Under the Hood
Xbox 360, shown with wireless controller, is a sleek, customizable gaming and entertainment system
Xbox 360 is much smaller than its predecessor–it measures approximately 3.3 by 12.2 by 10.2 inches and weighs 7.7 lbs. It’s powered by custom IBM PowerPC-based CPU with three symmetrical cores each running at 3.2 GHz. It also carries a custom ATI graphics processor loaded with 10 MB of embedded DRAM, 48-way parallel floating-point dynamically scheduled shader pipelines and Unified shader architecture. This is powerful enough to draw 500 million triangles per second. In other words, it makes for great looking games in standard TV definition, and even better thanks to built-in support for HDTV 1080i televisions. It also supports the widescreen 16:9 format.
Control your Gameplay
Xbox 360 uses a refined button layout for its controllers. Back and Start buttons sit at the center of the controller and between them is a new Xbox Guide button, which instantly takes the user to the Xbox 360 user interface. From there, they can check for friends online, access personal digital content like photos and songs, and more. The black and white buttons of the first Xbox controllers have been replaced with new shoulder buttons placed above the left and right triggers. XBOX 360 can accommodate up to four wireless controllers and has three USB 2.0 slots to use for wired controllers or for streaming your digital media from digital cameras, MP3 players, and any Windows XP-based PC. Microsoft has also created a video-conferencing camera, sold separately, that will work with the system.
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| Xbox 360 can manage your games, your online friends, and your personal digital library |
The Media Experience
All Xbox 360 titles can be played in either standard or high-definition resolution in 16:9 widescreen, with anti-aliasing for smoother graphics. Game designers will be able to take advantage of the system’s multi-channel surround sound. The Xbox 360’s digital media allows users to supplement any game’s music from tracks in their own personal library.
Go Live
A built-in Ethernet port allows users to connect their system to a broadband connection for access to Xbox Live. The Xbox Live Silver Membership included with the console lets anyone create a Gamertag and gamer card to express your online identity, chat live with voice chat, and connect to the Xbox Live Marketplace to buy expansions, maps, and other digital items for your games. You can also update to a Xbox Live Gold Membership at anytime for even more benefits. The separately sold wireless adapter supports the common 802.11a, -b, and -g standards.
What’s in the Box?
- XBOX 360 console
- 60GB detachable hard drive
- Wireless controller
- Xbox Live headset
- Standard AV cable
- Ethernet cable
- Detachable faceplate
- Xbox Live Silver membership
WARNING
Before you buy it do a search on the “Red Ring of Death” (RRoD), Or just anything about “flashing red lights” and “xbox 360″. They should put a warning in their ads or something. I got the RRoD, I know a few people who got the RRoD, and I don’t really know too many people with an xbox 360. Based on that and just all the other people an internet search will show have gotten the problem, makes it seem to me like a common problem. Basically if you see those lights there’s something wrong with your system and you can’t play it. Sure there is a 3yr warranty to fix it, from what I understand only for the 3 red lights. Only 1yr for the 2 red lights, supposed ‘overheating’ fault, which I eventually got during a 10min game session and continue to get every once in a while. Even still with the warranty you have to send your system in to get it repaired or replaced with a refurbished system, which takes about a month to get resolved. It’s pretty annoying paying so much for a system and not being able to play it. The problem is common enough I’m not putting any more money into their system. All I’m trying to do is warn you of something I didn’t know, other than that the quality of it’s games is fine. Same old same old, just flashier graphics, as expected. I’m just frustrated with Xbox and I’m going to try and not spend any more money on Xbox and save up to get a PS3. If you’re looking for something new and original get a wii, other than that for graphics and more mature games get PS3. Anyways I just think people should know the risks they’re taking, maybe by now the problem has been addressed with a better answer than a warranty extension, but I’m just telling you my experience.
Get a PS3 instead
Do yourself a favor and get a PS3 instead of buying this piece of junk. This thing crashes and messes up discs. To get a big round scratch on a disc, all you have to do is pick up the 360, move it or turn is to the side, and you will have a disc that is in terrible condition. Get a PS3 instead. The quality is much better on a PS3.
A lot of fun but Amazon should know better
Amazon, I know the new 360s, I’ve used the new 360s, new 360s have 12.1 voltage, Amazon this is not the newest 360 model. The 360 that I recieved was not the newest model, it was a Falcon board, not the new Jasper board. Just something to know. So far, no issues and the system works great but i’m not even sure that some of the offers included with the system are still applicable because it is clearly one of the first 60GB units that was put out to market especially since it has a giant “Now with 60GB Hard drive” label on the front of the box.
red rings?
So I was very cautious in getting a xbox 360 due to the many failure issues and red ring of death. However, I can safely say that nothings is wrong with my 360 after playing for about 6 months. The thing is durable, i dropped it a couple of times and i rebooted it when it was loading from the hardrive..no problems whatsoever. But i dont like the headset that comes with the console because one step on it and bye bye headset. Overall, i am really enjoying the xbox 360 and play great titles (call of duty 5, nba 2k9, battlefield, midnight club) very very solid console.
All around fun!
I love my xbox. I am not a gamer, and I don’t spend loads of time on it playing video games. I love to watch dvd’s. Long epics by Sergio Leone are great on it because of the clear picture it produces. I also use it when keeps my cousins and there children entertained when they come to visit, not to forget it is a great music player. The only down side is that after 3hrs it gets quite hot. If you live in a hot climate or your like me and you like to save on the central air bill, get an inter cooler. You will be kicking yourself if you don’t. All in all it is the perfect home entertainment system when your on a budget.