I’m a firm believer in doing it yourself (even given my past history with sharp objects and ER rooms – see my earlier post re: home improvement TV shows) so was nicely surprised to find someone had come out with a do-it-yourself Xbox 360 Repair Guide.

I’ve worked in and around computers and computer systems for over 23 years (think Commodore 64, Kaypro, and IBM’s first PC to give you an idea of when I got started.) I have always hated taking my stuff to an official repair center as they always managed to find tons of things wrong that each cost an arm, leg, and small child to fix since magically none of it was related to anything the warranty might cover. Given Microsoft’s announcement that their new product, the Xbox 360, seems to have a few ‘defects’ that ‘should’ be covered under warranty, you can imagine I wasn’t firmly convinced that this would be how it would actually go. (In fact, I’ve heard figures of up to $140 or more to fix what I think should have been covered under some sort of recall or warranty coverage…!) Not to mention the shipping expense which isn’t covered, shoving the repair costs even higher. (Personally I prefer to spend that money on the fun stuff, not fixes for things that were designed poorly…)

With new games like the long awaited Halo 3 finally being released, who wants to wait weeks to get your system repaired when you get the dreaded 3 Red Light error or an over heating console, graphic errors, and freeze ups? You could try Microsoft’s official repair center if you still believe your unit is covered under the original warranty. If it isn’t, or if you don’t think they’ll fix the defect under warranty, then why not check out this guide? It even has some great ideas for how to make money fixing other people’s malfunctioning Xbox’s or for buying ones with known problems, fixing those and reselling them for a profit – a win-win that would more than pay for the guide if you’re so inclined, a nice little business that could help you buy even MORE Xbox games for your now working system.

(Note: as with most electronic devices, opening the box and working on the innards yourself WILL most likely void any remaining warranty so proceed accordingly.)

Lately, I’ve been adding some new books & categories to my selling repertoire, including some of the more well-known AD&D strategy guides when I can find them, but when someone asked if I have a World of WarCraft Leveling Guide in my inventory, I had to admit I had no idea what he was talking about. I mean, the types of video games or strategy games I play are at the level of Tetris, Reversi or PacMan, with the rare foray into something a little more complicated like 7th GUEST or FRANKENSTEIN: THROUGH THE EYES OF THE MONSTER (and that one only mainly because Tim Curry was the main actor in it!)

Without a couple of strategy guides along with some ‘cheat sheets’, however, we (Mom and I) would NEVER had ‘won’ FRANKENSTEIN – before we got the books, we’d gotten killed more times than I want to remember and that was usually in about 10 mins of playing, not the hours, or even days, some people can go. (Being killed out early went on for a couple weeks before I finally caved and did an internet search for an official FRANKSTEIN strategy guide which now holds a well-earned spot on the nearest bookshelf right next to the cheat sheets I also found during the self-same search.)

So I totally understand the frustration that leads someone to want something like a World of WarCraft Leveling Guide or hacks or even cheats. Unfortunately, when looking for game guides in our book hunts, I’ve never seen a WarCraft Leveling Guide or related item in the 2nd hand market which is where most of our books are found. (Either they don’t exist or no one gives them up because they’re sooo useful, eh?) I also realized after looking up the gaming sites for World of WarCraft that there was no way I could carry every WarCraft book around, or even start to as I don’t know which ones anyone wants at any one time, so I’ll have to let others do it for me on this one. (Got to leave room for a few of my OWN books around here somewhere!)

I’ve also decided after looking at the WoW websites, that I’ll stick with my much easier to understand (and remember the rules) games! Even with all the books, cheats and hacks available, I think my head would explode trying to keep track of all the WarCraft characters, maps, scenarios, weapons, quests, and mods!!

Since I was no use directly on this subject, I did run into a couple places on the internet that seem to have useful books/guides for what my customer was looking for, so that’s what I did: recommend a few websites and provide a few links to get him started. Haven’t heard back, though. Either they’re working as advertised and he’s busy playing as never before, or they weren’t quite what he was looking for and he’s still hunting for help. Hummm…. (Not sure I want to interrupt either activity by asking…!)

Here are some of the places I found that seem to have a World of WarCraft Leveling Guide for various scenarios or related items, such as WarCraft videos:

World of WarCraft Joana’s 1-70 Horde Leveling Guide

World Of WarCraft Brian Kopps 1-70 Alliance Guide

World of WarCraft Guides/Videos

Ultimate World of WarCraft Guide

(There are no doubt thousands of other sites but since I actually want to have a life outside the internet and have time for books I already have, I just listed the first 4 or so I found. These were just some of the ones at the top of my searches so hopefully that means they’re the best or at least most popular/useful ones…)

And don’t forget, there’s always my favorite place to shop for bargains or hard-to-find elsewhere stuff: World of WarCraft Items on eBay

For people like me who are neophytes in this particular gaming world and want to know more about it: World of WarCraft Official Website