Good News Everyone!

In the last two days, my gaming fortunes have improved significantly. I am being sent a new Wii for free (warranties rock)and I received my confirmation email on the 17th.

Hello,

Thank you for contacting Nintendo regarding our Advance Replacement
program. We wanted to let you know that your order has been shipped to you
as requested. You should receive your replacement product within the next
three to four business days.

Microsoft was a bit more terse in their email, received today.

Your Xbox Video Game system has been shipped! You can expect to receive it in 2-5 days. Thank you for your patience and get ready to get back into the action!

It is such a relief to be getting back to normal, and have such wonderful machines at my disposal, day or night at any hour.

Another death in the family

So, after losing my 360 out of warranty and beginning the process of getting it repaired, I was understandably bummed. But now, I though, I would have the time to spent with my Wii that it so richly deserved. My girlfriend even bought me Super Paper Mario, which I was tremendously excited to play.

It appears, however, that the fates were not aligned in my favor. For the last few days I've had odd freezing issues, but they cleared up quickly and were at most a minor annoyance. But as the week went on they got more and more common, and I was worried that the console had to be unplugged after a freeze, not responding to the power or reset buttons. However now, the console has gone completely kaput, freezing immediately on start-up, before I can even load a game.

Now, I called Nintendo customer service to start the repair process and guess what happened. The first time I called, they said they were too busy and suggested I call back later. Fun fact: They play the Twilight Princess version of the Zelda theme when you're on hold.

I'll keep you updated on the status. Hopefully I'll be able to get through soon.