R.I.P. Launch Day 360

It was a mildly chilly November night when 3 friends and I camped outside a Sam’s Club to get our hand on the first XBox 360’s.  Some of us sold them on Ebay, some of us sold our spot in line, some of us bought and kept the 360.

Last night, the 360 I bought that cold, tired morning in Novemeber 2005 died on me.  She was striken down by the infamous red-ring of death, virtually gauranteed to take down all first run 360’s.  Of course it was my rotten luck that it died barely 3 months out of the extended 3 year warranty Microsoft had enacted.

We had many good times together, countless games played alone, online, and with friends.  Countless DVD’s and HD-DVD’s watched.  She will be missed.

This morning I managed to track down one of the new Jasper 360’s and have got it all set up.  This new model runs cooler, uses less power, is quiter, has HDMI output, a new CPU (from the Falcon 360), and now a new GPU.  This is supposed to once and for all finally fix the 360’s red ring problem caused from excessive heat from the old CPU and GPU’s.

Only time will tell I suppose.

While I knew that my 360’s days were numbered, it is still disappointing that I bought a console that only lasted 3 years.  I have an original Nintendo Entertainment System that is over 20 years old that still [mostly] works to this day.  My SNES, N64, and Game Cube all still work flawlessly as well.   In my opinion Microsoft should have given a life time coverage against the specific red ring issue to all products effected.  Microsoft sold a defective product and they should stand behind their mistakes.  I realize that extending the RROD warranty coverage to 3 years was a huge cost to MS, but IMO it doesn’t make it right.   Look at me… I supported 360 from day 1 and what do I get?  Nothing but being $200 poorer for needing to replace my known defective console.

I leave you with a few memories of one of the last running Launch Day consoles I knew of…