After just over 5 months, my Xbox 360 Elite has kicked the bucket. I get disk read errors on every disk I put in the tray, whether it’s a game, movie, or audio disk. Good times.

This marks my 6th Xbox 360 to die since launch day. Yes, my 6th. F’ing ridiculous.

I know some people are going to jump all over this in comments saying I treat it badly or whatever, but that is far from the case. My Xbox 360 has it’s own shelf in the entertainment center, with full ventilation from the front and rear. The power brick also sits on the shelf fully ventilated. The console is never moved when playing (in fact, it’s only moved a tiny bit once a week to dust). The console is kept perfectly clean, as are my other systems. I haven’t had any problems with my PS3 (save long install times) or my Wii. Never had problems with my PS2, Xbox, or Gamecube before that.

I guess I’ll be making a trip to Best Buy this afternoon to get this thing swapped out. Maybe #7 will be a lot luckier than the first 6 consoles I’ve gone through. At least I didn’t get the red ring of death again this time.

One of our readers sent us this tip via Engadget, thanks to Fragloser.

Looks like someone has uncovered a few Best Buy documents showing a $399 Playstation 3 with a 40GB HDD and Spiderman 3 bundle with an “In Stock Date” of October 28. Why pick Spider Man 3, go with 300!

Although these documents look real enough they are still very much a rumor at this point, but keep your eyes pealed as Sony might be looking to drop a new bundle as a surprise to us all. No official street date has been named, but lets see what else Best Buy lets out of the bag.

Hit the jump for the documents, what do you think?
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As someone who has played quite a bit of Halo, mostly Halo 2 multiplayer on the original Xbox I was interested in Halo 3. Not like some other gamers out there that flocked to retailers at midnight to get the first glimpses of the game, but still interested. I found it interesting that some retailers were pushing for consumers to pre-order Halo 3 and actually told people that they couldn’t sell the game opening day without pre-orders, this is ridiculous. I went in the day of the launch into a Best Buy and saw literally hundreds of copies sitting on the shelves and heard reports of more the same throughout the US.

I actually know people that got screwed because of pre-orders, they went in and the retailers system was having problems so they couldn’t get the game on launch day! That is insane, you make me pre-order because if not you won’t sell me a copy of a game you have tons of, so I do and then your computer screws me.

Anyone else run into these problems?

Every time we say his name, he just gets more power. This is officially the last time you’ll see me say Jack Thompson. From now on, the law buff will be known as Chuckles, because every time he does something, the entire gaming world gets a laugh.

So Chuckles decided to rock out another “sting” operation. He previous sent his son in to a Best Buy to pick up a copy of BioShock. His son isn’t yet 18, which is what he’s trying prove. However, he’s going after 2K Games for the problem instead of Best Buy. 2K Games doesn’t control a retailer’s action. They brand the game as mature and it’s up to the retailers to enforce the sales. The new “sting” operation involves Halo 3.

Chuckles sent his son into a South Florida Target store to buy a copy of Halo 3, which he was able to do on the first try without an ID. Granted, this shouldn’t happen. But again, Chuckles isn’t going after Target, he’s going after Microsoft. Because somehow the gaming industry is responsible for this happening at retailers. Are they also responsible for R-rated movies and CD’s with Parental Advisory stickers being sold to minors as well?

This editor can only hope Chuckles stops his antics and gets put in his place pretty soon.

Well everyone foretold of the coming of Halo 3 and we all saw the fierce campaigns and marketing strategies, looks like they paid off big. Halo 3 is now the big daddy of entertainment, kudos to MS and Bungie, they have de-throwned Spider Man and Harry Potter.

Halo 3 pulled in a record $170 million in 24 hours, now that is one impressive statistic and shows the reach that video games and gamers have now a days. Yesterday when I was on Halo3 there was an impressive 600,000 people playing at the same time and this does not count those people playing offline, just think that all those people made up only $36 million of that reported $170, so there are a lot of peripherals, consoles, controllers, etc. flying off the shelves.

