[XBOX] Defective v1.0 System has Arrived!!

Hi gamers and collectors,

Welcome back to yet another addition to my XBOX collection, and here I have v1.0 system. Without any explaining this is the very first retail model of the XBOX system, most likely was bought at launch. Very early MFG date dated 2002. The MFG date didn't exactly jump out at me at the time of inspecting the system, I usually look for a modchip when the system is opened. I can't open the system up in store so the only way I can tell it's an early version is by the screws and power it on. From experience the black torx screws usually mean the XBOX is either v1.0 or v.1.1. I've never come across XBOX versions 1.2 > 1.5, they could have black torx screws as well but I'm unaware of that.

While inspecting the system one of the staff put in a few games and the XBOX couldn't read it, the normal error "XBOX could not read the disc. Disc may be dirty or damaged. Eject to continue." After a few more tries it just wouldn't read the disc. I looked at the price on the sticker and saw $40, that's rather expensive for the system even for the condition of it (we'll get to that later). So I started to haggle for it, I asked what is the most lowest price they could do. After a few minutes the staff member came back to me and offered $15. I had to think about this quite a bit, after many thoughts I just couldn't leave the system there, after all it does come with a controller S that works great along with the regular cables and a spare breakaway (they go for $6 alone). So the price was sounding better so I walked out with it at $15.

When I got home I quickly opened it up and this is the exciting part! Why wouldn't the system read any media? Removed both caddies, removed all the cables and took out the DVD drive from the caddie. At this stage I thought of 3 reasons why it wouldn't read media.

1. DVD Drive is a Thompson drive. Known to be very poor quality.
2. Dirty laser head/mech.
3. Laser wasn't getting enough volts.

All 3 reasons were false, in fact the problem was the huge dent in the case. What ever the object that was dropped on the system was quite heavy it reached the DVD Drive. The top of the DVD drive has soft metal, and they are not meant to withstand any shock, so it was deformed. I took the drive apart and bent it back into shape. It's working fantastically.

Other than it's brush with death the system is great. Some stickers have been removed under it (for some reason). The previous owner really didn't take care of the system at all, oh and has horrible tastes in music. Well this was a great pickup regardless as it's a great feeling to get a system working again and I pretty much got it for free, seeing a Controller S can go for $10-$15 alone.

You can see the video of the system here

More games to come during the week, see you there!

[XBOX] XBOX Special Edition Smoke Black has arrived!!

Hi gamers and collectors!

Welcome back to yet an extremely rare addition to my XBOX collection, and here I have a Special Edition Smoke Black XBOX system. First off let me get this out of the way that it's a fucking hot day today, I had to get up super early for an interview that I doubtedly didn't get the job for, and with public transport being super reliable (sarcasm). So this rather special moment will be cut short as I'm feeling like a hot potato right now.
So let's do it!!

A two week wait has finally ended! My Smoke Black XBOX is here, and holy crap was the package super heavy. You thought the XBOX system out the box was heavy? Just wait until you try to lift this monster... well you won't be able to unless you find the system yourself ;). So when I finally got home at noon I scoffed down my cheese burger and opened the package. I had the thought of recording me doing this, but I just wasn't feeling up to it, the heat is really getting me. Glad I'm not 100 kilos, otherwise it'd be a lot worse...

On one side of the package there was a huge green block, what could this be?! It was, well to put it in an interesting way. It was a cake of XBOX games, yep, I got games with this system too, 22 games to be exact, 3 of 22 titles I already own and one of them being Double S.T.E.A.L... ><". I'll be mentioning what games I got during the week so I can have a comment on each one :). I know you're itching to see the Smoke Black system, and to be honest so was I when checking the games XD

So I unwrapped box with the 90000m of bubble wrap that came with it, and I was greeted with a beautiful white box. I don't know what's with XBOX and white but they seem to look so beautiful! Guess you know what's next on my to-get-list then ;). So as soon as you open the top of the box you're greeted with the controller (which didn't have a break-away! - so I'll grab one of my broken Duke anyway) + and a sealed DVD Kit.

This foam insert at the top is clearly for the shipment of the system from the factory to Japan retail stores, it's so brittle :/ Of course once that top part is removed you're given the system! *pop* naice.

