d0rkorg

So I went out over lunch and bought a copy of Halo 3 Limited Edition. A couple coworkers went with me and bought the same editions. We came back to the office and one of them decided to open it up and start looking through the bonus stuff. His game disc was scratched all over (in the inner third of the DVD). This may have still been playable, but I expect better from a brand new $70 game. After he showed us his scratched disc, we headed out to our cars and brought in our copies to check them out. Mine was scratched just as bad and my other buddy’s was okay.

The case design is horrible. There isn’t much to keep the disc from sliding off of its spindle inside the case. Once it does slip off, it just rubs against the plastic that is supposed to keep the disc secure. The over all case quality was much worse than the limited edition version of Halo 2. The metal enclosure just feels cheap and some of the black paint actually rubbed off on my hands when I was handling it.

I took my copy back to Best Buy to see what they could do about Microsoft’s mistake. The guy told me that they’ve already had a bunch of people swap them so I decided that I didn’t even want to mess around with getting another copy with a shabby case. The customer service guy let me swap it for the normal edition of the game, so I ended up walking out of the store with a disc that wasn’t scratched, a case that I know won’t let me easily scratch the disc, and a $10 refund. I guess that is about as much as you can ask for Best Buy to do in this situation as Microsoft really screwed the pooch here.

My coworker didn’t have the same luck at Best Buy as I did. He wanted to keep the limited edition version so he had the customer service guy at Best Buy open three new copies looking for a disc that wasn’t scratched. Understandably, after the third he said that there was nothing he could do. He left with the same scratched disc he went in with.

Here’s some pictures of the case, demonstrating how easily it scratches the discs. Also, Microsoft has announced that they will be replacing the scratched discs for free. Unfortunately, you’ll have to be without your game for two weeks while you ship it in and they ship you out a new copy. I guess it is better than nothing though for those stuck with a scratched disc.

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Recently I decided that it’s time to up my Gamerscore for my Xbox 360.

I purchased a few games on eBay to help me in my endeavor. They are:

• Fight Night Round 3 (achievements)
• NBA 2k6 (achievements)
• King Kong (achievements)

I’ve won a couple belts in Fight Night so far - that game is tougher than I thought it would be after playing the demo. I like the controls though - feels pretty nice being able to throw a hook and simulating that action on your analog joystick. So far I’ve only unlocked 3 of the 8 achievements but I’m getting on a roll now, usually knocking opponents out in the second or third round. Parrying and blocking for that matter takes a while to get down.

I’m still waiting to receive the other games but looking at NBA 2k6’s achievement list, I’m hoping I can snag all of them in a single game or two and then keep the $10 game for some good local 4-player action. King Kong is one of the games I considered buying at launch, but from hearing that the game only plays 5-8 hours I couldn’t justify the $60. $20 is more reasonable. Thanks eBay.

I’m also working through GRAW and Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 06 (can’t wait for the ‘07 version to ship in less than a month now). I’ve had my character maxed out in Tiger ‘06 for quite a while now, but I just haven’t played online against the kids that shoot in the low 40’s for 18 holes. Hopefully the 2007 version of the game cuts back on such ridiculous scoring.

Other games I’ve recently bought but haven’t unlocked many achievements in include Table Tennis, Dead Rising, and Dead or Alive 4. The achievements take forever to get in Project Gotham Racing 3 and Perfect Dark: Zero, otherwise I may actually be tempted to play those games offline.

Table Tennis is way harder than it feels like it should be. It is a great 1v1 game but playing against computer opponents makes me look like an ass. Dead Rising is a great game that is going to take a ton of time to work through. I’m not sure I’ll ever get many more achievements in DoA4 because of the time required - who wants to work their way through a fighter multiple times with the same character just to unlock a new costume anyways?

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Recently I’ve read about Orange offering the AKU2 update for their SPV C600 phone, which is similar to my SDA. So, I decided to email T-Mobile’s support team and ask if such an update is going to be available to the US customers. Here’s the response I got back:

Thank you for taking the time to get in touch with T-Mobile. My name is Adam and I will be happy to assist you today with your account concerns. I understand you contacted T-Mobile requesting information on the Messaging & Security Feature Pack for Windows Mobile 5.0. I look forward to providing you with World Class customer service today.

At this time these updates are created directly by Microsoft. They are currently working on bringing new features and updates to your Windows Mobile 5.0 device. The latest version due soon is the version required to get your email ‘pushed’ direct from the latest version of Exchange 2003. The AKU2.0 updates are currently being released in Germany and the new version will be available on all devices in the U.S sometime after April.

When these updates are available you should be contacted by T-Mobile. Please keep in mind you would also have the option of downloading these updates when they become available directly from Microsoft. For your convenience I have listed the link below to check for the latest updates.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/business/5/default.mspx

The updates now available are listed by device in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. I trust this information is of assistance to you. I thank you for your time and I hope you are having a great week.

The emphasis is mine - this is pretty exciting news. Saying “sometime after April” leaves the ETA for the update wide open, but I’m hoping this means Direct Push will be available very soon to T-Mobile USA customers.

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