Perhaps I'm being paranoid because of the not so stellar reliability of the 360....but I am already on my second box after owning it for less than a week.

My dashboard has started hanging up again(not totally locking up) when doing certain things (checking my friends status, sometimes just swtiching between tabs) and have gotten a dirty disc read error with GoW.

Likely unrelated, but I have had a heck of a time getting into any GoW games since the first day. Burnout Revenge I have had some better luck, but it's still really laggy.

Is this all normal? The lag isn't my biggest concern as much as the slowness of the dash and the dirty disc error. I've checked my connection and tried running it direct from my modem and through my router (o the approved list).

I can pretty much exchange the heck out of it at Target if need be, both my 360's so far have had '06 manufactur dates (on JUne, the other in September)if that has any bearing on the subject.

That doesn't feel like a defective system. I would check your router/firewall for issues on the firewall side. Check the speed/stability of your broadband connection.

Here's a webpage that could help with that.
http://www.speedtest.net/

Yeah, the dash slowness definitely sounds like connection lag, not a hardware issue.

Well, that's good to know. I took the first system back due to game lockup and dirty disc errors along with actual dash lockups (not slow...but hard locked).

I was afraid I may have gotten 2 bad ones in a row.

Thanks for some tips from my last question. I haven't gone any further with the Live yet. I'm hoping tomorrow on my day off I can play around and figure out how to let my computer share its Internet connection with my 360. We'll see ...

And I lied in my last post. I'm not quite done with all my questions. :D

Sorry, if some of this has already been covered, but I'm a newcomer to the 360 world. Anyway, for those of you who own the HD-DVD add-on, where do you have it? I was originally thinking about putting it on top of the 360; there's another room to put it on top and still leave plenty of room for the ventillation holes on the top sides of the 360. But after playing for a while last night, I noticed how warm the back of the console gets after a while. I've never had a console get so warm! Not as hot as I think some of you have experienced, but pretty damn warm.

So, now I'm not sure what to do with the add-on, where to put it. I don't want it to get damaged by sitting on a warm 360, but on the other hand, the way my room is set up and the length of the cord to connect the player to the 360 leaves me with few options of where to put it (and leaving plenty of venting room for the add-on and 360). Any ideas? Tips?

I have my HD add-on on a different shelf. I'm giving my 360 as much space to breathe as possible.

Finally tried out Aegis Wing last night. Wow. That's a fun little game. :up: Just the right price too.

I've had a blast with that game. If you manage to get on-line with three other good players, it's even more fun.

I have my HD-DVD on TOP of my 360 and have had NO issues. I may move it once I get a new TV (hopefully before XMAS ;) )

How would putting the HD drive on top of the 360 hurt ventilation? Air passes thru solid metal now?

So... wireless racing wheel is now $129.99. That's $20 progress in the right direction. Keep going, Microsoft.

Has anyone tried it? My friend did and didn't like it but he's also not a big fan of racing games.

You did, it just hasn't failed yet ;)

Well, one more dirty disc error and back it goes!! So far it's only been one time with this one.

I haven't personally tried it, but my friends own(ed) it. Great build quality. Lousy compatibility. The MadCatz wheel actually works better with PGR3 and TD:U than the MS wheel. 2 of the 3 ended up returning the wheel in exchange for the MadCatz wheel...even though the MC wheel is NOT wireless.

I'm a big fan of the MadCatz wheel as well, it seems far more responsive to me.

Crackdown $39.99 @ Outpost.com :

http://shop2.outpost.com/product/5115386/

As mentioned in another thread, wait two weeks and it'll be dirt cheap on ebay.

I would think that heat dissipates better on a 360 with nothing on top of it as opposed to one with another hot, metal component sitting on top of it.

That thread also suggested it was a shitty game that sold only because of the H3 Beta.

Got Devotee in Uno finally, only took about 140 ranked games

touche!

Crackdown is easily worth $40. I wasn't expecting much, and was in it more for the Halo 3... but I can't stop playing it.

Yeah. That's an opinion -- not mine, but one shared by many in this forum. I think it's reasonable to assume that it's one shared by many more not in this forum and therefore I stand by my assertion that once the Beta is over, copies of the game will flood ebay.

I'd say by only a "few" on this forum, and even some of those even admit to only playing the demo. :shrug:

In related news, I checked my 360Voice blog and it appears Crackdown is now my most played game at 37 days, which is because of the DLC. Passed up my previous high, Dead Rising at 33 days.

Probably my favorite feature there. Just so you can see exactly how much you've played each title(since you signed up at least).

I've gotta go against it since so many people seem to speak for everyone when it comes to the game. The few vocal people against the game (in part to the Halo 3 beta, and the most vocal only played the demo) don't outnumber the supporters who say their piece and leave it be. Undoubtably there will be numerous copies on eBay, thanks to many people who would have traded it in sooner (completion) certainly kept it for the extra perk. But then again, the last game I got off eBay was scratched to hell.

It really is an annoying subject, but I guess we'll see come June. Still $40 new is a great price for a damn good game. Now if only there were free shipping.

On a sidenote, anybody picked up Shadowrun?