Goodbye good night's sleep

Yesterday marked a complete shift in my idealogical thinking. I used to have the opinion that console game systems were worthless.  “Just buy a really good computer and play games on that!” I would say.  Heck, I prefer the Mouse + Keyboard combination over a controller any way. I used to play console systems.  I had an NES, an SNES, then switched to computer gaming, then got an original XBOX for Christmas in 2001, I think.  Or was it 2002?  Any way, that was pretty cool, although it was essentially an Intel-based PC with an nVidia graphics card.  Then I decided, when I sold the XBOX and moved to China, never again! But, That is all changed, now. With my almost-obsession with the “connected home”, my plan was to have a good desktop (not purchased yet) to become the keeper of my media.  Photos, music, tv shows, movies, etc.  (Of course I would still buy DVDs, I am talking about downloaded media).  Then I would have a “Media Extender” which would … “extend” my media from the PC to the TV.  What to get, I asked?  the Apple TV, when it comes out?  Man, $300 is a chunk of money for that…  A Media Extender from Netgear or Linksys or other 3rd party?  Possibly…  But then I ran across the XBOX 360. The X360 will act as a Media Extender with a Media Center 2005 PC or a Vista PC.  AND, it plays games!  AND, its only slightly more than the $300 the Apple TV costs (and that guy doesn’t play games). So, I bought an XBOX 360 yesterday.  And a bunch of games to go with it. 3 words: Pretty damn cool. I especially like Need for Speed: Carbon and Rainbow Six: Vegas. I won’t be able to test the Media Extender capabilities for a few months until i buy my new PC - am waiting for Vista to come out. Something I don’t like about the X360 is the fact that I have to pay money to play multiplayer games online.  That sucks.  BUT, the international-access internet in China sucks monkey balls, so I suppose I’ll be playing solo for the time being.