I know you're probably staring at the mark on the DVD bezel. I was too, I believe this is just marker which will come off with some oil. I'll do that soon though, don't worry.

Here is basically everything in the box apart from the regular controller with the green jewel. I have two now :) The unit is complete, which I'll speak about below.

As you can see the manual is indeed sealed, but it comes with a keychain... What's all this about?

Instead of the number being printed on the system or box, it's on a neat keychain, and yep it's heavy too. Really like this, it's so neat! :D

The controller is seriously my favourite type ever! So nice in smoke black!

Overall I just love the Smoke Black XBOX, only released in Japan I'm happy to have it here, and complete as well. I'll make a video about tonight as it's just wayyy to hot right now my room will heat up like an oven set to the highest setting.

Stay tuned for the games that came in this package. Also many games in transit, much news during the week. See you there!

[XBOX] Conker Reloaded 1 of 4 XBOX sold on eBay for $610!

Hi gamers and collectors.

Welcome back, yeah, yeah I didn't win the auction... From the feedback I got after posting it on the ASSEMblergames forums, it just doesn't sound like it's worth the $610 - of course that's all a matter of opinion.

 I was wanting this system quite bad, there are only 4 ever made, hence the price I guess. But my limit was $250. Besides most airbrushed XBOXs are not that great looking, even the DOA:XBV one doesn't look that sweet and there are 20 of those. Any how, another time and another day... I possibly won't see one until I'm 40...Which is 20 years away, AHHHHHH!!!!

[XBOX] XBOX Collection Guide now Live!

Hi gamers and collectors!

Welcome back, I just finished making the XBOX Collection Guide 5 minutes ago. Head over there and see what you're missing ^_-

You can check it out here.

[XBOX] Goldeneye Rouge Agent has Arrived!!

Hi gamers and collectors!

Welcome back to yet another addition to my XBOX collection, Goldeneye Rouge Agent. This was sent to me for free as compensation from an eBay seller who sent RPM Tuning, if you can recall me talking about how RPM arrived with a broken case, this was to say sorry. Also another replacement case is being sent as well. So thanks for that :).

As I though that I was so close to owing all 007 related games, I'm actually missing one more "007 Everything or Nothing". I did come close to owning Everything or Nothing but there was no manual - just my luck -_-. Another thing I just don't understand is why Goldeneye lacks the 007 title, I'm guessing because you're not playing as James Bond in this one...  I know weird approach, all do respect for this game I don't feel unstoppable unlike the other 007 titles out there, just because you're not referred to as Mr Bond.

Condition wise? I can't complain, the DVD had some trouble loading up the first time I loaded it... As crappy as the XBOX DVD Drives are, is likely my other drive is on it's way out also. (which reminds me to grab some optical pick-ups for the drives). Other than that, it's rather perfect ^_^.

More games to come, see you there! 

[XBOX] Brute Force has Arrived!!

Hi gamers and collectors!

Welcome back. Short entry here... The final game out of the rather large horde last week was Brute Force, not a rare title but finally managed to grab a copy. Don't know all too much about this game, but what I do know is that it came as a bundle with the 'Beast' package, which had Midtown Madness 3 and an Japanese Type-S controller (really looking for those at the moment).

Condition! Perfect, really is perfect or the correct term "like new". Manual and DVD are in excellent shape!

That's all it for me!

More games to come, see you there!

[XBOX] Rallisport Challenge has Arrived!

Hi gamers and collectors!

Welcome back. Another game out of the stack I bought last weekend, Rallisport Challenge. I remember seeing this game every where when the XBOX was in it's prime time, but never played it until recently. I only found out it was made by Dice, and wow it's a fantasic game - very fast paced rally action as it should be. The choice of cars is fairly large for a rally game, usually it's 5-6 cars and lots of different tracks to choose from as well.

Condition, condition, condition; well, it was really beat up when I got it. Case was fully of security stickers, lot number stickers... In other words it was raped by stickers and resigoo. Although the contence was rather good, not perfect but good enough. DVD is still able to have it's data read by the awful DVD drive the XBOX has.

More games to come this week, see you there!

[XBOX] Halo has Arrived!!

Hi gamers and collectors!

