Almost like a Christmas miracle... Xbox 360 arrives

After a month of waiting for the Xbox 360 I had pre-ordered to arrive at the local EB Games, today I got the call.

I was packing up to leave work a little early (like many of my co-workers, our work place becomes a ghost-town just before holidays) and I glanced at my cell phone to see I had missed a call and had a voice message. I checked the number and thought it seemed familar, but not that familar. The exchange was the most familar part... it seemed to be in the neighborhood of my in-laws, which happens to be in the same neighborhood as the EB Games I frequent.

Sure enough, I check the voice mail and my hopes are confirmed! Xbox 360 premium system in stock and ready for pickup. If I didn't pick it up in 24 hours, then I'd get passed over, and the next customer on the waiting list would get it. Heh, as if they'd get that chance. I called back, told them I was omw! -- on my way. After a quick stop by the grocery store to buy a frozen entree for dinner I zipped across the parking lot to the gaming store and there I was, picking up my belated birthday (back near Thanksgiving), and just a day or two early Christmas present. (The 360 was my big gift to myself this season, having given the family the trip to Disney earlier in the year).

I just finished setting up the system a bit ago and was over-joyed to find that doesn't seem to have any of the problems that others had reported on the first round of shipments. Hopefully my luck will hold out there.

I still feel sorry for the folks that won't be able to snag one of these "hard to get" systems this season, though I was happy to hear from a friend that one of his other friends who had also had a very hard time getting a system was able to pick one up at a Wal*Mart that is local to him. He and another friend bought the last 2 systems that had come in the just before Chrismas restock.

It seems that Microsoft is slowly but surely catching up on their pre-orders, and of course they've sprinkled many systems through the "for general public purchase" retailers (Wal*Mart, Target, Best Buy, etc.) Hopefully the people like myself that pre-ordered will have been able to get their systems, or the systems they were buying as gifts in time for Christmas, and hopefully the recipients will get to enjoy their systems.


I'll leave readers to check other sites for reviews of the system and the games. Though I have written reviews of games and systems in the past, there's plenty of others already done for this system and the shipped games. Adding my comments to the top of the stack would just be piling on, and isn't necessary at this point.


I do have one other set of comments to add, but they are coming up in another article.
7,534 views 7 replies
Reply #1 Top
I bought one last night...
And sold it this morning.... I hate X-box.
I only bought it because I could! And a very small profit.
Reply #2 Top
I bought one last night...And sold it this morning.... I hate X-box.I only bought it because I could! And a very small profit.


I really don't blame anyone that doesn't want one for buying one and flipping it for a profit, though I had earlier blogged on being careful about re-selling them at a profit as the IRS can very easily track such sales for the people that were selling them on eBay. (And legitimately taxes are due on the profit made on the sale).
Reply #3 Top

I have one set of comment to add.

I am glad I am not into gaming!

Reply #4 Top
I have one set of comment to add. I am glad I am not into gaming!


It's ok Guy, gamers understand and appreciate the sacrifices you are making so that others can enjoy

Seriously though, you are much better off to not be a gamer.

I'm not a hardcore gamer, far from it. I don't like to spend that much on my games, and keep to a small stack of the games that I will play regularly, rather than having a huge library that I rarely ever touch.

Gaming, computing and blogging, TV and movie watching are some of the few vices I allow myself. I don't smoke, rarely drink, am not into recreational drug use, though I do admit to being Starbucks addicted, still enjoy red meat as frequently as I can get it (yummmm, Steak!), as well as being a frequent Pizza eater. I'm a bit larger in the gut than I should be, and don't exercise as much as I should, but I do enjoy popping a good game in the console system where I can kill bad guys, score home-runs and touch downs for my favorite teams and blow off the steam of a long work day and the hassles of providing IT support to a wide variety and level of users.

I will say that I am careful about picking which systems I'm commited to. I know I can't afford them all, and especially can't afford to always get the latest and greatest. It's too expensive, and generally isn't worth all of the expense. I'd rather be selective in which systems I want to own and play and if necessary wait a little longer to get the type of games I want for the systems that I have.
Reply #5 Top
When I said small profit, I meant Small. Since I sold it to a co-worker.
Reply #6 Top
When I said small profit, I meant Small. Since I sold it to a co-worker.


Sounds like you did a friend a favor by getting them a hard to find item and making it available so they'd have it for the holidays. Absolutely nothing wrong with that.
Reply #7 Top
Got my 360 last night from Mr. FedEx Unpacked the whole thing, hooked it up, popped in PGR 3 for a quick race, setup my XBox Live stuff, grabbed a few Live Arcade games... then packed the whole thing back up in the box since I'm driving to my parent's for the holidays today and need to bring something along to keep myself entertained.

I'll probably do an article on my thoughts on the system sometime next week while I'm bored in PA.