What makes me so angry about the situation is that I am a Microsoft fan.  I don’t use Macs, we have two 360s in our household, two Zunes, and rant and rave about how much we love the Xbox 360.  Every game that has caught my interest has been on the 360.  But, these games can’t be played if we have to keep sending our consoles off every six months to get fixed.  Did I mention that my boyfriend Solidus already had to send his off for the RROD issue?  So, between us, this will be our fourth console in about two years.  Ridiculous.  How is it that my optical drive in my computer has lasted over 10 years, and this piece of shit won’t even make it to two?  My dog could engineer better hardware. 

So now I have a dilemma.  Do I pay at least $100 to send it back, wait forever, and take the chance of getting a refurb unit that will crash in another six months?  Some people are on their NINETH console because they keep getting crappy refurbs back that die within two weeks! Or, do I fork out more money for a new unit and pray for the best?  And there’s always the option of using it as a doorstop, because without an optical drive, any game store will laugh in your face and say it’s worth $10.  Are you kidding me?  Sure, I could always take a break from gaming and spend some time with the family, read some books, ride my bike, or cure world hunger.  But, after a hard day at work sometimes you just want to go home and save a princess, kill some hookers, erect a turret, or rescue some Little Sisters....

UPDATE 06/02/08

I did finally take the plunge and bought another Xbox 360 Pro.  I was so excited to get back to playing GTA IV and Puzzle Quest.  But, Microsoft has found another way to disappoint me AGAIN. 

BEWARE of spending money on arcade games (and read the terms of use for them very carefully!).  Little did I know, you can’t just pop your old hard drive into a new 360 and get all your arcade games back.   When you download an arcade game, it keeps track of them under your gamertag, but also what Xbox 360 serial number you downloaded them on.  So, you can only play arcade games on the 360 you ORIGINALLY  downloaded them to.  If you stick your hard drive into a different 360 (one you legally own), they will revert back to the trial versions!  This was Microsoft’s way of preventing people from stealing content sure, but what about when your console dies and you get a refurb back from Microsoft or you buy a new one like me?  Well, seems like Microsoft doesn’t seem to care about that too much so there is no actual fix for this.  The only way you can get your arcade games back is to make another gamertag on your new console and buy the game again.  I’ve already put enough money into their pockets, I can do without arcade games from now on.  Not buying arcade games again.....