I guess some people just care more about the graphics then others. At this point in the 360 games, I see very little noticeable difference in the graphics. I guess I don't really compare or buy games based on their graphics. That being said, I won't play games with these kind of graphics. http://www.nintendospin.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/james-bond-007-nightfire-image1.jpg
This Saturday at some early hour (in GMT -6), I will be upgrading to board to 3.1.1. This update fixes a variety of issues and it will patch a couple of bugs that only show up for the staff on the site. Those interested can read update topic by IPS, here. Don't worry it will all be okay. http://images.icanhascheezburger.com/completestore/2009/4/23/128850077160204532.jpg
I do not know. If this was normal xbox I could, but the 360 is a tad bit complicated. I believe the patch files are signed to your box, so using other files would be useless. As of now my legit xbox harddrive won't connect via xPort, so I cannot dump my files.
^ They should of sent you a newer mobo to prevent that junk. The xenon's I know RRoD like crazy, but anything newer should at least last a couple of years.
I bumped my 360 once when Gears was in it. The disc looked like someone took a protractor 15 times at different angles and made perfect circles. There was a 360 program back then that you could send in your discs to and pay a small fee and receive a new disc. The first was free for me, but then they cost about 10-30 USD. http://support.xbox.com/support/en/us/xbox360/gamesandmedia/games/discreplacement/discreplacementplan.aspx