My 360 broke down, what to do?

[Raggen77]

So I just got the three red rings of death. I was able to restart the console a couple of times but eventually it caved in completely.

Microsoft was quite helpful when I phoned in, and my broken 360 will be picked up for repairs by DHL in a couple of days. My problem however is this: What am I going to do for the next couple of weeks or months? Rumor has it that these kinds of repairs can take quite a while.

This breakdown would normally just have been a major annoyance, but I`m currently in the middle of a three months long paid vacation... I quit my job in august to start working somewhere else and my employer basicly said **** off and told me to stay home for the resignation period. So here I am, I can`t go to work until december, the Norwegian autumn is dark, cold and wet and I`d really like to stay indoors and play some games.

As far as I can tell I`ve got a few options to keep my gaming alive:

• Buy a 360 elite and sell my old 360 when it returns
• Buy a PS3
• Buy a Nintendo Wii
• Start playing old games on my crappy old PC

Please dear forum give me some advice on what to do!

[Vince]

Don't you have another console a ps2 or something?

Mines dead at the moment too and although i miss it i'm enjoying playing on my ps2 and ds. Its funny though i feel really dirty after it broke and in one way want totally rid of it. I've been gaming for well over 20 years and only ever had one console break before, and that was an import saturn that one of my friends plugged into the wall without a stepdown.

[Raggen77]

Don't you have another console a ps2 or something?

I`ve given both my old Playstation and Xbox away so I`m afraid that`s not an option. I guess I`ve learned my lesson, I shouldn`t be so giving

[Paulos G]

Raggen, the extra GRAW 2 content is due out next month. You must do whatever it takes to ensure you have a working 360 for that.

Now go and sort it out!

[Spatial]

Next month? Oh God! Don't they know I've got other games to be spending money on?!!

I wasn't even planning on DLC for the older games on my shelf

Sorry to hear it Raggen it's always a pisser when the system decides to go tits up

The turn around in the UK is around two weeks at the moment but I'm not sure what the situation is there. I seem to recall Capcom saying things were taking a pretty long time.

Personally, and if you weren't dead set on one of the other systems, I would buy a new one to tide me over since I don't think I could spend anything longer than two weeks without it (sad, but very true).

Alternatively you could use all that time to master the art of whittling objects out of wood.

That or Vanpeebles will be able to point you in the direction of some classic Acorn games

[fragmast3r]

a friend sent his to be repaired, he had it back after 2 weeks, this was about a week ago so they seem to have got there act together

[Strolls]

I'd use this as an excuse to buy a PS3, but I can see that if you're not too fussed about another console then I can see the appeal of just buying another 360 to tide you over.

I couldn't bring myself to buy a current-model 360 because of all the complaints I've read about the fan noise and because they just generally seem to be so cheaply made, but you can't argue with the library of games for the 360.

I love my PS3 because it's good hardware & it runs Linux. Right now, it's getting a lot more play than my Wii - both on "next-gen" & on Gamecube / PS2 titles.

[Raggen77]

I`m a bit worried that both the PS3 and the Wii will end up as an expensive dust collector as soon as I get my 360 back.

As far as I understand you can get a cable to transfer data from one HDD to another if you buy an Elite. Does anyone know how this works? Do I need both 360s up and running to do this?

Raggen, the extra GRAW 2 content is due out next month. You must do whatever it takes to ensure you have a working 360 for that.

Now go and sort it out!

Just checked the internet for the availability of the Elite and it doesn`t look good. I can`t find a single one within a 200 mile radius. Arrgh!

[Paulos G]

What about one of the new Arcade models? No HDD but it does have HDMI.

[Swallow]

Paulos has two 360s, Raggen has none. Hmmm.....

[Paulos G]

Swallow has two 360s too.

[jimmbob]

Get yourself a Wii for the time being, a Metroid is out soon and should keep you busy for a while. Plus you can send me offensive messages. Which is always nice.

[Swallow]

And you're likely to not lose too much money if you decide to sell your Wii on around Christmas. Problem might be actually getting one at all at the moment though.

[J0e Musashi]

Now would be the perfect time to say "Lol, 360".

I won't though.

[Paulos G]

And here was me thinking you were going to recommend a DS J0e.