My good friend Chiwotweiler sent word that there’s some major issues with the new Halo 2 maps when you try to buy them on your Xbox 360.

Numerous reports from both the Xbox forums (here and here, as well as countless other threads)and Bungie’s forums (here, here and here, as well as many other threads) show users getting multiple error messages when trying to buy the maps. Many users see “Purchase failed. You will not be charged for this transaction. Please try again later.” This is happening even with a credit card associated with the Gold account. Another error users are seeing is “Installation of content failed”.

There’s also many reports of big glitches in the new maps, such as multiple invisible walls in Tombstone.

Did Bungie test these maps thoroughly on the Xbox 360? Sure, play-testing is one thing, but making sure users can actually buy your premium content is another thing.

Microsoft said they were aware of a problem and were working on resolving it, but there’s been no formal announcement or acknowledgement.

Pictures of one of the errors after the jump…

Hit the jump for more…

Yesterday we reported on the rumored release of the first downloadable content for GH2 for the 360. Today, it’s real, albeit much more expensive.

Microsoft and Red Octane released 3 track packs, each containing 3 songs from the first Guitar Hero. Each pack goes for a hefty 500 MS Points.

I’m sorry, but this is insane. The rumored pricing of 150 MS Points would have been a good deal. But 500 Points for 3 songs? Microsoft needs to get their heads out of their asses. I will be at the Guitar Hero event in NYC today, and I’ll try to corner Major Nelson and shake him down for some information.

Hit the jump for more…

It’s becoming increasingly common these days for products to not work properly. The video game industry is a huge culprit here. From consoles to accessories to games themselves, everything is broken when it ships.

Let’s start with consoles, shall we? I’ve never had consoles die on their own accord. Sure, there have been wrestling matches when I was a kid where a Genesis or NES got smashed, but you have to take those in stride. Even with the last generation, hardware problems weren’t that prevalent. Fast forward to today, and we see hundreds upon hundreds of Xbox 360’s failing every day. Personally, I’m on my 6th Xbox 360. Microsoft knows there’s something wrong. They wouldn’t be changing the warranty and upgrading their product replacement systems if there wasn’t. Maybe some testing could fix the problem up front.

Hit the jump for more…

There’s been rumblings of bad whammy bars on some X-ploder guitars for Guitar Hero II for the Xbox 360. Yeah, guess who’s affected? This guy. If it can go wrong, it’s probably happened to me.

Kotaku got word that two model numbers are affected: 95055 and 95065. You can check either the back of the guitar or the back of the box for the model number. I went to exchange mine tonight (I have 95055), only to find my Best Buy only has that model number in stock. Guess I’m going to have to wait. It’ll give me a break from the game for a bit.

Where’s the QA these days?

Yeah, I think Microsoft is starting to realize how much the 360 is breaking itself and games. We’ve all seen the wonderful videos and heard the horror stories of 360’s scratching game discs. Everyone scoffed it off. Well, now Microsoft isn’t. They’re offering to replace any broken discs for free. The caveat here, is that the games need to be published by Microsoft.

From xbox.com:

If, for any reason, you have a damaged Microsoft Xbox 360 disc and like to replace it, please review the information below:

THIS PROGRAM IS GOOD ONLY FOR XBOX 360 CONSOLE OWNERS IN COUNTRIES WHERE XBOX 360 IS SOLD AT AUTHORIZED RETAIL LOCATIONS.

This program only applies to games where Microsoft is the publisher, and is subject to availability. To check and see if your game is available for replacement, please review which Microsoft products currently fall under this program here. Link to Game List Page

You will need to print and complete the program form.
Once the products have been received by Microsoft, please allow four to six weeks for delivery.

For any reason my ass. There’s not many reasons other than the 360 scratching the discs up.

Of note, the only games currently available for replacement are: Crackdown, Fuzion Frenzy 2, Gears Of War, Halo 2, Kameo: Elements of Power, Ninety Nine Nights, Perfect Dark Zero, Project Gotham Racing 3, Viva Piñata, Xbox Live Arcade Unplugged Vol. 1

So I’m becoming increasingly frustrated with the PlayStation Store. The PS3 has so much potential, but Sony seems content with sitting idly by and letting the competition one-up them. To really compete, they need to start throwing some muscle into the Network and PlayStation Store.

Today, they put up a few new pieces of content. Some trailers, demos, etc. (of note, there was no GTA IV trailer like on the Xbox Live Marketplace). This really isn’t enough. They need to start flooding the market with content. I check back a few times a week, hoping to see something new pop up on the Recently Added list, but everyday I hit the circle button with sadness, and there’s nothing there for me to grab to satisfy my need to use the background downloading service.

Please, Sony, please make the most of the PlayStation Store. We, as gamers, want more demos, more game trailers, more game content. Milk your network for all it’s worth.

Maybe Sony is just proving that you get what you pay for, and that’s why Xbox Live is triumphing. I hope they prove me wrong.

This story comes from my friend Y2J2K. While in a discussion in the MLB 2K7 forum on Xbox.com, people began to flame the hell out of him and anyone else with a high gamerscore. For starters, a “high gamerscore” is all relative. Having a high gamerscore doesn’t mean you play 360 games all day long. It also doesn’t mean you cheat to get there. Y2J2K wrote up a long but terrific letter to all the haters out there.

There have been some harsh comments directed to me in this and other threads but I have chosen to ignore them specifically and have not lashed back out t anyone. My only previous comment was basically the point I am making here which is a gamerscore does not define anyone and to make assumptions and conclusions about someone based on something as meaningless as a gamerscore is just plain ignorant. Yes, I just said gamerscore is meaningless which one might find amusing coming from someone with a high gamerscore (note I am not claiming my gamerscore is high but that seems to be the conclusion everyone else here is coming to so I might as well acknowledge it – again I have never nor would ever brag about my gamerscore).

I agree with essentially every point Y2J2K makes. Why have we, as gamers, become a group of haters? Anything different does not need to be shit on.

For the full letter, hit the jump.
Hit the jump for more…

I figured with St. Patty’s Day coming, the luck of my ancestors might shine in my direction. Alas, no. Xbox 360 #5 died this morning. She was only a little over a week old. I’ve gotten 10 disc read errors in the past 2 days in 4 games. Crackdown, Lego Star Wars, and Gears wouldn’t even load up. MLB 2K7 loads, but I get disc errors halfway through the games. Ugh. Looks like this is going back to Best Buy today for Xbox 360 #6.

There’s WAY too many stories of people having gone through multiple 360’s. I don’t know a single person still on their first. 3-5% failure rate my ass!

It’s been a wonderful day here at Loot Ninja. First, we had the assholes with the spamming comments that rocked the server for a bit, then we had a major internet backbone go down at the server farm which put us offline even more. WOOHOO. Thankfully that’s all done. Hopefully Quest doesn’t lose a major backbone again.

We had some issues this morning with some assholes from Digg who decided to flood us with spam comments, but that’s all been taken care of and the site is back up and running. Sorry for the downtime.