November 26, 2005

  • A couple of months ago, me and my friend pre-ordered the xbox360 from
    a gamestop store. About a week before the release launch of the console (Nov
    22), we get a call saying that they won't be able to accomodate us a
    unit because of the console shortage. We didn't think it was that big a
    deal and were willing to patiently wait. Out of curiosity, I called
    gamestop to inquire where I stand on the pre-order list.  It turns
    out that I'm literally first in line on the list for the second
    shipment.  Not only that, but there are four people from the first shipment list who haven't
    picked up their pre-order yet, and if they don't do so by Nov 25,
    they'll be able to accomodate me instead. That day rolls around and I
    get a call saying that out of those four people, ONE of them still have
    not pick up their pre-order. Ofcourse, that means I get to have it.

    I tell my friend this story and how I now have an xbox360. He in turn
    tells me that according to a second hand phone message told to him around Nov
    23rd, HE supposedly got a call regarding his pre-order.  He tried calling
    back then to confirm the message, but never got a hold of a live person
    to ask. I joked about how maybe it was him that was suppose to be "one
    of the four" the gamestop employee told me about, so I told him to give
    them a call and just... find out. It turns out that it really was him!
    So the xbox360 sitting in my room right now, was apparently suppose to
    go to my friend.  Funny ain't it?

    But admist the shortage problems, people who are without an xbox360 at
    this point needs to consider this fact : almost all game system
    launches have had problems (some really serious).  Usually about
    four to six months into the system's life is when the problems are
    remedied, and the newer units released afterwards are more
    "glitch-free." So not getting a launch unit isn't entirely a bad thing,
    and might save yourselves some unwanted headaches. Truth be told, there
    is an internet connectivity issue that is happening with me right now (something to do with MTU).
    That doesn't help, because I want to download the latest system update
    patch (yeah, video game systems are very much like Personal Computers
    now). Until I fix this problem, I'm worried about the durability of my
    xbox360.

    ABC News: Is Microsoft's new xbox 360 a bust?

    update : It looks like my problem with the internet connectivity is a
    router issue and not an xbox360 problem.  It's fixed now, so
    everything is all groovy.

    Also, for those of you with xbox live, here's my gamercard
    http://live.xbox.com/member/patrick005