Praying For a Harsh Winter October 15, 2007
Posted by boydzone in : video games , 4 commentsA friend of mine just recently went to Iceland for his birthday. His plane ticket cost him about $450.
Over the summer I bought an old Xbox off of a friend for $50, and then pre-ordered Madden 08 (with coupon ~$35) so that I could play in the league that I described in my last post.
I was pretty excited about the upcoming ’season’ and wanted to take part in the release of the new version of Madden. I hadn’t bought a new video game in I don’t know, 17 years or something, so it all seemed like kind of a big deal to me.
About two weeks ago, I took my Xbox console over to my friend’s house to play a few games for our Madden League. He had a 360 and after a few games on that, we plugged my regular Xbox into his 50″ HD tv which ended up making Madden 08 for the regular Xbox look like a bad water color painting in comparison.
The next day I took a plane to California, where I hung out in San Francisco and then rented a mini van and drove up Route 1. This all cost me probably a little more than my friend’s ticket to Iceland. I’m not a huge fan of spending lumps of money like that, but I did get to see the ocean, play some music in California, eat some great tacos, and see some friends, so it was all worth it.
So it was just as surprising to me that when I returned home to find my Madden 08 Xbox disc scratched I pretty much immediately made up my mind to buy a 360. The 360, with extra controller and 2 new games (Halo 3 and Madden 08) cost more than either of these trips (excluding food and drinks) would have cost me. So instead of glaciers, volcanoes, desolate coastal beaches, and scenic cliff drives, I’ve invested in staying up late on weeknights to ‘meet up’ with my friends in places called “The Last Resort” or “the Pit” on Xbox Live (another $49.00 for the year subscription). We team up to earn battle awards such as ‘Steaktacular’ (I don’t know what that means, but I have one) and battle people who take themselves pretty seriously and name themselves after different types of weed.
When you put the investment in perspective, I suppose you might as well take it seriously. Still, its hard to justify spending that kind of money when I could be outside or abroad somewhere for the same cost. I’m just praying for a harsh winter. The kind where everything ices over and its so cold that you feel like your face has been hit by the broadside of a sword each time you step out the door. If its gets like this year, which is possible in Pittsburgh, then I’ll probably be glad that I have the warm glow of animated explosions to snuggle up close to.