The Hard Lock Episode

[fishbang]

IGC weekend edition is available here (http://ingamechat.net/audio/IGC20081121.mp3).

We throw around a lot of elbows in this episode, not so much due to any fundamental disagreements, but because its easy to get exceptionally irate about hardware issues when your beloved console starts rebelling against you. The show suffered some unavoidable Mirror’s Edge lockups on the PS3 this week - a problem that was unresolved, but cleverly circumvented - as well as a constant stream of full stops on the XBox; problems almost certainly related to the new front-end.

While all of our issues have been corroborated by testimonials on the internet, it does our hearts no good to know that even a small percentage of the base shares our pain. Our heads appreciate the statistic, though, and the thought that it may generate official support for our problems, however insignificant they may seem. Meanwhile, we console ourselves with the ritual of trouble-shooting and problem solving that years of PC ownership has made so familiar. We apologize if our prickly tirade harshes anyone’s nxe-avatar-generated mellow.

[Kojak]

I can certainly agree with you that people would be inclined to think that the people reporting problems with the NXE are just wearing 'tin-foil' hats because that means the problem is far away from us that are happily playing and after all if its there fault it means your system isnt going to brick its self.

I was worried downloading the update after only buying a second 360 yesterday. First one died 432 days ago (going by the last seen online). Sent that one in after red ringing 2 days after I brought it (which was 2 days before Halo 3), then red ringed a second time shortly after getting it back then was fine for a month before i got some red rings but wasnt THE red rings and apparently wasn't covered due to warrenty. Keep this in mind that I am the only one I know who got a faulty Gamecube I dont have the best luck with consoles so naturally when I hear these reports of doom and gloom I'm more inclined to belive them than other people. (swear to god I dont cram bar snacks and beverages into my consoles)

I've got a good feeling about this 360 though and after downloading NXE have not had any problems that cant be attributed to Australia's crappy Internet services. Just wondering though you mentioned problems with the network but I dont recall you saying what they were. Are you talling about random dissconects?

The other thing was that its just so dam obvious that this new interface is to get us to spend more money. It defaults on the spotlight channel which is essentially marketplace. Shouldnt the channel default to 'My Xbox' or is that a setting that can be changed?

[graboids]

Looking for to listening to it...

I have had a couple "hard locks" while play Gears 2 from my hard drive, but over all the NXE is pretty cool, the avatars are better now that I found the green hair color to complete my joker avatar... but still, overall they kind of seem like what i would expect future Miis to look like on the next version of the Wii... not what someone playing Halo/Gears/COD4/Left4Dead should be spending our time adjusting hairstyles on.

Also the voice chat quality seem a lot better as well....

[Iron Past]

I gotta say I completely disagree that removing Sony owned movies from streaming on the 360 is a legitimate move. First, since it was recorded on Thursday, I'm sure you know by now it's a licensing issue (I believe movies from Sony Pictures are still available, just not Columbia), but the thing is, MS has a deal with Netflix, not Sony. If Sony says you can't have our movies on Marketplace, sure, that's fine. But telling Netflix where they can and can't distribute their movies when they have every right to is a big no-no.

If it were Sony distributing the content, that would be different, but it's not. Kind of like telling a Blockbuster who they can and can't rent out movies to. In fact, exactly like that. But hey, you don't have to agree with me. :)

The other stuff I agree with (mostly). I find myself doing the thing where if I'm not experiencing a problem I don't think of it as such a big deal. Then again, I got a Wii on launch day and didn't get very worked up when it bricked after an update and I had to get it traded by Nintendo--maybe because it was a reletivley smooth and easy process. But, 'significant number' or not, there is a problem and I would hope MS is fixing it (they're working on it if Major Nelson is to be believed).

I think if Blu-Ray were refused to MS' next platform, it would push them in a different direction. I could easily see them saying fine, here's a gigantic HDD, everything's either downloaded or optimized for instalation (like a multi-disc PC title, install all the discs and use #1 for playback). Hell, they might do it anyway.

[Psykoboy2]

I gotta say I completely disagree that removing Sony owned movies from streaming on the 360 is a legitimate move. First, since it was recorded on Thursday, I'm sure you know by now it's a licensing issue (I believe movies from Sony Pictures are still available, just not Columbia), but the thing is, MS has a deal with Netflix, not Sony. If Sony says you can't have our movies on Marketplace, sure, that's fine. But telling Netflix where they can and can't distribute their movies when they have every right to is a big no-no.

You know, I'm still not sure on where things stand with this issue. I was trying to find the "sort by studio" section on Netflix, but I can't at the moment. If Sony told them they couldn't stream to the 360, I can see Netflix agreeing with them in that case. It's like when Wal-Mart threatens not to stock something for whatever reason...the other company will budge since Wal-Mart is sooooo huge. I would think Sony is bigger than Netflix in this case and says hey, you've got a ton of our movies, if you don't do this, we'll just stop supporting you.

Honestly, I don't think we'll know the truth. We'll get PR and spin from the different representatives, but probably never the factual truth of the situation. Currently, however, I don't care. I've found plenty that can stream and nothing yet telling me it can't...or at least nothing yet that I have cared to add to my queue.

[Commissar Rob]

Until I listened to the podcast today, I really hadn't given the couple of lockups I've experienced any thought. Mind you, it's only been two - and both have been during the inevitably extended play sessions I have with Fallout - but I'd never experienced one before.

For the record, my first happened before the NXE hit. The second happened post NXE and post a hard-drive install. Here's hoping this is random chance and not the symptoms of a deeper problem...

And btw - the podcast is awesome! Keep up the great work!

[kropotkin]

On an ever so slightly related note what was the first console game you ever see crash? I'm talking about console games specifically, not PC games as they are duty bound to fall over at some point.

For me it was Wip3Out on the PSOne. I was just selecting a race to start then bam! the game locked up. I was dumbfounded as I had come from the land of PC games where people muttered that consoles games 'never crashed'. I really didn't know what to do at first as the concept of a console game crashing was alien to me. I remember staring at the screen for what seemed like a long while. 'How can a console game crash?' I yelled. They have a single, standard set of hardware. There is no variation. What possible reason could there be for the game to crash?

Once I got over my shock I reset the game and continued to play with narry a lock up. How times change eh folks?

[Straximus]

On an ever so slightly related note what was the first console game you ever see crash?

I guess it depends. My NES saw so much use it got to the point where carts had to be seated just so. The tiniest bump would cause the game to freeze. But if it's a purely software related crash you're looking for, I remember a few during the 16-bit era. I remember there was a way to crash Sonic 3 using the level select.

[hunterx280]

It really threw me off hearing my name at the end of the episode. I was worried no one saw that post. I'm glad you guys saw it and hopefully Steve will be back on soon.

[TrackZero]

I guess it depends. My NES saw so much use it got to the point where carts had to be seated just so. The tiniest bump would cause the game to freeze. But if it's a purely software related crash you're looking for, I remember a few during the 16-bit era. I remember there was a way to crash Sonic 3 using the level select.

You could also crash mario 2 quite easily at some points, with infinite enimies showing up on screen (coming out of pots). Also, yeesh, G.I. Joe used to crash constantly. Yeah, 8-bit era games did have their own issues.

Earliest game I saw crash was Asteroids on my Vectrex. Somewhere in the level 60s, the game would bug out and have everything giant sized, would instantly blow your ship up and the game would crash (at least for me, this always happened).