Man, it has got to be fucking neat to be Microsoft and have the ability to take such a huge hit on each console it sells over a sustained period of time. All in the name of developing a product line and brand awareness for what's hoped to be the real moneymaker, no less.

Being the Linux nerd I am, I at one point fell prey to the stupid bullshit moral obligation to hate Microsoft. I'm still not a huge MS fan by any means, but I do have to hand it to them on the Assbox. I naturally resisted this console for a long time, but naturally the consumer whore instincts took over and I acquiesced. Instincts, and Dead or Alive: Xtreme Barbie Doll Dressup.

In the end, I was rather impressed with the Assbox. Luckily they got their shit together and started making the Controller S standard before I got mine, though. I honestly cannot see what they were thinking with the original 43 lb. monstrosity that they supposedly did so much testing on. Who the fuck was in their focus groups, basketball players and dock workers?

The ability to rip tracks from CDs and play them in certain games is just the best fucking idea ever. Unfortunately, it's only in select games, but it comes in real handy in oh-so-many cases. For example, in DOA: XBDD, I can replace all of the shitty music that comes with the game, and I can augment the selection of shitty 80s music in GTA: VC.

There's one thing that pisses me off about the Assbox, though. It's basically a stripped down PC, but as yet they didn't think to include a battery-backed clock?