Microsoft has finally broken down and extended the Xbox 360′s warranty (yet again).  Peter Moore has posted an open letter on Xbox.com (which basically amounts to acknowledgment of the design flaws) explaining that the warranty was extended to deal with the ‘red ring of death issue’.

Now, if only they would issue a statement lowering the price of the 120 gig hdd.

Via Xbox.com :: Xbox 360 Fanboy

I haven’t mentioned it here – but, everyone who has wandered near my cube – knows that I am really excited about the upcoming release of Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix. Although, I have to admit once I had a chance to play the arcade version again today I was completely destroyed. Apparently, you can forget how to play – mind you I wasn’t the greatest player but, I could hold my own (ah, memories – and lots of quarters). I was always very sad that the arcade I work at many years ago did not have SSF2T as it was a few years after it’s release and the owner always thought that Soul Calibur was a better draw. So, with this retro goodness it was good to hear that Super Puzzle Fighter would also be receiving a fresh coat of paint and released on Xbox Live Arcade. These releases may very well lead to my first purchases from the Live Arcade. Which is a difficult thing to accomplish since as far as I’m concerned everything up there is over priced – also, I don’t believe in the whole Live points (or whatever they are called) system – just charge me five bucks and be done with it!

Whatever – I’ve got to figure out some time in my schedule where I can fit in some training…

Via Capcom Digital

Like many people out there is saw a post on Xbox 360 Fanboy that the Japanese Trusty Bell/Eternal Sonata demo works in the states regardless of Microsoft’s new content blocking nonsense in the last dashboard update.  So, I hopped onto my Japanese profile and downloaded a copy myself.  I finally got a chance to sit down and play through it a little while ago.  Not only does it work – it’s in full English.  It appears that it is actaully a multi-region demo just released in Japan first.

The demo is not incredibly long and does not introduce you to the characters but it is enough to give you a feel for the game.  I have to say I really enjoyed it.  It looks great and plays great too.  I was thrown by the battle system for a moment since I expected old school RPG style fighting instead your thrown into a small area with the ability to move about and attack your foes – provided you are near them or have a ranged attack.  There is a battle timer along the left had side of the screen which rapidly decreases.  This setup allows you to say run over to an enemy – beat on him with a normal attack (which helps fill a special meter) and finish with a special attack.

I’m not the biggest RPG player in the world but I may actually pick this one up when it comes out.

Well, it seems TheSpecialist has come to the communities aid!  He has released a new version of his Xbox hard drive hacking program with support for the 120gig security sector.  In order to use it, at the moment, you need to use a Western Digital Scorpio BEVS-LAT laptop hard drive – which I believe is model number WD1200BEVS (can anyone verify this?).  That is the only drive supported by the software at the moment.  Hopefully, the software see new revisions that will supports other drives in the future.

Via Joystiq::Xbox-Scene