Xbox 360 Games Review

 Xbox 360 Games Review

Microsoft Xbox 360

The next generation game console from Microsoft with HD-DVD drive certainly awakened and put high interest in all gamers out there.  Not only does Xbox 360 offer games for HD (High Definition) which fits in with today’s lifestyle of HD enjoyment, it offers wide variety of all around entertainment which includes playing music, movies and make friends with online gamers and other activities through Xbox Live. 

The console is slim and can be laid horizontally or vertically.  The fun feature for the console is that you have option to buy interchangeable faceplates which costs around $20.00 to find what fits into your personality.   

There are three types of Xbox. 

Xbox 360 Arcade - $199.00

Xbox 360 - $299.00

Xbox 360 Elite - $399.00

Basically, if you want more out of the Xbox, I recommend Xbox 360 or Xbox 360 Elite.  They both come with headsets and network cable which Xbox 360 Arcade doe not.  The major difference between the Xbox 360 and Xbox 360 Elite is the storage level.  Xbox 360 Elite has 120GB with HDMI output included.  Xbox 360 has 60GB and does not have HDMI included in the package.  Overall, with little extra money, Xbox 360 Elite offers more and comes with black console, headset and controller instead of beige color that Xbox 360 offers.  Another nice feature for Xbox 360 is that you can still play some of the games for the original Xbox.  There’s hard drive attachment on top of the console that allows playing old games on the new Xbox 360 & Xbox 360 Elite. 

The console has built in support for wireless controller.  The controller is wireless and can easily hook up to your friend’s Xbox 360 if needed.  Being wireless certainly gives your more freedom when playing games.  The console has two memory card slots on the front and USB ports both front and back.  There’s no built-in WiFi network, but you can connect to a router via the Ethernet cable which then takes you to Xbox Live.  Xbox Live is an online system which lets your track your performance and find online friends.  Microsoft added this feature mostly so you can connect to other online gamers.  With this feature you can find and download movies, TV shows and other contents created for member of Xbox Live.  Members can add lists of friends to contact and keep in touch by chatting and sharing your profile.   There are two levels of membership for Xbox Live.  The Silver membership comes free with features such as tracking your performance and sharing with other gamers.  The Gold membership is paid service that adds feature to play multiplayer gamers in Xbox Live.  The large Xbox Live also features marketplace and Arcade which has good mixture of game library to choose from which is a big draw for Xbox gamers.

While there’s lot of pro features to Xbox 360 and Xbox 360 Elite, certain features I wish existed as standard not as an option.  The memory cards are great feature to have but unless you own a two Xbox 360s and need to interchange saved games or small files to another, it’s not going to be used that much.  Instead it would have been really nice to add WiFi as a built-in.  That would have been more convenient.   Power supply is just way too big and generates too much heat.  This is not really a big problem for some if you have safe place to hide them out of sight, but the disc drive and cooling fan does need to keep the noise down.   There are too many options for accessories that you need to pay for in order to fully enjoy all the features that Xbox offers.  

With total of pros and cons for Xbox 360, multi media game console is the choice to have for about $400.00 I think it’s worth your investment.  The ever popular Halo game and the upgraded Halo 3 is always exciting which is the Xbox signature game.  Amongst the entire media friendly ever growing gaming world out there, Xbox 360 will add nicely as your entertainment investment.  I feel that it’s well rounded package of gaming fun and enough media activities to enjoy from not only as a gamer but as part of online entertainment community which is ever so growing and popular.