And There Was Much Rejoicing

So, about four weeks ago I was settling in (or standing up in this case) to play a little Guitar Hero III. I'd played through the game on easy, medium and hard levels. Well, except for the final "boss battle" with Lou on Hard. I may never beat that. Those boss battles, incidentally, are idiotic. (For the record, I think GH3 is a thoroughly average Guitar Hero experience, at best. It definitely lost something in the development transition from Harmonix to Neversoft.)

Anyway, I had finally reached -I think- the fifth tier of songs on Expert in GH3 and was stymied by the first 30 seconds of Holiday in Cambodia, by The Dead Kennedys. I failed it about three times before setting it aside to play the other songs in the tier, all of which I was able to complete. So back to HoC I went. Now, in practice mode I could handle the rest of the song without too many problems. It was just those first 30 miserable seconds that threatened to reduce me to blubbering in a corner while in the fetal position. But I went back at it, failing the song, probably another 15 times.

It was a nightmare, but finally, finally, I was able to get past that opening sequence. Right on cue, my daughter (Ana 3.10, if I can steal a meme from Bill Harris), starts screaming in the other room. I pause the game, mid-song, to investigate. It was typical not-a-real-problem kid stuff, so I calmed her down and went back to the game. Literally, just as I was reaching for the guitar, the screen goes all fritzy and a horrible screech, that sounded not unlike the creature in Alien, emits from my speakers.

The console is completely locked up.

Okay, so that blows. I mean it really blows. But sh#@ happens, right? So I re-start the console to give it another go. The console locks again, after all of about 10 seconds. At this point, you can surely see where this is going. Long story short (or at least shorter), my second 360 bites the dust. Though, this one did last a year and a half. Three cheers for quality control!

A phone call to Microsoft later and I'm out $125 repair/replacement fee -money that I had intended to spend on Rock Band- and a 3-4 week turnaround for a new console. (Since my console didn't get the red ring of death, I don't get the benefit of an extended warranty. Bastards.)

The good news is that finally, four weeks later, I'm about to get back on the grid. UPS tried to drop off a package yesterday, that could only be my new console. So today I'm ducking out early to make sure I'm home to sign for it this time. At which point, as the title of this posts says, there will be much rejoicing. And if said new console happens to include an HDMI port, I might just regard this whole experience as a bonus.

Anyway, hopefully this means I'll be able to get up some College Hoops 2k8 impressions this week. (After all, I can't bemoan the Michigan coaching "search" forever.) And if I can track down a copy two weeks after its release, no small feat that, there may also be a great deal of Rock Band lov'n in the days and weeks ahead. In the immortal words of Quagmire, "Giggity, giggity, giggity. Oh yeah!"