Hey guys. I had a couple questions regarding the 360 that I hope you can answer for me...

1. After I got my 360 repaired(they sent me back the same one, not a refurb) Microsoft gave me a 1 year warranty that covers anything(separate from the 3 year rrod one). When did they start doing this? When I sent my first one in in 2007 they sent me back a refurbished 360 and I did not get a 1 year warranty.

2. Can you recommend some good 360 games to play with a younger sibling? My brother is 8 years old and I'd like to find some games that I could play with him. I'm thinking about Viva Pinata Trouble in Paradise because A. It's only $30, and B. It's supposed to be friendlier to newcomers than the original. Is that true? Does it teach you how to play the game better than the original?

Thanks! Btw, I love the podcast even though Chris Grant keeps telling me that it'll give me ear cancer!

1) We're not sure when Microsoft started offering a one year warranty with refurbished or repaired Xbox consoles. For that matter, it's possible Microsoft has always done that. Thus far, we haven't had to pay for any Xbox repairs at all (we've been through plenty of 'em around here). Our advice, don't look a gift horse in the mouth, even if that same horse is responsible for your 360 breaking in the first place.

2) Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise is a good pick. Our own Dustin Burg advises that it isn't necessarily easier to get into than the first, but says that co-op play allows more experienced players to help less experienced players. That sounds pretty much perfect for you and your brother, no? Also, there are lots of great Xbox Live Arcade games you could play with him. Arcade co-op classics like Contra or Golden Axe come to mind, for example. Though it's a bit more complicated, Worms is a lot of fun too. Feel free to leave some suggestions in the comments, folks!

Don't listen to that Chris Grant either. He's a huckster and a liar, a man who will do anything to hock his cheap wares.

I switched to an HDMI connection and now my controllers won't charge when my system is off and when i turn it back on it tells me my controller is charged all the way even though it is out of juice. What up wit dat?

That's very strange. We also have no idea how to help you here. Have you tried switching to a different video connection like VGA or component? It's hard to imagine that changing your A/V connection would affect controller charging. You might double check to make sure the connection is securely connected. Other than that, we're stumped. Anyone out there have a suggestion?

Hello

After reading your ask joystick xbox post on the 17th Feb about Xbox Live and credit cards i like to point people to http://billing.microsoft.com log on with you Microsoft Live account that has you gamertag attached (also please type this URL into the bar for security reasons)

at this site you can remove/add credit cards from the xbox live service reassign things like XNA creators club & xbox live to a different credit card

also it will tell you how to cancel your account, track every items that you have spend Microsoft point thought out Microsoft services like Zune & Xbox Marketplace for the last 12 months

tell you when account expire

its not the most well lay out site to use but it works and you don't have to spend all day on the dam phone

Joshua Kairl
Anthr0x

Thanks, Josh, for the tip. Just as a friendly courtesy, allow us to suggest that you spend a little more time proofreading your next email (apologies if English isn't your first language). For those of you out there having trouble removing your credit card from Xbox Live, try billing.microsoft.com (log in with the Live ID connected to your Gamertag) and see if it works. Let us know how you fared in the comments. For the record, we were unable to find any option to remove a credit card at the site, though we could edit credit card information.

Everyone knows that Halo ODST will include all of the Halo 3 multiplayer maps, but will it have its own multiplayer. In other words, will I have to insert my Halo 3 disk to play the exclusive ODST maps?

Thanks in advance,

---
bioadam

Nope. ODST multiplayer is Halo 3 multiplayer. Also, there are no exclusive maps for Halo 3: ODST. The game will include all the maps released thus far as well as the maps in the upcoming Mythic Map Pack. Multiplayer will be exactly the same as Halo 3, so you have nothing to worry about.

Update: It looks like ODST does have three exclusive maps. Still, you won't need your Halo 3 disc to play them. We'll have to wait and see whether or not Microsoft decides to sell the maps on Marketplace for those who don't buy ODST.


Hi Guys,

Sad to see you lost your fanboy-ness and went corporate on us (I kid, I kid). Just a quick question, what ever happened to those new green controllers with the supposedly improved D-pad? Were those ever released? Will we ever get any lovin on the US side? Ok that that was more than one question, but you get the idea. Thanks guys, keep up the good work!

--
Ceej989

As far as we know, the green Xbox 360 controllers were only released in Europe, Asia and Latin America. As we originally reported, the controllers -- revised D-pad and all -- were only intended as a limited release in the aforementioned regions. For whatever reason, Microsoft still hasn't fixed the D-pad in the standard controller. Maybe they'll get it right in time for the Xbox 720.

Hi.

I was wondering if there were any rumors or announcements of playing your XBLA games on some portable device. I know MS said it wouldn't really be pursuing a portable gaming system, but would it maybe bring this functionality to the Zune? I think I'd buy a lot more XBLA titles if I had more options to play them.

I may be mistaken, but I think the PSP and PS3 have this functionality.

Thanks.
Daniel.

No, there haven't been any announcements of XBLA compatibility with portable devices. Microsoft did post a job listing recently asking for someone to create a Zune Xbox application, though exactly what the application would do remains a mystery. We've certainly theorized with our fellow bloggers about transfering XBLA games to a portable device before.

We're guessing it's more complicated than it sounds, especially considering all XBLA on the market were designed for the Xbox 360. We're no experts, but we're guessing the hardware specs for the Zune and Xbox 360 are pretty different. That said, Microsoft is developing XNA projects on the Zune, so it's possible that some sort of Xbox interoperability might be in the cards. Who knows, maybe we'll hear something at E3.


That's it for this week, folks. Keep sending your questions to: ask [att] xbox360fanboy [dawt] com.