When I was about 5 or 8, I was given a hacked Xbox. It played and could read copied games. We knew it was illegal (Even I knew at the time), but when your poor, living in a house that is basically falling apart as you speak and with two begging kids, you make do with what you can. Each year of Christmas or a Birthday, a new game would be given to us. It was a CD disc with the title of the game hand written on it. We knew it was sloppy and it wasn't the real thing, but beggars can't be choosers.
We'd both, me and my sister, would get a game that we wanted. I would get the new FPS Shoot'em-Up and my sister would get the new stealth game (she always loved those games). Although, most of them were either of bad quality or have a different language, we still loved those damn games.
By the time I was 10 or 11, we had 4 spool full of games to play. From the newest Wolfenstein to the best Bioshock, we played these game until we just couldn't play them any more. Well, since the update, that was the case.
An update came out on the 360 and basically fried the chip that allowed copied games to be played on it. To us (And looking at our large collection of games), it was like the Red Ring of Death. We had nothing to play besides Sonic 06, Fallout 3 and an old Genesis with Streets of Rage on it. Although, the Genesis was fun, we didn't want to play those games and we couldn't get the others back by buying them! As soon as we cried out to our dad about this, he called his brother-in-law to fix it.
He was the one who hacked this, we thought he could fix it. We couldn't just walk or drive to his house, he lived 8 hours away from us. Since he proposed to my aunt not too long before, my Abuelita and Gramps was going to visit to congratulate the two. We asked them to take the Xbox to go fix it as the went to the Airport. This would be a 3 day trip for them as we waited for this be resolved.
The trip was longer than we expected. It was 5 days until they came back. My heart was pounding at the time. I didn't want my only possession to be useless in my home, the only valuable thing we had. My dad kept telling me to wait and wait and hope they get it fixed. The thought of losing my 360 lingered in my mind as we sat in front of the TV at home, the only entertainment we had. Thoughts of the 360 getting stolen on the streets or it being lost in the luggage line in the Airport. I was massively depressed for almost an entire week.
The day came when the arrived, we even waited at my Abuelita's house for them. I came to the window pointing towards the garage constantly as we waited. We watched either Big Bang Theory while we waited or How I Met Your Mother. My depression lifted for a while as we watched Ted and Sheldan do their things that made us laugh. What made it greater was when I saw that old car we called a boat going in the driveway. "They're here!" I shouted as I ran to the garage door.
I see my Gramps with a stern look on his face as he wore his fedora. I would ask him repeatedly if it was fixed or not. He didn't even look at me at the moment. I looked to my Abuelita and asked her thinking she might of known. She just silently hugged me and went into the house from the garage.
I was curious of what happened. I watched them as they brought their luggage in, waiting to see that white box out of the 60's style green bags as they passed by, but nothing. My gramps closed the trunk without anything in his hands. I looked at him as he was passing by me, he just gave a short smile and patted my head a bit.
I walk to the living room with my gramps as he started to talk to my dad in spanish. God, I wish I was able to speak it. It sounded like they were talking about something important. I listened, not knowing what they were say. My dad mid way in the conversation started to say no in a sad way repeatedly. I was worried and reluctant to ask them what happened, but I didn't want to interrupt.
As soon as they finish, my gramps leaves to his room. I asked my dad what happened and he told me that the 360 was gone. I asked what happened to it and he tells me that he didn't know and still to this day, I don't know what happened to it. I question myself what they could have done to it, but nothing has been revealed. My mom says that they might have given it away at the Airport so they didn't have to go through the hassle of getting it searched and my dad says they sold it for money to give to my aunt as a gift, but still it remains a mystery. I ask them, but they don't answer or avoid the question.
This depressed me so much, but my Abuelita said she would replace it. Since my Birthday was around, she and my dad would buy a new one with games added. I was lucky since I got the Limited Edition R2D2 complete with the Kinects and a Star Wars game to go with the motion control device. Since then, I enjoyed buying a game. It was more of an exciting thing since you had it in you hands and it was the real thing. I kept it for about 4 years and sold it, including the games, for the extra money for a new Xbox One that I still have today.
Well, I hope you somewhat like this little story! What experience have you had that was similar to this? I would love to hear something worse than this and what do you think happened to my Xbox? You can tell me, but 'til next time...
Play More Games!