Play-Asia Specials - Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Xbox360) @ $43 Only

An offer not to be missed for Transformers fans. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is currently retailing at SGD$43 with free delivery! :)

System Failure: Why PS3 and 360 drop dead for the same reasons

System Failure: Why PS3 and 360 drop dead for the same reasons

In a week where Xbox 360 production boss Aaron Greenberg stated that Microsoft's hardware issues were "well behind us", I found myself finally facing up to the notorious unreliability of the older 360 consoles, and attempting to do something about it.

In many ways, this feature is an off-shoot of a personal story. Readers of the Digital Foundry Twitter feed will know that both of my retail Xbox 360s died of RROD in quick succession. While Microsoft was nice enough to send me a new PAL "Jasper" model, swapping out my prized NTSC 360 Elite, originally purchased for a Eurogamer hardware test would be much more difficult. Over and above the luxuries of having the ability to play region-locked games, the concept of binning off two consoles that cost me the best part of £600 was basically wasteful and unacceptable. Something had to be done.

Looking for a more permanent resurrection for my unit, I'd heard that the best fix involved the rather manly-sounding process of "reballing" the GPU - resoldering the joints from the motherboard to the graphics chip. That being the case, I found myself at my nearest independent console workshop, Colchester Computers, staring at their impressive BGA rework/reflow station. Working from an industrial unit just off the Essex town's bizarre Magic Roundabout, this was an interesting opportunity to find out from the experts first-hand why the average games console ceases to function, and how they are fixed. Upon arrival at the workshop, the vast stack of dead consoles up against one wall ("spare parts") was somewhat eye-opening.

Talking to the company's engineer, Darren Thickbroom, it instantly became apparent that many of the Internet truths surrounding the console failures were anything but, and that the heat dissipation issues that plagued every revision of the Xbox 360 up until the most recent Jasper version were hardly exclusive to the Microsoft console. Slowly but surely, just like its competitor, the issue of PlayStation 3 reliability is being brought into question.

While the scale of the so-called YLOD issue is difficult to judge in context of the all-pervasiveness of RROD, the fact is that what I learned on my visit was pretty shocking: whether you own a Microsoft or Sony console, it seems that the act of simply using our consoles for the job they were designed can cause cumulative damage, with the very real danger that our games machines may go "pop" after the manufacturer's warranty expires.

"Your Xbox might last two or three years - it's as much down to the environment as the hardware itself," says Darren Thickbroom. "You open up some machines and you can understand why it might have broken down or over-heated, maybe there's tons of dust or fluff that came in from the intake. It depends from person to person, we speak to some people over the phone who've been through three to five units since the launch period. If you're a serious player, I'd recommend you change or upgrade your Xbox after a year."

Thickbroom also deals with many dead Xbox 360s that have had the so-called "X-Clamp" fix and reckons that it is essentially a complete waste of time - something worth bearing in mind if your out of warranty 360 suddenly bites the dust and you fancy tackling it yourself. "The Internet" has decreed that the clamps, attached to the base of the motherboard and securing the heatsinks, do the job too effectively, causing the motherboard to warp in concert with the heat generated by the CPU and graphics chip. However, over four years into the lifespan of the machine and many hardware revisions later, the clamps remain in Microsoft's design, and Thickbroom will replace any of these homebrew fixes with the original securing mechanism. The blame lies elsewhere, he reckons.

"It's just the general design and the heat factor," he says. "Everything's combined into such a small space, the heatsinks on the GPU are relatively small, there's a lot of heat to dissipate and it can't do it. The trapped heat warps the boards and that's what causes the problems over a long-term period."

Based on Thickbroom's experience, it would seem that the entire X-Clamp replacement industry is effectively a waste of money. With the DIY procedure, the real "fix" comes from the process of reflowing the solder after the clamps are replaced. In effect, you remove the fans from the 360, and allow it to massively overheat. Let it cool down again and in most cases service, post-RROD, will be resumed. But unless you're particularly lucky, it is a short-term fix, if it works at all. Reflowing is a precision job requiring precision tools, and the DIY method is akin to attempting to paint the Mona Lisa with fingerpaints. Professional repair shops will use a somewhat more involved method to get the job done.