Welcome back, one of those other games I ended up grabbing was Halo. Halo was iconic for the XBOX, it's the game that helped sell the system and it was talked about for a very, very long time. Wreckless being the first game I EVER played on the XBOX in one of those Kiosk units, however the first game I played on the XBOX at home was Halo. During that generation, I was the kid who had the Gamecube, and the Playstation 2 later on my Uncle picked up an XBOX (which is the one I use today). Halo was so damn popular back in the day Microsoft released a special Halo edition XBOX, with the left over Debug Kit housing. Any summary Halo was so popular nearly it was in everyone's XBOX library, right now I don't like what the developers have done to Halo on the XBOX 360, the first one will always be my favourite.

Condition, condition it's all about the condition. It's pretty fair, it has had quite a bit of use I can tell but for such a popular over used game it's held up rather well. Case, manual, and DVD are in good shape. It's rather odd it doesn't work on my 1.1 though...

I'll certainly play through this monster again some day, but for now that's it from me.

More games to come through the week, see you there!

[XBOX] MechAssault 2: Lone Wolf Limited Edition has Arrived!!

Hi gamers and collectors!

Been a few days since I got any games coming in, so I thought I'd grab a few more titles this week... I went downtown with my friend to start game hunting, it's been a while since we've done this as I mainly find the gems on the interwebs. So we went to a few cash converters stores, we were in that store for a good hour separating all games that were worth getting and stacking the platinums to one side :P - I'm sure the staff were thinking "WTF are these dickheads doing?". So long story short I found a gem. MechAssault 2 Limited Edition usually goes for $40+ on the world of eBay and I picked up this copy for $5. I did pretty well !!

Condition wise, it's fair... For what I paid for it... Case has a few dents in it but the manual and DVDs are fairly good.

It's been so long since I found the original MechAssault, but at least I found the limited edition of the sequel. Although the whole mech ordeal really isn't my type of cake, I'll have to play it properly at some stage though.

More games to come, see you there! 

[UPDATE] Collection Updates and Other Rambling

Hi gamers and collectors!

Well it's been rather quiet for the XBOX collection at the moment, it's not that I haven't bought anything but it hasn't been sent or it's in transit...Fun right? Anyway, so I thought I'd just update you guys on what currently my collection sits at and the future of it.

When my blog started I was collecting Nintendo 64 items heavily, as costly and fun as it was I had to bring it to a halt. You see, XBOX items are much more affordable for me and less likely to cause problems with sellers. I've been nothing but a little disappointed in sellers not describing things correctly, so when I get an income I'll start collecting Nintendo 64 items again. With having said that, mainly you'll be seeing XBOX guff quite a bit here, don't get me wrong I love Nintendo and the 64 but right now XBOX is interesting me.

So where abouts is my collection at? Currently sitting at 33 (34) games and 3 (4) systems. Why are the numbers in brackets you ask? Well those are items being shipped to me at the moment, and I think neither of them have been sent yet. About the system in shipment, I'll leave that as a surprise :3.
Below you find the visual equivalent of what I just said :P

I really do wish money was no object for me, sadly I have to watch every cent. Please someone hire me! ;_;

Anyhow, I'll be doing searches at random pawn shops and stores alike to see what I can find. I spoke to the creator of Past-to-Present Online, and friend Mr Borman and great information was shared. He's really helped me with prices and what to look out for, so thanks man!

Other than XBOX what else is there to talk about? Well not much really, I've been planning a few 'first-time' modding projects and I STILL have to repair the PAL Saturn that I fucked up -_- too bad I still need the tools to do so and that's even more money I need to spend. Still have some spare games and movies to sell so those will be on eBay again in the near future, with that cash I'll buy the modding tools =^.^=

Well that's about it for me...
More stuff to come, see you there!

[XBOX] STOLEN has Arrived!!

Hi gamers and collectors!

It was my birthday 3 days ago and as a gift from my relatives I was handed money. I'm guessing you know where all this money is going to, that's right you guessed it...More games!
So I have a lot of love for the XBOX, there are plenty of games that the system has that any XBOX owner should have. I've bought a handful so far, and the reason for the slow updates on the matter is that most of them were auctions :( however I did win nearly all of them, if not I did win them all.

