It’s About Damn Time
The recent news of Microsoft’s new Xbox 360 stirs up some old memories…
Last weekend, a yearly event was held in the City of Coughing Angels. In the land of L.A., gamers from all around either flocked to the video game Mecca that is E3, or drooled over every second of media coverage they could get their cheeto-stained fingers on. Microsoft went balls-to-the-wall, announcing among many exciting things, their new Xbox 360, proclaiming the wonders of their majestic new machine. The audience ooh-ed and awed over an incredible, sleek new design that would make Darth Vader smile. But what matters is what’s under the hood.
The new 360 features extra USB inputs, a “smoother, quieter” experience (possibly due to the fact that the main processor and the graphics hardware have been integrated on the same processing unit), a refreshing 250 gig HD, but most advertised of all is a fast built-in wi-fi.
The conference was happy to hear of the immediate availability of the console. And just as things were wrapping up, the entire audience concurrently nerdgasmed at the announcement that everyone present was to get the new 360 shipped to them for free. So the conference ended with everyone sufficiently sated and conversing over the sweetness of Microsoft’s charity and over-all bad-assness at recognizing the price on their souls.
I was not present. I heard the news, and was, first, jealous of everyone there. This would be a wonderful device to have given to you. But will I purchase one? Not for a while. I am among the unlucky gamers out there who purchased an Xbox 360 Elite within the last 6 months. That and the game-fund expense performed a dynamic duo of pain infliction upon my income. The salt-on-the-wounds was the fact that this was my second xbox, my previous one suffering the fate of the red rings.
My limbo in between 360’s was a time of angst and much cursing which allowed me to properly understand firsthand the extreme lameness on the part of Microsoft. With a 56% failure rate, any other product in any other market on any other planet would burn in the flames of consumer rage, yet in spite of this embarrassing statistic, Microsoft plowed on. Perhaps this plague of death would have exterminated microsoft’s position entirely, but ultimately, the developers out there saved the company with the release of awesome games, namely equipping the crippled giant with the crutches of Halo 3 and Gears of War to lean upon.
Adversely, Sony put out a machine with jaw-dropping capabilities that had us Xbox owners quietly seething, claiming that we didn’t even care about dumb-old blu-ray.
Now we officially know that Microsoft has been putting a lot of time and effort in the design and engineering of a new, updated console for a while, perhaps thinking arrogantly that the red-rings was barely a memory in anyone’s mind anymore. The news seems to have sufficiently distracted everyone, the reception being one of pure excitement and giddy joy.
The fact is, this new 360 is old technology, and is an example of what Microsoft should have released years ago. The technology was quite available. After all, Sony did it. This new version really serves to point out the screaming flaws of the original. And it still doesn’t do Blu-ray!
Maybe I’m just bitter about the fact that, years ago, I wasted hard-earned dough on a time-bomb bearing Microsoft’s stamp of approval. Add to that the even more desperate scraping of funds I experienced to purchase the Elite, and the eighty-freakin’-bucks I had to drop on an antenna. Sure, I’m bitter, but what’s true is true.
So, when I heard these sweet new specs and saw those sexy screen shots, I didn’t declare its awesomeness. All I could say in the midst of all that hype was, “its about damn time”. However, I have to admit that Microsoft now has a solid console to rival the others, especially with the upcoming Kinect and string of epic titles set for release in the near future. I’m excited about the future of the 360, but still quite annoyed. Perhaps the largest contributor to my negative connotations is the fact that I will almost certainly be purchasing one…
Bottom line: the new Xbox 360 is a slick piece of hardware, no doubt, but the previous one was insufficient from the beginning. In the end, I guess, what’s done is done, and though Microsoft has had a shaky past, the future of the 360 certainly looks bright.
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