"We remove the heatsinks, clean off any thermal compound left on the boards, cleaning the GPU and CPU," says Thickbroom. "Then we apply a BGA-based gel flux around the GPU and pre-heat this under a dark infra-red base BGA re-balling machine, which pre-heats the boards up to a set profile temperature, keeps that heat, then increases it again to a uniform temperature that the solder reflows at. When the reflow occurs, the flux is introduced to it. When the flux gets to the point that it becomes active, it fixes the problem caused by the heat: dry joints and poor connections are resolved."

Et Voila, my black and white 360-shaped doorstops are back in action as fully armed and operational games machines, fit for whatever abuse I would care to put them through in the Digital Foundry lair.

Whether you have RROD or its single-light variant, E74, it's the same root cause that is responsible - poor heat dissipation from the GPU - and the same fix is applied. What is intriguing however, is that it does appear as though the initial release of Xbox 360 has proved to be - on average - more reliable than some of the later models.

"From my personal experience, having seen so many machines come through, the original release machines from 2005 to 2007, before they brought out the HDMI revision - they tend to be more solid a unit," says Thickbroom. "They tend not have so many recurrences on the recall rate if it doesn't fail after 6-7 weeks after it's been put through the reflow process."

As the heat damage is seemingly cumulative, Microsoft's RROD woes may have been amplified by newer machines dying at the same time as the older ones. Certainly in my case, my vintage PAL November 2005 Xbox died within weeks of the NTSC Elite I bought that was 17 months younger. This is in spite of an addition to the heatsink in the newer units that pipes air into a vacant chamber elsewhere within the unit, and also with the introduction of packaging designed to hold the GPU in place and help prevent motherboard warping. It suggests that the quality of the Xbox 360 motherboard itself declined even while cooling potential was increased.

The core problem remains however: too much power crammed into too small an area.

"I just think that with all of these machines, the power and the heat they produce have long-term effects on the units," says Thickbroom, referring to both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. "It's also down to the solder being used on the units: it's a lead-free based solder. The consistency and quality of the joints with lead-free isn't as good as a proper lead-based solder. It's the law now, huge companies manufacturing these machines need to use lead-free, so the long-term reliability of the connections isn't so good."

While Xbox 360 in its earlier iterations has a pretty terrible reliability record, it is swiftly becoming apparent that the same core issue is also affecting the PlayStation 3. It is perhaps not surprising. While the Sony console has a whopper cooling system, the design of the RSX, especially in its original 90nm form, is to put it frankly a beast. Under the metallic heat spreader on the motherboard, you'll find not only the GPU, but also the 256MB of GDDR3 RAM. The 90nm RSX is much larger than the 90nm Xenos - indeed, it appears to be marginally larger than the Cell CPU in the launch units. The cooling challenge, especially in the launch units, is going to be considerable. Additionally, the GPU itself has remained on the 90nm fabrication process right up until the release of the new PS3 Slim, so assuming the problem is GPU-centric, it could potentially affect all the current "fat" models.

There's also the fact that both consoles are deployed in a huge range of different environments in gamers' homes. That being the case, it is almost impossible for the platform holders to ensure that the systems stay cool enough in all scenarios, especially bearing in mind the dust and fluff build-up that can occur over time. Certainly though, if you stick your console into a closed cabinet, you won't be doing it any favours. Smokers are more likely to end up with dead machines too - the tobacco finds its way into the console, making the innards sticky and thus more attractive to dust and debris that comes in through the intakes.

In terms of the scale of the problem, and failure ratios versus the Xbox 360, it is very difficult to put a number on just how many PS3s are malfunctioning. In the case of a relatively small-scale operation like Colchester Computers, working on average, they'll get 20 dead consoles to fix each day - 12 of them will be Xbox 360s, eight of them will be PlayStation 3s. But that's an average. As Thickbroom says, "sometimes, in a hectic week, we can have entire palettes of consoles coming in."

