The good news is that I got my retail copy of Halo 3 today. Microsoft was very nice and sent out Limited Editions (the black metal two-disc case) for Saturday delivery. Super cool.
The bad news is that the game disc arrived scratched and will not play. The fancy metal case has very weak CD spindles in it, so the disc bounced around and scratched itself during transit. I opened a sealed package to find a damaged game.
The worst news is that two other media folks reported that their discs arrived scratched too. I guess theirs are not scratched to the point of not playing, but unfortunately mine is.
I have to do some radio interviews about the game on Monday morning, so I kind of need this to work. I can’t exactly take it back to the store, so I blew the $20 on a CD repair device and so far, no luck. I get about four minutes into the first mission and the game stops — disc unreadable. It still won’t play after three runs through the machine, so I will try the toothpaste trick, then try the machine again, and hope.
It happened to three of us, and it happened because of a poorly designed case. Is this going to be a larger problem? It would be not…good…at…all for there to be something wrong with Halo 3 in the wake of the three red lights repairs or the smoking wireless wheel repairs. Anything that causes a customer to open the box and scream “Son of a bitch!” is going to be bad news. Good lord, I hope it’s not going to be like this with every LE copy of the game.
Someone on my friends list sent me a note to say they were envious that I already had Halo 3. Well…um, don’t be.
Toothpaste has worked for me in the past.
Try boiling the disc
Also, I thought you would get a kick out of this:
http://www.sonydefenseforce.com/?p=251
Toothpaste didn’t do it this time but I might try again with another tube/brand. I have run the machine, like, five times now to no avail.
I used the Colgate whatever it was called – the one without ANYTHING in it. No baking soda, no crystally shit. Just plain, white, delicious toothpaste.
Wait. Not delicious. Erm…
I made no plans for this weekend with the understanding that I’d receive the game on Saturday also, and with the intention of getting together with the TeamXbox guys for what would become a lot of video showing the game’s modes…and then it didn’t arrive. I’m not sure which is worse–to get a scratched game or not get one at all. I guess they’re both about the same.
What’s worse, I feel like a mix of disappointed kid on Christmas and a whiny bitch for complaining about it. Sucks all around…
Hahaha…I think I still would have been envious,even if I knew your disc was scratched.
I used the Colgate whatever it was called – the one without ANYTHING in it. No baking soda, no crystally shit. Just plain, white, delicious toothpaste.
Wait. Not delicious. Erm…