Xbox 360 for Christmas

I selected and purchased my own present this year.  It's actually Christmas and Birthday since I've got a Birthday coming up on the 9th.  What did I get?

XBOX 360!

Yes, I know I'm late to the game.  I've really been dragging my feet but now with the 360 being a Media Center Extender for Vista and the new Video Marketplace I have run out of excuses.  I'm really impressed.  This is a consumer platform in the making and I see all kinds of potential value-adds for the home user.  I'm most excited that the Universal remote is able to control my TV.  That was a major drawback on of the remote that came with my HP z552.  In fact, with the new remote and the extender interface between the 360 and Vista, I don't have any reason to toggle inputs back to the MCE.  The extender interface is now so good that I can barely tell I'm not actually connected to the console of the MCE.  My Zune music plays through the 360 while I'm gaming which is really cool/fun.

The biggest "oh man, I should have done this a long time ago" moment came right away when I was going through the movies in Video Marketplace and MI3 was in the list.  There was a rented copy from Blockbuster laying on the entertainment center shelf in my peripheral view.  I could have bought it from Xbox Live instead of renting and then I wouldn't have to worry about returning it.  I really hope the video marketplace continues to evolve.  I'd love to see more partnerships exposed especially if some of the video providers could get dedicated blades.