Recently, we were playing an old Star Wars game for the original Xbox and drifting slowly into abject tediousness. We had this game for two years and solved it within the first three months of owning it. We had solved it, but we had never found all the hidden pods on each level. This glaring violation of our obsessive compulsive tendencies could have been resolved with a few choice Xbox cheats.

Happily armed with a bevy of cheats, we (that's me and little sister Magee) have moved on to sweep our game collection, which includes such gems as Revenge of the Sith and Need for Speed. Unfortunately, we know many of you are sitting on hundreds of games that have yet to be unlocked. Get the most bang for your buck, especially with the original Xbox games, and cheat all the games you have. The August 12th release of madden NFL 09 is the last - you heard me - last game for the original Xbox. From here on out, its all Xbox 360!

The good news is the original Xbox games can still be played on the 360. Well, most of them anyway. And there should be a charming graphics improvement, thanks to the super hard drive wired into the Xbox 360. So, all those glorious original Xbox cheats are still viable points of light leading the way to gaming nirvana.

The bottom line with games is that we all get irritated by the hard levels. It's no fun to get splattered over and over again by the same alien overlord or tough guy boss-man. Time is of the essence - especially for players who have job jobs. Save yourself the time and headaches and crack open a fresh can of Xbox cheats.

If you haven't used them before, today is the perfect time to start. I know you can beat the game sans any help - sure, sure. Say, how many of you fine gamers were thwarted by trying to beat both the elephants and the dragon at the same time in Lord of the Rings: Return of the King? Anyone? Thought so. Save yourself the stress and revel in the splendor of Xbox cheats.