The monthly warranty debate.

The warranty you buy at BB or CC is only good once. If you return your system and get a new one you have to buy a new warranty for the new system. So essentially you are paying $60 to replace your box once.

With MS you pay $60 and they will replace it as many times needed in two years. The drawback here is that you generally don't get your system back but a refurb unit they have on the shelf.

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Mine acted up for the first time in it seems months yesterday. Once you get the hang of Viva and play for, oh 20 hours, you know the menus rather well and start navigating faster than the game can handle. Apparently I went too fast for it and it locked up. I decided to return an item to gretchen and it went back to my garden but kept the frame around the screen as if you are still "placing" an item from gretchen. So I could scroll around the garden and see everything, but not use tools, menus or even pause to save. Essentially a lock up without the freezing. Fortunately the game save quite often and I didn't have to backtrack much.

I went with the Circuit City warranty because I didn't want someone else's broke unit. I'd rather pay $80 and get another new one.

Seem like XBOX360 price cut coming soon in 2007. Possible XBOX360 Core System will be $199.99 - $229.99 and Premium Package will be $299.99-329.99. I also heard Wii w/ DVD upgrade will be $199.99 in Spring/Summer, not sure it come with wii sports!!

I keep hearing Late 2007 for this one.

Rumor has it that Sega is about to announce that Virtua Fighter 5 will no longer be PS3 exclusive and will hit the Xbox 360.

She kept telling me that the drive couldn't be doing this on its own and that it had to be something in my environment bumping or vibrating the unit. I did have the thing sitting horizontally on the floor on carpeting and grew slightly concerned about ventilation (never had problems though) so i elevated it by sitting it on the Oblivion strategy guide which should absorb some minor vibrations.

The most recent problem, after i called, is it refusing to recognize Gears of War as a game. I put the disc in and it reads it like a DVD and gives me the message that i must put this disc in a "Xbox 360 Console." Rainbow Six and Halo play fine, but not Gears.

If it trashes a disc i will be so pissed - with the price of the games already being ridiculous.

'SEGA ANNOUNCES VIRTUA FIGHTER 5 FOR XBOX 360

Premiere Fighting Game Franchise Makes First Appearance on Microsoft’s Next Generation Videogame Console

STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN (December 21, 2006) – SEGA of America, Inc. and SEGA Europe Ltd. today announced that the highly anticipated arcade fighting game, Virtua Fighter™ 5, will make its way onto the Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system. Virtua Fighter™ 5 is scheduled for release on Xbox 360™ in North America and in Europe during late summer 2007. The game will also be available for the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system on February 20th, 2007 in North America and will be available in Europe simultaneously with the system’s launch in March 2007.

“Those people lucky enough to have already played Virtua Fighter™ 5 will know that it’s laid the foundations to become the clear benchmark for fighting games on all next generation consoles”, said Matt Woodley, Creative Director, SEGA Publishing Europe Ltd. “Bringing Virtua Fighter™ 5 to the Xbox 360™ offers us a platform with power to handle the astonishing visuals, the complex and varied fighting styles of all the customisable characters and will undoubtedly put Virtua Fighter™ 5 into the hands of a gaming audience craving for a highly polished and credible fighting game.”

Virtua Fighter™ 5 features beautifully detailed stages from around the world where players face off in fast-moving martial arts battles against one of 17 characters. Two lively new characters join the elite group of fighters, adding two new unique fighting styles for players to try and master. With more skill and strategy than ever before, players are also given the opportunity to learn and employ the new “Offensive Move” technique to take down their opponents from different angles, adding a new dimension to the game and something for both new and old fans to master. Virtua Fighter™ 5 also includes the ability to customise characters by selecting from four base costumes and a wide range of unlockable accessories and earnable items. As players win more tournaments they will not only earn costumes and accessories, but also prizes and in-game money that will allow them to buy items from the in-game shop.

“The Virtua Fighter™ series from SEGA has one of the most prestigious histories in video games,” said Jeff Bell, corporate vice president of global marketing for the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft. “It’s a franchise that has grown an army of loyal fans both in arcades and on consoles worldwide, and is consistently rated extremely high by the media. Fighting game fans have been hungry for Virtua Fighter™ 5 and we can now proudly deliver this game with SEGA to Xbox 360 gamers around the world.”

Developed by the highly renowned Tokyo based development team, AM R&D Development No.2, Virtua Fighter™ 5 for the Xbox 360™ will be available across Europe and North America during late summer 2007.'

I hope the Hori Stick works well for VF5. That would be sweet!

does that mean they are finally incorporating something similar to Namco's 8 way run?

Sweet!! I've been waiting for a great next gen fighting game.

wow, now virtua is coming to xbox? is this another blow to Sonys ego, or do they even care?

Based on what? Aside from rampant speculation, that is.

There was also rumored a price cut for this holiday season, remember?

I guess I'll believe it when I see it. With the price of the PS3, I really doubt MS feels they need to offer a price cut.

Crackdown co-op and single player Demo coming....

http://www.videogametalk.com/

...

So is this saying it will be made for the PS3 (version B?) and ported with possible refinements for the 360 (version C)?

She's full of shit. Same thing has happened a few times to my 360 (which was a refurb sent from MS when my first one died). Also happened to my brother's console as well.

My question is: I did not have the extended warranty originally, I paid to have my first one fixed (which was later refunded since it was made last year), is there a warranty of any kind on my refurbished machine they sent me? I believe someone said that when you pay for the out of warranty repair, part of that cost is the price of buying an extended warranty, so I should be covered on my 2nd machine. But I can't find any documentation of this on MS's website.

Considering Virtua Fighter is probably the worst fighter out there, and Sony still has Tekken, I'm going to assume they don't even care.

I hoping they DON'T have Soul Caliber, since it pwns tekken so hard

SEGA has a big time fan base though, and now sales of the title will split between two systems instead of Sony getting a chunk of it all.

360 news keeps getting better, Wii news is solid. Is there anything working in the PS3's favor right now?

Sexy black controller:
http://www.joystiq.com/2006/12/21/ma...60-controller/

Yeah, it does seem like questions about the extended warranty are asked more often than any other repeated question around here. Maybe there should be a sticky "Official Xbox360 Extended Warranty FAQ."

TheMagic-Box kinda broke the story earlier yesterday, but it wasn't very specific. Glad it's a full-on port and not anything half-baked.

stop posting the top stories on digg.

While we are at it, no posting of stories from Gamespot, IGN, 1up, Gametrailers, etc either. If any story is posted here, it should be 100% unique.

Just because you don't like it doesnt' mean it's not good. If you're a big fighting game fan (and by that I mean a fan of fighting games in general, not of a specific series) you'll know that VF has the deepest fighting mechanics of any other series. I will admit that it's probably the least fun because it's the only one that you can't actually button mash and get moves to come out. You really have to give it time. VF4 really grew on me after me and a friend put countless hours into it.

It's also the biggest fighting franchise in Japan.

Anyhow, I finally got my 360 back from the repair center yesterday. I guess they couldn't fix mine because I got a brand spanking new one. MFR date reads 2006-11-07. Works for me. It broke right after I got the Wii. I'm convinced my Wii owned the 360 so I would have no choice but to play it.