So, I’ve finally got an Xbox 360 (with my own money, not a loaner or a freebie). After a day mucking around with it, I’m really impressed. The dashboard is nice and simple, downloading game demos is easy enough and the backwards compatibility works, more or less (Halo 2 is ace, Black locks up from time to time). It’s a gorgeous bit of kit and I’m particularly impressed by the wireless controller, which feels “right” when you use it.

A couple of minor niggles, though:

* Setting up wireless networking could be easier.

* Some games – such as Half-Life 2 – don’t work if you’re using the VGA HD Cable. As far as I can tell, there’s no workaround unless you’re willing to use a completely different cable whenever you play it. I like Half-Life 2 but I don’t like it enough to indulge in computer cabling fun every time I fancy a quick game.

* Fifty quid for a wireless bridge is ridiculous when USB Wi-Fi adapters cost less than £15 in the real world.

* The Quake 4 demo is a bugger: get killed and you have to sit through the intro cut scenes all over again. It’s enough to put me off buying the game, because it makes me think the retail version will do the same. As I’m rubbish at games and get killed every two seconds, that’s a lot of wasted time. I’m not paying 40-odd quid to sit through cutscenes – I made that mistake when I bought Black.

* Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter is far too complicated for my tiny brain.

And the Ferret of Games? That’s the biggest flaw: at the time of writing, there’s no sodding games ferret.

*comedy drum roll and cymbal crash*

Thank you very much.