The wait is over

I am now the proud owner of an Xbox 360.

After spotting the queue of 14 people camping overnight in Asda on my way home (the first of which arrived at midnight the night before) I thought things might be a little busy this morning. When I arrived at Game at 7:25, 5 minutes before opening, there was already a queue of 30 – 40 people.

90 minutes later I had a large, bulging sack (containing console and games) and was merrily making my way home.

First impressions are very, very good. The machine itself is brilliantly made, the interface is unlike anything I've ever seen on a console, the wireless pads and voice communication are a generation ahead of anything that existed previously. Maybe people aren't convinced about the next-gen status of most of the launch titles, but you can't dispute the capability and design of the console itself.

There's something a little sick about playing an accurate port of Gauntlet over Xbox Live, with full voice chat, on the most powerful console on the planet, but that's the first thing I did Geometry Wars is one of the most addictive and curiously beautiful games I played in a long time (possibly ever). Hexic is a very accomplished, pretty puzzler. Need For Speed: Most Wanted looks like it could be good fun, and Project Gotham Racing 3 is the best looking racer I've ever seen. It's a bitch to drive, mind you, but I'll get the hang of it.

I've still got Condemned, Tiger Woods, and Perfect Dark in my bag, and I'm just about to try the VGA cable to see how much difference it makes. I'm blown away by the quality of the output even using a standard, crappy composite cable, so I'm expecting big things of the VGA output.

More later – it's been hard enough breaking off long enough to write this. I think I have this niggling urge to eat something too, but I'll try to repress it…