Memorable Gaming Moment 2001: The Xbox

During my life, I have never had the newest or best of anything, not until 2001. I saved up a lot of money and decided to sell a lot of my older games in anticipation of Microsoft’s venture into console gaming: The Xbox. A lot of the gaming community was weary of buying the new machine; afraid that the Xbox would fail because of the Playstation 2’s strong sales.

I didn’t care if it would fail or not because this was a huge moment for me; I could afford a brand new system and it would be mine and mine alone! On November 20^th (I couldn’t get it on launch day), I went to EB games and bought myself an Xbox. It was during this time in my life that I started getting heavily into the internet. I didn’t research my purchase very much and had no idea that the Xbox had a computer hard drive and could actually rip CDs. That blew my mind!

I asked the clerk to let me see the actual box before I actually bought it. The box was huge and I couldn’t believe the graphics featured on the back of the box; I almost dropped the box in a fit of excitement. I decided to pick up three games with the system: Amped: Freestyle Snowboarding, Halo: Combat Evolved, and Project Gotham Racing. After purchasing all of these new video game items, I raced home to hook it up.

I cannot explain the feeling I had while opening the box that I had just bought with my own money, but it was so exciting that my pulse was racing. Being a fan of GoldenEye 007, I put in Halo first and my life forever changed. I remember talking to my friends and brother, saying that the Xbox was the future. I told them that within ten years, we would be playing on a machine that allows us to play with people around the world in seconds. At that time, I had no idea that the Xbox I had just bought would make that a reality in less than a year.

The Xbox opened my eyes to gaming and made me feel like an adult whenever I played it. It was considered by some people as an “adult” machine and in some ways I could agree, but at the time I was sixteen and I felt like the world was at my fingertips. That’s why the Xbox is my most memorable gaming moment of 2001.