Gamer PSA – Over one Million Served, Buyer Beware!

Now you already know that buying a used Xbox 360 system is foolhardy at best, but things just got even more perilous.

Twitter and gaming news blogs have been abuzz for the past few days with chatter about Microsoft’s announcement that they have banned over one million modded Xbox 360 systems from the Xbox Live service.

Banned systems are already finding their way onto craigslist and other classified outlets, usually at discount prices.   While some sellers may be honest and up front about a console being banned, it doesn’t take much imagination to believe that some unscrupulous individuals will withhold such information.

There are several promotions going right now for brand new 360 systems, many coming in comparably to used prices (such as Wal-mart offering a $100 gift card with purchase of a 360 Arcade).  Even the “Super Elite” bundles are a great value at $399.  With the holidays and Black Friday looming, there are surely more deals to come.

If you are set on buying used, do your homework and check the system out thoroughly.  Arrange to play a couple games for at least a handful of minutes.  Listen for any strange noise coming from the system and  make sure the system can log into Live.  Check the manufacture date and power ratings to find out which revision the system is.

Generally a 175W power supply signifies a Jasper based system (cooler running graphics chip and cooler CPU), while a 203W power supply signifies a Falcon based system (cooler running CPU).

My last piece of advice?  Don’t do it!  Save up and get a new system!  The newer systems are so much quieter and run much cooler.

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