Wednesday, October 25, 2006
My Japanese Xbox Is Turning Americanese:Well, things haven't been going so well lately. The stress has been mounting up with classes, my two jobs, and grad school applications. I had to drop a class (Anatomy and Physiology) because I just didn't have the time needed to put in as much studying as I wanted. Another reason was that my entire grade depended on only four tests. I thought I would have been able to handle it, but when it came to memorizing all the bones, individual parts of the bones, the muscles and where they originate and insert; I just couldn't take it. (And all that material was on just one test. The previous one had even more subject matter.) I'm sure I could have been able to handle it if it was my only class, but with all this other stuff going on, it just wasn't reasonable or realistic to my goals.
Another travesty that's occurred is that my Japanese Xbox has been turned into an American one. Whether or not this is a sign of how much Japan has become westernized is hard to say, but one thing is for certain, I can't play Japanese games on it anymore.
Side Story: For those of you who haven't read any of my previous posts, I decided to buy Halo: Combat Evolved in Japanese while I was doing my study abroad trip over in Japan last year. I thought about buying the $40 console I saw in a used book store (called Book Off for those just curious), but ended up not buying it. One of my sorority sisters had decided to go to the same university I went to over there and somehow I convinced her to buy me a Japanese Xbox. She obtained the exact same one that I had been looking at when I was there, and brought it back with her after her study abroad was finished. When I opened it up, I was shocked to see how pristine it was for a used Xbox. It looked brand new, minus the styrofoam packaging. The box, instruction manual, and other pamphlet information were still included. All this aside, Bungie better feel pretty darn special that I loved their game so much I was dedicated enough to buy it in a different language along with its region specific console to play it on.
So what happened? Well, in order for me to explain that, I'll have to go way back, back to E3 this year. I had left my remote control for the Xbox DVD Remote Kit at the hotel, but had left my infrared receiver in the console. Since the receiver is pretty much worthless without a remote, I decided to go out and buy another one. Yes, I could just play DVDs on my Playstation 2, or my Xbox 360, but I'm all about consistency, so that's why I went through with it. It's also important to note (for those that don't know), that one cannot play DVDs on an Xbox console without the DVD Remote Kit...yes, yet another marketing ploy by Microsoft. So anyways, I bought the kit and thought that it'd be cool to stick my extra one in my Japanese Xbox in the meantime. Worst idea ever....
I didn't notice the problem until I had invited some friends over for a Fall Break party at my place. Someone had suggested that we play Halo in Japanese, and I was more than happy to oblige, until my Japanese Xbox decided otherwise. The Japanese Xbox was telling me that my Japanese game wasn't playable because of region codes. This baffled me as I looked through the Japanese game saves that were on there (many that weren't even the same game or my saves). Panicking, one of my friends had told me that his Xbox gave that same warning when his lens got dirty. I was doubtful because of how pristine the console was when I first opened it not a month before, but reluctantly, I allowed for him to take it apart and clean the lens. I wasn't too worried about voiding the warranty since I bought the console used, along with the fact that it was from another country. After the lens was cleaned, we popped the game back in and the same warning came up. After that, we somehow concluded that the infrared receiver contained the region codes to make the DVDs playable for the region that the Kit was sold for. I thought it was just a normal infrared receiver that relayed input from the remote to the console. I just couldn't believe that something like that could change something as dramatic as the region code for a console; but evidently, it's very possible.
So what this all means is that I have two American Xboxes until my friends go back to Japan to assistant teach and hopefully find me a Region 2 DVD Remote Kit there. The only place that I can think of that might still have them would have to be somewhere in Akihabara. I'll have to send extra money along so that they can shag a few other games for me as well.
As cool as this finding is, I'd rather have my Japanese Xbox act like a Japanese Xbox. My last resort is to either mod my Xbox, which I'm very iffy about and really don't want to do, or call someone about it. I'd rather avoid either option, especially the last option at all costs, but I may have to if I ever want to play my Halo (in Japanese) on my Japanese Xbox ever again.
Damn you technology! Damn you all to Hell!
Thursday, October 12, 2006
All For Nothing:So while I was waiting for class to start I thought I'd turn on my PSP and play a little MediEvil Resurrection whilst I was waiting. I'm about 3/4 the way through the game, and so far I don't think that it was all that bad as some reviewers have made it out to be. But that also just goes to show how reviews aren't necessarily facts, and more like opinions. I feel bad for those who think otherwise and might miss out on a game that's fun for them, and not necessarily fun for the reviewer.
The Dego Diva:
Date Of Birth: May 24th, 1984
Location: Wouldn't You Like To Know
Occupation: Student
Masters: Forensic Anthropology
Major: Anthropology
Minors: Art History & Japanese
Primary Hobby/Intrest: Video Gaming
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