Xbox 360

[Ryan]

There really should be a better way to transfer data from one to HDD to another. The nice thing is they are easy to change out, so if you wnated you could go out and buy the 120GB and keep your old HDD and just switch them out as you need them. You can put your profile onto a memory card or flash drive so it can be used with both HDDs. Still not really an ideal situation but it'll do the job.

My big problem with upgrading the HD for the XBox, is that barring buying an expensive convertor, you have to get an all new drive and NOT be able to copy your existing info on to it.

I'm not a huge gamer, but dang, I don't want to be forced to upgrade and NOT be able to bring along my information. That would wipe out many months of gamplay. And I'm not one for replaying games other than Halo and a scant few others.

Say what now?  Microsoft may do some dumb stuff from time to time, but they wouldn't do anything that dumb.

Quoting from Xbox 360 120GB Hard Drive:

The Xbox 360 120GB Hard Drive includes a data transfer kit to easily migrate all of your saved data from your 20GB HDD to your 120GB HDD.

I'm not a huge gamer, but dang, I don't want to be forced to upgrade

How would they be "forcing" you to upgrade?

Now, the NXE will apparently require 128MB of free space in order to run, but Microsoft is offering a free 512MB Memory Card or a 20GB hard drive for $19.99 to Core owners. 

But nobody will be "forced" to upgrade their 20GB hard drives for a bigger one, if they don't want.  It's entirely optional, for users who want to take advantage of everything the NXE has to offer.

Thanks for clearing that up Matt. Guess I have no clue what I'm talking about.

I figured there had to be some other way to transfer your data. I originally had the Pro two years ago. It came in the Costco bundle so it was $500 but it came with an extra game or two, another controller, and a rechargable battery pack. When I got the RoD on that system I returned it to Costco rather than sending it in, I got the full price back and bought the Elite, which doesn't come with the HDD transfer kit, so I could migrate any of my saved games from my first HDD. It's good they include that, I just wish it had come with the Elite as well.

[MetalJedi]

Bioshock 2 trailer is up.

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/41897.html

[Jesse James]

My X-Box360 came home today...  Not long at all really since I sent it.  A week perhaps, maybe a little more, but not bad.  I'm happy and I have a free month of XBL for my trouble.  What I'm not curious about is have people who've had teh 3 red rings of death, had them again on their returned system?

[Matt_Fury]

Check your paperwork Jesse, the one they sent back to me was a completely new unit (minus the hard drive since I did not send that in) so that they could return it to me more quickly.

[Ryan]

I've never gotten a new one, it has always been refurbished... It isn't the same one they just a newly refurbished console as soon as they get yours in. Are you sure yours was new Matt?

Jesse what is your gamertag? I saw someone named McCracken5 the other day and wondered if it might have been you and the boys.

[Jesse James]

The boys misspelled Autistic Walrus, so their handle's comically bad.

Mine's Han Jabba77.  I don't have Live up right now though as our wireless is FUBAR at Diane's and she's not fixed it yet, and I don't have the patience to fix it. 

They told me my serial # on my console is new and they'd reregister it to my account I think.  They didn't say much beyond that in the paperwork, but I wouldn't be shocked if it's new as the shell is very clean and really spotless.  Not that my old one was beat around, but it had scrapes here and there (very light) and this new one has nada on it...  I dunno.

As long as I don't have to ever do this again, I'll be happy.  If I get red rings of death again, I'm pissed off.

[Matt]

Bioshock 2 trailer is up.

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/41897.html

Just finished the first one a couple days ago, with all the achievements (yes, including "Brass Balls").  One of the best games I've ever played.  I'd been hearing about how good it was, but I didn't think it would be this good. 

If it has some type of multiplayer component, the sequel will be a must-buy when it comes out.

[Matt_Fury]

The boys misspelled Autistic Walrus, so their handle's comically bad.

Mine's Han Jabba77.  I don't have Live up right now though as our wireless is FUBAR at Diane's and she's not fixed it yet, and I don't have the patience to fix it. 

