For those sensible people who do not know the significance of the above image, it is known as the Red Ring of Death, which probably gives some idea of the seriousness of the problems my lovely little XBox is having. Despite the proliferation of videos on the internets that claim that they can help you fix the RRoD at home (if you give them $25 that is), it seems that I will be soon learning about the joys of Microsoft’s support service.

Normally I would rant and swear about such things, but this time I was worryingly calm, trying the advice on the support site before calmly turning everything off and going to sit in a darkened room. To add insult to injury, not only did the machine froze just as I was about to 5-star …and Justice for All, by Metallica, on my lovely plasticky Rock Band drums, but the big shiny update for Burnout Paradise (my other gaming vice) has just come out.

The devil, yet again, poos in my proverbial porridge (one of the reasons why I often avoid porridge, proverbial or non). At least this means that I might start doing a bit more reading.