UPDATE: It seems the problem was hardware related. Disc unreadable errors with perfectly good discs is one of the symptoms of an impending red ring of death.

My wife bought me Gears of War 2 for Christmas from Amazon. So far I've been unable to get past the start screen of the game due to a This disc is unreadable error and attempting to install the game to the hard drive fails at 40% complete. This is the only game in my library that exhibits this problem. I also got Grand Theft Auto IV and have been able to play that fine with no problems.

Searching online indicates that this is a widespread problem.

• Several threads on Yahoo! Answers
• Multiple threads on EuroGamer.Net
• Several threads on the GameSpot forums
• A thread on the Epic Games forum
• There's even been discussions about this on Yelp 

The only consistent thing about all the threads is that I have seen no confirmed solution to the problem. The best suggestion seems to be to return the disk to the retailer and ask for an exchange for a different Gears of War 2 disc. With this option there's still a chance of getting another bum disc and it seems this would be a difficult option to pursue with an online retailer like Amazon.  There's also the option of sending my XBox in for repairs although given that the problem only exists with this one game, it is unclear that this is a problem with my actual hardware.

Before deciding to chalk up the $60 + tax my wife spent on this game to bad luck, I thought I'd throw up this blog post just in case one of my readers has encountered this problem and found a work around.

Merry Xmas!

Now Playing: The Notorious B.I.G. - You're Nobody (Til Somebody Kills You)

I switched on my XBox 360 this morning only to be greeted by a green screen where the familiar XBox logo was supposed to be. In addition, it seems that I could get the sound fine but no picture. The only thing I can imagine that I did wrong was that I shut the console off while playing Marvel Ultimate Alliance instead of quiting the game before switching off the XBox 360 like I usually do.

Doing a search for "XBox 360 green screen" doesn't turn up anything particularly useful. Can anyone out there help with some suggestions on trouble shooting tips?

UPDATE: Disconnecting the XBox 360 from the power outlet for a few minutes then reconnecting it did th trick. Whew. :)

I got an XBox 360 this weekend and I'm now looking for recommendations on what games to get. I tend to favor games that I can get into for short bursts of time without significant time commitment. My favorite XBox games were Soul Calibur 2, the Halo series, the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic series and The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction. As you can see my tastes are towards role playing games, shoot 'em ups, beat 'em ups and fighting games.

So far I've purchased Gears of War, Rainbow Six: Vegas, The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion and Dance Dance Revolution Universe (for the cardio on weekends). Are there any other games I should be considering or do I have to wait until Halo 3 comes out before breaking out my wallet at the local GameStop again?

From the press release entitled Microsoft Unites Xbox and PC Gamers With Debut of Games for Windows — LIVE we learn

REDMOND, Wash. — March 14, 2007 — Microsoft Corp. today announced the extension of the Xbox LIVE^® games and entertainment network to the Windows^® platform, bringing together the most popular online console game service with the most popular games platform in the world. Debuting on May 8, 2007, with the launch of the Windows Vista™ version of the Xbox^® blockbuster “Halo^® 2,” Games for Windows — LIVE will connect Windows gamers to over six million gamers already in the Xbox LIVE community. Then, launching in June, “Shadowrun™” will for the first time connect Windows gamers with Xbox 360™ players in cross-platform matches using a single service. “UNO^®,” releasing later in 2007, will also support cross-platform play between Windows and Xbox 360.

This is pretty cool and I saw some of the demos when I was at CES in January. The funny thing is that one of my coworkers told me that we were announcing this soon but I thought he said "Games for Windows Live" so I thought he meant we were rebranding MSN Games. I didn't realize it was actually "Games for Windows — LIVE". This might get a tad confusing.

I've been playing Marvel Ultimate Alliance for the past couple of days and its now my favorite super hero game of all time, just narrowly beating out Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction. It's like someone picked out all my favorite qualities in a video game (button mashing beat 'em up, super heroes, interesting plot) and created a game just for me.

You get the use all the members of the Fantastic Four, Wolverine, Spidey, Captain America, Thor and even fricking Daredevil. Plus you get to fight in Mephisto's realm, Asgard and the Shi'ar empire. It's a Marvel comic book geek's dream game. Cop this game if you haven't already. 

PS: Can someone explain to me how Google knows to refine the search results for the query for 'Marvel Ultimate Alliance'. I'm guessing this has something to do with Google Co-op.

I picked up The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction for the XBox this weekend and I've been hooked on it. The IGN review says it all

the development team has axed the structured, linear levels of its last Hulk adventure and opened things up into an expansive free-roaming world. While not based on any real-life city like Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas or Spider-Man 2, Ultimate Destruction still maintains an authentic urban feel to it -- with bridges, hospitals, moving traffic, and pedestrians that all have one thing in common: they're certain unavoidable targets for the basketball-sized fists of Ol' Greenskin.

What makes attacking these targets so fun, though, is that just about everything you encounter is completely deformable: Various types of autos break and smash into pieces, trees and lampposts are uprooted from their bases, explosions go off in just about every direction, and sometimes even buildings themselves crack and crumble to the ground. "Ultimate Destruction" is exactly what this experience offers and as the Incredible Hulk himself, there's little you can't do to make the game live up to its title.

But if all you could do was run around the city smashing things up with a small repertoire of moves, then the Incredible Hulk would grow old pretty quickly...There are a number of combos, weapon strikes, grabs, throws, and chains that you can perform because of this, as well, and just about every single one of them are incredibly cool.

Want to smash a bus into flattened metal and then use it as a shield? Go right ahead! Would you prefer to shatter a radio tower and use the leftover antenna as a javelin? You can do that too! You can even crush boulders into near-perfect circles and play oversized bowling or clang two cars together to form makeshift boxing gloves that inflict additional damage. And just when you though you've seen it all, a new mission comes along that requires you to hop onto a harrier jet and wrestle it to the ground or bash a cargo truck over your head for use as a Metal Gear Solid-inspired cardboard box disguise for sneaking into military bases. Needless to say, the move progression system here is perfect (using a traditional purchase system not unlike Onimusha or Devil May Cry) and steadily transforms you from a mindless oversized pugilist into an unstoppable engine of destruction. I love it.

This game is fantastic and I'm surprised that it hasn't been rated higher in the various reviews I've seen. It's definitely the best game I've seen for the XBox this year.