steppingintorivers.com

I don’t own an Xbox 360. There are times when I’d like to. As I sulk in the shadow of the release of GTA IV, now would be one of those times. Aside from the cost, I’ve shied away from the 360 for reasons of the system failure, quaintly nick-named “the red ring of death.” (Which is a fairly common bonus game of meta-Russian-roulette in which the 360 cooks itself to death and ceases to function.

Instead of a 360, I bought a Nintendo Wii, loyal gamer that I am. My collection is without but a Virtual Boy, but no one would criticize me that. The gamer in me can get cranky about all of the awesomeness that I am missing out on, due to my stubborn dedication to Miyamoto-san. But at least the machine works, right?

This past weekend, I started getting disc errors. I was somewhat perturbed to have to get off the couch, eject and re-insert, but the game seemed to resume from exactly where I left off. Not so bad, I thought. At least it remembers where we left off.

Then, they became more frequent. And now the machine won’t read any disc. Neither the new dual layer discs of Brawl or Mario Kart, not older Wii games, not even Gamecube discs.

The Virtual Console still works. The Opera browser still works. It’s just a problem with the laser. While I have often longed for a dedicated River City Ransom console. At this point in time, I can’t justify the shelf-space.

So I’ll be packing it up and sending it away. I’m still covered under warranty. Thank heavens. My DS light hinge cracked moments after its warranty expired. It’s still sitting by the TV, one red eye glaring away.

I never bought in to the “blowing Nintendo cartridge” craze. I’m pretty sure it was a psychological fix-it that got you to eject and reposition the game. If only this were that easy to solve.

On the bright side, maybe they can send me a Wii that… makes less noise. I read an article about Brawl as “fan-service.” And I thought, hell yes, I need some fan service. The fan in this thing is noisy as hell. Oh. That’s not what…. I see what you meant…. When I get around to sound proofing the studio, I’m going to build a little sound-proof box with the bottom and back pieces missing. A little tea cozy. Wii cozy. Maybe I’ll build it large enough for a friend. In times like these, maybe a second console wouldn’t be such an inconvenience. Bank account aside.