Ask X3F: Bionic love edition

Answering questions is strangely cathartic for us. It's hard to describe, but helping others with their problems and queries is quite fulfilling. It is with that in mind that we bring you another edition of Ask X3F, the community powered feature where we solve quandaries with a quickness. This week we discuss HDMI troubles, Microsoft advertising, and paradigm shifts. Oh, and we also shed some light on why it takes so damned long to recover gamertags on other consoles. Find the answers you seek (and feel free to give some of your own) after the break.

If you've got a question for Ask X3F, or if you simply have something to share, send it to: ask [at] xbox360fanboy [dawt] com.

Hi guys!

I have had an xbox 360 for 2 years and have have a gold membership.. recently all my friends bought xbox 360 and i will go to there house to play ranked matches together. Being with live people is more fun then talking over a mic for me :P

And when I recover my Live profile, it will take 15-20 minutes to recover, the same thing happens when i go back home and recover on my own system.. what takes it so long??? I understand it is downloading setings and stuff but how much stuff is it downloading?

This is what i don't understand. The same friends who i am playing with (on the same console) will do a recovery and theirs will take 2-4 minutes. We are using the exact same Xbox, right after each other! As we switch up houses to play sometimes.

is there a reason why mine takes forever, and my friends who just signed up are so much faster then mine?

Any insight or tips would be great!

Keep up the good work

A couple people asked this question this week, so we went to our man Major Nelson for an answer. While he couldn't tell us exactly what makes it take so long, he did tell us that it's related to how many games are on your profile. So, it makes sense that your recovery takes longer than your friends who have newer accounts. Major Nelson also told us that recovering your gamertag really isn't a good method if you want to roam with it a lot. The To that end, we have to ask if you've ever considered using a memory unit to transfer your gamertag. It's easy to store a gamertag on a memory card and the process is much faster than recovering it every time. Of course, you have to buy a memory unit for that to work, but they can be found pretty cheap online (especially the 64MB units). If that doesn't work, at least you can rest easy knowing that your buddies will soon have to endure the same torture after they have more games on their profiles.

Hey Guys,

I was just wondering, is it me or does it look like Microsoft is being...well SOFT on the advertising? I just saw a commercial for Burnout Paradise that just said it was for PS3. What gives? Seems like Sony is getting all aggressive with marketing the PS3, which is fine since it's got a bit of catching up to do. But the lack of 360 exclusives this year makes me worry. Come on Microsoft, time to pull out the big guns!

--
Chris

It's hard to say, Chris. We're guessing money is the deciding factor on whose logo is displayed after a commercial. Of course, you could also look at it this way: EA doesn't have to work as hard to sell Burnout Paradise to 360 owners, so they're more likely to pimp the PS3 version. It's the same reason supermarkets put milk and eggs at the back of the store. People buy lots of eggs and milk, so why not make them walk past the rest of your merchandise to get them? We're not sure how it is in your neck of the woods, but around here all the GameStops keep their 360 kiosks in the back, whereas the PS3 kiosk is always up front (though that may change this year).

What's up, X3F?

It's been a while since I wrote or 'called in' to the Fancast, but I have some questions for you guys that I think the listeners might enjoy hearing you guys talk about.

Firstly, what's the one or two most coveted and confirmed XBLA games you guys have on your radar?, Now that Castlevania and REZ have hit, I'm personally anticipating the release of Bionic Commando and Castle Crashers. Dishwasher: Dead Samurai has really piqued my interest as well.

My second question might take a little bit longer to think about, but it's one I think hasn't been asked to X3F.
What one major event in the gaming industry, would you say, was the golden moment of all time? In that I mean: what was the one moment or event in all of gaming that stands out as the biggest paradigm shift?

It could be argued that some of the biggest events ever in gaming history were:
1. The release of Super Mario Bros.
2. The advent of 3D gaming (in Super Mario 64)
3. Halo 3 sales numbers surpassing that of big-budget movie releases
4. Backwards compatibility beginning in the Atari 7800
5. The internet gaming news community taking shape
6. Digital download services from within Xbox Live (the first of its kind)

Or do you have another, more potent answer to this question?

Keep on truckin',

Chris Majewski
Gamertag: Magic Whiskey

Bionic Commando: Rearmed is, hands down, the number one XBLA title on the radar right now. Your second choices, Castle Crashers and Dishwasher both look excellent as well. Peggle is also one to keep an eye out for (it landed on Joystiq's top ten of 2007 after all).

As for your second question. Our nerd impulse forces us to note that Super Mario 64 was hardly the advent of 3D gaming. Still, it definitely brought it to the forefront. That said, your question is a doozy. Honestly, the biggest paradigm shift (and I will be crucified for this, I'm sure) was probably the release of the original Playstation. Perhaps more than anything before, it really brought gaming into the mainstream consciousness. Really, the Playstation brought together lots of shifts at the same time: optical media, 3D gaming, portable memory, et cetera. Not that all of this was new mind you, but the Playstation put it all in one place. Of course, the Sony name also elevated the console above the status of a "toy," something that Nintendo and Sega had to deal with previously. What about the rest of you, dear readers? What do you think represented the biggest shift in gaming history?

