It might be a matter of semantics.  What I am calling a "swirl" might be exactly what you are describing.  I have compared the Prototype discs (ALL of them I have seen!) with other XBOX 360 discs I own and the Prototype discs do display a "warp" or "swirl" as opposed to the normal consistent prismatic "optical illusion" that all duplicated DVDs have.  I'm going to assume that you noticed it the same way, by holding it at a slight angle under a good light.  I hope that clarifies the situation so that people are not squabbling over semantics of the disc description, when what they are having is OBVIOUSLY the same problem!!!

I've been playing Gears2 for the last 2 hours with no problems.  Just for grins and giggles I tried the Prototype game again.  Boom.  Same error.  Popped Gears back in and started right back up as always.  HOW COULD THIS BE A PROBLEM WITH MY CONSOLE?  *ahem*  Thanks again, dude!

AngryGamer wrote:

 

I have had the SAME EXACT PROBLEM. With the excpection that i didnt notice a swirl on the game cd. The usual prismatic color pattern that emanates off the bottom of the game cd looked kind of warped. That was the only thing i noticed. Besides that ALL my other games work including newer type games like Left 4 dead or Gears of War 2. I dont know if my xbox just doesnt like that ONE in particular game or if i just got 3 bunk copies. Thats right i went back 3 times to Game Crazy. The only thing giving me hope to play this game is that all my other games work but that one.... Maybe there will be an update because obviously this isnt just a problem afflicting 1 person? PLEASE SOME ONE TELL ME IF THEY EVENTUALLY FOUND A WORKING COPY!!



P.S.
Seriously this game looked really cool, now it just seems like a $65 paper weight of lost hope.
Lame. Im already disappointed in either Microsoft engineering or Activision software engineers.
AND! Since EVERY OTHER game i try on the xbox works! I BLAME THE SOFTWARE ENGINEERS.


                                                      SOMEONE PATCH THE D.AMN GAME PLEASE!!! I would like to make use of the money i gave away to play.

rhinton wrote:

 

xbox360365 wrote:

 

Its not the game or the disc ppl, its you console or your laser. ppl had the same problem when oblivion came out. your console or laser is weak
and can not handle the graphics. that is why it worked fine in the stores console. I know what i'm talking about I repair consoles for a living
its just a matter of time before you get rrod or the console simply quits reading discs. take it for what its worth... happy gaming : )  MLC, INC.

Unfortunately you would be wrong. My system is fairly new and has ZERO problems playing other games. Prototype is the problem here, not the consoles. They have built a game that gives the system errors. Activision needs to step it up and relay some messages to the people or this is going to spread like mad and everyone is going to be upset. I've already contacted several friends of mine about this problem and they are having similar issues with their games.

Well, then by all means have your friends post here and open up tickets with Activison!  Both Activison and Gamestop tell me that they have not had ANY issues with the 360 game discs being unplayable for people...  Well, there are like a half a dozen just in this thread, so go figure.

XBOX360365:  I have been told by someone else the same thing you said, but please explain how come other games I have work just fine, including new games I have played SINCE Prototyope (like Ghostbusters and Red Faction, for instance).  One person even told me something so idiotic I'm not even going to quote it here *sigh* Thanks!

Actually, Wal-Mart had to stop with that silly "open software policy" a couple of years ago because they we sued and the AG got involved.  It may be only on State by State basis, but all the music CDs, DVD movies and Games now have stickers n the explaining how happy they will be to exchange the open product.  I thought it was funny because it is almost the Watchmen smiley from the old comic :00 So, best of luck to you on that.

All of this has taken a turn for the worse since I had ti send my 6 no. old XBOX off to have a repair made   The optical drive drive now no longer even opens and closes, except for manual paperclip eject.  The last copy of the game I got shipped was from another city and it looked pristine.  It played in 2 other folks' machine so it seems to be good.  I can never be sure if that was the issue or not with the game (since others worked), but luckily I was able to extract it from the drive when it stopped opening.  It was destroyed, but they still replaced it.  The GameStop District manager told me to give him a call when I get my unit back just to make sure, which I found nice.

As far as the other issue (can't transfer the consents of my 60GB to my new 120GB), again we have no way of knowing if that was an issue withe the drive tray gear being broken or not.  Just to be on the safe side they are going to send me a new 120GB HDD and disc to see if that helps once my drive is replaced.  I should be getting it back next week, so we shall see!  

<unrelated>FWIW, if you plan on upgrading to a 120 GB HDD, you can pretty much disregard the manual completely WITH THE EXCEPTION of the part about NOT plugging into the 120 to your console before the software disx shipped is run.  Doing so will make it unable to copy your old data EVER.  Ans you will see what I mean if you compare the instructions.  The ACTUAL way to do it (from the CD) is almost completely opposite of the written instructions.  The instructions in the book simply do not work.  I've already brought that to their attention. </unrelated>

The really funny thing is when he called me to tell me my Prototype game was in, I drove the the store ( a different one from the other 3 that are closer, but this store is MUCH bigger with a wider selection), someone came in with a copy of Prototype and wanted to excchamge it or geta refund because it would randomly come up as unreadable sometimes.  We all kinda laughed at those odds..


Anyway, I am hopeful that Prototype will play once they fix the optical drive for me for free and send it back.  Sending it off could not have been easier. I packed it up in the box and slapped on the prepaid label then called UPS and thy picked it up form me at work.  Nice. .  Good luck to the rest of you who are having issues with the game.  One thing I did find out is that there are issues with 2 of the older optical dries in the 360.  Mine is the BenQ one, so no worries, per Activision, aside from the drive just being dead.  But I've been in IT for over 25 years so I know mechanical parts fail all the time.  It was just an unknown issue that was clouding the other issues I had.  The one really wore me out.  Cheers to all!
-ata

coreyj wrote:

 

xbox360365 wrote:

 

XBOX360365: I have been told by someone else the same thing you said, but please explain how come other games I have work just fine, including new games I have played SINCE Prototyope (like Ghostbusters and Red Faction, for instance). One person even told me something so idiotic I'm not even going to quote it here *sigh* Thanks!

It is due to the graphics as I said. your other games are not as high in graphics as prototype,  these high graphics game push the gpu to there limits, your laser or your gpu is failing.
that is why the game played fine on the store console. I had tons of repairs for this same issue when Oblivion and c.o.d. came out.
imo.  MLC,INC  Xbox360/365

So my friend got this game when it came out and he brought it over so we could play it on my console. well it worked fine loaded and everything. i had an awsome time with it. so then i decided to go out and buy it today.

This is not a case of bad lasers it is most definitely a bad batch of discs...  i just purchased this game today and went to play it and i get a disc read error on start up. try to load it to my hdd and it stops at 30% try it on 3 of my friends  consoles and same results disc has 0 scratches btw its brand new... so i go to gamestop and tell them whats going on and he trys it on the display xbox360 same error happens..  so we then open a brand new xbox 360 console hook it up put the game in and BAM disc read error.

so the game is 100% non working. and if you look at the disc closely you can see the odd shaped warped  pattern on the data surface. this is BS!!!! im so * off cause i bought the game at walmart and they wont take back an opened game. My friend got lucky he has one of the rare working versions *!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Activision do something!