5, 7:54 pm ET
By Jessica Mintz, AP Business Writer
Microsoft to Take $1B Charge for Xbox 360 Warranty Extension


SEATTLE (AP) -- Microsoft Corp. said Thursday it expects to spend more than $1 billion to repair widespread hardware problems in its Xbox 360 video game console after a large number of them broke down.

Microsoft said it would extend the warranty on the Xbox 360 to three years after too many of the consoles succumbed to "general hardware failure," but the company provided few other details about the extent of the problems.

"We don't think we've been getting the job done," said Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft's entertainment and devices division, which also makes the Zune digital music player. "In the past few months, we have been having to make Xbox 360 console repairs at a rate too high for our liking."

Bach said the company made some manufacturing and production changes that he expects will reduce Xbox 360 hardware lockups, but he declined to identify the problems or say which others might remain. Microsoft said it will record a charge of up to $1.15 billion for its fourth fiscal quarter, which ended June 30, to cover the additional costs associated with the warranty extension.

The software maker also said sales of the console fell short of expectations for the fiscal year that just ended.

Matt Rosoff, an analyst at the independent research group Directions on Microsoft, estimates that Microsoft's entertainment and devices division has lost more than $6 billion since 2002.

Microsoft has written down larger amounts in the past -- more than $10 billion in the late 1990s related to investments in telecommunications companies, and more than $5 billion related to antitrust issues -- but a $1 billion write-down for one division in one quarter is significant.

"It suggests the problem is pretty widespread," Rosoff said.

Microsoft will pay for shipping and repairs for three years, worldwide, for consoles that experience hardware failure, which is usually indicated by three flashing red lights on the front of the console, something gamers sometimes refer to as "the red ring of death." Previously, the warranty expired after 1 year for U.S. customers and 2 years for Europeans.

Microsoft also will reimburse the "small number" of Xbox 360 owners who have paid for shipping and repairs on out-of-warranty consoles, Bach said.

In June, bloggers speculated that the Xbox 360 return problem was getting so severe that the company was running out of "coffins," or special return-shipping boxes Microsoft provides to gamers with dead consoles. "We'll make sure we have plenty of boxes to go back and forth," Bach said in an interview.

Chris Liddell, Microsoft's chief financial officer, said in a conference call that the company sold 11.6 million Xbox 360 consoles since the product's November 2005 launch, missing a target for 12 million units by the end of the fiscal year.

Microsoft's entertainment and devices division reported an operating loss of $315 million on $929 million in sales for the three-month period that ended in March.

Hey, check it out:

http://sports.espn.go.com/videogames/news/story?id=2919122

I write for ESPN (by way of 1UP).

I'm at Nintendo's E3 press conference, lolz.

You rule.

It's all about the Zapper.

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Easy to imagine the Wii becoming THE platform for first person shooters.

That zapper thing looks kinda dumb. How would it work on a normal FPS where you move your character with the analog stick? Having it on the back of the gun would seem to limit the nunchuk's effectiveness.

It would probably only work on an FPS where you character is on rails, and that would get boring pretty quick.