This 'Box Ain't Made For Walking

This morning, I went to the Banham car boot sale. Was supposed to go last week but there was a Formula 1 match on. I couldn't give a crap but my dad always watches them. Seriously, I don't "get" F1. So much monotonous "eeeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEHHHW!".

Anyway, I both love and hate Banham. My hate comes purely because I never leave the place with any money. I love it for pretty much the same reason though - as well as being cheaper for stuff than eBay or second hand shops, I always find stuff I want, even though most of the time it's on impulse and turns out to be utter junk. Today, that was not the case.

Around a year ago, I got a Gamecube there. It cost £10 with two controllers and was the lovely black model, not the icky purple one. Since then I was looking to complete the sixth-generation set with an Xbox. And today, I found one.

As with the Gamecube it's not the original colour - this one is a lovely transparenty silvery one. Came with two controllers, one official and one unofficial wireless piece of crap that will only ever be used if I'm wanting to play with someone else. It also came with a DVD remote which will likely go unused, since DVD watching will remain a PS3 thang. All that cost an acceptable £15. I then also, not wanting to go without something to play on it, got a dodgy copy of Fable: The Lost Chapters for £2. It stutters every few seconds and, every now and then, throws up an error about how the disc is dirty or damaged. It works though, albeit with the need to save regularly, and is worth the £2 it cost. It also provides a nice stopgap untiiiiiil...

...the other six games I just bought for it arrive. Costing a grand total of £19.95 (I had £20 left from Banham somehow!), I got the following:

Burnout 3: Takedown because I obsessively love Burnout. I used to own 2 on PS2 (want it back), and I still have Revenge on PS2 and the absolutely stunning Paradise on PS3. I've borrowed Takedown on PS2 from a friend in the past and feel that, if I'm going to complete my Burnout collection, I may as well simultaneously bulk out my Xbox library.

Crazy Taxi 3 because Crazy Taxi has a place in my heart. It was the first game I owned for my PS2 (I sold it stupidly but have since rebought it). It's also attached to one of my all-time favourite memories from my entire life - going to a motorshow in Birmingham in 1999. When I was a kid I was absolutely mad about cars, and seeing all these stupidly awesome futuristic things in real life was like a dream come true. They also had a bunch of Dreamcasts with Crazy Taxi set up on, which I thoroughly enjoyed. But yeah, s'why I got Crazy Taxi 3.

Halo because it was under £3. It's enjoyable, though I don't see the big fuss, so thought I may as bloody well!

Midtown Madness 3 because, as with Crazy Taxi, I have good memories of the original. The original, which I still have on PC CD, was once upon a time installed on all the computers at school. Cue multiplayer city wandering every lunchtime, with swear words scattered randomly in the chat box to start off giggling around the room. I was unaware there was a third instalment (I wasn't even really super-aware of a 2) until it was mentioned by a friend... all the memories came back and, when I finally got the Xbox (MM3 isn't available on any other console) I knew I had to nab a copy.

SSX On Tour because, as with Burnout, CT and MM, I love the series. I have Tricky and 3 on PS2, and used to own 1 (want back) and On Tour (wanted back until I got it again). They should really bring it to Generation 7... specifically PS3 (no, that crappy Blur instalment for Wii doesn't count o.o).

XIII because it was £1.21 and brought my total up nicely to £19.95. Plus I own it on PS2 - I guess it's handier playing it on Xbox because of the whole hard drive thang it has going on!

Apart from the Xbox and stuff mentioned before the six games, I didn't get much else from Banham. I wanted a quick drink though, so I... I impulsively bought 24 cans of cola for £3. Sigh!

My dad's also an impulsive spender at Banham. He bought a Polish Scalextric knock-off and a violin. Quite a nice violin too. Not that he can play it... and he'll not ever bother learning! He'll just pick it up now and then and deafen anyone in the vicinity of its screeching.

Anyway, apart from a few piccies of the Xbox and stuff, that's all I have today.

See y'all!

~Andrew