I noticed, recently, that I had enough Amex rewards points to get an Xbox 360. I thought about it for a while and then decided to go for it. As is my habit when ordering something, I obsessively checked the status of my order every few hours, and it kept sitting at "submitted." I figured it could take quite a while, since I was buying with points.
Today, though, the Xbox showed up via FedEx around two o'clock. I had it set up before I left for my evening out, but it wasn't online. It turns out that the Xbox 360 doesn't have a built-in wifi connection. You can buy a USB wifi adapter for it, but the only one that seems to still be made that works is Microsoft's, and they want $100 for it. That is completely insane. I bought a USB adapter for my TiVo and it cost $20.
I decided to use my old Airport Extreme as an extension for my Time Capsule's network, but this ended up being a big headache. I had to use WDS, because my Airport predates the simpler "extend wireless network" option. Then I struggled with making WDS work, until I finally found that I had to set both devices to use the same channel. I thought this would be a bad idea, as there would be some kind of conflict. Goes to show what I know, I guess.
I got my Xbox Live account ported over from my old Xbox days, hooked up my Xbox Live account to my Live Messenger account, played the first level of LEGO Indiana Jones (meh) and that's that. I'll probably try renting or borrowing some games over the next few weeks. Given that the thing cost me nothing, I'm in no hurry to recoup the expense.
I've wondered how many others developing or using Perl professionally or personally also have Xbox Live gamertags (or other gaming accts).
How many others would others be interested in expanding their XBL friends list with those who share this common denominator? Maybe a Perl Clan would form. Play time wouldn't necessarily constitute "shop talk" time - though debates and Q:A's could come up occasionally.
If a debate couldn't be settled, we could just skip to "Duke'n it out" for the winner or to see who the best scripters are (Perl v. Python v. etc) using Plasma rifles, GoW Lancers, or the Force. (It's splattering time.)
If interested, please consider posting a simple reply here. Not to exclude, other folks using PS3/PSP PSN's, Steam ID, Wii friend codes, etc. should also reply if interested.
If there's enough interest, we could create a group or wiki somewhere to congregate at - Google, Yahoo, maybe gamer.perl.org, who knows. It might take a teensy bit of thought not to re-create something as complex as a Facebook/MySpace friend invite webapp - while not leaving our Gamer identities in the internet's public view. (You might not want to be receiving invites from 100's or 1000's of folks on your console so invite vetting might be easier in a webapp from known perl account id sources - cpan.org, perl.org, perlmonks.org , etc.)
Later, Mark S.
