My XBOX 360 Lives; My Adieu to EGM

A mere two days after my 360 "died", I went ahead and reopened it again after some extreme googling. Well, not really extreme... If you google "xbox 360 rrod fix" you'll get quite a bit of results since it's such an unfortunately common problem. Some of them ask to charge you for the information but I wouldn't recommend those. The info is freely available online; who in their right mind would pay for it?

I called on Spider-Man for help with the tougher tasks

It's Alive!
The fix revolves around taking apart the xbox 360's GPU and CPU heatsinks and reattaching them, using machine screws and washers instead of the stuff that Microsoft used, specifically the X-Bracket. I also replaced the thermal compound on said CPU and GPU dies with Arctic Silver 5 because frankly the gunk they had on there sucked before (for lack of a better analogy it's like changing your tires to accommodate weather conditions -- it's kind of the same thing but works better in specific situations). It seems to be working fine so far. I played about an hour of Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix and Lumines last night and now I'm about an hour and a half into the House of Flying Daggers DVD (great movie, by the way). No problems so far. Hopefully it won't break again this time.

"Great success!"

I would be remiss as a scientist if I didn't mention that the 360 broke this time while the Nyko Intercooler add-on was attached to it. Some people have said that the Intercooler is known to cause some problems, too, but they seem to be fatal for the 360, which is not the case for me, so take that information as you will. That said, I'm not using it at the moment. It was a gift (of which I am very grateful) from my older sister for Christmas after I complained about my console overheating, so it's kind of funny that it might've caused the problem this time instead of preventing it. But thanks again for the gift, sis; in this case, it's the thought that counts (and I mean that sincerely).

I'm just glad it's working again.

The last printed issue of EGM. Yes, I framed it.

In Honor of My Childhood
As I briefly touched upon a couple of days ago, Ziff Davis sold 1up.com to the Hearst corporation. In the process over 30 people lost their jobs, mostly EGM writers and editors. These layoffs pretty much fulfilled the heavily-prophesized and oft-rumored end of EGM.

Sad times, indeed.

I'm not an outspoken member of the 1up community but I did keep up with a lot of their content. I'd be lying if I didn't say the maybe-not-so-defunct pigeon union wasn't inspired in huge part by the podcasts that I've listened to over there, and I will concede that some of my regular internet stops are blogs from former 1up.com writers, one of which is former Games For Windows editor now turned EA developer Jeff Green's blog. Ziff Davis sure did have intelligent people working for them, and it's a shame to see so many of them go.

But it's not like they didn't see it coming - with the prevalence of internet blogs and the inherent nature of the internet, printed media, specifically enthusiast magazines like GFW and EGM (and now Hardcore Gamer), are definitely on the way out. It's difficult to compete with the timeliness of news delivery that the internet provides. I do applaud EGM and GFW's editorial philosophies, focusing on all issues fairly and with a relative lack of bias. They would push their game reviews to later issues if they had to in favor of reviewing the final retail copy instead of a sketchy version that the game company might send, but this made it difficult to compete even more in a digital age where a competitor will print its review the day a game is released. While I'm not saying this is what caused the collapse, it's probably a part of it.

And then there's the whole "EGM was 200 pages before, now it's barely 80 and mostly ads" argument.

I remember as a kid subscribing to all of these video game magazines, such as EGM, EGM2, Next Generation, and Gamefan (but never GamePro... they're not very good over there), and it's pretty depressing when I look back on them and realize they're all gone. EGM was a huge part of my childhood and I will fondly remember the feeling I had each time my dad handed me the newest issue that came in the mail. I framed the last printed issue, which has Hugh Jackman's angry, rendered face plastered on the cover. A rough one to go out on, no doubt. I don't particularly like this cover as much as, say, their Resident Evil 5 cover. Still, it's the last one, and I will let it hang on my wall to forever remind me of my youth. Or until the shock has worn off.

Sitting back and thinking about it, I realize that it really is the end of an era. It's pretty sad that the last printed issue of EGM was the one right before their 20th Anniversary issue, but at least they're letting people read that freely on the internet (supposedly). I'll definitely take the time to read it.

1up.com was also restructured when they got purchased. Most of the podcasts and video content had the fired EGM staff as regular members and, as a consequence of their departure, the media sections of the "new" 1up.com will be different, to say the least. It's gonna suck not listening to them while I do random stuff around the house, like cleaning, cooking, or just laying about. These guys weren't just smart, they were also damn hilarious. It's too bad they won't be in the site anymore (although some of the former crew have rebelled and started their own podcast...).

I'm sure all the talented people will go on to do bigger and better things, and I wish them all the best. But it still sucks.

Here's to the EGM and pre-January 6th 1up.com crew! I will miss your humor and personalities on my daily commute to school. I'm gonna go drink some beer and cry at the corner now.

Quick Tidbits
- I applied for an internship at a biotechnology company in the west coast. I actually think I'm pretty qualified for a bunch of their positions, so hopefully they'll at least give me a chance to talk to them. How awesome it would be to work there in California over the summer!

- Is it sad that all the pictures I've taken with my digital camera are in my room? I never planned on bringing it to every social event where everyone I know already has a digital camera with them, so this is the best I can do at the moment, but it's pretty obvious that I need to go outside more.

- If you've never seen House of Flying Daggers, I suggest you watch it. It's pretty good Asian Cinema, about on par with Hero and much better than Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. It suffers from the typical "Asian actors are overacting" syndrome, but the English dub is adequate and the cinematography is excellent. And it has Zhang Zhiyi in it. As well as Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro, but we don't talk about them.

- Speaking of House of Flying Daggers, which I mentioned fairly early on in this post, the movie has since ended and the 360 chugged along with no problems. This is a good sign! More tests required! I'm gonna start up some Rock Band and get lost in the music for a few hours. Cheers!