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.)

YouTube – Batman: Arkham Asylum Joker Trailer

Got a little bored waiting for a phone call today and whipped up some Super Mario Brothers ringtones for my iPhone using GarageBand. Thought I would post them online in case any one else was a SMB fan and had and iPhone. There are ringtones from SMB 1 through 3 as well as one for the New Super Mario Brothers in the archive. Just import them into iTunes and they will be listed under Ringtones. All, except the New Super Mario Brothers Theme, are 28 seconds in length and fade out over the last five seconds of the loop. The New Super Mario Brothers ringtone is 39 seconds. It was a late addition to the pack.

Enjoy!

Click the image below to download.

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.

Here is some wallpaper I whipped up in Photoshop this evening. It’s packaged in both widscreen and standard format and I have included the PSD file for those that want to tweak it to their liking. Enjoy!

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.

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.