Console gamers like myself are largely insulated from problems that plague PC gamers. Just insert game, press power, and play. No specifications or tweaking to worry about, no drivers to upgrade, no crashing… Here, let me turn on the X-Box 360 and show you. Wait, what?! No, Dead Rising is not supposed to look like colorful HD noise! I’m sure it’s a fluke, I’ll just reset… Uh oh…… the pretty green lights around the power button have turned red and the 360 refuses to boot!

The above tale paraphrases my X-Box 360 experience this weekend. Apparently I am not alone — m0thman’s tale is just as woeful. Kotaku documented his tragedy in an operatic video. The8thsign needed three X-Box 360’s to get one that worked. Not only does Microsoft have a Knowledge Base article on the red “Ring of Light”, but they even offer free repairs on 360’s manufactured in 2005 if you call 1-800-4MY-XBOX. Mine happened to be manufactured in February 2006, and would have thus required a $140 repair fee.

Update 2006-10-19: My 360 died again, after the below fix afforded me 24+ hours of error-free operation. No Red Ring of Death, but it reverted back to the random crashing. Others have reported continued success with this technique and, despite my results, I feel the theory is sound. Something related to the problem obviously changed. I decided to cut my losses and get a new 360.

Not anxious to drop another $140 or potentially wait several weeks for a refurb system, I proceeded to search for a solution. I followed a technique found on xbox-scene.com to determine my error code (0102, “unknown error”). Then I came across the below video entitled “Hot Air Gun Fix – XBox360″:

Intrigued by the video, I looked for more info on this “Team MODFREAKz” person, and found the original xboxhacker.net forum post detailing the hot air gun theory, which was basically arrived at as follows: MODFREAKz realized that his freezing 360 would function after several reboots. He surmised that the eventual success might be attributable heat expanding solder joints and improving connectivity. Specifically, the solder joints that connect the RAM and graphics chips to the motherboard. These devices use Ball Grid Array packaging (wiki). Rather than traditional pins and holes, BGA packages use tiny solder balls. During manufacture, BGA chips are attached with intense heat, so the hot air gun fix is a sound theory.

So I purchased a hot air gun, and proceeded with informit’s fairly comprehensive disassembly instructions. Despite the thorough instructions, dismantling the 360 was a hassle at times. I found it easier to remove the front cover by pulling from inside the USB flip-cover rather than the memory card flip-covers. The heat sink retention mechanism was particularly difficult to remove and reattach, but force and patience prevailed. I set the temp. on 750F, followed the video, and crossed my fingers while it cooled off. Since I had the thing open, I applied Arctic Silver to the GPU and the CPU.

When I reassembled the 360, I was first impressed that it still worked after my battle with the heat sinks, then I was pleased to see Dead Rising again, sans glitchy video. Several hours of running the title screen and intro suggest that my 360 is healed. One could argue that the new heat sink compound (e.g. arstechnica), or even the jostling during disassembly is responsible for the fix. In any event, I’m happy with the result, and will live happily ever after with my X-Box, and my new heat gun and Torx T8 screwdriver.

Video games have long been a hobby of mine. Asteroids at the local laundromat, Super Mario Bros on the NES, and several generations of increasing bits later — I’m still a casual console gamer. I recently happened upon my friend Nuch Vader’s “favorite games” discussion of Wonder Boy, and I decided to write a simpler top-10 list.

Let me begin with a side note – Nuch Vader is an expert in all things gaming. During the 16-bit Console Wars (TurboGrafx/Genesis/SNES) we served in the same unit. Our tour of duty ranged from Keith Courage’s Alpha Zones through Resident Evil’s Raccoon City — He went on to start his own video game store. His first “favorite games” blog entry discusses Wonder Boy. I had forgotten how many good games came out of that franchise.

Now, on to my top 10 favorites…

The List

10) God of War (PS/2)

I was shocked to play a game this good so late in the PS/2 life cycle. Amazing storyline and gameplay are complemented by some of the best A/V seen on the PS/2. Control accepts input from mashing to professional combos.

9) Legend of Zelda (NES)

When playing Zelda, little things – like eating – became somehow less important. The persistent world, enabled by battery backup, encouraged you to try bombing every rock. The graphics, while simple, .

Combat (Atari 2600)

This title isn’t here simply to kitsch up the list — there weren’t too many solid 1-on-1 console games in those days. Combat’s tanks and planes made Pong look like child’s play. Tanks are even more fun with bouncing bullets. Any how, my fondest 2600 memories are of Combat.

7) Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Multiple)

GTA: SA is the most advanced of the series, adding Sims elements and seamless loading. While considerable attention is paid to the questionable content in the GTA series, the games wrap adventure, racing, stealth, and collecting in period-centric packages that redefine free-roaming adventure.

6) Metroid (NES)

A game with a scale beyond it’s era, Metroid offered a then-vast universe with plenty of powerups. What 8-bit gamer can’t recall the rush of getting the ball power up the first time?

5) Sonic the Hedgehog (Genesis)

Simplicity is a virtue in the iconic Genesis platformer. What Sonic lacks in complexity, it makes up for in pure frenetic fun.

4) Wipeout (PSX)

The first killer app for me on the Playstation, Wipeout’s first iteration featured the most replayable tracks in the series. Never again has a racing game compelled me to shave milliseconds from my lap time. A soundtrack as modern as the game sealed the deal.

3) Castlevania IV (SNES)

My favorite SNES exclusive, a surreal color pallete paints the game’s diverse environments, and is complimented by the best audio I can recall from the entire 16-bit era.

2) Street Fighter II (Arcade, etc.)

Not only did I line up my fair share of quarters, but I’ve owned almost every console iteration as well. I suspect that I’ve spent more man-hours playing Street Fighter than Tetris.

1) Super Mario Bros. (NES)

Arguably the most influential platformer, SMB is also my favorite game. An obvious choice, perhaps, but this game was popular for a reason.

Disclaimer

Such a list is difficult to create. It is hard to distill 20 years of gaming down to 10 ordinal favorites. On another day this list may have been different, but rest assured that each of these games deserves a place in the Hall of Fame.

Other Lists

I did some quick searches for other top-n lists of video games to see what others thought, and below are some selections. Surprisingly few such lists appear on search engines, so perhaps I’ll add more as I find them:

1. Newthread.org’s Top 100 Video Games
2. IGN Top 100, 2005
3. Will O’Neal’s Top 10 on cnet.com
4. Top 100 Video games at blog-city.com
5. Famitsu top 100
6. JD’s Top 100
7. Grand Pescado’s Top 10
8. GameFAQs Top 100