In terms of failure rates, the 60/40 split between Xbox 360 and PS3 they experience is remarkable in that it does prove pretty conclusively that both consoles are having exactly the same issues, especially when the methodology for fixing them is effectively identical. But beyond that, the figures are too isolated to tell us much more as many additional factors need to be taken into account: the installed UK bases of both systems, the fact that the damage is cumulative over time (and Xbox 360 is a year older, remember) and also the fact that 360 has a three-year warranty, while the PS3 is limited only to one year. We can assume that machines under guarantee will not arrive at Thickbroom's establishment, which specialises in extended warranty work with the likes of Argos and catalogue companies, in addition to dealing with the public directly.

"We really do see a lot of the 60GB launch PS3s which are a couple of years old now. Generally I think the faults there are down to wear and tear," he says. "We see a slightly smaller ratio of the newer 40GB machines with the smaller motherboard, but they still suffer from the same issues."

While we can assume that the newer, smaller 65nm GPUs in both the Jasper version of the Xbox 360 and the new PS3 Slim will help to reduce the instances of console death, the fact is that there is an installed userbase worldwide in the region of 50 million units. And this presents a very real issue for a fault that is seemingly caused by cumulative damage: every day more and more Xbox 360s out there are no longer covered by the safety net of Microsoft's three-year warranty, and many of them will fail through no fault of the owner. More than that, the extremely limited one-year PS3 guarantee seems to be woefully inadequate.

Back in December 2008, around nine months after the launch of PS3 in Europe, SCEE big cheese of the era David Reeves pegged the PS3 as having a two to three per cent failure rate. But since the core issue is a cumulative one, and presumably unforeseen by the platform holder, what would it be now? I asked SCEE to comment, and await a reply.

As it is, right now, if your 360 is out of warranty, an official Microsoft repair will cost £78, which bizarrely, rises to £95 if you organise it over the phone. Sony's Careline wasn't quite so clear-cut, saying that repairs are evaluated on a case by case basis, eventually stating that a replacement refurbished unit will set you back £128. With those costs in mind, an independent repair on your own machine will typically set you back around £60 for a 360 and £70 for a PS3. You can of course go for an extended warranty but typically these tend to be under-written by insurers and the time taken to get a working machine back can be variable. An independent, like Colchester Computers, tries to get your unit turned around in 24 hours.

Clearly, the PS3 warranty situation is of concern, and there's a mammoth amount of reading to sift through in this Eurogamer thread, which in its latter pages coughs up an interesting perspective. Following a piece on the BBC's One Show, there is a powerful legal argument that suggests that the length of the manufacturer's warranty is irrelevant in face of the all-powerful Sales of Good Act. Maybe - just maybe - if enough people make a fuss about this, Sony will re-evaluate its current one-year coverage so people don't have to jump through hoops to ensure a reasonable lifespan for their premium-priced games machines.

In the meantime, it's good times for independent console-fixers like Darren Thickbroom and Colchester Computers. If his theory about the cumulative effect of heat damage is correct - and the evidence available suggests it is - his business has a very rosy future. And certainly, for the hardcore gamer, he has some pretty stark advice.

"It comes down to how much you play it," he says. "People might disagree with us, but this is the way we see it: if you handle the machines day-in, day-out with the issues they've got, I'd expect to change them every year."

Whether the advent of PS3 Slim and the Jasper revision of Xbox 360 with their smaller, cooler chips will solve the issue remains to be seen, but producing machines that pump out less heat and suck less power from the mains is clearly the way forward.

But the fact that both Microsoft and Sony have these heat-related problems suggests that the problem isn't only related to the manufacture of "shoddy machines" as Sony's David Reeves once put it. It also means that the next generation of consoles - which will inevitably see a return to larger, more power-hungry silicon - are going to require some ingenious design solutions to prevent the same thing happening all over again.

Play-Asia: 20% Discount On All In-stock Item

Flowers, Bees and Visa Bargains: 20% discount on all in-stock items with our Visa Summer Promotion!


