After some days of playing Grand Theft Auto, and seeing the responses from various people ranging from gamers to critics, and even the "all knowing" Jack Thompson.
I am forced to ask the critics such as Jack and Glenn Beck, What has happened to the responsibility of the individual? During an On-the-air interview Mr Thompson consistently says that the Grand Theft Auto series is nothing more than a murder simulation. He brings up the case of Devin Moore, who played GTA3 and Vice City for 10, 12, sometimes 16 hours a day, and essentially trained him to butcher innocent people.
Why is it we use this to excuse his deplorable actions? Would not his parents have noticed him obsessively playing a game for that long?
I believe games to more relieve stress and anger, than anything else. I believe Mr Thompson to be viciously exploiting these families and the victims to remain in the spotlight for his own personal benefit.
He goes on to bring up the Virginia Tech massacre, and links the game Counterstrike and Half-Life to the shooting. Though there was never any proof that Seung-Hui Cho's free time spent at Virginia Tech was on Counter-strike.
After that he goes on to say that "Dozens" of examples exist... Out of millions of gamers, there are dozens of example. Seems like a low percentage to me.
As he continues to bring up school shootings, I cant help but feel, and question, how these kids were treated in school. Most of the time they fit in with the shy, timid kids, who are bullied mercilessly until they break, and the aftermath is the result.
I guess being a gamer who has played countless of games (played Doom when I was 12 and up) and hearing that these games are the cause of so much, I cant help but continue to ask, why does everyone look for an excuse to the real reason why they act out?
It reminds me of a story when I was just 3. My mother say me in the fridge, eating the cake she had told me not to eat. She looked down at me and asked, "Did you eat any of the cake?" and I respond with cake all over my face "No.... sissy did though...."
I know there are many more examples, but lets move on shall we?
There is also the fact that Grand Theft Auto is rated M for Mature, many stores have taken on the responsibility of I.D.'ing customers that come in to buy M-rated games. Movies and CD's take on identical approaches. Books require none.
My last point deals with the other media that are packed with so much more violence, and not questioned. I can go pop in any of the Saw movies and be flooded with images of dismemberment, gore, and scenes of graphic torture. Video games do not get as graphic as these scenes of violence, yet it is the games that suffer. Books are the same way. There is one in particular that is filled with incest, torture, sex, alcohol, and even the threat of sawing a baby in half. This book is found in every library across the country, and our dear friend Jack Thompson even quotes from it.
It is the bible (though he does not know the difference from the "Old Testament" from the "New Testament"). Should we blame that and ban it from homes, make it so you must be 18 or older to purchase it, and provide a nice clear warning label on it for parents to be warned about? I could even go as far as to blame massive deaths contributed to wars and forcing through use of torture on people to adopt it.
But that would be putting blame else where for others motives, even I can see that. So lets just acknowledge we are all responsible for our own actions, even you Jack Thompson and Glenn Beck... even you.

-Munkee x

Dear Micro$oft,
I write to you as a consumer wrought with the irony of your "Repair Process" . Let me take you back to just 2 months, when I, your consumer, called you to help fix my broken device. After much troubleshooting, and an open sore on my brain due to the amount of attention I had to pay to your outsourced "Support" I was told I must return my Xbox 360 to your repair center. I was assured you had your DRM issues that I had read about online, fixed, and that my content would still work offline.
So I sent in the gaming unit, now due to the DRM Issues, I am forced to question your ability to function as a company. Do you all run around with money bags, trying to squeeze more and more out for yourself. I beseech you to think of the consumer, your main source of business. You see, the console war is not like the OS war. Windows does not rule them all, and unlike the unprecedented monopoly you hold there, the Xbox can fall to Sony's Playstation. As tough as it is to imagine, you can fail at more than just the Zune.
So, now being on my 9th Xbox 360 (with the return of number 8 soon to arrive to you) I ask to please open your hearts, and your wallets, to fixing the problems. I understand that your DRM issues can in fact cause you to squirm at the thought of the few dishonest people who would try and get the content on their friends Xbox, but is it not best to form a solution to the few thousand people who have fallen prey to your 40% plus fail rate?
I ask that you please ensure my next xbox is indeed working and functioning in its ability to play games, without scratches, RRoD, or shotty wiring.
-Munkee x

