this makes me sad.

hope things look up for you two, soon.

i hope Microsoft fixes this problem soon!

then things will look up for me for sure.

I can't believe that you can download large files to the Xbox but you can't upload.

That's too bad. :( I've been reading this 'blog off-and-on for a while, since the Rez Trance Vibrator in fact ;) but this is the first time I've bothered commenting on anything. Hopefully the Xbox will be the biggest of your problems with everything that's happened.

That's too bad. :( I've been reading this blog offf-and-on for a while now, since the Rez Trance Vibrator in fact ;) but this is the first time I've bothered actually commenting. Hopefully the Xbox will be the worst of your problems after everything else that's happened.

My first girlfriend gave me the NES game "Ice-Hockey" when we broke up. She knew I loved it; it was a generous act, back when moving away with the parents was proper reason for a break up.

sorry you're having to go through all of this, but god, you guys are so interesting to read!

Whatever happens, and whatever it means for GGA, you guys rock. Both of you. So keep on writing and keep on thinking, its been a pleasure reading articles, using them in classes and generally interacting, even at a distance, with game writers of worth.

Good fortune to you both, in all things.

At the risk of sounding like a complete ass,
Does this mean you are available Jane?

j/k-

Good luck with the XBox, and good luck to both of you. We, the people, will continue to be here.

I have two thoughts:

As a game developer: fuck you. Of course they didn't worry that their saved games didn't fit on an xbox memory cards. Who the fuck buys xbox memory cards? ... Oh ... Good to know, I guess. :)

As a human being: Suck. Only the two of you could bring us such a modern version of a timeless classic. Suffice it to say, our thoughts are with the both of you. We know we'll still be reading about/from you for a while to come.

And no backsliding! (Just some good general advice.)

I also came for the Rez trance vibrator and stayed for the interesting articles. This is a strange kind of bookend to that earlier article, again gaming technology touches lives.

My geek problem-solving instinct obliges me to say that hacking or modding your Xbox should solve your problem. With a debugkit you can move files of pretty much any size around. (And here's hoping I'm not breaking an NDA by saying that - but hey, it's for a good cause.)

Good luck to the both of you.

About 3 years ago, I was sitting on the corner of my girlfriends bed listening to her music. I had only really known her for a few weeks at the time so I was still learning about her. I looked up from her CD collection to see her shifting little trinkets around her mirror. A small fairy statue, a porcelain butterfly, tiny heart pillows, several candles and the like. I couldn't help but think of the resemblance to Zelda games. I realized I did not know much about her as a gamer so I said, "You look like you're organizing your inventory, Link." She looked at me then back at what she was doing with confusion for a moment but then laughed and said, "Oh! Haha, I haven't played that game in years!"

One thing led to the next and before I knew it I was bringing over my NES, SNES, and several of my games including Battletoads and Bionic Commando because she had never heard of those two (every girl should be introduced, I say!). These were the original artifacts. Many were dusty and scratched. A few, like Battletoads and Lost Vikings, had sentimental attachments to them with childhood friends. By sharing this stuff with her, I thought it would help get us aquainted a little more and plus find out where she was with gaming.

About 3 months later, we broke up. When we weren't playing games, we were fighting. Actually it was more like she was yelling and I was apologizing for things I didn't do just to make peace. Eventually I was so mentally exhausted that I was beginning to become just as angry and depressive as she was. When I broke it off, I wanted it quick and permanent. I didn't want to have to see her again and face the insanity tornado. In the haste of things, I forgot my games.

I never got my games back from her, although I probably could have had I worked up the nerve it takes to face a wild boar. I started thinking things like "She doesn't deserve my games", "She only pretended to like games to get to me", or crunching my eyebrow thinking of all the sentimental attachments to childhood friends. In the end, I just sent my little childhood artifacts a farewell and a prayer that they could cure her of what I could not.

I haven't had a girlfriend since.

I hope things work out better for you, Jane and Justin. From the dividing of hardware/software it at least sounds better than my situation already. Good luck to both.

A little rant, if I may, as a bit of a counterpoint to this "Boo Microsoft!" stuff.

As someone who's been in one of those customer service "hell" positions, I'd have to say Justin was completely unconstructive in that whole conversation. Once something has been labeled "impossible," you stop trying to get help, because there's no breaking through that brick wall. (If you want to rant, write a letter to the developers. Don't take it out on the CSR. EVER. They're not therapists.)

Once you face that wall, there's only one thing left to do: ask for FREE STUFF. That's the CSR's job; to give you presents when you're sad. If no free stuff is forthcoming, ask for your money back. If no money is forthcoming, sue.

