Last night I got a text message from Pure Otaku Costa to call our friend and fellow FGS Spidey CY. I have been half expecting to receive this text for a while now since I know Spidey's 360 is on its last legs. Having experienced first hand the trials and tribulations of going through the three phases of the grieving process, when I lost my 360 a few weeks ago, I would try and comfort our friend by taking him through the below phases.

Firstly we experience a huge amount of disbelief and shock as we frantically switch our console on and off, over and over. But we will only be confronted by those three red lights of death every single time. Unable to come to terms with what has happened we go through feelings of anger, rage, sorrow, apathy and dispair. This is known as the Emotional phase.

Secondly we will experience denial, confusion and a search for answers. We will not know where to turn for support but trust me it is out there. A good starting point would be Microsoft, who run a freephone number for all major countries (sorry Cyprus) and have rolled out a service under the chatchy and appropriately named "Microsoft Support". Here we can initiate our questions, seek coalesce and vent our anger in a focused and controlled environment. This is the Mental phase.

The third and final stage is where we will lose our trust and faith in the higher powers of the gaming world. But do not fear as we will come to accept the fact that we cannot understand their plans and revert to a gradual stabilisation as our replacement console finds its way into our humble abode. This is the Spiritual phase.

Having done all my prep work I made the phone call and it turned out Spidey's console was still working (for now) but he had been banned from the Xbox Live service! Upon further investigation it turned out that he had preformed several account recoveries on his profile.

Microsoft are started banning people who abuse this feature as it is being used to boost Gamerscores and access other gamers saved games. I offered to call Microsoft Support and resolve this issue for Spidey but after being on hold for over 20 minutes I had to hang up to watch Liverpool's crutial Champions League match against Marseille (well done lads!). I will give them another try today though, in the meantime Spidey I would ready myself for your upcoming loss.