Oddball Update

Got my Xbox360 today, right on time. Thank you, EB Games and FedEx. Everything seems to be working well; the only issue was that EB didn’t send me one of the games I ordered. Instead, they sent me a duplicate copy of another title included in my order. So I had to arrange a cross-shipment of the correct item, but in the meantime I’ve got four other games to play, so that’s plenty for now.

The Xbox gave me the dreaded “3/4 red LED error” when I first powered it on. I just about figured my world was coming to an end. Fortunately, I disconnected the hard drive, then reconnected it, and all was well. Hopefully it stays well. I’ve heard from a number of people on various message boards who have been experiencing that problem, although in their cases, their console stops working after about 10-30 minutes of play and does the error sequence repeatedly. Mine’s been on since about noon today without a hiccup, so hopefully I’m safe from further weirdness.

In other news, it’s become a real downer to visit the GTO message boards. Everybody over there is pissing and moaning about GM collapsing, about support for GM muscle cars disappearing, about the LSx engine plant getting shuttered, about the state of the domestic auto industry. What’s worst are the people who are positively convinced that American automakers are destined to be bought up by Toyota and run aground, and that no more cars will ever be built here in the U.S. I think it’s a bit early to be casting such broad statements in stone, but even if it were true, I don’t much feel like hearing it over and over. Can we not just enjoy our cars while we have them, without the constant worry that the company that spawned them is going to implode? (And besides, if GM did blow up, can you honestly say that the post-sale service and maintenance available at independent shops would possibly be any worse?)

On top of it, the recent announcement of Dodge’s Challenger concept — and it does look quite badass, for a concept — has got everyone on LSxGTO talking about ditching their goats. Yep, you can always tell the people who are so wishy-washy they only bought a GTO because it seemed like the right thing to do during the exact minute of their lives in which they signed the contract. The Challenger isn’t even due until model year 2009 and the damn thing is still a concept. You remember the Charger concept from a few years ago, right? Tell me how close the production Charger came to looking like that. No stickshift? Four doors? Awful interior design? A Mitsubishi rear end? No, thank you. Although the SRT8 Charger does look pretty sweet, it’s also overpriced at $45 grand — and that’s before the mandatory $5K dealer markups that are being commanded right now. It’s clear that the GTO is the price/performance value in this segment.

Anyway, I’m off to toy around with the Xbox some more, but I’m going to post my complete impressions of the console in the next couple of days.

Categorized as Cars/Auto News, Cars, Games/Console, Games