I just found out yesterday that the Sci-Fi Channel is coming to Australia. It's possibly the only thing which can push me over the line to getting Pay-TV. That and the fact that free-to-air is getting so bad.

So can anyone guess what I'm looking forward to?

That's right, the possibility that new Battlestar Galactica episodes might air a lot quicker here than they have to date, and that the show won't get mucked around in the way that Channel 10 has done - especially Ten's latest trick of dumping BSG Season 2 to a very late night time slot with little to no fanfare (thank goodness the Season 2 DVD's were out relatively soon afterwards).

Anyway - I'm happy about the news, and it's quite likely I'll take the lowest package available on Foxtel or Austar, and then add whatever package is necessary to get Sci-Fi. There are other channels that come in the minimum package that I'd be happy to have too, but non ...

Well, I did wind up setting up and playing with the XBox 360 last night, since I had a bout of insomnia in the end.

All in all, very happy. Glad I bought the wireless adapter although I may have to look into replacing my beloved Netgear FWAG114 802.11a/b/g router. It's pretty old now - has served its purpose VERY well - and is not fully compatible with XBox Live. Not so worried by this since prices for XBox Live compatibles seem to be reasonably low.

Anyhow, I'm about to head home and try to get some time in with either Project Gotham 3 (fun game) or Perfect Dark Zero. I wanted Dead or Alive 4, but looks like I have to wait for now.

Any other game suggestions out there?

Well, strolled into The Gamesmen at just before midnight and picked up my XBox 360. Only a few people instore, so it was a nice smooth transaction.

But before I left the city at around 11:00pm, it was absolutely pouring down. So I wonder how the big launch in Pitt St Mall went. Did anyone go? Did anyone get drenched?

Of course, with any luck someone had the foresight to look at the weather and change plans - or already had a plan B. It's embarrassing to watch when that doesn't happen.

Anyway, for those of you who were crazy enough to do the midnight launch wherever you are - enjoy, you'll probably be playing it long before I do. I still have to work today, and I will therefore put off my XBox 360 setup to tonight. At least I found someone to take my old XBox, and they'll probably get it later today :-)

Yup - off to Gamesmen in Penrith tonight, just in case no-one else turns up so the guys won't be lonely, and getting my XBox 360.

O'course it's been a long day so I doubt I'll play it until the next day sometime - but I will still be going to work tomorrow (should be quiet if some of those media reports are to be believed?!?!?!)

Well, it seems the Gamesmen in Penrith will be opening at 12:01am on Thursday after all.

So I guess I'll be going since it'll mean not having to drop in before work ... and of course I want my Xbox 360! :-)

Now, I know nowhere near every Australian user of the site is going to buy an XBox 360 or has bought into the hype, but I'm curious as to how many will be staying up late for the 12:01am XBox launch on 23rd March. I'm even more curious if anyone will be going to "Australia's biggest entertainment launch ...ever!" at Pitt St Mall in Sydney (details here).

Now for me, the Games Men in Penrith have no special plans for opening at midnight. As far as they're aware, they will open at their usual time.

Suits me just fine. I don't think I'd really welcome a midnight launch since I'd kinda feel obligated to go and get my 360 in spite of having pre-ordered. Instead, I look forward to rocking up in the mo ...

So I've mucked around with Podcasts, downloading a couple of favorite radio shows, and I think I mentioned I downloaded the Battlestar Galactica podcasts.

Well, I ran out. I go through them much faster than they produce the things. So now I'm finding all kinds of other things to download. I'm not far off finishing a Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde audio book - it was free, and is computer generated, but hey - I'm not fussy. I shudder at some of the prices I've seen for audiobooks on iTunes and I think they either have to be ripoffs or the author/publisher has an overexaggerated idea of the relative value of audio over written text (from my point of view at least). But then I'm not a huge fan of DRM anyway, for a few reasons.

So I guess I'll go mainly for free audiobooks and the Podcasts. I've found some longer ones (1 hour +) that might hold my attention for now. We'll see.

The various Podcast directories seem a little tricky to me - I don't know wha ...

Okay, got my Premiere Pack. Got my Play & Charge Kit, which I keep calling Plug & Charge. Got a battery for the second controller. Got the 12 month subscription pack with headset. Got the Wireless Networking Adapter. Got an S-Video cable that I don't actually know if I'll need (playing it safe).

So now all I need is my Xbox 360. Most or all of my existing games are on the compatibility list, I have Perfect Dark Zero as part of the Premiere Pack, and I was planning to get Dead or Alive 4.

With just under 11 days to go, I'm already set!

One thing I'm really looking forward to is the wireless adapter. I never tried Xbox Live before, and part of it was not wanting to run CAT5 cabling around the house or playing around with other solutions. Now that there's an option in the official accessories, I think I'll be around Live - as long as they have a category for crap players!

But of course I'm also looking forward to the ...

I have always loved the original Battlestar Galactica. It was fun and corny, and something about Cylons was just cool. When I heard there was to be a new BSG I got excited and couldn't wait to see it - gender changes and all else aside, I wanted to see what someone else would make of it.

Last year with my health problems and workload, I missed the new Battlestar Galactica miniseries (even with it having an encore screening!). I was actually in hospital when I finally caught an episode of the series - and I thought it was awesome.

I managed to catch a few - but then Channel Ten here in Australia started mucking around with the timeslot and put that godawful Medium in front (sorry - I know some people must like it, and probably hate Battlestar Galactica - but I don't). I really made an effort to catch it but started missing them. It was particularly disturbing after having missed a few episodes to tune in only to find Everyone Loves Ray ...