That Soap Box entry got to me and I started accepting friend requests like crazy only to have a harsh reminder of why I don't like large friends lists. It seems I've been neglecting the crew that I'm kind of close with while being bombarded with blog entries of people that really don't care to put any input in anyone elses.

So due to lack of replies in mine and my own lack of replying to the blogs of my friends, I will be shortening my friend's list again. I hope no one takes offense to being erased...especially not you GodMode

Well it seems the whole ordeal is over for the second time and just in time for GTA IV. From the day I called it took 5 working days to get a coffin sent to me and 6 working days for the repair and the return shipping. 17 full days in total (A couple days in there were due to my laziness however)

It's unfortunate that these machines break so frequently but I have to give it up to MS fo ironing out the kinks and making the process as pain free as possible. When I think about my gaming life and how I've gone through numerous systems; 2 NES's, 1 PS1's, 1 PS2's, 1 Xbox's, 1 DC and now 2 360's, The best part of the 360's is the warantee.

It is very crappy that they break within a year or two's time but I'd rather be able to get them fixed for free due to a known problem than buying a whole new system after warantee is up.

Last time I had to send my 360 in for repairs, there was none of this nigh technology junk where you can just type some numbers on the internets and find out where that darn blasted 360 is at. Now I put in my number and it says that my system has been received by the repair center and it will take 2-3 days to fix it or send me a new one. I guess this means three things.

• Smerlus won't have to choke a %&*^$ at Home Depot
• The service is extremely quick
• I might get my system back in time for GTA IV

Three great outcomes to a single system breaking.

So the coffin arrived the other day with a nice dent put in it but that is most likely the fault of the FedEx people. I opened the box and I guess they're no longer slapping packing instructions and free tape to tape the box up. They're also using FedEx which stinks because I don't have a full service FedEx store near me.

Here's where my first complaint comes in and it's not Microsoft's fault at all, it's the damn Home Depot and the FedEx Express station inside it. I did a quick search on the internet for nearest FeEx stations and the little Expresses are the closest ones, the nearest Full Service is about 30 minutes away. So I go to the nearest Express and all that is there is a mailbox looking thing to put my box in. My girlfriend slides in the box but I think it's kind of fishy because here I am sliding a $400 package in a box without a receipt or anything. I tried to open the box back up to see if it was actually deposited in the mailbox but it wasn't, it was more stuck than anything else.

I then go to Home Depot's Customer Service and there's a girl there that reminded me of Daria of Beavis and Butthead fame. An average looking girl that showed little indifference to anything and talked in a dull monotone voice. She asked me why I was just trying to break into the FedEx box and I told her my situation. After hearing my explination, she pretty much gave me permission to break into the Fed Ex box and get my package back so that she could take care of it. I was able to get the box back out and then I left it with her. I asked her for a recept or something but she said she doesn't work for FedEx so she couldn't give me one.

I swear if my 360 is lost or stolen, I'm trucking back to Home Depot and choking out a %^*&(.

The title looks a little confusing but this is the sage of getting my second console repaiered and my first attempt at that repair. This is how MS faired this time around.

It was outstanding. I was on hold for about 2 minutes max, which is good because I can only take so much of the crappy techno music. I was then on the phone with a woman with a slight accent who was very helpful. all in all, the call took about 10 minutes and I was told my coffin was shipped to me.

My first time wasn't that much of a hassle and I was shocked at the fast service but this time I'm really impressed on how they cleaned up their act.

Yes it is April first, but I'm 100% serious when I say that my 2nd 360 just red ringed on me. I noticed yesterday when I was trying to play a few online matches of Condemned 2 that my system was locking up and kicking me from matches a lot more than it usually does. I then restarted my system and it froze on the 360 splash screen. It was about that time that I decided to watch some TV instead and my night went on.

Today I remembered that the Army of Two demo came out so I logged in to download it and then went to the PC to play some City of Villains. When my connection dropped out there, I decided to check out the demo. I fired up the 360 and was greeted with a beep and the splash screen freezing again. It was at this point that I knew the system was dead but I wasn't getting the 3 rings. I thought to myself "Oh great, I'm out of warrantee and my 360 is going to break without the red rings. I started it up a few more times and thankfully I finally got the red rings. Tomorrow I'll call for my coffin and send this baby into the refurbish bin.

Xbox 360 #2: August 16, 2007 - April 1, 2008: Good bye young friend.

Anyways last night while at work I typed up two new reviews for my latest beaten games from my backlog; Condemned 2: Bloodshot and Planescape: Torment. Here's the rundowns.

Planescape: Torment: It always pains me to go back to these old games and see that they did a lot more right and innovative than today's games, especially when it comes down to RPG's. My review for the game is Nyeah and let me just say that all the praise this game has ever received is 100% correct. This game is truly a cla$sic. An easy 9.5 in my book.

Condemned 2: Bloodshot: I really enjoyed this game even though there was some strange design decisions and the story went off in a very absurd way. I liked the variety of enemies, the improvements to the investigative portions and the combat overhaul but it seems Bloodshot has a much stronger emphasis on firearms and the story really goes far out there. My actual score would have been inbetween 8.0 - 8.5 so I ended up giving it an 8.5. The review is right Nyeah.