Xenojay's Blogs

Countless moons ago, I found myself waiting for my friend. They were coming from overseas, traversing the wide waterways that separate the masses of land we populate so that we could enjoy one another’s company.

They arrived early in the morning, around 8:30am in March of ‘06; of course, being typically male this was quite an effort for me to be up so early. I gathered myself, prepared myself in a fashionable manner, grabbed my wallet and keys and headed down to get them.

I walked into the giant red building and walked towards the counter hoping to catch my friend through the clutter. I got to the counter and funnily enough there was another person who already picked up their mate. His mate though, had also bought some more items than thought and this person had to decide what could come through with their friend. Once decided, they looked at each other with glee and exited.

I’d had my paperwork ready, looked at the helpful assistant and asked if my friend had come through, they looked behind them and saw my friend there behind them. They grabbed them for me, we sorted out the numbers and we were ready to go.

My XBOX360 and I had started our adventure.

I can’t remember clearly that first day, my mind flooded with the many days we shared. Things do spring ever so clearly, like the first time I saw an engine so very well rendered in Project Gotham Racing 3, it roaring through the gleaming glass protecting it. The first time I started to wander the world of Oblivion, feeling ever so small in the scale of things. That first time looking off a mountain top in third person is breathtaking.

Of course we had so much more to experience in the 3 years we had. Oblivion DLC, Gears Of War, Halo 3, Grand Theft Auto IV, Forza Motorsport 2, the countless downloadable classics, Sonic 2, Street Fighter II Hyper Fighting, Puzzle Quest.

They'd even introduced me to people from other parts of the world, communication barriers seemingly fall beneath them as they’d be telling of the adventures they’d experienced. I’d lost countless hours with my friend.

Even movies took our time. Resting on a couch with a pack of Pods (Snickers of course) and enjoying the stories told to us by moving pictures.

My friend even came with me to the big city when I moved, a whole new adventure so to speak. We had a year together. By that time, the plague known as the RROD was steadily moving through his flock. My friend though, my friend I had seen as invincible. Countless others had fallen around them, some even being younger than them, fresh new builds taken by the relentless RROD.

It was a funny day when they left. I was in bed with my partner; she was starting to see that my friend had some value, being a media and gaming maestro of sorts. We went to watch a movie with them…and then…it struck. They went unusually quiet, and a noise crawled out, one never heard before, their vision blurred, vanishing from sight, and the final sign of the plague. The RROD crawled upon their skin…and I knew they were gone.

I couldn’t fathom the thought of having lost them. I laughed. I laughed that my friend had had all this time with me having beaten out so many others of their kind, having proved their worth, having fought so hard against the RROD considering they were first off the block and were most at risk of it. I laughed…because at the end, even those that are invincible can at times fall. I laughed because I was going to miss my friend.

This is a eulogy to my friend.

XBOX360, I will miss you.