The Xbox 360... wow. There's really so much to say that it's hard to find the right words. I bought an original Xbox way back in the day. I bought a refurbished system at the local EB, and naturally bought Halo. The Xbox was a decent system, but there was nothing really compellingly cool about it (other than the fact that I didn't have to buy a memory card with it, thanks to the built in Hard Drive). When I finally secured a high-speed ISP (about a year later) I decided to invest in Xbox Live. Xbox Live is really what set the original Xbox apart from its competition; the ease and entertainment of online play added replayability to games I had beaten that now I felt had no replayability left... I was so wrong. Xbox Live cleared the dust from nearly all of my Live-Enabled Xbox games. For months, I came home from work/school and would sit stupified in front of the system, basking in the awesome glow of Xbox Live. But even with its Live service dragging me into day after day, I didn't really find myself playing the Xbox substantially more than my PS2 or my Cube.

This has all since changed.

A couple of weeks ago (March 25) I decided to upgrade to a next-gen system, and I purchased an Xbox 360. I knew the risks. I knew the system's questionable track record in terms of reliability. I knew that the games that were supposed to be SUPER-HYPED NEXT-GEN were not really all that much better than what I was playing. I knew all that. I was a good little shopper. I did my research. What I didn't know would make all the difference.

Thanks to Microsoft's easy Xbox Live Account "migration", I guess you would call it, changing my standard Xbox account to an Xbox 360 Live account was easier than I would have imagined. I was online, full steam ahead, in a matter of minutes. I have not stopped since.

There are so many incredible aspects of the Xbox 360 that I don't really know where to start praising. I guess my favorite part of the new Live service is Gamerpoints. If you don't already know (which you should, you backwoods loser!) Gamerpoints are rewarded for fulfilling certain goals (called Achievements) in Xbox 360 games. For instance, closing your first Oblvion Gate in Elder Scrolls 4 will earn you 50 Gamerpoints. Sounds simple? Perhaps inconsequential? Yeah, I would have thought so too. But it's amazing how much harder you will work for things knowing that anytime anyone online decides to, they can look at your Gamercard and realize just how incredibly awesome you are. I find myself working harder to unlock the little things in my games, instead of just beating the main quest, perhaps tooling around for a bit, and then tossing the game by the wayside. I've worked my butt off trying to get some of these achievements, and the longer it takes me, the more I realize how much fun I'm having.

The new Xbox Live Arcade is spectacular. Download ANY Xbox Live Arcade game demo for free, and then buy it if you like it. Average game price: $9.00 or so. That's not bad. I find myself playing Geometry Wars, a maddening Asteroid-esque game of score, almost as much as the games I paid $59.99 a pop for. I have so much fun with that game, always trying to top my high score (currently at about 440,000). Marble Blast Ultra has proved to be time well spent, as I've spent a few afternoons basking in its difficult awesomeness.

The Marketplace is also a fun dalliance. There, you can download demos to quite a few games from the Xbox 360 library. That new game you stood at the gamestore playing for hours, cursing because they had no chair? try it here. That has already been exceedingly helpful. It has already saved me money (I almost bought Full Auto, expecting a trip back in time to the Twisted Metal days of glory, then I played the demo...whew!). That alone saved me $60.

To sum this all up, I have found the Xbox 360 to be the most engaging piece of videogame hardware ever, and I've been a gamer since my parents first bought me a Sega Master System. I guess what I'm trying to say, is that if you have been debating whether to buy the Xbox 360 or save your money and pay rent this month, screw rent. The Xbox is far more fulfilling.