• 25Aug 08

  Disc Death..

  I've never considered my profile blogs to be ramblings of personal issues and problems however I believe what happened a couple of day ago was a serious enough to break that rule.
  
  As I'm sure some of you know, I usually spend most of my time playing online on Call Of Duty 4 for Xbox 360. I've played for a total of 8 days or so and still cannot see an end in sight.. yet something intervined. As I was accepting an invite from a friend to join his party, my Xbox threw me off the game, claiming the disc was unreadable. I didn't panic as this has happened before on several games, in random situations, usually after perlonged periods of playing. So I checked the disc, dusted it off and slip it back into the drive only to be presented with another 'unreadable disc' error. After three attempts, the disc didn't even read and I am now without the best multiplayer game.
  
  If this wasn't enough to irratate me, my second option was to finally 100% GTA4. But this ended rather quickly as this disc didn't read. Another three attempts persude but to no avail. What is worse about this copy of GTA is that it's a mates, not mine so I'm more than likely going to have to shell out for a replacement. What confuses me however, is the GTA disc was fine, almost scratchless before the COD problem so I'm wondering if the COD4 disc has damaged the laser inside my xbox. I'm a little reluctant to play anymore games incase they deside to break aswell.
  
  I'm sure most of you have had problems similar to these but my options are limited in terms of money saving. I can't really trade in my copy of COD4 as it has a giant, gaping crack about an inch long and even if I did, it'd look suspious, asking for another copy. I'm gonna try the GTA4 disc again tomorrow and if it still persists, I'll pay GameStation to buffer it for me. I can feel widthrail symptoms coming on from COD and I better get down a copy soon.
  

  • Posted Aug 25, 2008 10:30 pm GMT
  • Category: Games
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• 9Aug 08

  Modified Again..

  Well, I couldn't stop myself from modifing my Xbox 360 again, only this time things didn't go so smoothly. After reading countless tutorials across the net about how to change the Ring Of Light LEDs, I decided to take the plunge and do it myself. So I bought some LEDs off Ebay for a few quid and began the process.
  
  
  
  Well lets just say I never wanna see a soldering iron again in my life. I completely cocked up the top two LEDs just by trying to get them off, also managing to damaging the RF Module board they're soldered to. And burned myself about 20 times. Now, I'm not stupid, but it was absolutely impossible. So now I have a cocked up Ring Of Light with only two LEDs working
  
  
  
  Although, I forgot to mention that since my previous blog entry, I had already modded it again. This time I removed the old crappy stock fan and replaced it with a Talismoon Whisper Max Silent Fan (which comes with LEDs. Blue, Red and Green, although you have to install the red or green yourself) It protects against the dreaded Red Ring Of Death and also provides an 'Turbo' switch which increases power to the fan thus increases airflow. It makes one hell of a racket when you turn it on but keeps your Xbox damn cool. Also, I added red LEDs under the vents which give it a sinister evil look. My aim to have all the possible LEDs in the console red, as it will fit with the new name I gave it. Forget Xbox 360, mine is the only 'Deathbox 360'
  
  
  

  • Posted Aug 9, 2008 8:05 pm GMT
  • Category: Technology
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• 3Mar 08

  Halo 3

  Microsoft have really hammered a solid nail in the coffin of Sony's Playstation 3. Thanks to Bungie Studios finally releasing the very much awaited Halo 3, even I, an avid Playstation fan, bought an Xbox 360 JUST to play Halo 3. I cannot say I'm disappointed, I've been playing on Matchmaking for what seems like an eternity now and I've still not got bored. Everyday there always seems to be a new goal and if that hasn't been achieved, I just hammered on the following day.
  
  Down to business. Halo is the final installment in the Halo Trilogy, created by Bungie Studios. It has been highly anticipated due to Halo 2 lack of story conclusion, with thousands of players worldwide asking for more. It concludes the epic, devastating war between Humans and the Covenant, an over-zelous, militaristic alien race bent on wiping out the Human race.
  At the end of Halo 2, the Master Chief is heading back to Earth in a Forerunner Dreadnought, due to it's spontanious activation within High Charity. It's doubtful if any further information could be ****d as a spoiler since it's been months since release but for those who still haven't played Halo 3 and want to, please leave this profile and read a book on Badgers.
  
