Time for a new XBOX 360

So I have at last found myself ready to seriously get back into video games! I wanna say the last time I picked up the XBOX controller was well over a year ago. In that time I'd moved onto other things but always kept in the back of my mind the thought that I would return. What I needed was not only the right inspiration but the right games.

Enter a couple of high profile shooter games that had peaked my interest due to their rave reviews, as well as a Batman game that was being totted as the best game of the year when released. 'Batman: Arkham Asylum', 'Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3' and 'Mass Effect 3'. It might sound funny but after we saw Morgan Spurlock's Comic-Con documentary and witnessed the amazing costumes worn by a group of masquerade hopefuls, I was ultimately inspired to select 'Mass Effect 3' as my re-entry into digital combat.

Last week I stopped at Fry's to buy the game and was very excited to get it home and begin play. However my XBOX had other plans; the first of two discs that came with the game wouldn't load at all!

Maybe it was because I had to connect online or get a special download, as it seemed to indicate. Nope. Then I began doing research online. Turned out there was this common error others were getting as well. The disc would begin to read, only to be followed by the onscreen message: 'open tray'. Ending up on YouTube to get a visual of what people were doing to correct this problem, I found at least seven different methods, some pretty extreme (whacking the console with the controller, manually slamming the drawer shut, opening the casing)...all of which failed for me.

Suddenly I realized a very important point; I hadn't touched the console for over a year, right? I bet the lens was dusty. Yeah, that had to be it? The very next night (last night) I happily stopped over to Fry's to buy an XBOX lens cleaner. Completely sure this would end up as the be-all-and-end-all of fixes, I happily loaded the cleaning disc.....and then THAT wouldn't load! Hello, it's a cleaning disc, it's not suppose to load!!

Once again I turned to the internet. Learned that in some cases the XBOX system had somewhat of a limited life. Really? It's not like I was slamming this thing for hours each and every night as someone under the age of twenty would do. And yet, website after website, the answer seemed obvious; it was time to buy a new XBOX 360.

Of course there are nothing but upsides to this whole situation because, even though I wasted more time than I really wanted trying to find a solution to the previous model, I can now move on to an updated console with all the latest hardware / software as well as the new and exciting motion sensor device, Kinect.

Determined to immediately move on what now needed to happen, I got up a bit early this morning so I could head to Target before work to buy the XBOX / Kinect combo. Realizing that between the two current versions, 250GB and 4GB, I would never use anywhere near the larger storage size. The 4GB was perfect for my needs. Found out I can always upgrade later if I need more space. Got it...and done!

Hey, if I were downloading movies, music and a shitload of apps as many people are now using their XBOX system for, the 250 would have been the right choice. However, most of that heavy lifting is done by my computer, iPod, iPhone and Apple TV. No, this would primarily be for game play and, at times, streaming a movie or two through Netflix. Although I do have the ability to do that on my laptop which now runs the 10th Box. So once again it all comes down to games, games, glorious games!

I am counting the minutes until I can get home and hook everything up to not only finally immerse in the world of 'Mass Effect 3', but to experience what I'm sure will be my new favorite toy...Kinect!