Day 11 - Welcome To The Suck

So I waited until I got back into the office to send out my Xbox. The reason? Free packing material and UPS does daily pick up and deliveries! Wow, just like this whole experience it turned out DISAPPOINTING.

First let's look at my beautiful little Xbox before I seal her up nice and tight...



Aww...now let's see it sealed...



Now that's all done. So I place it in the UPS pick up bin of our office. Three days the UPS guy said he's going to drop off all the packages in the building and pick this one back up. For three days nothing happened. Luckily one of our AV/Mail Room Technicians stopped one of them and forced them to take our UPS pickups.

SUCCESS! (Oh I can almost hear a horde grunt saying those words...)...or is it?

I recently went onto the Xbox support site, and still see an invalid tracking number.

So what does this mean?

I don't know, but I am scared sh*tless.

So let's what happens next on The Tears of a Thousand Red Rings...

Day 2 - Into The Mouth of Madness

I didn't know I was this addicted... I woke up today, and just stared at my television. I see a controller... a controller not connected to anything. It's Sunday so I have not sent out the Xbox, but I'm already missing it.

I've decided to fill my new found free time by watching hours and hours of anime. Everyone needs to watch Detroit Metal City. It is f*cking awesome!

I can always play with the Wii, but I just didn't feel like it. Argh boredom. To get my gaming fix I've been playing Text Twist on Yahoo... Damn you Microsoft...damn you to hell.

Day 1 - Emergence Da...ahem... Red Ring Day

Vacation. It was my time to relax. It was my time to catch up on a very favorite past time, playing video games. I have two weeks off of my hectic work schedule. TWO WEEKS of pure bliss, but one of those weeks I would have to spend home with my parents. I could bring the Xbox 360 with me, but they lack a decent reliable broadband connection. That meant no Gears of War. That's okay.

I'll just wait till I get back to my apartment. I raced home today, Saturday, December 27th 2008 in the year of our lord, to turn on my Xbox 360. I was greeted by that oh so familiar, and loving bootup sound. I grasped my controller in my hand and launched Gears of War 2 from my menu. For the next week I'd be able to play, and finally beat Gears' campaign mode.

A black screen filled my 32 inch HDTV. What could be the matter? Why... why is my Xbox not making any noise? My Xbox was not responding to any control commands. I turned it off, then I turned it back on. There was nothing on screen, but my Xbox...she looked at me. She had three blinking red lights. She was in pain. She was, red ringed.

I've heard stories from many of my friends who had experienced this. I always thought to myself, it can't happen to me. It did. It happened and now I feel sad and melancholy. Never have I thought would ever happen with any video game system. Only the PS 1 proved to be a nuisance (I went through 2), but I thought no one would ever let a shoddy system be released like that again. It happened.

The story gets worse, much worse. My Xbox bears many markings. She has been autographed by Suda 51 and Yoshinori Ono (Street Fighter IV). She has two drawings by Udon Artists, one of Ken and another of Ryu. She is a pretty Xbox, but now that I send her in... will she lose these mementos?


I'm frightened for the unknown. A friend of mine suggested I buy another Xbox, and save this one. I would love to do that. I would love to just keep this one in display, but alas my wallet is like everyone else's during this harsh economy. My wallet is hurting, and I desperately want to game again. Its cruel fate that has brought me here... Another person suggested I start a blog to chronicle this ordeal, and that's what I'm doing. It's my therapeutic and cathartic release from bottling up my sadness.

I have called in to Xbox support. They suggested I attach a letter with my Xbox in an attempt to have them salvage the case. This is Day 1.

To my brothers and sisters in arms that have gone through the grief of the Red Ring of Death, I now know your pain.

Me and the good ol' girl in happier times:

You lived your life like a candle in the wind...