Xbox 360 Love/Hate Part Deux

Yesterday, I bought Rock Band. You know, that rhythm game with all the instruments that everyone and their brother is playing? I bought the game by itself, since I already own a guitar thanks to Guitar Hero II. I figured I'd buy it now, and then I'd pick the drum kit later on down the road. I'm loving the game so far... from what I've been able to play, that is.

It's ironic that my last post before this one was about how many used games I bought and what a great asset they were. Well, it appears that I must have stirred up some bad mojo because my wonderful copy of Rock Band - which I bought used - doesn't work. Wait, that's not entirely true. After four or five attempts at getting my 360 to recognize it as an actual game and not some foreign DVD, I can finally start playing. If I'm lucky, I can get through a set without a dirty disc error too.

I can't believe I didn't notice the large scratch the disc has on the outer edge. Had I seen that in-store, there's no way I would have bought it. Now I'll have to take it back tomorrow and exchange it for a new one. And I mean "new" as in "unopened." No more used versions of Harmonix's awesome rock fest for me! I need this one to work flawlessly, as I have some online jamming to do, and a DDE in the middle of a solo is not something I'd look forward to.

It's funny how finicky the 360 is. It never once flaked on me with Stormfront's turd Just Cause, and it didn't like Rainbow 6: Vegas 2 at first. After I banged the shit out of it, however, the darn thing came around. It just hasn't liked Rock Band from the outset though, but this time around the scratched disc is where I place the blame . Hopefully things will go more smoothly when I get a fresh copy of the game.

I really like this one too. I've downloaded several songs already, including the incredible Shiva by Smashing Pumpkins and More Than A Feeling by Boston. A part of me died though when I purchased Metallica's Blackened. I can just see Lars Ulrich rubbing his hands together like Mr. Burns, silently muttering "excellent... excellent" to himself as the download counter rises. Metallica has represented all kinds of suck since the mid '90s, and its campaign against P2P downloading just left a bad taste in my mouth. Blackened is a metal masterpiece, however, so what the hell? Why not?

I can just imagine how much this game is going to rock when I have the drum kit. I've always loved the drums, and mixing them with video games is better than peanut butter and chocolate!