The CSR admitted freely that they produced a shoddy product. That should have been the focus of the conversation, and that's where the results would have come from.

There's a time for love and a time for letting it be, baby

Good luck you guys. Keep writing--we need voices like yours.

waka

Also having working in and around customer service positions it?s been my experience that ?impossible? can often also be translated as ?I really don?t want to deal with this,? or ?I don?t know and don?t want to admit it.? It does defy logic that there is no way to pull the saved game from an X-Box, there has to be a way.

My ex-GF used to have me catch Pokemon for her. It was very emasculating.

Alas, the most dreaded moment in any gamer couple's life. What to do with all this stuff when you break up. My ex-gf took my entire SuperNES and Genesis collection and half of my PSone collection. Its been almost 4 years and I dread thinking about what has happened to my former empire of classic games.

But if you guys are still serious about transferring that save then pick up the Pro Action Replay for the Xbox. You can upload the save to a PC and then transfer it to the other Xbox.

Just FYI, some games on the Xbox actually prevent you from copying saved games and downloaded content from one Xbox to another. It will sign the content with the unique ID from that particular Xbox then everytime that data is accessed, it ensures the Xbox the program is running on is the same as that which saved or downloaded it. It's to keep people's info bound to a machine or to keep downloaded content that was paid for from being transferred. I dunno if there's a hack around this or not honestly, but I assume someone's figured it out.

Awww geek break ups...

Sorry to hear you're going through troubles - I don't think I've ever met either of you, but friends of mine refer to you by your first names, so I almost feel like I know you. ;)

Have you tried one of the unlicensed 16mb memory card products? For example, this one - if it isn't two banks of 8MB each, perhaps it will work. Do you know the size of the save file?
datel xbox 16mb

good luck!

damn, that's sad. it's hard enough to split up the possessions. i just went through that ordeal about six months ago.

even though i got to keep most of the stuff (my girl was only a part-time gamer), there's no way i can play animal crossing anymore. her character still lives in the town, and i can't bring myself to evict her. so the memory card just sits on a shelf, and the weeds have surely overtaken the town by now.

maybe when the sequel comes out...

This is even sadder than when my last girlfriend had to move out of my Animal Crossing town.

i still haven't even plugged in the new empty xbox yet. it's too depressing! to think i have to go through all those hours of building up a character again. *sigh*.

I'm sorry to hear that a bad situation was made more difficult by stupid product design. It sounds somewhere in between divvying up video collections and deciding who gets to keep a pet. This is a situation that MS needs to consider at this point if they are going to be having HDs on their console (Or Lucasarts should have optimized their save files better.)

And, not to get too far off topic, but I agree with Slyfiend as another ex-CSR. It is not their fault the box was poorly designed. It is their job to be the front line in customer relations, but you are wasting your time and theirs if they tell you something is impossible. If it could be done, it would have been figured out by now. If they can't help you, just ask nicely to be escalated to a supervisor. Also, threatening to sue will get you nowhere. I gaurantee every CSR person will find it hilarious when one threatens to sue over a video game not working (plus there is no legal precendent). Not that I'm sure you care at this point or anything.

oh, no one threatened to sue.

the thing is, i should have mentioned there were several different calls put in to customer support, and justin talked to at least four separate people. one told him it WAS possible, with a THIRD Xbox. what? another told him to just get a memory card. on top of that the EB games guy assured him that all he needed was an ethernet cable. so we really didn't know it was impossible, and it seemed like it should be possible. i cut all that out in the interests of trimming the story.

justin is extremely polite to CS people. he often says stuff like "i know this isn't your problem - is there someone else with whom i could register this complaint?" sure, we all get frustrated, but i've watched him on the phone with tech support, with United, with a LOT of CS people, and he is never rude.

and he would never threaten to sue. that's just silly. he comes from a family of lawyers. he knows better.

Just flash the Xbox BIOS and you'll be able to do lots of fun stuff in addition to sharing the files on the hard drive.

No mod chip, but it does disable the Live service.

Soo... take out the hard drive -- it's just a standard, non-proprietary IDE drive -- and plug it into your PC.

Sorry about the split up. It was strange playing an RPG when my last GF and I split up and not having her saves there on the memory card after she transfered and deleted

Have you looked into getting a Mega X-key from liksang? It's a 32mb thumb drive with an xbox to usb adapter that allows you to transfer saves to and from your pc. Should be just right for your needs and doesn't require your box to be modded in any way.

