So today my Xbox 360 decided to kick the bucket. It had been acting weird for two weeks, but I assumed incorrectly that it was just the A/V cable. I bought a new cable, and the problem persisted.

The problem was such that I could continue to use the Xbox 360, but it looked horrendous. It was like someone took a green highlighter and went to town on covering up about 90% of the screen both in game, and just browsing around in the dashboard.

Today, the problem got worse, and so I turned off the Xbox 360, and got out my digital camera to record a bit of what was going on, so I could e-mail it to Microsoft, but when I went to turn on my unit, it powered up, but nothing displayed on my television. I played around with settings, connections, everything I could think of, and then finally gave up and called Microsoft.

I had to wait on hold for almost an hour, but once I got to talk to a representative, he was very helpful, and apologetic. He told me that the only thing they could do would be to send out a mailer and have me send in my Xbox 360. I asked how much it was going to cost me, and even though my Xbox is long passed the one year warranty mark, AND not covered under the new extended warranty, they are still going to repair my unit for free.

How cool is that? Great work Microsoft! Colour me impressed.