Anybody have any experience with 360 HDs going bad? I'm getting a Error 68 which Xbox says is due to the HD. Which makes sense as it will boot up fine in its absence but not when connected. I'm not sure if I want to send it in the Microsoft (out of warranty; $85) or buy another HD and try and salvage what data I can. I have no idea how many games I've downloaded that would still be available should I go the route of a new HD. Or if I do send it to Microsoft, if they can safely transfer all my data. A 250gb HD is like $30. But if I can save all my data the $50 might be worth it.

Ah, that sucks man. Not sure if there is a way to transfer saves from an XBOX360 HD to a PC maybe and transfer back? I doubt MSFT will save your data if you use them. Maybe just try the HDD? Shoot, not sure what a 360 goes for these days, but if you found a deal on a new one would that mean you get a full new warranty? Depending on cost might be worth at least looking into.

I really didn't like Borderlands 1 and didn't understand the hype or appeal at all. My friend insisted I get 2 on a Steam sale and played with me, and yeah, it's fun. Haven't played the 3rd.

Some folks love the third third Borderlands. I like the sheriff class (not the actual name), but the moon phsyics and oxygen tanks ruin the game for me. The loot drops are also really lame. My buddy and I haven't gotten a single legendary yet and we're like halfway through the campaign. It's ridiculous.

I hear you there. It's been over a decade now so my info may be dated, but I used to work in the video games section of a major electronics retailer, and one of my key recommendations based on gaming my entire life was to never ever EVER flipping EVER cheap out on off-brand gaming accessories, especially controllers and memory cards. It was hard to explain to parents looking for a deal how awful an idea it was for a generic memory card. Yes, I get that it's $10 cheaper, but your kid could literally lose hours, if not days, of time played if the thing craps out. There was one time that as part of a promo, it was like a $5 addon for the original XBOX. I don't even remember what it was, maybe a game demo sampler, but it game with a free generic controller. Naturally, people wanted to buy it for the controller. It was such an unmitigated piece of shit that I would tell people it's not even worth $5. It's just going to piss your kids off and leave them with sore hands and frustrated. It sold in droves. Sigh.

In short, I completely understand and agree with your desire to get the real part.

I was having some pretty good fun trying the Alien campaign in the PS3 AvP game. Not sure how interesting the Predator or human campaigns will be. But I do like that the Alien is a stealth mission, with objectives more so than straight out battle. Most of the encounters with Marines (haven't interacted with a Predator yet, if I ever will) are stealth take downs or out right avoiding them.

The downside is for a warrior Alien you are pretty weak. I know that they are movies, but in Alien you are quite the adapt killer. Granted lack of weapons for the humans helped. But even in Aliens they still managed to take down Marines. In game, you can't take much fire before you are dead. Which makes me wonder, how, if you even do, an encounter with a Predator will go, since they held their own pretty well in the AvP movie and comics.

But still fun. The dizzying affects of just transitioning (you can set it to manual or automatic) from, wall, to floor, to ceiling, and fast pace that the Alien can run can be disorienting. So far you spend your time on all fours, rising to biped for some stealth take downs. It maybe the only campaign I play of the game, but so far it's a lot of fun being an Alien. And a time where I would say in being first person perspective works better than third person. You can even see your tail in front of you when you turn real fast or stop on a dime.

I think Logitech is actually one of the PS1 controllers I have that still works. I remember a lot of third party accessory makers on older systems. Especially the NES and SNES era. (Cause I wanted them and had to convince my parents I needed them.) I even saw some third party N64 controllers when I was shopping just this past Christmas.

But yeah that's the dangerous part about the internet is you don't always know where what you bought came from. At least if you are in a store and there is an official PS1 controller right next to a Logitech you can make your own choice, and know they are both brand new products, at least, and some stuff with a warranty or not. I especially on ebay have gotten to where I only buy from within the US and only products with US origins.

This is true. Most of the encounters I've had were individuals. In fact, you can "hiss" as a distracting noise, to lure and separate Marines and then take them out. But sometimes you think you're well hidden and then you start getting shot at. An enjoyable game still. I just got to get into the "mode" and play a bit more.

Yeah, I didn't look at them closely so that could very well be. That's pretty cool though, for those that use emulators, to give them the feel of the real thing. Especially some of the N64 games. Some were perfect for the N64. Even as similar as the GC controller is, I regret selling Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask cartridges for profit, just because I had them on GC collections.

N64 and 360 suffered the worst when it comes to controllers. I've had the kids play both of them, since both consoles were around when they were young or before they were born, so it could be that. They really started playing the N64 and GC to learn games. And by the time they were getting good, we got a Wii. By the time, my oldest especially, they got really good, it was the 360. But I still have one of my original GC wired controllers I got with my console when it came out, and two wireless third party controllers that are probably 5 plus years old or so.

Now my youngest, 10, plays his handhelds a lot. GBA, DS, N3DSXL. So mostly all that's getting lost is styluses. Thankfully I buy the cheap ones on line, that actually fit in the devices' slot for like $3 for a dozen. I've never been one for handhelds. I can't concentrate/get into them. It's like my peripheral vision is a distraction to me. But that N3DSXL has a pretty big screen, so I am super tempted to buy the DS Castlevania games, for as much as I enjoyed playing the GBA ones on my GC via the Gameboy player.