Ex-Box


X-tinct.

Right now, I'm actually regretting my decision to give away my old Xbox. I mean, when I gave it as a Christmas gift to my nephews, I thought they'd cheer at receiving a whole gaming console. But I remember that they just gave it a cursory 'Thanks' before going back to playing on the PS2. Not that I think they weren't grateful- it's that, I probably would have done better by giving them a new Playstation 2 rather than divest myself of a perfectly good, albeit apparently now DEAD console. Yeah, Microsoft is all focused on their now-gen Xbox360 console, so the older, heavier, blacker and bulkier (but weaker) original Xbox is left out in the cold. How focused? And how DEAD? Well, for starters do you know you cannot buy an Xbox console in any stores now? At least, in Greenhills I could not find a single store that would sell an original Xbox. They're now being phased out, like old model cellphones. Yeah, there are still Xbox games being sold, but the console itself is now extinct, at least here in Metro Manila.

Which is odd, I'd say, considering that there are still Dreamcasts, Super Nes's, Famicoms, Gameboys and PS's being sold. Why is the old Xbox suddenly gone? What happened to all those unsold Xboxes? I can hardly believe that all were sold. Were they sent back to Bill Gates? Or are they lining some warehouse somewhere, along with the Ark of the Covenant? Odd.

Well anyway, I suddenly got an itch at the back of my head, and the itch said, "I want to play Xbox games." These are titles like the Knights of the Old Republic games, Jade Empire and good stuff like the original Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball and the gladiatorial RPG/Strategy game Gladius. And so, I went off to the bin of all bins, eBay, and went hunting for a big black box. I'll be learning whether I win or not in a couple of hours (looks like I'll be winning though). After that, I figure I'll go off and buy every good Xbox disc I can get to build a nice library and have a back-up gaming system to play. When I get that itch. What the heck. I'll be getting the system for cheap. Someday, I'll open a gaming library and museum with all the stuff I have in The Sanctum.

Which just goes to show- never throw anything away (or give away) anything you can possibly miss or use in the future. Regret (and itches) are hard things to live with. Heh.