The Xbox 360 “NXE”

Despite Microsofts pathetic Xbox 360 support I managed thru the help of the retailer to get it replaced and I upgraded to 360elite. However now with the new interface coming I may regret it.

Just spent a bit of time looking at the new vbox 360 interface. Talk about "wii wannabe” . It looks juvenile and Microsoft should be honest and rename the console the Wii360.  I already have a Wii I dont need another one.

What really gets me is this from the FAQ

Q Is the Update optional? Can I keep my old interface if I want to?

A Why would you want to? The New Xbox Experience is the same experience you had before and so much more! As a matter fact, the blades that people have come to know and love are integrated directly in to the guide button so that every aspect of the Xbox experience is always only one button click away. The new Xbox experience is built with community as its foundation and requires everyone to upgrade

Why would I want to ? Why wouldnt I and why should I if I dont like this new interface. The arrogance oozing from this reply is just amazing I guess they learned that from the Vista team. I can see the people responsible for the upgrade have a caught the “smug”.

Xbox360 support is pathetic

I have owned a Xbox360 for about 8 months now and haven’t had a problem with it. Its stored in a very well ventilated area and is kept dust free.

Anyway the other day I was playing Forza2 and towards the end the display started breaking up. I dint think to much as it went away and I turned off the unit as I had finished playing. A few hours later I tried to start and I get 1 red light and a E74. I looked up the error on Microsoft’s site and went thru all troubleshooting (different cable, removed HDD and unplugged from network).

Next step was to get onto the website service.xbox.com and check my warranty. After registering I am informed by the site that my warranty has expired. WTF!!! when I went to school 8 does not equal 12.

I attempted to call the support line and after being in hold for 20 minutes without answer I hung up. I then decided to contact support from the website.  Talk about inept. You ask basic questions and you get an totally unrelated and pointless answer. I may as well written about growing grass for the amount of attention they seem to pay. Its just not 1 occasion its been 4 at this stage. I feel like I am banging my head against a brickwall the support is absolutely hopeless. I have tried to call them 2x since and both times given up after a long period on hold and call back well lets just say I am still waiting

At this point I have gone out an ordered a PS3 because regardless what ends up happening with the Xbox I have had enough of this pathetic incompetent support.

Update: several more email and load of pointless answers. Picked up the PS3 today and all is going well.

Update 2 : 17 emails this weekend from support and not a straight answer amongst them. At least they are consistently pathetic.

Update 3 : 10 more emails and still not a straight answer or any attempt to actually help. XBOX360 support is beyond useless

Update 4: a list of the support ticket numbers  I could find

SRX1068079470ID
SRX1068149549ID
SRX1068146782ID
SRX1068134712ID
SRX1068133281ID
SRX1068156199ID
SRX1068157979ID
SRX1068160690ID
SRX1068220202ID
SRX1068378360ID
SRX1068506525ID
SRX1068564584ID
SRX1068602819ID
SRX1068603676ID
SRX1068606516ID
SRX1068689044ID
SRX1068054023ID
SRX1068044021ID
SRX1068041998ID
SRX1068077773ID
SRX1067878722ID
SRX1067969544ID
SRX1068713932ID
SRX1068782741ID
SRX1069037263ID
SRX1069129126ID
SRX1069140309ID
SRX1069239125ID
SRX1069334549ID
SRX1069414566ID
SRX1069483804ID
SRX1069541146ID
SRX1069568403ID

My advice would be to avoid the Xbox360 like the plague and get a PS3 instead. Once microsoft have your money thats when support stops being useful.

Update 5: Vincent called today and left a voice message (it was 11am and I was at work so why they would call at that time I have no idea). He wanted details of my problem that I have detailed several times already to support. The level of "patheticness" shown by support continues to amaze me.

Update 6: Vincent called again today he obviously has no concept of time as it was nearly 2pm and again I was at work.

Update 7: Still going. Dont really care about the xbox anymore which is much the same attitude Xbox support has towards customers.

Vista Service Pack 1 – On my production PC

I have been running SP1 which I obtained from a torrent on a virtual PC for a few days without issue. Tonight I decided to install SP1 on my “Production” PC. So using a registry hack that is floating around the net( google “vista sp1 registry hack” and you should find it) I got the service pack installed via windows update.

It all went smoothly (took about 35-40 minutes) and everything is working without issue.

So after the Vista team basically telling me I was to stupid to deal with the service pack at this stage I managed to do it without my brain exploding contrary what the Vista team seem to be indicating by their pathetic release schedule.

I will report on my experience with SP1 in the coming weeks and to all if you want to try it give it a go because despite what the Vista team says I am guessing most of you are more than capable of dealing with it. So go on live on the edge and take a risk or dont its your choice not the narrow minded, arrogant Vista team.

Finally to the Vista team I offer this gesture

Vista SP1 – Vista Team = Arrogant and Ignorant

Well the Vista team continue to treat anybody not in the press or a paying member of MSDN or Technet with absolute utter contempt. It seem if you are not any of the above you are deemed to be too stupid to have SP1 for Vista. The Vista Team turned me into a pirate as the only way I could get a copy of SP1 was to get it off of torrents. I am currently testing it on a virtual PC.

Despite the Vista team saying they are listening I find that near impossible to believe.

So congratulation the Vista team for yet another pathetic effort and treating honest (well until they turned this user to piracy) and knowledgeable users  like  5 year olds.

I like Vista but its hard to offer any kind words when they just struggle their way from one clusterf**k to another and continue to insult users by saying they are listening.

Vista team answer : No you are just a mob of  monkeys

The Vista Teams role model