still not finished top 10 bands/artists and its been over a year i think lol. Have ya missed me?
still not finished top 10 bands/artists and its been over a year i think lol. Have ya missed me?
Member since:11.12.2003
Reviews:13
Members who trust:7
Well it's been a while since I've written any reviews but I'm baaaaaaack and I couldn't think of anything better to write my first review for a while on. The second coming, or the Xbox 360 as it's officially known is quite simply the best piec of gaming hardware the world has ever seen, a rival for an Alienware PC hardware which I thought would've been a few years away yet but here it is. I would like to add that unfortunately I was only able to pick up a core unit, I wish I had waited now but I'm not too bothered because even without the hard drive and other accessories the things still fantastic. However the review will be pretty much just covering the actual unit itself.
Firstly I'd like to go over the technical specs of the beast. Here they be;
Dimensions: 310 x 80 x 260 mm
Mass: 3.5kg (7.7lb)
Operating temperature: 5 °C to 35 °C
Inputs/Outputs • Memory Unit ports (2) • USB ports (2 front, 1 rear) • Ethernet Port • AV Port • DC IN power port • IR remote receiver • Wireless: 2.4 GHz Digital Spread Spectrum (up to four players)
Custom Based PowerPC-Based CPU • 3 symmetrical cores running at 3.2GHz • 2 Hardware threads per core (6 hardware threads total) • 1MB L2 cache • 2.7GHz Front Side Bus
HD Game Support: • All games support 16:9 widescreen, anti-aliasing, and high definition video (720p minimum) • Standard definition and high-definition video output is supported
Well
pretty much what the steve's at Microsoft have done is shrunk an extremely high end PC into a box that can fit neatly into any existing set up. Each piece of hardware just about is custom made for the Xbox which is where it differs from the Playstation 3 but that's another story. It is essentially a customised IBM Power PC which boasts an unbelievable 3 x 3.2GHz all three offering 2 hard ware threads, which to compare for you, my PC has just one 2.4GHz processor, so lets say its around 5 times more powerful than the average PC & its strictly dedicated to gaming and media while the ATI graphics processor can produce a massiv 500 million triangles per second. I could go on, recounting the 360's supposed 16 gigasamples-per-second fill rate using 4X antialiasing and 48 billion shader operations per second--not to mention, of course, the 48-way parallel floating-point dynamically scheduled shader pipelines and the 9 billion dot product operations per second but I barely understand what half of it means so we'll leave it at that.
A lot of people are hearing things about the Playstation 3, off the top of my head the total clock speed of it is about an astonish 20GHz, however due to the majority if not all the parts on the 360 being customed made, it is a far more efficient machine which means they should be about even but I don't want to get into that too much, that's a whole other review.
So we know the thing can outperform pretty much anything, the graphics are just so amazing, the first time you see it truelly in full flow you'll be shocked.
Now onto the design, I must say I think it looks rather nice, could clash pretty badly though with existing silver or even black hardware but the kinda off white colour is the next silver I think so expect to see a lot more things that colour (eg. The sony walkman mobile phones.) It's taken a leaf out of the PS2's book and it can now be either laid horizontal or vertical, looks good either way although I think there's an air intake which will be pretty much blocked with stood vertical, I don't know if this would contribute to an over heating problem but I think Microsoft would've been smart enough to check that out for us. A couple of reasons they've been able to shrink the size of the 360 down so much (its actually smaller than the original Xbox) is because of two main things, the huge power brick you get with it and the detachable lap top hard drive they've went for, and as luck would have it, they can now charge you a hard drive, but its also a nice design feature, you can carry around your hard drive and take it to your mates house or whatever. If you get bored of looking at the same console then you can now buy various face plates for the front of your 360, there are quite a few out already such as silver, blue, wood effect etc so that's a nice touch aswell. The new controllers certainly deserve a mention too, this time we have two varieties, wired and wireless. Both look identical except yup, you guessed it, ones wired to the console, the other is not. Same colour as the console, with a silver button in the middle with an illuminated X, this is for the dash board. Two triggers and two shoulder buttons, the usual A, X, B & Y buttons, back and start in the middle, two analogue sticks and a D-Pad, looks nice and feels nice, one of the best controllers ever to have been in my hands. Not only that but if you plug in a wired controller into a USB port on your PC it works a treat, for anyone who's ever bought a joypad for your PC you know how bad they can be so this is a treat.