So the first game I bought was STOLEN, no no no it's the title of the game, Stolen. It's a 3rd person stealth based game, doing moves like Catwoman and getting away with the goods. I haven't played through it yet but that was the first objective :P

When the game arrived, of course my OCD set in and looked all over it for defects. Knowing this game wouldn't be worth an extra dime I wasn't so fussed but the case had a huge gash in the front, you won't see it in the pictures because I changed the case over from another game. I later checked the manual, every single page to see if any pages were missing or damaged, all those checks past. Anyhow, I popped in the XBOX and it loads the game fine...

Just as I was taking the above picture I noticed a shiny scratch on the label side of the disc. Now any gamer would know the label side is where well the label is, but it's what the label holds underneath is important. So held the disc up to the light and I could see straight through the scratch :(. So maybe later on in the game it might start to stutter or not load at all. Good thing my XBOX is modified and a backup will fix this problem... As it's not an expensive title (Got it for $10) I'll let it slide as the disc still works fine...at the start that is. You'll see what I mean in the picture below...

More updates to come during the week!

DaE aka SuperDaE Durango Making Headlines - Extra stuff you possibly don't know...

The Durango was leaked last week, DaE a member of the ASSEMblergames forum wasn't lying after all. I was told these specs a 3 months ago when I spoke to him on Skype. I didn't believe him 100% so I didn't share anything, until now they seem to be somewhat realistic.

So why isn't DaE worried about his career at the moment, and why isn't Microsoft doing anything about this? You'd think if all this information was real, M$ wouldn't waste a moment to remove the eBay listing. Yet DaE has ended the surviving auction only last night, it reached an insane 20K and he was offering the unit for 10K.

Not sure how much he sold the unit for, he's yet to expose that information. However, he does have two more units according to his twitter.

I later contacted a few editors about the Durango story, as confidential DaE is, his location doesn't match up at all. On the ASSEMbler forums, he's told many members he's from Australia, and personally told me he was in Europe for a few weeks on vacation and now the location of the Durango is from the USA. I suspect a middle-man is here some where. Not sure when, but he's changed his location on the forums as well.

Some information about the Kinect which DaE leaked an image of the Kinect running in the Visual Basic Environment on Twitter wasn't telling everything, or not everything he told me. I'm sure he's mentioned this information in the chat area on the forums or Skype.

[3/06/2012 7:10:53 PM] DaE: Wider from what I can assume

[3/06/2012 7:11:00 PM] DaE: Its the same old kinect

[3/06/2012 7:11:05 PM] DaE: New hardware

[3/06/2012 7:11:09 PM] DaE: And 1080

[3/06/2012 7:11:13 PM] DaE: Looks identical atm.

DaE never showed the unit in the photos from the front, and 3 months ago I asked what the controller is like...

[3/06/2012 7:19:21 PM] HEX1GON: so there is a controller right?

[3/06/2012 7:19:36 PM] DaE: Haha

[3/06/2012 7:19:38 PM] DaE: Well

[3/06/2012 7:19:45 PM] DaE: Alpha kits come with a wired X360 controller

[3/06/2012 7:19:47 PM] DaE: Haha

[3/06/2012 7:20:30 PM] HEX1GON: hmm think they'll keep the 360 design?

[3/06/2012 7:20:33 PM] DaE: Yeah

[3/06/2012 7:20:35 PM] DaE: I assume

Earlier today while chatting to some other awesome members at the forums, the case of the Durango has been identified... The SuperMircro Workstations.

 That's all I know of so far... Any more information I come across I'll add here later. Happy gaming!

I'd have to say DaE, you're one brave MoFo yelling Yolo.

Finally the Owner of Rumble Roses XX - The Review

Hi gamers!

I happened to miss one package yesterday no idea how but I did. I ripped it open and and found it was Rumble Roses XX. Such a rare game, and pretty expensive for a second-hand one as well. The disc was covered and I mean covered in sticker glue, I got a bit of water and tried to scrub it off but no luck. I found that cooking oil removes it easily, a good 30 minutes later -_-..

Now for the review..

Rumble Roses XX enables you to modify your "Rose" from costumes, body features (I bet you know what I mean by that) and intros.. There is now a shop you can buy extra outfits depending on your character. I've chosen Candy Cane so it's a variety of school girl outfits, and there are also extra swimsuits.
On the topic of Swimsuits, I still yet to even find the "Mud Match"..Hmm.