From the press release:

Microsoft today announced that the Xbox 360 exclusive game “Halo 3” has officially become the biggest entertainment launch in history, garnering an estimated $170 million in sales in the United States alone in the first 24 hours. The Xbox 360 title beat previous records set by blockbuster theatrical releases like “Spider-man 3” and novels such as “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.”
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So of course with all the Halo 3 related news the good old big apple would not be outdone so they had a huge event at Best Buy for the Midnight Launch of Halo 3, complete with guys dressed up as marines riding around on quad bikes. The crowd was ridiculous as they awaited the arrival of Halo 3 as if the New Year were being rung in. There was even a pretty convincing looking Master Chief walking around, I wonder how much that would cost for Halloween? All and all a huge success in NYC.

Hit the jump for some more pics.
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If you don’t have a Xbox Live Gold account, don’t fret. You’ll be able to frag people online in Halo 3 the weekend it’s released.Best Buy is sponsoring a free Gold weekend, from September 25th through the 27th. Since there will be millions of non-Gold members picking up the killer app, this will give them an opportunity to see if the Live Gold service is right for them. I’m sure Microsoft is going to be raking in the cash on Gold memberships in the end of September and early October is people grab Halo 3 and the 360.Not content with just giving free Gold membership for those days, Best Buy is giving out 8000 Microsoft Points to 144 randomly selected winners. Those winners will then be entered into a drawing for even bigger prizes, including a killer home theater setup and a tricked out Halo 3 themed Pontiac G6 GXP Street Edition. To enter, check the link here on September 25th to enter.Can anyone honestly say they would drive this car around town and not feel like a tool?

There’s some free stuff available today on the Xbox Live Marketplace. Sponsored by Best Buy, you can now grab a new Halo 3 theme and picture pack.

While the content is free, it won’t be up forever. So fire up your 360 and grab these before their gone. We know how much you love Halo, so I’m sure there’s some soiled underwear with this free content.

I recently took a trip to my local Best Buy in the hopes to find a 60 Gb PS3, both because of the $100 price drop and the fact that I wanted to watch 300 in Blu-Ray. So I stroll on into the mecca of all thigns electronic and make my way to the video games sectiona nd what od I see:

– Xbox 360 Elite boxes lying around and lots of Premium 360 and games with Halo 3 Pre-order boxes everywhere
– Still no Wii’s but lots of games and peripherals
– Lots of 60 Gb PS3’s on the shelf, but no peripherals or games (20 Gb has gone extinct)

Seems that Best Buy has had a huge influx of people purchsaing PS3’s isnce the price break and as of this week’s flyer they will begin to carry the 80 Gb version this week at $599. Looks like I will need to act fast and grab a 60 Gb PS3 before they run out, even if I don’t get any software for it.

Trying to find 300 in Blu-Ray is turning out to be quite the task as well and games for the PS3 were limited to Pirates of the Carribean and Need for Speed Carbon, not exactly the first games I want to throw in my PS3, the games and Blu-Ray sections for PS3 were patheticaclly empty and I think a huge sign for the success the price break has had on their business. Looks like I will get my PS3 this week and just rock out some PSN games for the time being.

I recently read an article by Julian Dibbell entitled “The Life of the Chinese Gold Farmer” and I was thoroughly intrigued. It brought perspectives to light I hadn’t thought about, Many gamers out there are quite familiar with MMO games such as World of Warcraft, Phantasy Star Online, Ultima, Guild Wars, Second Life, Final Fantasy, the list goes on, but some may not be aware of the subculture that exists as a result of these games.

There are many players who play the game straight up and are content with leveling and questing, perhaps joining some buddies every once in a while and making a new one at other times. Then there are the hardcore gamers that play with no other purpose than being the best and having the most elite gear or the largest bankroll. Then there are the players that want to be “elite”, but want it the easy way and purchase their items from farmers or online services.

The latter classes of players are the ones that intrigue me and made me think about what is right and wrong with MMO games. In all MMO games there is a sub culture of gamers for the most part of Asian decent that play, no better stated “work”, in these games to gather gold or currency in order to sell it back to real life players typically in Europe and America. If you have played an MMO like WoW they are typically known as “Chinese Gold Farmers” and typically are frowned upon by other players and in extreme cases hated and even hunted.

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