Play-Asia's summer deals are so sweet they even attract bees. Drop your ice-cream, we are opening up our flower gardens, with incredible bargains blossoming everywhere. No matter if you look for consoles, video games, CDs, DVDs or toys, surely you will feel like a bee in a flower field - hard to decide where to fly first.

And, oh! Bring your VISA card with you.

In partnership with VISA, from now until September 6th, all in-stock items except those that have been released during the last 30 days, are discounted by 20%. Please be reminded that this is a VISA exclusive promotion, only valid for orders paid with your VISA card directly at Play-Asia.com. Make sure to watch out for the 20% off discount logo on the final payment page.


To avoid disappointment, have your VISA card ready and don't hesitate, you might be not the only bee out in the garden.

Click here to go to Play-Asia

Shadow Complex Review (Xbox 360)

Shadow Complex Review (Xbox 360)

You know a game is good when everyone you know who has played it can’t stop raving about it. And everyone you know who hasn’t played it can’t stop talking about how much they’re looking forward to playing it. Such is the case with Shadow Complex, a new Xbox LIVE Arcade game from Chair Entertainment and Epic Games. So far, it appears to be the XBLA game of the year, if not of all time, but I wouldn’t blink at someone considering it as the best Xbox 360 game of 2009 period either.

Shadow Complex is the rare title that almost defies criticism. Sure, I could pick out some minor bits that I had a problem with (and I will, later in this review), but the over-reaching experience of playing the game, which is so good and so satisfying on so many levels, almost negates the validity of calling out the flaws. Pure and simple, Shadow Complex is fun, and doesn’t need to be apologized for. But the gravity of its assumed success requires perspective on the part of those willing to offer it to you.

The environments are so detailed, that sometimes it’s a bummer you’re stuck to the 2D plane.

In one sense, Shadow Complex is significant for the future of downloadable games. Play the adventure and tell me if you don’t agree that it could very well have been a game you bought in a box, off some shelf in some brightly lit store in a mall. But you didn’t, you downloaded it. Just like you downloaded all those classic arcade games. Shadow Complex is no classic arcade game, though it owes so many debts to so many games that we do consider classics. In look though, it’s akin to the top shelf games coming out of major developers these days. The Unreal Engine 3 is to thank for that, and it marks Epic Games’ involvement with the development. All props to main developer Chair Entertainment, but that connection to Epic had to help.

It would be very easy to reduce the game down to those two elements: top flight 3D graphics mashed up with old school side-scrolling gameplay. But it wouldn’t even begin to describe the real joys behind Shadow Complex. It’s the delicate balance of weapon types, mixed in with puzzle-oriented approach to level design, and pure love for collectibles that burrow Shadow Complex deep into your brain after a few minutes of play. It’s like so many classic games in its dedication to replay value, going after the high score and exploring environments. That’s where Shadow Complex will really get you; when you’re playing through the game again, looking for every last power-up and pile of gold bars. This game begs you to achieve 100%

The story is fairly immaterial; even though it is based on some writings by Orson Scott Card – apparently some Mormon sci-fi writer who’s popular with the gamers – it doesn’t really latch on to you in any real way. Ostensibly, at the beginning, you’re trying to save a damsel in distress. After a few minutes or hours, that won’t matter. You’re in it for completion, with a hunger for the satisfaction you know lies behind getting 100% of the pickups.

The basic gameplay is simple: jump, shoot, repeat. But there is so much depth built into the system, that you’ll find yourself constantly discovering and inventing new ways to do things, especially once you begin your search for every last powerup. The game is smart too in the way it ramps up your abilities. At the beginning, you’re just a dude wit a flashlight. By the end, you’re a bad-ass super soldier with all kinds of exotic and highly explosive weapons at your disposal.

Just playing the game through – cruising through the gigantic underground lair killing random henchmen and battling tank-sized insectoid battle bots – doesn’t even necessarily take that much time to complete. It can be done in under three hours on your second attempt easily. It’s the search for every last item, and the unique puzzles placed in the game to achieve those pickups, that gives the game outside of the main quest so much life. Finding every item while taking out the end boss is only part of the ultimate objective. Some achievements require you to do it in smaller increments of time and with less equipment. And this is one of those games that challenges you to get every single achievement.

