Just bought a 360

[juan0tron]

So, after years of always being one generation behind, my parents decided to buy me my first not-hand-me-down console.  I got the Elite model that comes with Lego Batman and Pure. Aside from  those two games, what other freebies come with my new $300 console? A t-shirt. For my avatar. Woopee. Not even a trial to XBL gold. (they had a black friday deal that came with 2 free months so I guess I can't really complain).

Seeing as I already know quite well what games I want for this thing, my question to you guys is this: how can I keep this $300 console from red ringing on me? Radioshack gave us a 3-year warrantee but they just mail it into Microsoft for you, meaning you still have to wait a week or 5 for the mailing process and maybe receiving another broken 360.

[csvo2000]

I have a fan I place in front of the Xbox 360 when I play it. 

[MisterCreazil]

Mine's never red ringed, I don't believe my brother's has either and he's a heavier player than I am.  So umm, luck?  just keep it well ventilated and dust free I guess.

[Mick Dundee]

I had mine on Rubber Bumpers to raise it up about a half inch. (I noticed the center front of the console gets hot)

 I plan on putting it on the raised bumpers again, but since moving have not gotten around to adapting the stand.

Don't bother with an Intercooler. I heard horror stories about that being worse and the fans on the first wave of them were in backwards....keeping the hot air IN...

 Keep it laying down horizontally.
  I keep mine like this because I think it keeps less strain on the moving parts, and if you stand it up, the intake fans get blocked....poor design right there.

[the7k]

Keep it laying down horizontally.
  I keep mine like this because I think it keeps less strain on the moving parts, and if you stand it up, the intake fans get blocked....poor design right there.

Standing it up also increases the chance that the disc will get scratched in the drive, leaving a donut on the disc. This happened to me when I borrowed a friend's Xbox 360 to play Dead Rising. Most other systems have a $0.25 piece of rubber that would prevent this from happening, but Microsoft wanted to save money.

[tiktektak]

If oyu have a new elite it should be a jasper and this at least means that the chances that it will ROD are much less than on the old ones.....

I agree with all above though... Keep it horizontal and in a not too crowed shelf....

[Mick Dundee]

Keep it horizontal and in a not too crowed shelf....

That can't be stressed enough.

MAKE SURE THERE IS AT LEAST 6" AROUND THE WHOLE SYSTEM TO KEEP AIRFLOW FREE

airflow is a major part in overheating. I have seen people online complain their system gets the RROD, but had pics of them playing with it standing upright on the rug, have things piled on and around it, and having it encased in a glass doored entertainment system with no ventilation.

Let it breathe, if you feel you have been playing for a while then take a break and let it cool down.

[KaiserWAVE]

Yeah, free space around the box is very vital. I have a system from around 1 year after launch and it gets played quite extensively. Had some Bioshock sessions that lasted 8 straight hours and more and it still works perfectly. All my friends bought their boxes several months after mine, when the new chips were used to build the system. Still all of them had the RROD once already. So it's either luck on my side or the fact that my xbox has enough room to "breathe".

All I can say is that the only precaution I take against the RROD is to ensure it has enough room around it and my system just turned two in October without a single freeze or any other hickups

[juan0tron]

Well with the 4 other consoles I have cramping my dresser I managed to stack my 360 on top of my old xbox with my ps2 slim on top (not covering any airholes). Hopefully with the addition of weekly vacuuming (this house gets dusty) and wood blocks to raise the system this thing will be running for a very long time.

Now, anyone know any good 360 games I can get for dirt cheap? Right now I'm playing whatever my friends don't want/are letting me borrow.

[the7k]

http://www.racketboy.com/retro/microsoft/xbox360/2008/10/the-best-xbox-360-games-under-10.html

[MisterCreazil]

http://www.racketboy.com/retro/microsoft/xbox360/2008/10/the-best-xbox-360-games-under-10.html

Might I also recommend The Darkness, easily one of my favorite video games.  It sold very poorly though so you can usually pick up a copy on the cheap.  I bought a brand new copy from some video game store for 15 dollars, it was funny because I could peel off the price tag and it would have the previous price tag underneath, I pealed off like 8 of them each one marking it down a little more before I got to the original 60 dollars price tag.

[juan0tron]

Hah I was planning on getting most of these games anyway. I did see a lot of these being way overpriced at FYE, so I'll remember to stay away from there. I do actually remember seeing the special edition of Perfect Dark Zero run around 3 bucks now that I think of it.

[the7k]

Yeah, the Darkness was the first game I got for my PS3 and I still have a soft spot for it.

By the way, for those wanting to know of cheap PS3 games, I made an article:
http://www.destructoid.com/blogs/the7k/new-ps3-empty-wallet-cheap-quality-ps3-games-inside--155978.phtml

[satoshi_matrix]

I agree with what's been said already, but let me add in something else: if you are at all technological minded, you can fix the RROD yourself. There is no need to send it back to M$ wasting several weeks when you can have your system up and fixed in a matter of 1 hour.

As for good cheap games......

Earth Defense Force 2017 (~$12) EDF is a third game in D3's popular Simple 2000 series in Japan. It's a budget third person shooter where you kill giant ants, spiders and UFOs. It should by all accounts be awful, but it defies its conventions and is actually one of the best off-line games of the system, espically when playing local co-op split screen.

Prey (~$10) Prey uses the Doom 3 engine and is about native americans and alien invaders. It's story is outright stupid, but its a pretty fun FPS nontheless.

The Darkness, as mentioned

Beautiful Katamari (~$15) Katamari Damacy on the 360. Not much more I can add.

Eternal Sonata(~$20) a very colorful, beautiful J RPG for the 360. It's rather similar to the Tales of series, and goes for much less than Vesperia does.

[Mick Dundee]

though it is already listed in the link provided by the7k, I really liked Crackdown. I usually don't play GTA type games, but this one had somewhat RPG elements of leveling up your abilities.