I still think Rumble Roses is better than XX, for small factor of more simple game play. You have all these EXP points, stats, different weight and all that stuff. Although it "DOESN'T" make XX horrible, just more confusing for a veteran player but it is easy to adapt to once you start getting into it.

The visuals are pretty good, it's one of the early XBOX 360 games so some textures appear low res. It's shame this is the case the XBOX 360 has the memory to pull these details off yet Konami decided to cut some corners. Why would you do that?

Overall it's a pretty nice game, and very entertaining to play. Your favourite "Roses" are all there and just like Rumble Roses many of them are locked at the start. I can be Candy Cane so I'm happy ^_^

More Games, More Games, YEAH!!!!

Hi gamers!

Today I went down to my Uni/TAFE to re-enrol for this year; after that was all done I later went to the mall across the road. Thought I'd try my luck and check out the JB Store there too, only to find one XBOX game there which happen to be 'Brute Force' it was like $7 and I didn't really want to spend that much, since I got XBOX games for $2 at the other store. To EB it was, as you know from my previous posts about Playstation 2 games becoming $4, also the PSP has the same price range and to be honest I don't collect PSP games however there are a few titles I'd like to have to complete a series like Ridge Racer and other games..
As I opened my front door I stepped on something on the step ROFL it was a package, so Sudeki arrived too. How I missed that when I went out this morning is beyond me.. ^_^

So there you have it, some games I managed to find today for $32 for the lot ^^ 

Midweek Game Hunt Report! Each game was $2 :O

Hi gamers!

Last night I reported about a random game hunt which I usually do on weekends however the weather at the moment has been so god damn hot I took the opportunity to go out today (it was tolerable). As usual my friend An!NE tagged along, we went to a second hand store that was 20 minutes away nothing too special there I picked up a Logitech XBOX Controller ($3) (missing breakaway cable/Broken right trigger) and An!NE bough R-Type on Playstation 2 ($4) and Gran Turismo for Playstation ($3).

We jumped on the bus and travelled a further 15 minutes West and arrived at a local mall, as I've mention a few times already EB Games have been getting rid of Playstation 2 games and many of them are $4 each. An!NE again bought more games Super Bust-a-move, Half-Life and SSX all were $4. As we were leaving EB I mentioned I'm still empty handed and looks like I'll be going home that way, further up the mall there is another store JB they also have pre-owned games usually they're in big boxes and you have to flick the cases to see what they are it's such a pain in the ass, as I was looking through them I found was Fable looked a little harder on the price and it was $2, in fact every game you'll see below that was for XBOX was $2 so I bought every game they had in the box, of course ignoring all the sport titles.. yucky ^_^.
I do have one complaint how ever.. Why were most of the games covered in packing tape? Why were there so many pre-owned stickers inside and out? Why were some discs in the case and some were not.. Why what why!? ><"
I forgot to mention it took 20 minutes for the staff to find all the games.. ROFL.

Too much glare? The Playstation 3 game in the big box is Warhawk and the Playstation 2 game is R-Type. Sorry about the glare -_-

One of the staff has humour! ROFL

A look at different XBOX Development Kits

Hi gamers!

XBOX has really been sticking to me recently, it's a very interesting system and some of it's versions are very cool to look at. It's (to me) always been the biggest system and takes a lot of abuse. There are systems that the general public haven't *ever* seen before, of course these would be the development and debug kits that are rented out to game developing companies.

This unit I'm about to show you is the DVT-4 unit, it's a prototype, Microsoft Asset development kit rolls right of your tongue. Gamers out there thought the public XBOX was big, just wait till you see this.

It's a little taller at the top mainly for the extra outputs/inputs at the back, possibly due to on the fly debugging, which you'll see below.
I'm always on the look out for one, and I've come across a few. They go for a ball park figure of $350-$400, so just a little more than a Playstation 3 to today's standards. One day, I'll get my hands on one it's a great piece of 128-bit history. Don't you think?

Next we have an Alpha Tower XBOX development system, which is basic looks like an ordinary PC. It's not at all and everything is highly custom. People in the past have tried to create one from scratch from "off-the-shelf" parts, of course without the custom BIOS and CPU it just wouldn't work. Yes, this one is also a beast!

Alpha II and XBOX Debug Kit box.

Images from ASSEMbler