The above is an email I have sent to Micro$oft asking to please help my console woes be repaired. I have written a blog about the DRM (Digital Rights Media) problem, and I fear that the addition of the replacement console will make it so that they never really have a solution to my problem. Sad as it is, I may have to give up this Xbox console all together as it is becoming more and more of a hassle than its cracked up to be.
Truly, if I worked for Sony, I would design a program where consumers, such as myself, could go and trade in their 360 system for a 40gig model of their Playstation 3. For seer fact I know that it would produce an amount of trade ins to make Micro$oft really start to consider their course of actions.
Is anyone else having this problem? Am I the only one to go through multiple Xbox 360's (yes it is true, this newest replacement will count number 9 for me, though I will admit that a total of 2 of them I traded in, and then I returned the others as they were in a "Warranty" period with the store.) Please come share your experiences with me. As I am intrigued just how bad the customer support is, and if I am the only one dealing with more anger to a company than I have ever known.

-Munkee x

Because I believe that everyone should be aware of the mind-boggling headache they will encounter when they contact Microsoft for a repair issue concerning their Xbox 360, I have decided to blog my experiences that I have had since I contacted them.

Middle of January.
I contact Microsoft concerning my 360 scratching my game discs, I am asked if I am bumping the xbox 360 console. I respond with the answer of, "my 360 sits in an entertainment center, I use a wireless controller (wireless guitar for Guitar Hero) and there is no way it is being bumped. I am the only person to use the system in my household, and the dark circular scratches are not caused by me."
We go through the process to create the RMA to send in my xbox 360.

2 weeks go by. It is now the beginning of Febuary. I follow the instructions and ship off my xbox 360. Making sure not to send in the Hard Drive, or a controller.

Around Feb 26th.
Yippee! My xbox 360 has arrived. Double checking it over, I realize I have received a refurbished system. No complaints as long as it works the way that it should. So I hook it up, and start gaming away. I have noticed that the games seem to freeze more frequently now on this system, but the games are not coming out with the scratches... Im willing to deal with this issue for now.

Feb 28th.
Having discovered my 360 will not run my old downloaded content without my gamertag being connected to Xbox Lives service, I contact support again. After the troubleshooting steps of deleting content, re downloading from my "Download History" found in "Account Management" I am told of DRM (Digital Rights Media) and how it works. Essentially all my content was tied not to the Hard drive, but to the old xbox 360s serial number. Where they had to replace the system, the serial number changed, and the rep will have to submit a ticket to his supervisor to start a 30 day process to change the old serial number to the new. So for now, I will have to be connected to Live in order to access my content.

Mar 31st.
After giving my current problem a couple extra days to be worked out by Microsoft, I test out to see if my content once again is tied into my Xbox 360. So I delete some content, repeat the downloading through "Download History", unplug the internet and notice the content still does not work.
After a call to Customer Support, and being hung up on the first time (happened while he was accessing the trouble shooting number), I am told that the supervisor submitted the ticket 9 days after he received the escalation. I have worked Customer Service before so I understand how this goes, I thank the rep for his work, and told him I will wait 9 more days before testing it again.

April 14th.
After, again, waiting a couple of days to make sure the problem still persisted with all my content that had been downloaded, I contact Customer Support.
1st try I am hung up on as the rep pulls up the notes off the reference number.
2nd time I am again hung up on as the rep reads the notes found in the reference number.
3rd time I get someone who pulls up the reference number with me on the phone, he advises me that there is unfortunately no set time for my issue to be resolved. If he was to transfer me to a supervisor, I will be told the same thing as they both cannot access anymore notes, it is in "Microsoft's hands now". However I will receive a phone call after it is all taken care of.

Now I know if you google DRM xbox 360 you are flooded with issues like mine. they all relate to the same issue. I love my console, I love the friends that I have on live. My biggest concern is when you see headlines that it has a 40% fail rate, and when people like me who have spent a lot of money on the download content they have made available to us, it just feels like to Microsoft that they have their money, and really do not care about me, the consumer, after it is all said and done. I am asking if any of you too have had this issue, or are currently going through it, to please let me know. Hopefully if we can raise more of an outcry as a gaming community we can receive a resolution to this issue. I will keep you posted as I will still continue to call up and check on the status of my issue, and hopefully it will have a happy ending.

-Munkee x
(http://360repairwoes.blogspot.com/)