  Campaign
  Halo 3 begins with the Master Chief entering Earth atmosphere and crash landing close to New Mombasa where Sergeant Johnson and The Arbiter finds him. The first level is pretty much fought throughout a jungle, with many brutes (depending on what difficulty you're on) coming after you. The most striking new feature is the graphics, even on some SDTVs, the graphics are mindblowing. I currently play on a 720p HDTV, good enough to see just how much love and attention Bungie put into this game. The game does support 1080p HD however, this is only achieved through an Xbox Elite or a more recent 360 due to HDMI ports. But out of the whole campaign, my favourite feature would have to be playing through it with, not just one friend, but up to 4 friends. And not just all at one house, some or even all can be at home, in a campaign match cross the net. This feature makes gaming with friends alot more interesting and fun, alot more than a pointless multiplayer free-for-all on some dull, effortless maps. Also, this makes completing Legendary alot easier and you won't end up like me trying to completed Legendary on Halo 1. A few friends have mentioned that the campaign feels sort, whereas I've always thought it was just enough because some levels where fairly small whereas others such as The Ark, are incredably large. If you just bought Halo 3 in the future just for the Campaign, it is worth every penny.
  
  Matchmaking
  Most games really put effort into just the main story, whereas others just focus all their attention on the multiplayer. Brilliantly, Bungie has given both the same attention. Matchmaking adds a whole new level of fun to the game which can't be found on the Campaign. Almost every detail has be finely created, tweaked and then polished off to give all the multiplaying fanatics a real treat. The rank system is a thing of pure genius, allowing less experienced players to battle it out fairly against more elite players. Each player will get 1 EXP point for every podium win however, should they come first place, they get 1 EXP point and a Skill point for that game type. Skill points show other players just how good they are whereas an less skillful player could be a really high rank but only because they've played it non-stop. Skill points do come into the ranking system, but much later. To get to certain ranks, a player must obtain a certain number of EXP points and a certain number of Skill points. If this confuses you or you wish to understand it better, go to Bungie.net to read a thourgh explaination. You can distinguish yourself from the rest by the Appearance menu. You can changed your Armour, your colour, your own emblem or if you prefer, you can play as an Elite, which also has its own Armour unlockables. With the amount of different Armour permitations, Emblem **** and colours, you bound to create something that is unique to you. If you are a hardcore multiplayer, enjoy simple sniping and online gameplay, this game has everything (and more) you need.
  
  Forge
  This simple feature can turn boring generic maps into blazing battle grounds or vehicular paradises. Forge take all your multiplayer maps and allows you to customize tons of stuff. You can spawn several heavy weapons such as Wraith, Scorpians and Guass Warthogs or remove all ground vehicles and replace them with air vehicles. You can add, remove or change spawn points from all over the map however you're only limited to that amount originally provided. Although this may sound brilliant at first, you can't changed any of the maps themselves, only the items within them, such as weapons, vehicles, crates, utilities and equipment. The good news is you can save all the map varients you create to your hard drive for later or even share them over the net with friends using File Share. But once things have been spawned in Forge, you can set lots of details such as respawn times. Unfortunately, you do have restrictions on most items, like vehicles. You can only have about 20 Mongooses spawn in the same map and you do also have a Budget Meter in the corner of your screen, so once that has been used up, you can't spawn anymore items. Surprisingly, though you can't change any of them maps themselves, editing just the equipment within it can be extremely funny and entertaining. A recent variant of Sandtrap I played on has a hovering platform in the sky with several powerful weapons, brilliant for sniping and lasering. Bungie have given an amazing gift within the Halo 3 bundle so don't avoid Forge once you've completed Campaign.
  
  Theatre
  The cherry on a very large and perfect cake. Theatre records up to 25 recent games you have played in and allows you to go back and reply them from a massive range of angles and perspectives. This works for both Campaign and Matchmaking, allowing you to reply some of your favourite moments. Each video can be watched, then edited through a small control panel. You can record a clip from a video and even take a screenshot of your best kill, snipe or even glitch. If you have visited Bungie.net and signed up for a profile, all your screenshots will be automatically uploaded to your profile in full 1080p HD. You can also share your video clips using File Share to other players.
  
  
  
  If you have an Xbox 360, but don't owned Halo 3 nor have you played it, I recommend you go out and buy it now. In my local GameStation, it's only about £20-£25 now which is an absolute bargin! If you don't even consider Halo 3, you deserve nothing but the Mark of Shame branded into you for the rest of time.

  • Posted Mar 3, 2008 4:05 am GMT
  • Category: Games
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