Mountain Surfing

And the more sophisticated and social video games available today mean that a family night spent playing video games can be an engaging interactive experience, and even an educational one! Video games are expensive, though, with many new titles selling for more than sixty dollars (US) each. One way to save a lot of money is to buy "pre-played" or used video games.

Another great pastime is to track down older games for older systems: so-called "retro gaming" is very popular among teenagers, who are discovering and playing old classics that are new to them. Often these games are the same ones that parents remember from their own childhoods, which makes for an even better family experience.

Between garage sales, video game stores and your own closets and attics, you can probably find older video game consoles, those Ataris and Intellivisions, Nintendo Entertainment Systems and Segas that took up all your time in your own childhood. Today, these older consoles can often be found for only a few dollars, and they often come with a random selection of old games already! Finding the exact games you're looking for can be more of a challenge, but luckily we have the Internet for that.

There are literally millions and millions of old videogame cartridges and CDs for sale on online auction sites and other clearinghouses, often for only a few dollars. Of course, one downside of buying online is that you don't get to see, examine or test the game before paying. If you have the luxury of a used or "vintage" video game store in your area, you should use this! Be sure to examine the games for damage, and if possible TEST them before you pay and leave the store. Of course, modern games can be "used" too.

Many people buy the newest games, play them from start to finish in only a week or two, and then return them to the stores for credit. These "barely used" games can often be found for half the new price, or less! That's a terrific savings for being a few weeks behind the curve.

Again, whether you're buying a game that is two weeks old, or two decades old, be sure to check out the sellers history, or at least be certain of the store's return policy, in case you get a scratched disk or damaged game cartridge. Have fun with your gaming experiences, life is to short not too.

Chris Jensen is a contributing author of Jetfly Blog. For more related articles and views visit Jetfly Shop now. Also, for the best up-to-date related online products, check out Jetfly Vintage Game Shop for todays current online deals.

E! Online - It's not like she needs the money. But Jennifer Lopez just scored some sweet revenge on her blabbing ex.

Since the console was released there's been more than enough problems and customers having to send their console back to Microsoft because of faults including overheating, faulty DVD drives and broken power bricks. If you found your way to this article then you probably have a similar sort of error which will be indicated by flashing red lights on your Xbox.

This article will tell you what causes the problem and also will give you an idea if the problem can actually be fixed or not.

Without a doubt the main thing that causes these problems is overheating. The design of the Xbox is fairly small and only has one fan pumping out air, so just with normal game play it does get very hot. This is fine to begin with and if you have a new x-box you're probably not notice any problem however as you keep on playing your games normally the main chips start to heat up and that is when you get game freezes and overheating problems.

The soldering eventually becomes loose and snaps off and then you are left with an Xbox that when switched on shows flashing red lights.

So is there any real way you can fix your Xbox?

Well the best way that I would recommend is just to send it in. The downside of this is it take so long to get it repaired which is a bit of a pain. The good news is if you have the 3 red lights they will repair it for free. Otherwise you'll find that it costs about $140 to get it fixed. You can of course sell it on Ebay and see how much you get for it.

I know a lot of people that have had problems with their Xbox 360's and just swapped over to a PlayStation 3.

Of course this is up to you if you do this, and one thing to bear in mind before you through the console out is the Xbox Live and there is not really another service like it yet!

When you ring Microsoft customer support and let them know your problem they will tell you that it will need to be sent away and send you some packaging labels and then you need to find a cardboard box and have the Xbox inside without the hard drive or the power pack and someone from you UPS will come and pick you up for you.

Lastly if you bear with them I do know that they're changing the chip set which will mean hopefully that none of these problems will occur again!

I hope this article has told you a bit more about how you can repair your console and hope you get back to your games soon!

For A FAST, GUARANTEED and EASY way to perform Xbox 360 Repair and get back to your games today then click the link below and download the best Xbox 360 Repair guide with step by step videos:

Xbox 360 Repair

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