Shadow Complex requires you to think of it as a platformer and a shooter at the same time. This is nothing new, obviously, and in fact it is quite old in terms of gameplay developments for games that have evolved over the same time period. Here, in Shadow Complex, it’s just done so darn well, that it’s hard to peel your face away from the amazing time you’re having just to appreciate the overall elegance of the game’s design. When was the last time you played a game that was so worthy of respect for its brilliant design, but also so relentlessly addictive in actual practice that it almost didn’t matter? I can think of a few, but none of them are the obvious forefathers of this game like Metroid and Super Mario Bros..

Shadow Complex, on its own is downright amazing, and clearly a game we’ll be talking about when it comes award time at the end of the year. But there does seem to be more gravitas around it. Something in the back of my head saying that this game signals a sea change that we’ve all seen coming for a long time. The shift from AAA games being distributed on physical media to being available for download only was something we all knew was coming someday. But Shadow Complex seems to be at the forefront of that; proving to people that games they download can look as good and be as much fun as games they buy off of a rack in some mall somewhere. Mentally, that’s a big leap to make for a lot of people.

What’s ultimately important for Shadow Complex, is that it is completely unimportant how people got the game. It could be download, it could be retail, who gives a you know what. What matters is that it is great, truly great even. One of the best new games you’re going to play on your Xbox 360 this year, hands down. But trend-watchers take note: Shadow Complex is a shot across the bow of the notion that XBLA games are somehow lesser to something you play on an actual disc. And this may be the year where the line between the two starts getting blurred into oblivion.

Guitar Hero Instrument Photo Repair Guides (with video too)

Useful guide to repair your Guitar Hero instruments (Guitars, Drum, etc)

http://www.powertuneplus.com/gh/

Custom Boxarts: Why Do We Like to View Them?

Custom Boxarts: Why Do We Like to View Them?

Whenever I get bored and am on the PC, I head over to a site known as VGBoxart, a site where users can upload their own custom-made boxarts for real and non-existent games. Viewing them, to me, basically gives me a new sense of excitement for the game based on how good the boxart looks. Sometimes I'll get excited for a bad game even if the boxart looks good. Looking at non-existent game boxarts gives me a sense that this game may come to be, and the boxart is a boxart you really want to see on store shelves.

The boxart you see above is a Kingdom Hearts: The Keyblade Wars boxart by Sentry of VGBoxart. This can be described as one of those games that doesn't exist (yet, hopefully) that gives you hope than it can exist (thus my parenthesis right before those). When the boxart looks really good, such as this one, it gives you even more excitement that one day you could possibly see it on store shelves.

Now lets move on as we examine a few other boxarts.

APB by SlaveToTheMedia

All Points Bulletin, or APB, is an upcoming Grand Theft Auto-like MMO for the Xbox 360 and PC. It really is one of my most anticipated games to ever be released (I like being a thug in video games, what can I say) and even though this boxart isn't perfect, I can certainly imagine picking this up on store shelves. It gets me even more excited for the game's release.

BioShock by Spark7600GS

BioShock is finally coming to the PLAYSTATION 3. Although, this boxart was made last year when the game wasn't even announced for the system. This is what I call the "Steal Boxart", where you steal the exclusive from another system and make a boxart for the system you'd hope it would come to. And look now, BioShock is actually coming to the PLAYSTATION 3. I was one of the people back when I did not have an Xbox 360 hoping this would come to the PLAYSTATION 3, looking at fake boxarts.

Champions Online by Defcon6

Champions Online is another MMO for the Xbox 360 and PC, probably the 360 equivalent to PS3's DC Universe Online. I'm psyched for DC Universe Online and although I'm not really keen on the Champions series, I'm really stoked for this game. The boxart looks magnificent as well, raising my anticipation above the bar.

Fallout 3 by Ultra64

Fallout 3 is probably my most anticipated RPG this year, even though it's from a western developer. Although the game already has a boxart, there is always something better you'd like to see on shelves. This is one of those cases. Compare this boxart to the final boxart and you tell me.

