Since I just switched jobs and my previous employer paid me due vacation time, we had a little extra cash in our coffers.  My aforementioned wife suggested I get myself an early Christmas present. As you can no doubt tell by the GamerCard on the site, I am now the proud owner of a Xbox 360 Elite.  I was also able to pick up the HDDVD drive.  Though unlike the list earlier in the year I did not get the wireless adapter nor Gears of War.  I had already gotten a wireless bridge for the PS2, so connectivity was no issue.  I ended up getting Assassin’s Creed, as well as the Serenity  HD-DVD.  Feel free to send me a friend’s request on XBox LIVE.  Which, by the way, is everything I had hoped.  Between the marketplace and the arcade it’s nothing short of awesome.  The XBox itself makes a wonderful media extender.  I tried Windows Media Center, but quickly dropped it in favor of TVersity.  Check it out!  Now that I’m settled in at my new job, be on the look out for some blog posts in the coming days…

If I didn’t have a wife, I’d probably have all the toys I want…I’d have an XBox 360, a Nintendo Wii, and a PS3. I’d also be living at my parent’s house and very very lonely. Me and my wife have a good back and forth relationship. I’m the spender, she’s the saver. I’m the little kid who never grew up, she’s the little kid who had to grow up fast. In alot of ways we really do complete each other. Sometimes she has to work very hard to reign me in.

I’ve been itching to get a next generation game system since I purchased my HDTV earlier this year. The PS2 in 480p just does not cut it. Being a new father one as to be responsible. As my loving and caring wife is quick to remind me. This quickly eliminates the PS3 from contention as a possibility. Even I can’t rationalize a purchase like that. So that leaves the XBox 360 and the Nintendo Wii as finalists. While the Wii is fun to play (my brother’s own one), the XBox has something that no other console has: XBox Live.

XBox Live is simply the killer app for the XBox. My brother’s (who live at home, are sometimes lonely, and have every video game system imaginable (they’re also quite a bit younger)) have shown me this. All my other gamer friends who have XBoxen have shown me this. No other gaming system has an infrastructure that can come close to what Microsoft has put together.

The only debate has been if I should wait until the new revision comes out or if I should get it now. Well, as my wife was quick to point out, with a 3 month old “now” isn’t going to happen. I’ve been told that I have to save the money up first and pay with cash for the system and accessories. With the date of the new revision ranging from “soon” to “June” to “Christmas”, I’ve decided not wait on Microsoft and will purchase the XBox as soon as I have the money saved up.

I’ve already got a start. With the $100 gift certificate I won at CodeMash and a $20 rebate from SanDisk, I figure I only have about another $700 to go in order to get everything I want (including the HDDVD drive). Here’s the breakdown:

Xbox System   399.99Wireless Network Adapter 99.99Xbox Live Gold 12 month  59.99Gears of War Game  59.99HDDVD Player   199.99—————————————Total:     819.95Less:    120.00Remaining:   699.95

So I got a while to go, and the new XBox will probably be out by the time I get the money together (not to mention no one will be playing Gears of War by then). In order to help expedite this process I’m opening the floor for donations. If you feel like helping a guy out, feel free to click on the donation button on my blog and send me some cash (even if it’s only a buck). This isn’t any charitable cause, you won’t be able to deduct this from your taxes, you won’t get monthly letters from the child who you’re providing an education to , you won’t get any stickers to put on your car to help you get out of a ticket. In fact, if all you have is a buck to donate, go to them first please. But if you can help me out, you’ll get the satisfaction of knowing you helped a fellow gamer out. If I get enough donations that it significantly helps me towards my purchase (more than $300) I’ll let my readers choose my gamertag.

Regardless, I’m happy that I married the woman I did. She makes me a more responsible person, I’m actually waiting and saving up to buy something. I never would have done this before I met her, I’d have just thrown it on a credit card and let my balance go up some more. Honey, I love you. Even if it does drive the child in me crazy.

Please Help Support My Gaming Habit: Friends don’t let friends play Sony.

With word on the next version of the XBox360 coming out “soon” with some nice upgrades (HDMI = yummy). I’m sure glad I didn’t push to get my wife to let me buy one over the Christmas vacation. I’m definitely saving up now with the intention to buy one when it’s available.

The real question is…how many other people are doing the same? How many purchases is Microsoft going to loose this quarter while people hold off for the XBox361? Of course with 2 million XBoxes sold during the holiday season compared to only 750,000 for the PS3 [source], the climb is probably insurmountable. But still, it should be interesting to see if there’s a dip in XBox sales over the next few months.

I also believe that the inclusion of an HDMI port strongly points to the possibility of a HD-DVD drive being built in. If that happens, and Microsoft is able to keep the price of the XBox around where it’s been, HD-DVD will win the format war handedly. Of course this would probably piss off the early adopters, and purchasers of the external drive, more then the hard drive upgrade.

Another interesting bit of Xbox speculation occurred at Scobleizer today. Robert speculates on Microsoft leveraging the XBox platform outside of the gaming world and throughout it’s Live family. I personally think it makes sense, though achievements may not be the best way. Imagine instead micro-payments of Microsoft Points (notice that they are Microsoft Points and not XBox Points…hmmm), maybe instead of an achievement it’s half a point or some such. If the console manufacturers ever decide to allow person to person point transfers (which Microsoft says they eventually want to allow), it would be interesting to see if a third party point system could develop. What if you could earn XBox Points that you could convert to Wii Points or whatever the Playstation ends up with? Or convert it to cash? A gamer point market seems like it would be fun, profitable, and good for all three consoles.