Buying an XBox 360

Hi all, so I want to get an XBox 360 and I'd appreciate some advice.

I went to Future Shop and saw three deals. One is an Arcade Pack but it doesn't sound like it has a hard drive (just a 25Mb memory device. The other two deals are:

1) a standard pack with two games I don't really want and a 60GB Hard disk at $299
2) an elite pack with the same two games and a 120GB Hard Disk and an HDMI lea (my TV ha HDMI) at $399

So my question is, is it worth getting the bigger hard drive?

Are there better deals around and should I consider anything else?

What ace games should I consider for a) me and b) my kids.

Thanks for any advice! :-D

Harddrive is pretty much a necessity with the new dashboard update, which requires harddrive installation (which the Arcade model lacks).

I'm pretty sure all modern 360s have an HDMI port, so I'd look into that.

For harddrive space, 60gb should be enough unless you plan to make use of that feature in the new dashboard that allows you to rip your games to the harddrive for faster load speeds. I personally can't see anyone using 60gb otherwiswe unless they're into loading their drive full of demos or are big into paying for high-definition video downloads.

Most Xbox Live! Arcade titles are of a small filsize (<100mb) typically (with some exceptions, most recent being Portal:Still Alive at 630mb) so that wouldn't fill the drive either if you're big into those.

I'd get the bigger hard drive, there's hundreds of demos and films you can download on xbox live, and on average your looking at aroudn 1 gig per download. That 60 gig drive will fill up pretty fast. Also, make sure you use HDMI, it's crystal clear and easier that plugging in five plugs for the normal HD leads. I'm buying a new xbox in a few weeks and will probably buy the elite one too.

Jake -

Get the one with the largest hard drive for downloads and hd based gaming.

Just out on Friday this week - "Banjo Kazooie Nuts and Bolts" for you and the kids (one of the best platform game duos on N64) now released in a new game, plus old game done for 360 free if you buy from Game (well here in the UK).

Rares' other excellent 360 offering is "Kameo" also fantastic for you and kids - old now but still fantastic.

Fable II is awesome, opening is sad so maybe let the kids see it after you have viewed it. But the game - very like Zelda - allows the player to make his/her own adevnturous decisions in life and see what affect it has on everyone, loads of quests, magic, swashbuckling, baddies, goodies, jobs to earn money, games to play and people to meet, girls to marry and have kids with etc. Oh and your player gets a dog all the way through the game and you can teach it stuff - neat!

Get one of the COD's (3,4,5) ONLY for you though not the kids and save some money for XboxLive - to get online gaming against anyone or with you friends, you can also chat to them in game or privately (you can have upto four conversations going at once if you can handle it!).

Have a great time and let me know your gamertag so we can game together online.

IPete2.

Demo and such can be uninstalled though. It's unlikely your going to want to keep 20 odd demos on your HD. If your a little short of cash, buying the 60 GB HD won't ruin yer life :o) You probably won't notice at all. I've always found the more space you have, the quicker you fill it.

I learned that from my mum buying a garden shed...

im treating myself to an elite (the black 120gb) soon (within the next 6 months the way my soons turn out to be)
but its a pitty that most retailers give limited packages, there was a time when you could get a console and x stickered games now all i see is the console and the same 2 or 3 no matter which shop i go to
none of which i want

you could say buy the console sans games and buy the ones you want
i might do that
but the price of the bundle is cheaper than buying the games separatly
yet i wont want the games

i dont mind buy one get one free type deals if you want BOTH games, but i hate the s**t sandwitch deals and for me its the reverse 2 games i dont want for the sake of one i do

I would get the Arcade pack.

Doesn't one of the package get Wi-Fi too?

Got to admit I'm tempted by the 120Gb drive as I bet I'll fill it up (or my kids will). OK thanks for the detailed info Ipete2, I'll check them out and let you know when I'm online, although we'll have a time difference of 8 hours...

@Ginger Tea: yeah I'd rather get the console on it's own but I haven't seen any deals like that, I guess I need to shop around. The two games are Kung Fu Panda (6.5 on Gamespot), which the kids might like and Lego Indy which we already have for Wii...

@markcw: What's so good about it?

@Gosse: Don't know but it sounds useful as I don't have wired Internet in this house (probably will get it in future house).

Nothing apart from it being cheaper (because it has no hard drive). Fine if you are a VERY casual gamer, but for you Jake, I'd recommend the Elite.

[I realise I am not markcw... or at least... I wasn't the last time I looked!] ;)

Ok thx. Just checked out the Xbox package specs on Wiki. The Elite comes with a headset too. Also none have wireless Internet so it seems I'd ned to buy and adapter. I wouldn't mind one with a long cable as the Xbox will not be in a great place for receiving wireless...

I was just gonna say I would definately NOT get the Arcade pack. Mousey - I'm glad to hear you are not Markcw cos then I wouldnt know you at all!

IPete2.

if you went for the hdd after the purchace isnt it more than the price hike for the pack with?
and no hdd = no xbox games (if you have any 'classic' games knocking around)
by the time i get mine post christmas (pre easter ;) ) they might have a games pack id want

The best bang-for-buck is the Premium with the 60GB HD. If you ever desperately feel the need to fill 60GB, you can always upgrade.

You can plug in USB2 HD's and stream music off them, or you can network your Xbox up and use software on your PC to enable streaming of all manner of video files.

As an entertainment centre, the Xbox 360 really is excellent. Not quite managing some of the PS3's feats, but overall a much nicer package.

My advice would be to go easy on purchases of full games. Spend a bit of money on a 4200 points Xbox Live card and download yourself some of the quite excellent Xbox Live Arcade games. Many of those are far better quality than so-called 'full' releases.

