There, I said it. I’m envious of those lucky enough to already be playing on the Xbox 360. I stated earlier that I wasn’t interested in getting an Xbox 360 at launch. I had convinced myself the launch lineup was weak, I didn’t want to wait out in the cold, I didn’t want to be nickel-and-dimed to death with the Live Marketplace, I didn’t feel like paying for old arcade games and I most certainly didn’t want to drop sixty bones a pop for games. I thought my arguments were pretty convincing. Why do I feel an empty space in my gaming soul, then? Why do I want one when there are cases of crashes, power bricks overheating, unscrupulous bundling, disc scratching, shiny graphics with shallow game play improvements?
I didn’t get a console on launch day for a number of reasons. The main one being I didn’t preorder and I didn’t want to hassle with limited supplies. I won’t go into the perceived supply shortages. Intentional or not, it looks like MS had the foresight to hold on to some extra units for replacements. And according to the mucky-mucks, there will be more arriving weekly (there’s hope for us afterall!). Nevertheless, some people had interesting experiences getting one and unfortunately others had their pre-orders cancelled. Bummer. Will has his. Lucky! Gaming Steve has some nice Best Buy launch pictures. So no launch console for me, but as I said, there’s hope! JCPenny offers this sweet deal (ht: Team Xbox). If paying four hundred dollars for a couple extra pieces of plastic and silicon doesn’t appeal to you, there is this interesting way of getting one. One could always get a Core System. Noob! This guy (ht: Pixel Dujour) speaks for a lot of gamers – I’ve got the cash but a lot of good that does me. So there’s that. A lot of people want them and not everyone is getting them.
A stroll around the gamingsphere has a lot of people gushing about the 360. Nick at G-Pinions might as well be a salesman for Microsoft. The guy’s pitch would have sold me one. Bill at Dubious Quality live-blogged his hour long sessions with most of the release titles, finishing up with his rankings. Just go to his site, scroll to the bottom and start scrolling up. Color me jealous. Apex had a lot to say (again, just start scrolling), including some things for the naysayers. There are more out there (I’ll try to add them as I find them) but it just makes me sad to read about people’s early Christmas. Let me know if you how your first week has been (so I can hate you without ever meeting you)
All the hype and excitement abound but I still haven’t completely put my finger on the true source of my yearning. I could say it’s jealousy but that’s not exactly it. I think it’s Xbox Live. Everything I’ve read about it sounds fantastic (re-read Nick’s piece). Live leader boards, game demos, classic arcade games. (I do find it ironic that the game most people gush about is not Pefect Dark Zero or King Kong, it’s Geometry Wars.) Gamer cards look awesome. Heck, I even set one up for myself even though I don’t have anything to show off. (But beware of the FBI! Right.) Anyway, I look forward to all the fragging and bragging that will go on with the new pissing contest cards. The new Xbox Live really seems to be a giant step in the right direction (even if everyone isn’t down with it). So maybe it’s more than just Live. More than just the allure of a new shiny gadget.
I want to be part of the hive. I want high scores and co-op Smash TV. I want to play on a new TV with high-definition resolution and I want to have wireless controllers and I want wireless headsets. I want I want I want. That’s just it. It’s part of my core as a gamer. I don’t want to miss out.
I want one, plain and simple.