I’ve been an advocate of the Xbox 360 since its launch back in November of 2005, falling quickly in love with titles like Fight Night Round 3, DOA 4, and Need for Speed: Most Wanted. I’d defend its small hardware shortcomings with Sony devotees, and I’d laugh and shoot milk out my nose (which was weird, because I’m lactose intolerant) when Nintendo fanboys would attempt to argue the Wii has better games. I even supported the 360 after I not only received the “red ring of death,” but soon after that one was replaced, the new console began to scratch my games in circular patterns, which meant another replacement. Even then I did not falter in my praise for the console.

Yet, my confidence is failing in you my sweet, sweet Microsoft. With the onslaught of high profile demos and much desired downloadable content, I’ve been on Xbox Live Marketplace like a fiend. However, downloading content has been an aggravating experience. In order to understand this, we need to rewind about a month ago. The ripoff that was the Jedi temple DLC for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed was released and being an advocate of the game, I was very excited. I turned on my system, went to the marketplace, spent my $12.50 for 1000 MP, and promptly began downloading my DLC. Everything is going fine, then we get to 89%. It freezes up. I cancel, delete partial file from HDD, try again. Same thing, but earlier in the progress bar. Rinse and repeat many times, and long story short, Xbox Live support tells me I have to format my hard drive. Well shit. I know that deletes all my saves. At that time, after the holiday grind, I was swamped with titles, and clearing my HDD sounded more like “go fuck yourself” to me. In order to format and keep my files, I would need a memory card and mind you, a memory card that will hold over 400 MB of data. Now thats a $55 dollar price tag, one I was reluctant to pay, but found a store with a returns policy that allowed for opened accessories to be returned within a week. I move everything, format, and move everything back. I download the DLC from SW:FU (awfully short, by the way), and ta-da, it works.

Now lets move forward about two weeks. I’ve completed my pile of games, and decide its time to scour the marketplace. The same problem happens again, this time with Super Street Fighter II HD. I throw my first temper tantrum in 12 years. Now this is where hindsight really blows. I format, thinking “I don’t need any of my saves, I beat everything. Okie dokie, I’m an idiot.” Game downloads fine.

Now lets jump back to now. Operation: Anchorage is ripe for the picking, and stupid me, I don’t have my Fallout 3 saves anymore. And to boot, I need to format my HDD again before I can download the DLC because I get the same problem. Again.

Anyone have any ideas of what may be making this occur? Is it a problem with my console? Or is the HDD so messed up that it can only get a temporary fix? I don’t want to start any games just in case I get new DLC, like the Grand Theft Auto 4 content coming in just a few weeks, before I can solve this problem indefinitely. Any feedback would be great, besides the obvious solution; sending it to Microsoft, which looks like my only goddamn course of action.

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