Beware though, it's very easy to spend £100+ on Arcade game downloads. Buy your points cards through Amazon or Play.com.

I got one of the then-Premiums early this year. HDMI connections, 20gb hard drive.
One important thing to note is that the drive came filled with about 9gb of stuff. Mostly the XBox OS. It also came with a bunch of demos, but I doubt they added more than a gig or two. I'm thinking of getting an Elite sometime in the future, as I'm really getting into XNA and my HDD is rapidly filling up.
If you only have a Wi-Fi network, you will have to buy the $100 network adapter. I only get about 50% signal strength in my living room, but downloads and everything work!
As for games, I personally recommend: Ace Combat 6, Forza Motorsport 2, and Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2. Those will last a long time, and they're available cheaply used! (Except for Geometry Wars. That is a $10 download only, but it is totally worth it!!!)

Good luck!

The best deal is to find someone who works for MS. They can get you a package deal with all the cables and extra games for cheap. Also, they can get some of the games at cost.

> @markcw: What's so good about it?

I like the name, "Arcade Pack" has a nice ring to it that suggests cheapness, poor quality and disappointment, but that's probably just me. :)

AceCombat 6 - It got Two player game and good fun!

I would go for the 60Gb Premium as long as it has a HDMI port. I have the elite and have had it for 8 months and I've only filled ~ 25GB and there's about 10GB of stuff I could easily delete and not miss. Hunt around for different game bundles are there are some good ones available.

As far as games I would go for:

Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise (for the kids).
Gears of War 2.
Burnout Paradise.
Assasins's Creed
Geometery Wars 2: Evolved (my son loves this game co-op)
Braid (my wife and I colaborate on this game.)
Virtual Tennis 3 (my daughter really likes playing this co-op)
Ninja Gaiden 2
Mass Effect (kids and adults)
Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation
Forza 2 is also worthy of a mention if you like your racing realistic instead of Burnout style.

Darkheart

Games on my 'must have ' list (once I get a XBox360 are...

1. Fable 2
2. PGR 3
3. Burnout Paradise.

No one mentioned Halo 3 but I got it anyway.

I was tempted by Halo3 but we've got all the incarnations/extension packs of Halo2 on the last XBox.... Viva Pinata is a great choice for a childrens game.

I tried the Braid demo, that's one whacky game.

I got the 60gb Premium recently. I thought about the Elite but for that price it's not worth it. I doubt I'll ever fill the hard drive, and the Premium has HDMI. I also got a 30m ethernet cable (from cables2u, much cheaper than in the shops) and tacked it round all the skirting boards to my router instead of spending £60 on the wi-fi addon, and I reckon my connection is probably all the better for it.

The wi-fi add-on is $100 here, I was shocked at such a crazy price. My landlady said she'd put in a wired internet connection if we needed it so I'm gonna ask for that.

Yeah the x360 wifi addon is a ridiculous price, considering its probably a $2 chip and comes free in just about every other system.

Instead of buying the M$ WI-FI add on, I bought a LINKSYS Wireless B Game Adapter for £20. Works a treat :)

http://www.pocket-lint.co.uk/reviews/review.phtml/186/1210/linksys-wireless-b-game-adapter.phtml

As for games, I highly recommend -

HalfLife 2 Orange Box
BioShock
OverLord
Gears Of War 2
Bully

:)

Grey

The wired connection will allow you to ENJOY rather than just play games on XBOX LIVE - Mousey had a wi-fi and ditched it eventually for a wired one.

IPete2.

Yeah... wireless has always hated me - lol

I bought an official wireless adapter and struggled with random disconnections and so on, but it might just be something to do with my location.

Eventually I sold it and bought some Powerline stuff, which, in case you haven't heard of it, enables you to do the following:

1. Plug a Powerline adapter into a wall (power) socket near your router.
2. Connect to router with a standard RJ45 network cable.
3. Plug another Powerline adapter into a wall (power) socket near your target device. This can be anywhere in the house.
4. Connect to target device with a standard RJ45 network cable.
(or 4. Connect to a network hub with a network cable, and then go from that into target devices - in my case currently a PC, Mac and PS3).

It has worked 100% perfectly for me for well almost a year now. No problems and as fast as a normal wired network.

But hey - wireless works for some people, so each to their own. :)

I found generally the wireless adapter worked as well as any other wireless adapater but there are lots of things that can mess up a wireless network. I ended up replacing my Homeplug based solution with a wired connection in the end because I wanted to stream video from my PC to the 360 and the bandwidth over Homeplugs was insufficient for this.

Darkheart

yeah wired > wireless for price and reliability.

IPete2: Thanks, I've asked the landlady to fit a wired connection now.

You're landlady fits internet connections? Wow! You're living in a wonderous place!

Games: Fable 2, Halo 3, Banjo Kazooi: Nuts and bolts, and COD.

Those are my suggestions for games :).

Furthermore she invited us all for Sunday lunch yesterday!

@Yahfree: thanks, I have those on my list. :-)

I didn't buy one either, the price was shocking. Instead I whipped out my old trusty DLINK wireless router and connected that to the 360. Saved £40 :)

I can see where people are coming from on the PGR4 front, I am/was a huge PGR fan.

PGR2 was captivating. PGR4 has fantastic scenery, but to focus on the cone events they've got mad yellow and green cones which you are meant to steer through and lots of guiding cones which are red and white.

Q.1 red & white cones are good as gates. yellow and green as gates - did the PGR4 developers get a back hander from headache tablets ?

I do not usually gripe, I was a huge PGR2 fan, but criticism where it is due I'm not sure they evolved the product. But, were their hands tied?

Careful, you might go missing for five years then turn up in her freezer!