Final Fantasy VII by Feed

Here is another non-existent game (at least on the PLAYSTATION 3, not the PSone) that everybody is in hopes for. Final Fantasy VII fans have been begging for a PLAYSTATION 3 remake of the game ever since Square Enix teased their Final Fantasy VII PS3 tech demo at E3 2005. This boxart gives us hope that one day, maybe we will actually see that remake that we've been longing for.

Final Fantasy XIII by FinalFantaseer22

Final Fantasy XIII was revealed at E3 2006 and we are soon entering 2009. The North American and European market probably still won't receive this game until 2010 due to the fact that they need to port it to the Xbox 360 while Japan gets the PLAYSTATION 3 version when it is finished. Who wouldn't want to see this on shelves, no matter what boxart it gets? Although, this one would be nice.

God of War III by JoesEye

God of War III was just revealed at E3 2008 at Sony Computer Entertainment's press conference. Although, Sony has a habit of teasing us with CG trailers during their events when they should of just shown gameplay. I think this boxart gives us a little more anticipation until we see that gameplay, even though it is using art from Chains of Olympus.

Infinite Undiscovery by ViviDamage12

RPGs are my favorite type of genre next to third-person shooters, and when you're an RPG fan and you see a boxart that you like but you think could be better, you look around for others. This Infinite Undiscovery boxart definitely suits me better as an RPG fan as the characters are usually the core of the story, and that is exactly what this boxart displays.

The Last Remnant by Blaker101

Square's upcoming The Last Remant doesn't have an official boxart released as of yet, but this gives boxart gives us something to hope for. Remember, characters are the core to the RPG's story, and this boxart shows us the main characters of the game.

Mass Effect by Envor

Although Mass Effect was already released and has a boxart, there could always be something better. I just picked up Mass Effect yesterday for an easy $25 and I would say I'd love pulling the boxart above off of my games rack rather than the current. Then again, the current is really nothing to complain about.

As you can see, there are various reasons we like viewing custom boxarts. For one, it gives us a sense of hope of a future game announcement. For two, it can anticipate us even more for an already released game. For three, it could give us something better than a boxart for a game that already has a boxart. I'm sure there are many more reasons, but these are just a few. As for now, I think I'll head back to VGBoxarts and check out some more.

Xbox LIVE Deal of the Week: The Lost and the Damned DLC

Xbox LIVE Deal of the Week: The Lost and the Damned DLC

Tomorrow the new Xbox LIVE update will bring a slew of blockbuster entertainment features to 20 million gamers around the world…but the blockbusters don’t stop there! This month the Xbox LIVE Deal of the Week will have a blockbuster of its own in “Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned,” the acclaimed episode from Rockstar Games that set the gaming world on fire exclusively on Xbox LIVE.

“The Lost and Damned” redefined the scope and possibilities of downloadable content when it released earlier this year to lavish praise and critical acclaim. Playing as all-new protagonist Johnny Klebitz, you will experience a carefully crafted narrative that presents a darker Liberty City filled with bitter rivalries and long-standing feuds. With a new campaign that rivals even standalone titles in length, new multiplayer modes, music, weapons, and more, this great value gets even sweeter for Gold members at 1200 Microsoft Points the week of August 24.

“The Lost and Damned” comes amid a value-packed August on Xbox LIVE, with deep discounts on some of the most popular games, Add-ons and themes. Have “Halo” on the brain ever since the “Halo 3: ODST” ViDoc debut last week? Then download the “Halo 3” Splatter Spree Theme to give your Xbox 360 dashboard that USNC shine. You can also get your football fix (that’s the Queen’s English) with the “FIFA 09” Ultimate Team Add-on, or study up on “Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Episode Two” just in time for the PAX convention next month.

With a whole new world of value debuting tomorrow – including the ability to update your Netflix instant Queue and host a movie party for Gold members – and even more on the way with Facebook, Twitter and Last.fm this fall, there’s never been a better time to upgrade to Gold.