Wireless racing wheel owners beware, your racing fun could go up in smoke. Today, Microsoft revealed that their official racing wheel can overheat causing plumes of smoke to rise from its chassis if the A/C power adapter is used. And even though nobody has been hurt by this hot racing wheel, Microsoft advises wheel owners to not use the A/C adapter and instead use battery power which hasn't been linked to overheating problems. US wireless racing wheel owners can contact Microsoft to have their wheel retrofitted, so the overheating problem can be fixed.
First we had overheating Xbox 360 consoles and now we have been graced with overheating wireless racing wheels. This hot, hot, hot problem better not continue, because we'll be quite the angry (and astonished) fanboys if Microsoft announces overheating Halo 3 discs this September.
Update 1: If you need a retrofit, be sure to fill out this form (pdf), send it in and wait for Microsoft to respond.
Posts with tag racingwheel
Wireless racing wheel is hot, really hot [update 1]
$104 wireless racing wheel spotted
While out and about this weekend our fanboy eyes were programmed to find two things: delicious looking food and great gaming deals. Both were found (the teriyaki chicken was superb) as we spotted the recently discounted Xbox 360 wireless racing wheel for the rock bottom price of $104.24 at Sam's Club. It looked as if they were clearancing out the racing wheel similar to how they are treating the 360's HD DVD player. So, if you're in the market for a cheap racing wheel, give old Sam a visit as the prices vary from store to store. Or you could always pay a little more and get it online for a reasonable $119.82. Happy bargain hunting.
Forza 2 racing wheel tuning possible through DiRT
Over on the Forza Motorsport 2 forums members are investigating a way to change the 360 racing wheel's force feedback in the Forza 2 demo. Currently, the Forza 2 demo does not allow customizable racing wheel options, but the Colin McRae DiRT demo does allowing players to change various settings. And, as such, some forum members are reporting that the DiRT demo's force feedback settings magically transfer over to the Forza 2 demo. So, if you're feeling the need for more force feedback in Forza 2, fire up DiRT, customize your racing wheel options and see if it helps your Forza 2 demo situation. Although, all this confusion could be avoided if Microsoft would integrate some sort of racing wheel options menu through the dash. You hear us Microsoft?[Thanks, thermodynamic]
Even cheaper racing wheel deals pop up
With today's announcement that the Xbox 360 wireless racing wheel received a price drop, we're seeing even lower prices hit the internet. Best Buy and Future Shop in Canada are both offering the racing wheel for a rock bottom price of $99 and website PC Nation dropped their price to roughly $104 including free shipping. We're sure there are a bunch of other deals making their way online with the news that broke today and if you find such deals please let us know. We're always up for saving a few bucks or in this case $30.[Thanks, Chris G and Tom D]
Peripherals Gone Wild, caught on video
Via Robert Summa, posting wonderboy of Joystiq, we bring you this video of the latest 360 peripherals in action. You'll get to see all your favorites, including the wireless racing wheel, Vision camera, wireless headset, and the HD-DVD drive. The bulk of the video covers the soon-to-be-released Vision camera. The camera will bring all sorts of features to the 360, including personal gamer pics and video chat (in 30 FPS no less). And good news for parents -- and players who don't want to be subjected to random dongs -- parental controls are allowed that let you decide whether or not the little ones are allowed to use video chat or even see personal gamer pics at all. The wheel looks like a really nice peripheral for racing fans and the headset looks like everything you would expect. And the HD-DVD drive ... well, the HD-DVD drive looks bigger than my complete hardbound edition of Lord of the Rings.
[Via Joystiq]
