So My Xbox Died (Sort Of)

Day #9 of daily blogging!

Over the past two weeks, I've been dealing with a semi-malfunctioning Xbox.

It all started when I had to download an update for Modern Warfare. It was a minor update to incorporate some new DLC, nothing major.

As it was downloading, I was cooking dinner for the week. I thought it would be a quick update, but things turned out differently.

I turned away from the stove to look at my TV.

The download was stuck. The progress bar would not budge.

A minute went by. Then two. After ten minutes of sitting still, I decided to hard reset the Xbox.

It wouldn't turn back on. That's when the nightmare began.

I'll spare you the details, but long story short, I wasn't able to get the Xbox to properly work without issue ever again. After two factory resets, I was able to get it working. I re-downloaded all of my Xbox games and started playing again. But when Modern Warfare's Season Two update came along, I knew I was in trouble.

I would attempt to download the update, only for it to freeze again. A hard reset would occur. The Xbox wouldn't back on.

I had enough at this point. The Xbox was a lost cause. A short drive to Best Buy and some brief discussion rendered me the last Xbox One S in their possession. It was 1 TB, 250GB more than my now-bricked Xbox.

But I didn't open it right away. I tried one last time to resuscitate my old Xbox. No dice - the console wouldn't even respond to any controller inputs on the setup screen.

I've been really busy in the past couple of weeks, so I haven't had time to set up the new Xbox till now.

It's a bittersweet moment because my old Xbox was given to me by a close friend of mine back in grad school. It was my going-away present after completing my Master's degree program.

I have a ton of memories with the old Xbox. After a stressful week in the lab, I would head over to my friend's place deep in Cambridge. The four of us (A., Z., T., with an appearance from F. from time to time) would order food, play Call of Duty till late in the evening, then go out for a night on the town.

Life was good.

The hard drive on my Xbox might be corrupted, but it will always be a reminder of the memories I made during grad school.

It's funny. I've been a console gamer all my life, but at the age of 24, I've bought my first console for myself ever.

I want to think of this as a small milestone in my life. Not necessarily a new beginning, but a tiny sign of progress and better things to come over the horizon.

My Xbox died. Long live Xbox!

Can't keep a gamer down forever!