Thrilling up-to-the-minute Xbox repair news

Well, according to the UPS website my red-ringed Xbox arrived at Microsoft's repair centre yesterday. The clock is therefore ticking, with Tuesday 13 November the deadline for my console's return, if the terms of the repair deal are anything to go by. Was slightly unnerved when the UPS worker immediately guessed that I was sending off an Xbox though - feel there may well be a backlog.

In an attempt to brighten up my Halo-less world I stole some PS2 games from Mark's household. Specifically Killzone and Ace Combat: the Belkan Wars. The less said about Sony's supposed "Halo-Killer" from several years ago the better, but Ace Combat I've found strangely compelling. I played the demo for the forthcoming 360 release and this seems little different. The graphics are high-standard for the PS2, but the rest of it is a little bland. The gameplay is stripped down arcadey dog-fighting but at jet-fighter speed which basically means zipping around and hoping for a missile lock. This makes for a rather uniform experience. The plot is odd, with an attempt to realise a fictional world and contemporary war in rather OTT Japanese game style. However, saying all that it's fun in a limited sort of way.Perhaps it just represents a change from all the FPS stuff I've been playing recently but at the moment I'm enjoying it.