Sure, it’s not exactly news to hear that the Xbox 360 is the most unreliable console of the big three, but just how unreliable is it? Now there’s a point of contention. The good news for Microsoft, of sorts, is that a new study from SquareTrade found that just 23.7% of Xbox 360 consoles failed within the first two years of ownership, which is actually a fair bit better than some of the previous numbers that topped 50%. The study also found that 10% of PlayStation 3 users reported a system failure, compared to a mere 2.7% of Wii owners. The Wii actually fared the worst when it came to power and remote control issues, however, while the most common problems with the Xbox 360 and PS3 were disc read errors and output issues. For its part, while Microsoft hasn’t responded to this particular study, it has previously pointed to its ‘best warranty in the industry’ to reassure its users and, of course, to its more recently-produced consoles, which are less likely to buckle under the pressure of a marathon Call of Duty session.

[Via InformationWeek]

(Via Engadget.)

Of course, with the addition on the PS3 to the living room I also spent some time with a few games for that system as well.

All told I played a lot of games over the holidays. On the PS3 side; Metal Gear Solid 4. LittleBigPlanet, Resistance, Resistance 2, Ratchet and Clank. On the Xbox360; Gears 2, Bad Company, Fable 2, Banjo & Kazooie: N&B, The Orange Box, Kameo, Lost Odyessy, Civilization: Revolution, Call of Duty: World at War.

The gamefest had as much to do with having so much time off as it did the new wide screen HD TV. Yes, 1080p gaming is where it’s at.

My character in RB2

(This image was taken from the Rock Band web site after I linked my Xbox Live! account to my profile there. You can pose your character for pics there once you have your account linked.)

This is really just a teaser for the the strategy guide that Prima Games produces for just about every game that comes out. I don’t buy them as I think the game should come with a full set of instructions and I don’t want to support this fleecing of the public. In fact after I “aquire” the guide via alternate means I typically share it with my friends. That’s right, sticking it to the man the best way I know how. Greedy smucks.

Anyway, this teaser is free to the public so feel free to download it and give it a look guilt free. Afterwards, maybe you can explain the whole guilt thing. Sounds fascinating.

One of the creatures I came up with tonight while playing with Spore. So much fun!

Well, I got a chance to play around with Spore this evening. Of course, I’m just talking about the creature creator. The actual game hasn’t been released yet. It’s was fun creating the various creatures and I have to say I am looking forward to playing the game once it’s released.

I think you could spend quite some time just seeing what you could come up with using the creature creator. Seems to be very intuitive and I was able to hit the ground running without having to read anything. It will be interesting to see what they come up with as far as game play goes but since I have liked all the previous Sim and Civilization games, I am sure this one will be worth the price of admission. Of course only time will tell if the game is any good or not but expectations are high.

(Click the related videos button on the player above to see the other dragons some “Sporians” have created.)

If you want to try out the Spore Creature Creator for yourself, you can download it by clicking the image below. It’s available for both Mac and PC users.

So I finally got around to trying the demo for the game based on the hilarious web comic featuring Tycho and Gabe. I have enjoyed their comic for years for the simple reason that I felt that we, the comic artists and I, shared the same opinion of games and the game industry as well as other gear head topics. Part of the reasons I found their digs on Call of Duty 4 or Battle Field 2 so funny was I remember thinking the same thing before they spelled it out their comic strip. Maybe you had to be there. Regardless, I have always felt their brand on humor was spot on with my own and have shared many a chuckle with others on the web over the years. So when I heard they were planning a game of their own I thought it would be cool as well as ballsy for a couple of guys that lam bast game developers with a lot of their strips.

You may have seen one of their banner ads on a web site in the last week. You would remember this one as it pretty much quotes one seriously misguide forum troll who blasts Penny Arcade. The fact that they decided to quote him in one of the games ads is priceless. Talk about getting the last laugh. That move alone made me want to plop down my twenty bucks! Here’s a link so you can read about it yourself.

Banner Ad explanation

So, after playing a little of the game demo I decided to go ahead and buy it. The humor was there, the same artistic flair of the comic and it looks gorgeous on my Mac. At $20 it’s not a bad deal and as I heard one other net gamer say, “$20 bucks for six hours or entertainment is cheap now days when you consider most people pay $10 dollars for less then 2 hours at a movie theater.” Good point, I say.

If you are interested in trying it out, I encourage you to download the demo from their web site.

Here’s a good time killer. This site contains what looks to be hundreds of flash based games. If you are bored at work or at home, this should occupy a little of your time.

Penny Arcade

Anyway, after reviewing games for eons they decided to throw their hat into the game development arena and have come up with a game called On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Episode One, which is due to be released in tomorrow. If it’s half as entertaining as their comic strip it will be well worth the $20. Check out the video below for a preview.