Late to the next Gen party.

So I've spent the last hour or so searching the web for ideas on how to keep my Xbox 360 cooler. Why you may ask, well, we just had a nasty bit of a heat wave here in the Bay Area, and I happen to live on the third floor, so it gets a bit toasty at times.

Another reason would be that I am on my second 360 as the first one did the dreaded red ring of death, and my year warranty from Gamestop is about to expire. And as I was going through my minds eye as to possible places to put my 360, I began to remember my first 360 and the events that lead up to getting that particular machine. Disclaimer-Not super interesting, but possibly!

So back in the day when I was working for a certain video game retailer, I traded in my PSOne to upgrade to this new hard to get and overly price system called the PS2. In fact, I actually worked the midnight launch for the PS2!

So time goes by, and I learn that buying the PS2 was a wonderful idea. As the system began to mature, the games became better and better, and all was right with the world.

So a couple of years go by, it's now the fall of 2001, and Nintendo and Microsoft plan to launch their systems. I did not pre-order my Xbox, but I was still able to get one on launch night thanks to an awesome friend.

So now I have my Xbox, and things are even better. Personally I believe that the Xbox was a better machine than the PS2, but having both was awesome. PS2 had a nice library of games already, and the stuff coming for the Xbox looked amazing. Unfortunately the Xbox had some really crappy games come out in the first year of release, and when you have a small library of games, it seems that there is nothing but bad games. Eventually things got better, and I enjoyed my two consoles.

Well then it seems that Sony wants to release a new system, and so Microsoft and Nintendo decide it's time for them as well. Ok, I'm really happy about that, but let's wait and see, might be ok. That is till the price was announced for the systems and the games! There was no way that I was about to fork over $60 for a game and the hundreds of dollars for a console that may or may not play my old games.

So launch comes and goes for the next-gen consoles, and I'm still happy with my PS2 and my Xbox, and besides I am mainly a PC gamer as it is. Then something amazing happened. I was watching G4's coverage of E3 one day, and this new game from Epic Games called Gears of War was being shown, and I was so amazed at what I saw, and that's when I knew I wanted a Xbox 360.

More time goes by, and my buddy is on me about getting the 360 when fate would have it, the Xbox 360 Elite is announced. Lucky for me my friend is an early adopter, and he sells me his 360, welcoming me to the next-gen era!