Three red rings means the you have the RRoD and your console is bricked. If it happens within 3 years of the manufacture date, MS will fix it for free. No shit, right? Well, a new error seems to be popping up and it’s E-74. For this error, you only get 1 ring of death and MS will not cover the repair. This is happening more frequently than people think and reports of it are flooding in. If anyone knows what the error means, lay it on me.
Yesterday morning I got a surprise package from my friendly UPS man: my Wii back from Nintendo. That’s what I call a speedy turnaround; a total of 4 business days from shipping to receiving.
My Wii came back with a new serial number, meaning they just replaced it with a refurbished unit. All of my content and settings were transferred over, including all Mii’s, game saves, and wireless settings. I was worried my Super Smash Bros. Brawl save wouldn’t transfer over, but everything is there, all good to go. I had to download all of my Virtual Console and Wii Ware titles again (well, the ones that were stored on the Wii to begin with, others are already on my SD cards). Not a big deal and didn’t take much time at all.
The only thing that sucks, a little, is having a new Wii friend code. Had to get in touch with a few PR firms and any friends that I exchange messages and Mii’s with, but that’s about it. All in all, I’m very happy with Nintendo’s service from start to finish when it comes to Wii repair. Wish I could say the same about the competition (Microsoft in particular, I haven’t had a PS3 die on me).
You might have already read that my poor Wii has gone to the land of broken consoles. I get her shortly after launch and she left this life entirely too soon. Actually, you might call it a bit too late since my warranty was expired.
After deciding that, for me, 2009 would be the year of the Wii, I picked up all the cables and connectors necessary to setup the Wii in my office, where I spend most of my time. After about an hour of shuffling surge protectors, cabinets, and cables, I got everything hooked up and ready to rock. At that point, I brought the Wii up from downstairs and hooked her up. As soon as I booted it up, I could tell something just wasn’t right. On the Wii Menu, I was seeing flashing/flickering pixels all over the place in what seemed like a random pattern. So then I started my investigation.
Remember Nathaniel, the kid who had his insanely sweet Xbox 360 wiped clean by Microsoft? Turns out he’s getting some awesome stuff. Bungie already dropped a crap-ton of product on him. Check out the swag bag sent to him:
That’s an enormous amount of stuff. For me, it wouldn’t be worth it though because of the experiences and special drawings from getting the Xbox 360 to look that way. Turns out Microsoft doesn’t think it’s enough either and is working on something killer for Nathaniel as well. No exact word on what’s coming from the perpetrators of this crime, but they said it might take a couple weeks. We’ll see how cool it is. Anyone want to take bets that this includes a Halo 3 console?
How do you replace something that can’t be replaced? Easy. You make a huge stink, get people to feel sorry for you and then the most popular game studio in the universe hooks you up. Yesterday, I brought you the story of a gamer’s worst nightmare. His marked up Xbox 360 was wiped clean after pleas and assurances when he sent it back to MS for RRoD. News of this has reached Bungie and they are going to hook this kid up. With what? Its a huge secret.
“Something is already ‘afoot’ within Bungie to help our community member in need,” Bungie community director Brian Jarrard told Next-Gen on Monday. “Our team and the community as a whole is rallying to help fix this unfortunate situation. It’s been awesome to see such an outpouring of sympathy and support from our community. We can’t replace the exact item that was lost but, but we should come very close.”
Nevertheless, it has to be something of great consequence because Bungie has gone out of the way to let everyone know that they are stepping in reports next-gen biz. This might solidify Bungie as the nicest guys in gaming and it makes MS look like the drunken uncle that you don’t let kids near during the holidays.
A story of legend has surfaced of a gamer who had to return his beloved Xbox 360 after it finally failed. This Xbox 360 was one of a kind so to speak. It had both autographs and artwork. The gamer wrote a heartfelt letter to MS support about the irreplaceable console and was assured that it would be sent back. MS came through on their promise and he got the exact console back. One problem, someone cleared all the ink off of it.
I honestly can’t feel too bad for this kid. Did he realistically expect to get it back unscathed? Its not like you are sending something back to a mom and pop shop; this is a huge company. Chances are someone who did not either speak English or was not privy to the agreement cleaned the console off. If this was so irreplaceable, he should have bought another console and then changed the plastic cover. I usually do not side with corporate, but this kid misplaced his trust and really should have known better. I feel for this gamer, but common sense should always trump wishful thinking.
It seems that the bevy of Xbox360 coffins have also been sighted overseas in the UK recently to the tune of 2,500 per day reports 360-gamer.com. Don’t get me wrong, I love the system, but this goes to show that the mysterious failure rates that the consumers are claiming and the company denying are true indeed. The report cites the number of coffins that UPS is shipping, which is an almost exact estimate for obvious reasons. Here is the kicker, when my Xbox360 broke, it was shipped out of state to a repair center in I believe is in McAllen, Texas. If you are unfortunate to be over in the UK with a busted machine, it has to go to Prague due to the backup in a city called Havant, which is inside the country. Yeah, the same Prague that is in Czechoslovakia. There you have it, hockey and Xbox, thats what Prague does!
Coming Soon!
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