Ah, sounds like you were receiving different information from different sources. I'm familiar with that one ("But the guy at EB said the game would be out this month!").

The suing comment was more for Slyfeind.

IT is always best to be polite with CS, as then they will be more inclined to find a way to help you.

Oh yah, suing over a defective video game is silly. What I meant was sue them if they wouldn't give you your money back.

I wonder if this is really a tangent, or if it's some strange, fortuitous symbolism that the universe is playing on you two and your relationship. "Don't ask for the impossible, ask for help from a supervisor, write a letter to the developer, and hack the damn thing if all else fails...."

I can feel your pain. After I introduced an ex to animal crossing, it became a great way for us to waste time together. More than once I came home from work to fire up animal crossing and read the little notes written on the bulletin board, and check for packages in my mailbox. When we split, I gave her the game & memory card, even though she didn't have a gamecube yet. She now has a cube, and a new guy, who has literally moved into my spot (I was evicted). They couldn't erase the town... all her hard-earned items were there! I wonder if there were akward silences surrounding the "I love Rob" messages on the board, and the golden statue of my in front of the post office.

Good suggestions for rescuing our KOTOR saves - I should have gone third party. Somehow I wanted to demonstrate to MS tech support that their first-party hardware wasn't doing what it should have. But perhaps word doesn't leak out from tech support well. And perhaps there was more to be frustrated about at that time.

Jane and I are both gamers - we merged our consoles for some time, and then we parted. I still had my Vectrex and Dreamcast, but she had every modern machine. I don't know if she's evicted me from Animal Crossing - I suspect she and I both still live there, silent amidst the growing weeds. Animal Crossing would be harder to split up - as people have described here, you leave bits of written expressive detritus, and you write yourself on a persistent, shared world. Because it's a home-bound console game, not online, it's an intimate, private space. You're less likely to run around Dark Age of Camelot leaving little public love notes, I think. Animal Crossing is something of a little shared diary, and a set of children you've each raised. Fortunately, Jane and I had mostly grown bored with those particular children, so that wasn't so difficult as our edgy adolescent KOTOR saved-children who caught our attention.

I couldn't evict you, Justin!

Actually, it's too depressing to even play AC anymore. There's weeds everywhere and everyone in town hates me.

I dont hate you Jane, then again, I am not in your AC, soooo...NM.

I hope this isn't too terribly crude of me, but when I heard about your poor deserted Animal Crossing town, I thought: "They should sell that saved game on Ebay and split the money since neither of them wants to live there anymore! More than a few people might pay some money to browse around this little town-in-limbo and sift through their relationship..."

Now that I've said that out loud, it sounds really awful. Sorry. I thought that because I am sure that your town would fascinate others just as your weblogs have - but as Justin said, it's not a public space.

However, if you ever want to raise money for a charitable cause, this sort of angle might be cool. 'Live in Justin's Animal Crossing Town! Finish Jane's saved KOTOR game!' Internet celebrity saved games...

Nathan! What a fucking brilliant concept!

(Not for us, necessarily, but)

Imagine! "Play Snoop Dogg's NBA JAMS". or "Spike Jonze's Tony Hawk Pro Skater 4". or "Natalie Portman's Animal Crossing".

Wow.

Think of me as the irritating bastard that interrupts moments of sincerity with an annoying blurt out of male-chovinistic remarks. It is more than likely due to the fact that I kind of idealize the both of you, Jane and Justin, more so Jane. A perfect example that girls and guys can get together, even if one or both(preferably) play games. The geek stigmatism still follows gaming, not Madden, but FFI-XI, FFTA, COD, MOHAA, D&D, etc. I guess the idealization is more so on the premise that you two proved that geeks can have happiness too, that they can find love outside of gaming and story line. Maybe one day I will find the girl gamer for me.

Well, glad the breakup was somewhat amicable. At least, it sounds like it. I'm sure both of you will have weird cyberstalkers begging for date soon. ::scrolls up:: Ah, I see it's already begun.

I split up with an ex let her choose what she wanted to keep: The N64 or the Playstation. I got the playstation, but I always felt like I got boned on the deal (2 controllers instead of 4, and FF7 instead of Mario Kart is NOT a good compromise!)

For my current girlfriend, I sold my Dreamcast just to take her out on a date. Now, if that's not gamer love, I don't know what is.

Sounds like one of the most amicable breakups in history, actually. (Were it to happen to me, it would likely fall out with husband getting xbox, games, piano; wife gets houses, business, car. Fortunately that's not on the horizon.)

Good luck to both of you.

