I have owned pretty much every major console, and several non-major consoles, since the Atari 2600, and I have had my favorites in every system generation. For the most part, I've always stuck with Nintendo, and I still like them. I must admit that I also enjoyed owning a PS2. I did own an Xbox but I didn't buy it until late in the systems life. Well now were on this generation, and I've had an Xbox 360 for about a year and a half and although currently I really enjoy owning an Xbox 360, but this has not always been the case. In fact if it would have been up to me I would have never to come own this wonderful gaming machine.

Well, my affair with the 360 actually starts in the last system generation with the original Xbox. My family had purchased a PS2 shortly after the launch in 2000, because our original Plastation had broken and we needed something to replace it. So by the time the Nintendo Gamecube launched we had built up a good library of PS2 games. Well, that was not enough to deter me from purchasing the new Nintendo system and I bought it on the day it launched along with Waverace, and I was happy. I knew that the Xbox was out, and I definitely didn't want it.

I enjoyed the two systems we had a spent tons of time playing games like, Super Smash Brothers: Melee, and Final Fantasy X. The PS2 and the Nintendo Gamecube had so many fun games on them, but after a while my brother and I got sick of our current collection and decided to trade in some games for something knew. Well, we did a real clean out and I don't know how many games we traded in, or how much money we got, but it was enough that the price of a used Xbox didn't seem very expensive. We bought one, on a whim, and also picked up Rainbow Six 3 as a game. I was a little uncertain about the purchase, but looking back, that is where it all started.

I was working at a local electronics retailer at this time and I had managed to gather a nice TV and a 5.1 sound system. I was still living with my mom at the time and I wasn't the smartest with my money. I spent a lot of it on electronics and video games I didn't need, but it was a fun time. The home theater system I had seemed to be largely going to waste watching DVDs. We were using the PS2 in another room, and the Gamecube was fun, but didn't impress me with it graphics or sound. So when we got the Xbox I hooked it up to my system using the optical cable I had for sound and a component cable that we had purchased (partly because we could use component, partly because it had an optical out). I was no longer unsure of our Xbox purchase.

When I first turned it on I was totally amazed. There probably couldn't have been a better choice for out first game than Rainbow Six 3. It was great! That game made the Xbox look great! The graphics were stunning and the in game audio was superb. It came with an Xbox Live headset which allowed you to hear your team-mates in the one player game (I thought that was particularly cool).

Of course it wasn't long until I got curious about Xbox live and got a long ethernet cable to run the internet to the Xbox. I bought a live account and got playing. I was impressed. I had only played a few online games before and they all used text chat. This was totally different. Not only could you use voice chat, but the characters in the game moved their mouth to match what the payers were saying. Neat!

So, time went on and I got a few more games for the Xbox. I eventually got around to playing several games, including Halo (which I didn't like :P), but my biggest obsession was DDR: Ultramix, which I played online and downloaded all the additional songs for. I played through and beat Knight of the Old Republic 1 and 2. After a while, I was getting tired of playing Xbox, but then came Star Wars Battle Front II. My family andI fell in love with that game. We would play four player games for hours on end. In fact we still play the game occasionally. Even when no one else wanted to play, we'd play online (and we were really good online). I felt really happy to own an Xbox and felt like there were some very good games on the system.

It was at about then that the Xbox 360 came out, and I was actually very upset by it. I had just revived my relationship with the original Xbox and felt like Microsoft was abandoning the system. It was the most powerful system of its generation, if any system was in need of an update, I was sure the Xbox was not it. Additionally, the new Xbox 360 came out at $399, and that was way too expensive! I promised myself I would not buy a 360 and turned my attention towards the PS2, which had, and still has, several new games coming out for it.

When I moved out of my parents' house in 2006, I really had become a little disillusioned with video games. I wasn't making as much money and I was getting married (I shouldn't be playing video games anyway). I decided to take my Xbox with me because I still liked DDR, even though I didn't play it much, and still played SWBF2. I had no plans on buying and new video game systems and knew I would never own the Xbox 360.

Well, how did I get from this to both owning and loving an Xbox 360? I'll tell you, tomorrow.

-zgreenwell