They told me my serial # on my console is new and they'd reregister it to my account I think.  They didn't say much beyond that in the paperwork, but I wouldn't be shocked if it's new as the shell is very clean and really spotless.  Not that my old one was beat around, but it had scrapes here and there (very light) and this new one has nada on it...  I dunno.

As long as I don't have to ever do this again, I'll be happy.  If I get red rings of death again, I'm pissed off.

Same with mine.  I don't know if it was new or refurbished, but it was in pristine condition...not that my old one was in bad shape or anything.

[MetalJedi]

Finished Dead Space on Normal. Man what a great game, it has some great moments in it. Now just have to try it on Impossible mode.

[Matt]

Gears 2 reviewed at IGN ~ 9.5/10

Closing Comments
If you haven’t figured it out by now, Gears of War 2 is what’s going to sell Xbox 360s this holiday season. It has non-stop action, fresh gameplay, varied environments, an engrossing storyline, multiplayer that will have people busy for years to come, and some of the nastiest and coolest kills I’ve seen in a videogame. It has its flaws when it comes to the technical side of multiplayer and the last act of the campaign and the voice acting might turn some off. Still, none of that comes close to holding back Gears of War 2 from its destiny: being one of the best games available on the Xbox 360.

[MetalJedi]

Can't wait till Friday. It's gonna be a good day.

[Matt]

I don't have a 360, but I was just watching some of these trailers/commercials for an upcoming Simpsons game on there, and it looks pretty good.  It actually looks more like the show than a lot of the previous games have.

Best Buy put The Simpsons Game on sale yesterday for $9.99.  360/PS3/Wii versions.  I snagged a copy online for in-store pickup; will probably pick it up tomorrow.  May not be the best game in the world, but for ten bucks, who cares, right? 

(By the way, the 360/PS3/Wii versions have been removed from BB's site overnight, but they should be that price at the stores that still have some in stock.)

[Darth_Anton]

I'd pick it up for 10 bucks. Heck, I just might when I pick up GOW2.

[Matt]

Picked up my copy this afternoon, and scored a $10 gift card because it took them longer than one minute to retrieve my order.

I was dreading forking over actual real money for Chinese Democracy in a couple of weeks, and now I won't have to!  Thanks, Best Buy incompetence! 

[Matt]

Yeah, that was what I was hoping I could avoid, but I guess maybe not...

I went into the memory and was deleting stuff though that it said I had played, but I know I haven't yet.  For instance they got Assassin's Creed for Christmas, and I've yet to touch it because of time...  I went into memory and to my user name's games list, and deleted AC from it, but when I looked at my profile then later, AC was still listed, as were the acheivements for it.  But in memory I thought I'd deleted them...  It asked me if I wanted to, so it's very confusing.  I'm glad that it sounds like I'm not the only one with some difficulty managing the profiles and deleting stuff though.  That makes me feel better.

Yeah, I need to set my profile so it's not logged in automatically for sure...  The kids, no matter how many times I've told them, forget when they have a new game, and just use my profile...  I've got like 8 games deep now that I haven't even started myself, but I've got saved-games for them on my profile.  I'm a little annoyed.

Once something's on your Played Games list, it's there to stay.  You might delete those saves or whatever from your hard drive (which is what you're doing, I think), but those games will always be there on that list.

I've got 30- or 40-something games on my list, but I've only played about ten or so on my own system.  The others I just played for a little bit at my buddy's house on his machine.  There's some crap on there that I have no interest in playing anymore--like Feeding Frenzy.  I'd love to delete that stuff, but. . .  I can't.  Oh well.

Bumping this because apparently there's a feature in the NXE (that's the "New Xbox Experience" to you and me) which will allow you to remove games that have zero Gamerscore from your Played Games list:

YouTube video of said feature

I don't know if this is exactly what you were wanting to do, JJ, but it's close.  I like this feature and I'm looking forward to cleaning up my Played Games list a little bit.