greg wrote:
Gosh, PS3 games are region-free, right? I could pick up a PS3 here to use as a BR player and maybe import the English version of Valkyria Chronicles. I know that there's a sequel on the PSP, but I've never checked into that one much.
Yes, last I heard, PS3 was region free. The sequel apparently isn't as good, but the third one I've heard good things about. Of course, the 3rd one never got an english localization.
Anyway, look what I picked up at Value Village this week:
It came with the AC plug and a few wires, but no controller and hard drive. But, it has an HDMI port which is a HUGE plus (original 360s didn't have HDMI port) All in all, an incredible deal even by VV's donation-calibre standards. The store had a testing station where I could turn it on and test if it actually worked and it did!
So hey, $7.99, worth a shot. I took it home and...
tada! I threw in a copy of Akai Katana that I bought at a Business Depot discount a while back ($9.99) and it runs!
Of course, I immediately became skeptical. Nothing ever comes easy for me. Why would anyone want to give away a perfectly working 360 to Value Village? And to have it being sold for $7.99! Prior to this (about 2 weeks ago) I had only seen 360s at VV for $20 at cheapest. And those ones didn't come with an AC adaptor and hookup wires. It's possible that this was a kid's console and the mother knew nothing of reselling to retro game stores and just donated the console to VV when he or she got tired of it. Or maybe it was a family who owned it and needed to clear some room fast. Of course, my immediate thought was to pry the console open to check if there was a hidden nest of roaches or bed bugs in it.
The process begins! I think I accidentally snapped off one or two holding tabs on the side (not fatal to holding the console together though), but oh well, it's only 7.99. I wouldn't have done this at all if I had paid over $50 for it. If you want to open the 360, be damned careful of the back side with the rectangular tabs. Those were a bitch to open.
The good news is that I didn't find any bugs, but I did find a lot of dust, dirt, and grime and even maybe some hair! The 360 seems to collect dust like no other console. All those holes...
YUCK
Here is the 360 in all its glory. You know, I think this is the first time I've ever really opened up a game console by myself. It's interesting, I expected a lot more computery chips and boards, but most of the space is dedicated to the fan and disc drive. I didn't open the disc drive up because that's beyond my ability. Anyway, the inside was still relatively clean aside from the fan part. I gently wiped the console down and used Q-tips on all those damned holes which have TONS of grime on them.
Satisfied that I didn't see a bug's nest (but still saw some pretty gross grime, which I cleaned the best I could), I put the thing back together in about 1/10th of the time it took me to take it apart.
I suspect this was owned by a child. When I bought it, there was remnant of a girly-looking sticker on the front. Since the console was dirty but in relatively good condition, I would suspect that a little girl might have owned this console. She probably didn't tax it too much and didn't treat it roughly like a boy would, but left it near the floor and rarely cleaned it where it collected tons of grime and dust. In all honesty some of my old desktop computers probably have just as much dust and grime inside them.
I remember someone on a video game forum I frequent posted a picture of a ratty looking Street Fighter Alpha 2 SNES cart he got and found dozens of dead bugs inside, and bizarrely enough, they were dismembered! 
My city has some reasonably strict building laws for bug control even in their poorest apartments, but you never know when you're getting a second hand console. There was a bed bug panic in major US and Canadian cities about 2-3 years ago, but that seems to have calmed down recently. Or maybe we just learned to live with them.