(For the record, I never owned a Playstation during the height of its popularity. I was a Sega fan and I stood by them until the death of the Dreamcast.)

OK, here's a good one, since I can't find any real info on the net about this.

I have my XBOX360 hooked up through HDMI and I cut the original adapter (component cables) so I could hook up both at the same time and use the component cable's audio to go to a stereo.

Now, whenever I change my input on my TV to something else (like check the Laker game etc.), the 360 continues to play fine (I can listen to the game still playing through the stereo). But when I come back to the 360's input, the system resets itself back to the boot up XBOX ball logo thingy. What gives? What if I want to go check the news for a minute while a loading screen pops up or something, or spend 24 hours indoors in Dead Rising without having to watch Frank stand around for hours. Is this normal, or does it have something to do with HDMI?

It's annoying, help.

It very well could have something to do with HDMI and the copy protection associated with it. We've encountered a similar problem when switching inputs while watching a DVD (though it didn't actually reset, just displayed some error message). One thing you could try is to pick up the official 360 HDMI cable. It comes with a special adapter so that you can use RCA or optical audio instead of running it through HDMI (which is essentially what you created by cutting off the component cables on your adapter). You can find them for online for $40-50. Before you go spending money though, we suggest you experiment with the system while running solely off of the HDMI cable (i.e. remove the component adapter altogether). If you experience the same problem, you know it's the HDMI.

X3F,

Great job on the site & the Podcast. Here's my issue. I have finally decided to breakdown & buy a soccer game for my 360. Like most Americans I have little knowledge of soccer, or what to look for in a soccer game (sorry football for the rest of the world). I have scoured all the review sites looking for the best game to purchase, and all of the reviewers have direct opposite opinions of FIFA & PES. What do you guys think? Which game FIFA or PES is best for the new player?

Thanks,

Andro

We don't have much knowledge either, sadly. The metacritic averages are nearly identical for both games (with a single percentage point advantage given to FIFA). Our advice: rent 'em both. Also, we're sure that the friendly folks around here would be happy to leave comments extolling the virtues of either title.

Hey,

What's happening in X3F land? Just wanted to let you know I followed up with the Valve store after your response in last week's Ask X3F column (thanks for including it). I'll post this in the comments too but was happy to receive the following response:

Hello,

We will be selling them again soon but we do not have a selling date currently.

$30 is a bit steep as is but i will be picking one up when they are back in stock. Eff ebay... that's just insane. Your site is great... thanks for keeping all of us 360 owners up to date on evertyhing.

DW
aka aweekapaug

Awesome! You heard it here folks! Don't be a sucker. Just wait for the Weighted Companion Cube to return.

Hello Xbox 360 Fanboy!

I was wondering if you had heard anything recently about the Retrofit that was going to be available for Microsoft's Wireless XBox 360 Racing Wheel? I dutifully filled out + faxed my form in, way back in August of 2007. I even added my home phone # and email address to the form, as Microsoft's page stated that a Communication would be made once more details were available (the Form didn't have a Phone or Email field though). Has anyone reported that newer Wireless Racing wheels are designed differently, or have a different power adapter for them? Have you heard from anyone who has received an update on the situation, or even an actual Retrofit?

Searching on the WWW now, itsays that Microsoft is now requiring Customers to mail their Wheel in to them, once they receive the Pre-Paid Box. Needless to say, I haven't received my Pre-Paid Box yet, so I am going to fill out the Form again, and Fax it to them a 2nd time.

Just a heads-up for others that may still be waiting to hear from Microsoft. I'd be interested in knowing if anyone who originally sent their Info actually received an update from Microsoft, or an actual Pre-Paid box in the mail.

Cheers!

DC Skate

We haven't heard anything specific about the Racing Wheel retrofits lately, no. Our source at Microsoft believes the retrofits are underway though, so your request may have been lost in the shuffle. If you don't have any luck with the form this time, you might try calling 1-800-4MY-XBOX and see if you can make any progress that way (though they may just tell you to fill out the form again). As for noticeable design differences, we haven't heard of any. Anyone out there have a new wheel that could confirm changes?

I have had a couple of small Ethernet cables brake in the past because of frequent unplugging. But now my original 360 cable is about to lose the plug clip and I don't want to decapitate (crimp) the wire to fix it. Is there anyway to prevent the clip from snapping off or replace it without losing some inches?

-Da Crazy Basta

We're going to have to turn this one over to the community for an answer because, frankly, we have no idea what you're talking about. You need an expert, and on this topic, that ain't us! We would suggest that you be more gentle with your Ethernet cables though.