Regrettably I could do nothing to prevent the tragedy that befell my 360. I never thought it could happen to me, but what can I say. All good things must come to an end. I've been an avid console gamer since I was 8 years old, though my love affair with video games started at three. Once I was old enough to afford my own things I dumped zounds of money into my collection.

This day will forever live on as the day the 360 killed that love. I had never had a console quit on me the way the 360 has (it just won't display any sort of video). Luckily it's still under warranty and I am gonna get it repaired, but the thought of living on the 30+ days without any console to play has ushered in a sure end to the hobby. I have sold all my game on cragslist, it took less than 4 hours for the vultures out there to pick my library clean.

My parents never really let me play video games, untill they gave up trying to stop me at 14 years old. Since that time I have done little else. I wander about aimlessly as I try to find something to fill that void. I still have my computer, my psp, my ds, but those things just don't seem to fit into to place the console of the times had been for so long.

As I take this time to find new hobbies, and the realization of the outside world. I realize just how much money I have lost over the years to this pointless hobby. I'm not gonna give up on games. But I am going to stop ignoring my family for them. In this since it seems this may have been a blessing in disguise. I believe this event may have finally broke a serious addiction to videogames.

When I started on this article it was supposed to be a piece bashing microsoft for allowing such an inferior peice of machinery to be put on the market. As I type I realize that I have been absorbed by this fad for too long.

I don't want my son to waste as much of his life as I did mine. But I don't blame videogames, no I blame myself. It is not the man that created the sword that is evil, but the man who had slain him with it. Videogames taught me to read, to write, I cried for a videogame long before I cried for a movie (or for a girlfriend). I know how pathetic it sounds, but better it be read by some kid who does nothing but play video games, than live on forever silently in my heart.

I'm 23 years old married for 4 years. My son is almost 2. I don't remember anything in the last 20 years except wanting to get home and play that next game. Enjoy this wonderful creation in moderation. For you truly won't miss the games nearly like you'll miss the life you could have had.