Gadgets - XBox 360

Well I did it again. :-)
At least I did not have to sleep outside Best Buy or some store like that to get my XBox 360. Months ago, as soon as Toys "R" Us started taking pre-orders I put the $50 down and reserved one. So at the launch date I simply went there and got my brand new XBox 360 Premium with 2 additional wireless controllers and 3 games.
All I need to say is, after spending $900 on all this, I am still quite happy. :-)
The 360 is a huge improvement over the previous XBox. Do not get me wrong here. I do like the original XBox and I have been an owner since launch date sometime in November, 2001. Great machine.
But the 360 is something else. Considering the current games are all first generation ones, we can see the potential this console has. Just give developers 6 to 12 months and you will be blown away by the games to come.
Out of the box you have access to the XBox live (for online gaming, demo downloads etc) and you can even access Music/Pictures on your Windows XP machine! You can also access music on your iPod (connected my iPod nano and it found all my stuff there!) and even access pictures on your digital camera for a stunning slide show. Simply connect it to the USB port in the front and there you go!
The games I have so far (PGR, Perfect Dark Zero, Kameo and King Kong) look very good in high definition. I have the XBox connected to a Hitachi Hi Definition projector (I will post about my home theater sometime soon!) for a 106" picture in Widescreen. You feel like being inside the game. Impressive.
Of course I had to have some issues with it. :-)
After playing for a couple hours with the kids we saw a message about overheating. What the hell? My brand new 360 was overheating! After further inspection and google reading I found other people having the same issue and someone told me to check the position of my power supply (it is now external, not like the first XBox). Mine was laying down on its side and that was the problem. After changing the power supply position, leaving it standing on its rubber feet, no more overheating issues! Way to go XBox community.
Overall a great machine. If you have nothing to do with $900 head out to Futureshop/BestBuy this weekend and get yourself a nice XBox 360. :-)
And even if you do not like gaming, go out and buy one. You can sell them on Ebay in less than a week for twice as much what you paid. Call that a good investment!