And finally I got one

[Submeg]

ha, sucker, it's when it's turned off that it explodes

[Demon Cleaner]

ha, sucker, it's when it's turned off that it explodes

You're sure? A friend here at work just told me, that his one got now the RSOD for the 2nd time. He send it back, and now gets already his 3rd 360. Don't know if the Elite version has a better cooling system?

[Harrison]

I'm sure I read that the Elite version using an updated CPU that uses a newer smaller fabrication process so the heat issues are not as bad as the older standard version of the system. But they do still RROD a lot. Recent reports claim that 1/3 of all 360's have so far failed, which isn't good.

BTW, in regard to Phantasy Star Universe. You can play it offline and don't have to pay the monthly fees. It is only when playing the game online that you have to pay. And that has been the case with the PSO games ever since the original PSO on the Dreamcast. Although then only Japan and US had to pay. Those of us in Europe got the online completely free. But with most massively multiplayer online games it is to be expected, as they have to support the running costs of the servers and updates somehow. Although Guildwars manages it without.

PSU is a very nice game though. Although as I mentioned in another thread, it definitely appeals the most to existing fans of the game series, or which I'm one.

[Demon Cleaner]

BTW, in regard to Phantasy Star Universe. You can play it offline and don't have to pay the monthly fees. It is only when playing the game online that you have to pay.

I know that, but then I will play it on my PS2, no need to buy the game for 360. But problem is solved, I changed it against Blue Dragon (RPG).

[Buleste]

Is it me or is there something wrong with the fact that 33% of 360's have died with no real reason as to why. I think that we as consumers should not be accepting consoles with overheating problems or unexplained hardware failures no matter who makes them. Would you buy a brand of computer if you new that you have a 1 in 3 chance that it's going to die on you? How about a car? How about fly on a plane that has a 1 in 3 chance of falling out of the sky? Everyoine started to kick up a fuss when the PS2 started having all it's faults and Sony actually did something to rectify that. M$ just seem to be "Fix it and hope". Wii and PS3 are supposed to be at 1% for failures. Remember avoid all products that have a failure rate above 10%.

[Harrison]

Very true. Also the 360 has been for sale now for at least a year longer than both the Wii and PS3 so it shouldn't still be failing at such high percentages.

From what I've read it is a lack of space in the 360 case not allowing enough airflow to cool it effectively that is causing the majority of failures. In which case why haven't they redesigned it? Sony did with the PS2 as already mentioned. After the initial 30003 model was found to be unreliable they quickly redesigned the motherboard and updated the components and completely fixed the issues. (although I actually do still have an original 30003 model and it still works perfectly).

[Buleste]

And with all the money that M$ have and the fact that it's been out for longer you would have thought thay'd have come up with a redesign especially if it's just a overheat problem. Problem is M$ know they have a market of loyal fans who will buy the product no matter what. Sony thought the same with the PS2 and now look whats happening to PS3 sales. Nintendo had the SNES, Sega the megadrive and look how sales plummited after due to poor hardware design on the follow up machine. Will m£ learn? No, they have too much money and have become complaisent.

[Ghost]

Hey Harrison,

With which Phantasy Star game did you start?

A couple of years ago they made remakes of parts 1, 2 and 4 (many fans consider 3 not really part of it) for the PS2 and the Xbox I think, but apparently the Japanese think Western gamers weren't interested enough so they never translated it.

From what I heard they really had updated the games, adding more character interaction and optional quests.

Well that's Japan for you.

* * * *

This year the Wii is the major seller but I expect that that will soon change and that the PS3 will be the biggest seller during Christmas next year.

I like some of Nintendo's franchises like the Metroid games but these last years they really are always on third place when it comes to consoles, both the machines themselves and the game selection.

[Submeg]

Seriously, 33% is so bad...if this were an engineering company, they would have filed for bankruptcy! I didnt even know it was that bad....how can you buy such a console? Mind you, Im waiting for MGS and FF to come out, currently no games taking my liking on the PS3 right now...apart from that flying game, should look into it...

[Harrison]

Hey Harrison,

With which Phantasy Star game did you start?

I originally discovered the series with Phantasy Star Online on the Dreamcast and then upgraded to PSO v2, also on the Dreamcast. I played that online a lot and must have played through the complete game world story hundreds of times, killing all the bosses etc... with loads of real players online collecting all the items, weapons, and upgrading mags.

I later went back and played through some of the original Megadrive Phantasy Star games via emulation but haven't completed any of those yet as I have many other games to play first.

I also played Blue Burst on the PC for some time via a private pirate server (i.e. I didn't have to pay a monthly fee to play it).

And I've been playing the offline single player story in Phantasy Star Universe on the PS2 at the moment.