I can't help wondering who got the rez trance vibrator!

Perhaps you both can now get out more and live Live instead of sitting in front of the damn TV all day every day!

And about the game...Just play the damn thing again, theres bound to be someting that one of you missed.

Very sorry to hear about this. I hope you guys can work out a way to continue some of your possible collaborations on the "neutral ground" of this site and maybe even carry forward your book proposal.

Yeah, the field needs your inputs. Never mind your own problems, keep doing the things that help US!!!

Seriously, I really respect your willingness to share. All of us are dealing with the way games and daily life interact. If these playthings are emotionally important, they will participate in everything we do. The tale of deserted Animal Crossing has something very, very profound within it.

Ted

PS: Malkaiya: I feel your pain. I think we all do.

Uh, the Xbox Memory Unit is 8 megabytes - pretty much a standard MU size in the industry. Lucas Arts knows this.

Why call Microsoft's Xbox tech support when the developer chooses not to make save files fit on an MU? Sure, there's an Ethernet jack -- but think about it: An MU's sole function is to manage saves!
Really - how many games need more than 8 megs to save a single file? Phantasy Star Online needs a fraction of this. Does KOTOR save hundreds of times more character data than PSO?

dolph, the answer is YES.

by orders of magnitude.

Hey, great comment Dolph. Its not our fault if the developer chooses not to adhere to our guidelines for game saves. What are we to do....tell Bioweare"no you cannot release KOTOR on Xbox since your saves are too large."

However, not sure if you know it. But many games now these days looks for saves from other games to create linked relationships and triggers within the game.

For example Tecmo's Dead or Alive Beach Volleyball checks for saves on Dead or Alive 3 and links this to your current volleyball game with more stuff and accessories. So if you are going to move saves, you might want to consider moving them all.

Upload it to computer, use a hex-editor to change the ID thing, download it to XBox.

to malkaiya...Geek love affairs DO come true. This DEC it will be my hubby and I's 1 year marriage anniverary and we are both geeks. We play DoD against one another...you name it we play it! (except sports games...and we are PC not console gamers) besides that, there is HOPE!

Later,
Erika

PS. Jane I love what you.ve done on your main web page with your stats resembling RPG character sheet...love it. My husband and I want wedding rings with DEX +3 enscribed on them...DORKS! You could definatley say so...:)

damn! i thought you both are a happy couple! this turns me down! very sad news!

Well, I know it's not exactly the same, but I had a sense of loss and extreme irk when our house got robbed and they stole my playstation. And really, I was more annoyed that I lost my memory cards. Consoles are replaceable, years of saved games suck donkeys.

Dave - i know. when my house burned down i didn't care about anything that went with it except the family photos. that was really tough.

memory cards - keepers of memory, gateways to the past...?

if you want to get your saved games off of the xbox you should try the mech assult or 007: agent under fire exploits. i just thought i would mention it since 'bunnie' does not really discuss them in his book. you can read more about them at xbox-scene.com. NOTE: these will not make any permanent changes to your xbox. these exploits take advantage of buffer overflows in the save files of their respective games. the exploits load an alternate dashboard that has a built in FTP server. all you need to do is restart to undo any changes the exploits made. once you have the FTP server running on your xbox the saved games are kept on the E: partition. there are two folders you are interested in TDATA and UDATA. if memory serves me correctly TDATA is where the game settings are saved and UDATA is where the actual saved game is kept. (you might want to grab them both to be safe) if you open the *DATA folders you will immediately notice that all the folders are 8 digit hex numbers. not particularly useful. KOTOR's saves can be found in 4c410003. another thing to check out is the xbox-saves manager, it can be found at xbox-saves.com . you will still need a ftp server running for this app to work, but it will convert the hex numbers to game tiltes. i would look for the exploits on unsent. if you can not find either of the exploits post a reply and i will point you in the right direction or e-mail you them. sorry if my reply is too late to be off any use.

Good luck youngsters. I was trying to figure out if this was coming by deciphering Justin's posts. Forgive me for treating your lives as a soap opera, it was impossible not to.

maybe that's a sign that you two should not break up =)

How large are the save files? The X-Box memory units are just USB pen drives, with a different plug. You can make an adapter from a controller extension, or even get one from MS for $7 or so (a "free with shipping" keyboard adapter meant for PSO) and try out a larger USB drive than the 8MB or whatever the memory unit is, say 128MB or more.

More info:
http://www.xbox.com/en-us/pso2/keyboardadapter.htm
http://unmodded.mine.nu/docs/XboxUsbCompatibilityList

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