My broken Xbox 360 history

It’s not that I don’t have games to play, it’s just that I’m having a hard time playing them. Maybe someone can tell me if the original Saint’s Row on the Xbox 360 was a particularly buggy game? I’ve been trying to get caught up on ‘games I should’ve played” lately, and picked up the Saint’s Row Double Pack. Since then, I’ve grabbed some other games from years past, like last year’s Batman: Arkham City, another game from the era of the original PlayStation, and an NES game… I’ve got lots of things to catch up on – but for some reason the original Saint’s Row keeps locking up my Xbox. The background audio keeps playing, the video freezes, the whole thing just locks.

I’m starting to fear the worst, because this isn’t the first game this has happened on, it’s just the most recent, and most frequent. I thought these “slim” Xbox 360’s were supposed to alleviate the pain? My original 20GB Xbox 360 had to be sent in for a Red Ring failure. My replacement unit is still trucking along, although it has a lot of disc read errors – it went to a friend when I picked up a 120GB black Elite unit. The Elite was having lots of disc read errors when I sold it (with full disclosures to the buyer of potential repair being needed down the road) and picked up an Xbox 360 “S” unit last year. And I’m beginning to think this unit is going to have to go in for a little servicing.

Now, one of the biggest reasons I’m not totally losing my mind over this latest problem is that it has been hot lately. Even with my AC unit about 5 feet from my 360 (not blowing directly on it, but they’re in the same room!), I have a hard time keeping it in the 70’s. Perhaps the 360 is just getting a bit too warm. It should have lots of room to breathe, but it’s just keeps locking up on me. If the problems continue once I’m playing a different game and we’re back in to some reasonable temperatures, then I’ll be a bit more worried. But for now, I’m just hoping I’m not a 5th time victim of some kind of problem in the long relationship I’ve had with my Xbox 360. I still love the thing, but keeping it has become a labor of love.

I’m sure some PS3 lover out there wants to rub this in my face, but remember that my Fat PS3 bit the dust by freezing up (not a “YLOD” or anything else, it just froze), and my second one mostly collects dust while I watch the occasional BluRay on it (serioysly, I own about 10 BluRay movies and 2 PS3 games – I have more PS1 games to play on the thing!). Call me a “fanboy” if you want, but the Xbox brand will always have a spot in my home. I just genuinely love the Xbox Live service… and the controller.

Now, if you want to put Xbox Live and a few Halo games on a PlayStation, we’ll talk!

Politics drive me mad…

Senator Stilskin: a Baby-Eater from Brady Fitzgerald on Vimeo.

It’s that time of year, when everyone you know on Facebook, where you work, in the grocery store – everybody everywhere – is suddenly a political analyst. I remember four years ago asking a friend where they got their news from. This person genuinely thought that one of the best places to get information was from the attack ads. Do you want to vote for a politician who is a cannabal? Really? You don’t want to listen to the speech the person actually gave, just selected, edited, and cropped sound bites that the other person is telling you was said. Is there any worse way to find out what a person is like? Even a person with the best intentions could still mix up the message – why not hear someone’s actual words?

I don’t know. It’s all just so over the top. And with new media, social media, the instant feedback from the internet – there is no time to pound away and send one message home as political candidate, you have to have something new to say every single day, because each day, everybody is hearing your message. It’s not like it was a few hundred years ago, when you had to campaign all around the country. Now you’re campaigning nationwide every day! Quotes get put on the news, ads are put on Youtube, and statistics are misrepresented and outright lied about in stupid pictures that get retweeted and shared a few hundred thousand times over.

I’m a geek. A geek who loves music, and video games; hockey, and football; whiskey, and cold beer. I have strong convictions on social and fiscal policies. But I just know that this year, more than any in the past, is going to be ugly. The attack ads are going to really turn me off to this election season, and we’re a long way from the finish line. I’m hoping to keep my head low, but you can’t even turn off the TV this year. It’s already started on radio, every social network, and even YouTube’s pre-roll ads. It just makes me sad that so many influenced by the negative campaign ads, rather than listening to the messages of the candidates themselves. Know where someomne stands, know how they’ve voted in the past, and vote for your candidate of choice – not the candidate who bashed the other guy the most. Republican or Democrat: I just hope we all come out of this one alive.

How to tell if you are running 32 or 64 bit Windows

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I get this all the time. Here is what you most likely need to know. If you are running Windows XP, it is almost certain that you don’t have 64bit windows installed. With Windows Vista or 7, you can check with a few simple clicks.

Right click on the Computer icon. It should be on your desktop or in the Start Menu. Then left click on Properties. It will open the System window, which will have, as the screenshot above shows, information about your computer, including how much RAM you have and whether you are running 32 or 64-bit Windows.

It is important to note that you may have 32-bit Windows installed on a computer that can handle a 64-bit operating system, but to determine that you may need to run a special program like CPUZ or WCPUID. But almost anything manufactured in the last 5 years ought to do 64-bit computing, with the biggest exception being Intel’s Atom Processor, found mostly in Netbooks.

2012 – Purity Ring – Shrines

Releasing tomorrow, Purity Ring’s “Shrines” is a beautifully crafted psychadellic trip through a musical soundscape. Much like many of the recent electronica type indie bands of late, you’ll be hard pressed to find the occasional “real instrument” on the album, but that won’t make it any less enjoyable.

If you’re one of the many millions who has been enjoying the vocal stylings from Gotye’s Somebody that I used to know, lately, then you are going to enjoy the haunting ethereal voice of Megan James. Corin Roddick pops in part way through the album with a voice inspired by contemporary hip-hop artists, whch acts as an enjoyable contrast to the ghost-like voice of James.

And if you’re not keen on preordering something you’ve never heard before, you’re in luck. NPR actually has the whole album available for your preview pleasure. But if you have enjoyed the likes of Neon Indian or Air France over the last few years, Purity Ring will end up on your playlist in the very near future.