The Fallout Manifesto Part Oh-Two
Besthesda told me that it might be possible to replace the disc, but that I should try getting it replaced through the vendor first. I agreed that that would be a better course of action because first of all, they were the ones who took my money, and had I bought it from a brick and mortar (or whatever they call stores you can physically enter) shop, I’d be returning it to them. Secondly, the vendor would be more likely to have the “Asian” version that I was playing, which is to say, an English version that works on Japanese-region Xboxes among others in the region. So I wrote the vendor one last time and got straight to the point: I want you to replace my disc because it is fucked up. It’s not a bug - the disc is just completely fucked. Where do I send it, and what do you need? When they replied, they gave me an address and told me to write yet another letter describing the problem. God dammit, all right. They also mentioned that I would actually be returning the disc for “testing,” and that if the game worked in their “testing” laboratory (probably some jizz-covered Xbox in an opium den), that they would send me back the shitty disc and charge me for the shipping. Well, I knew it was the disc that was fucked up, and not my Xbox - I tested my other Xbox games, and they all loaded up without any problems. But then I wondered - what if the disc worked for them? They’d send it back, that’s what - and in addition to being out $60 for the game, they’d actually be hitting me with another $10 for the shipping, not to mention the $10 it would cost me to send it to them! And since $80 is a lot of money to spend on a worthless disc and a stomach full of bile, it even crossed my mind to completely wreck the disc with a big fucking magnet to ensure that they would be forced to admit it needed replacing. But before committing consumer fraud, I decided to try one last thing - take Besthesda’s suggestion and try it on another Xbox.
I took it to my friend’s place, loaded it up in his Xbox, and the game appeared on the My Xbox menu - you know, that stupid thing that advertises a bunch of bullshit when all you want to do is play the game in the disc tray? Okay, so there it was - the thumbnail for Fallout: New Vegas with the ugly masked guy wielding the revolver. By pressing A, we would know if the disc was playable on another Xbox. So I pressed it, and… lights out, bitch! I can’t tell you what it felt like to be joyful about a malfunctioning disc. I tested it one more time my friend’s Xbox - lights fucking out. When I got home, I penned my final letter to the vendor, printed it out, signed it and took it to the post office the next morning. It cost \900 to ship. With any luck and human decency, it would be the last money I’d be forced to spend on this game, and a new working copy would be in my possession by the end of the week.
The game arrived, brand new and working on Friday evening. The vendor even sent me a note that the disc was indeed unplayble - and that they would replace it this time. However, the note went on, what I was supposed to do in this case was send it back as soon as I started noticing problems. Which should have really, really pissed me off considering that’s all I wanted to do from the start. But it’s hard to be mad now that I have the game again with all of my save files in tact.
Three days until FFXIII - and it’s nigh time to wrap this fucker up.
(This was written 13 days ago)
I took it to my friend’s place, loaded it up in his Xbox, and the game appeared on the My Xbox menu - you know, that stupid thing that advertises a bunch of bullshit when all you want to do is play the game in the disc tray? Okay, so there it was - the thumbnail for Fallout: New Vegas with the ugly masked guy wielding the revolver. By pressing A, we would know if the disc was playable on another Xbox. So I pressed it, and… lights out, bitch! I can’t tell you what it felt like to be joyful about a malfunctioning disc. I tested it one more time my friend’s Xbox - lights fucking out. When I got home, I penned my final letter to the vendor, printed it out, signed it and took it to the post office the next morning. It cost \900 to ship. With any luck and human decency, it would be the last money I’d be forced to spend on this game, and a new working copy would be in my possession by the end of the week.
The game arrived, brand new and working on Friday evening. The vendor even sent me a note that the disc was indeed unplayble - and that they would replace it this time. However, the note went on, what I was supposed to do in this case was send it back as soon as I started noticing problems. Which should have really, really pissed me off considering that’s all I wanted to do from the start. But it’s hard to be mad now that I have the game again with all of my save files in tact.
Three days until FFXIII - and it’s nigh time to wrap this fucker up.
(This was written 13 days ago)