Red Rising

I think an eye roll and a forced sigh were the first thing I did when I was playing Dead Rising a week ago and the game quit out, the fans stopped spinning within the Xbox 360, and then the all too familiar blinking of the 3 red lights. I stopped playing the game and went and did chores and other things I had planned for the day. After work the next day, I came home and started up the 360 and everything was just fine. I knew that it definitely wasn't a good sign to get the red ring, but I just dismissed it, secretly knowing in the back of my mind this was a foreshadowing of the imminent death of my 2nd Xbox 360.

I had that sense of dread from the last time this occured, and having to call Microsoft tech support, after reading the hundreds of forum threads around the net about the red rings, and that there isn't anything you can do aside from shipping it back to Microsoft for a repair/replacement. When I called, they run you through the steps like maybe, just maybe you did something wrong and induced a temporary hardware failure. I finally got them to understand that yes I know what the red ring means, yes it's dead, and yes I would like to repair it... and no I don't want to pay for it. This was in March.

I finally got the new box back and haven't had an issue yet. I bought an intercooler just in case and everything seemed to be peachy.. until today. Today I was playing Rainbow Six singleplayer. I was in Dante's Casino during an annoying set piece battle where it seems nearly impossible to progress. Out of smoke grenades and being suppressed by a gun emplacement, I decided to just run and gun. I left the safety of cover, ran through the room seemingly dodging bullets and killed two of the terrorists next to the slot machines. I ducked behind a column to reload and regain my clear vision. Just as I was about to make a mad dash for the gun emplacement.. blank screen, the shallow whine of the hard drive, and the three dead-stare blinking red lights. The room once filled with gunfire and the shouting of orders, now dead silent... except for the blinking red lights.