Playing with My Box

It's been while since the days I would get home from work or school, drop everything and dive right into an entire evening of gaming madness. Since acquiring the Xbox 360 last month, I've been able to stave off these long winter nights in my lazy boy recliner blasting terrorists, blasting aliens, blasting rootin' tootin' bandits or blasting coloured, exploding jewels.

I wrote at length about my checkered video console history just prior to Christmas and the last thing I want to do is turn 500WPD into another video games blog. The last console I owned was the Nintendo Super NES and I have to say... Hot Damn, these game systems have come a long way, baby. I could wax poetic for several paragraphs about any number of impressive features sported by the Xbox 360, which I'll refer to as My Box from here on in (no, it's not terribly clever or funny, but I'll do it anyway).

I could gush about how even on my lowly standard-definition TV set, the graphics on these new games range from pretty to utterly jaw-dropping. I could comment on how the design of My Box looks like it was ripped straight out of Apple's product design manual. I could blubber on about how the controllers feel and operate like butta and have wireless capabilities built right in. It goes without saying, once you have gone wireless, there's no going back to tripping over tangled controller wires in your living room. I could also yap about how nifty the online player matchmaking service is and how amazing it is to be able to chat with other players with a headset while gaming, right out of the box. Did I mention that I can use My Box as a media center, streaming smut wholesome video and music directly into my living room?

Well, there would be just too much to cover. My Box has definitely wowed me. I've always been sort of plugged in to the gaming culture by way of the PC and regular visits to blogs like Kotaku, Joystiqu and Destructoid. But now that I'm fully in it, well.. it feels nice join the club. My Box has changed my habits around the house. Instead of being holed up in my bedroom surfing the web and sending naughty messages, I night have been centered around the living and kitchen. It's like quitting smoking by taking up the bottle. Bad analogy, but that's what it sort of feels like. And by god, don't it feel good.

Now who's up for a game of Ghost Recon?

Edit (Jan.24th, 2007): So it appears my new gaming habit has preempted my already infrequent blogging schedule. What I have done is exacerbate the situation even more by starting up my gaming blog, Play With My Box. If you're truly hard up for some entertainment and just need to read something written by yours truly, you can find it at: http://playmybox.blogspot.com