It was on this day ten years ago that I began a significant shift in my gaming culture.  Having been a hardcore PlayStation 1 and PlayStation 2 gamer, I suddenly found myself with a craving for the Duke.  For those of you unaware, the original Xbox controller was nicknamed the Duke because of its size.  I remember quite vividly the day that I first saw the Xbox on display in my local GameStop in the Parks Mall of Arlington, Tx.

I remember holding the controller and thinking to myself … “this is what my hands have been missing”.  I have a couple of Duke controllers still and they’re still awesome.  As soon as I played some NFL Fever, I knew that I was about to make one of the biggest decisions of my life.  I was about to say goodbye to Sony’s PlayStation 2 and hello to an upstart in the gaming business with Microsoft’s Xbox.

I remember the day that I received my Xbox.  My girlfriend at the time gave up nearly $500 to get it for me.  I had two controllers, NFL Fever, Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee, Dead or Alive 3 and Halo: Combat Evolved at my fingertips.  What may surprise you is that I wasn’t at all interested in Halo.  I was all about Dead or Alive 3 and NFL Fever in the beginning.  Fever was a pretty good football game and I’d love to see where it would’ve gone on the Xbox 360.

Anyway, I played quite a bit of Xbox.  Eventually I found my way to Halo and instantly fell in love.  I can remember playing hours upon hours of it.  It was simply amazing.  The controller got me initially but it was Halo that sustained the addiction.  I played quite a few awesome titles over the life of the original Xbox.  I still have it and I still play a bit of Ninja Gaiden on it.  It was a great console especially when Xbox Live was introduced to it.

So I say to you … Happy 10th Birthday Xbox!  I’m sure Microsoft is going to usher in the 10th year anniversary with a bang.  I just wish I was in the area of said bang.

 If you aren’t able to partake with Microsoft at one of their many anniversary parties, then at least let your Xbox Avatar do some partying.  You can get a free Avatar prop right here at this link to help celebrate!