As a gift for Easter, I received an Xbox 360 Elite. The only problem was that they didn't go on sale until today. So this morning, before church, I ran by Best Buy and picked one up. Unintentionally, due to the light Sunday morning traffic, I got there five minutes early and found myself doing something I never thought I'd do...stand in line waiting for a store to open to buy a video game console. There were six to eight people in front of me and four or five behind me by the time the doors opened. Although the black Xbox 360 is supposed to be a limited production run, there were plenty stacked high in the store for everyone.

I picked up two games, Gears of War, which looks great but is incredibly difficult to play having to manipulate three joysticks and all the other buttons and triggers at the same time. The other is Burnout Revenge which only requires a single joystick (steer), trigger (acceleration) and one button (boost). I don't bother with the brakes! Burnout is instantly enjoyable with a learning curve of under a minute. Once again, another activity to keep me from blogging.

The quality of the games is really phenomenal considering my game console evolution started with the original Pong which my family was the first of anyone I knew to get. I can still remember us and neighbors, young and old, coming over to play the simple game of paddle tennis. Later we were probably one of the last to get an Atari 2600...and that was it for console games until the Xbox 360 Elite. Granted there were a number of computers in between which I've always done a fair amount of gaming on.

At this time, We see no need for Drew to be Xboxing so we haven't told him about it. I figure he'll be old enough to play it when this conversation takes place:

   Drew:     Momma?
   Mary:     Yes, Drew.
   Drew:     Momma, do we have an Xbox?
   Mary:     Why do you ask?
   Drew:     Because there's one right here.
   Mary:     Oh, that's just part of the TV.
   Drew:     No Mamma, that's an Xbox.
   Mary:     Ask your father when he gets home.

To further aid in the deception, we keep a few things stacked in front of the console to help hide it. And, we keep the controllers and related items well hidden as well. Eventually, though, Drew will figure things out, but hopefully not for a few years. When he does, it will be time for Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy.

The really amazing thing is how well the Xbox 360 fits in our TV cabinet which we've had for years...long before there ever was an Xbox. I always thought the odd-sized tubby hole next to the cable box was a wasted space, an after thought evidencing poor design. Now that I see the Xbox 360 fit there perfectly, as if it were custom made, I think the designer was a Nostradamus-like genius. Now, if Cox/Motorola would just make their cable box in black.