A mention needs to go to the USB ports, you can now plug in for example your MP3 player a play the music from that through your 360 while doing anything else, its fantastic, no more listening to the rubbish sound tracks you get with most games, you can also plug in digi camera's too and I'm sure this feature will be getting expanded hugely. The only small problem is you'll not fit much into the slots so it would be wise to invest in a USB extension cable if you don't already have one.
We also have an infrared port on the front which will be used with any compatible remote control, the premium pack comes with a rather nice looking one that also works media centre pc's which is nice.
Now onto the Dashboard, it's a niiiiice. Its so slick and professional, its very similar to the design of Windows Media Edition, and if you have it networked to a PC with media edition then that's where it really comes alive. From the dashboard we have four tabs;
Xbox Live:
This is where you access the marketplace, send or view your messages and see which of your friends are online.
Games:
This is where you can view your achievements, view your played games, go to the Xbox Live Arcade, play any demo's and view trailers you've downloaded.
Media:
This is where you play saved and streaming music, pictures & video. If you have Windows Media Edition you can also view and record tv.
System:
This is where you can change the console settings, family settings, memory, network settings, computers & initial setup.
You can also change the background and themes of the dashboard by either downloading them or transferring them to your console using some sort of USB portable memory device so you can customise it quite a bit and get it look like home as much as your PC.
One of the major successes of the original Xbox was Xbox Live. The online gaming and communications network is an even more intrinsic part of the Xbox 360. Every model (assuming access to a broadband Internet connection and a storage option--either the hard drive or a memory card) has a base-level membership called Xbox Live Silver. That offers you access to voice chat and voice messaging using the headset, which plugs into the controller, as well as the Xbox Live Marketplace, an online bazaar offering free and for-pay demos, trailers, and more. In order to play multiplayer games, you'll need to upgrade to Xbox Live Gold, which is basically the same $50-per-year service from the old Xbox. Existing Live subscribers can easily transfer their subscription to their new 'box. There's also an Xbox Live Arcade, which offers entertaining minigames, such as the Tetris-like Hexic that's included on the hard drive. The Xbox 360 launches with 18 titles, but it can also play more than 200 games designed for the original Xbox. The backward compatibility is enabled through downloadable emulation profiles; they're free, but once again, you'll need the hard drive and a broadband connection to use them. In fact, the software for Halo and Halo 2 compatibility is preinstalled on the hard drive. Unfortunately, while 200-plus sounds like a high number, that leaves more than 400 old Xbox titles unplayable on the 360 for the time being. Microsoft is working to broaden the list, but there's no announced timetable as to when--or if--the remaining games will be ported over. So on conclusion, the things is amazing, even friends that are total playstation junkies admit it's the dogs so go out and get one as soon as you possible can, you won't regret it. Keep an eye out for up and coming accessories and new features. Enjoy.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
(+) Plenty of storage space, for media. Good Games, Great for partys, with singstar. Very Reliable. (-) Sometimes the optical drive, breaks; but not very likely, my 60gb still working after 2 1/2 years.
If you call yourself a serious gamer, then the Xbox 360 is pretty much the best place to ... more
start. This Arcade console has everything you need to get started straight away.Connect to your TV with the cable provided, plug into the mains and switch on - onc...
Postage & Packaging: £0.00 Availability: Out of stock
Advantages: Brilliant graphics, HDMI Output, Excellent Games Library, Xbox Live Disadvantages: Expensive Games, Xbox Live Fee, Lack of Blu-Ray, Hardware Errors
Advantages: Looks good/Good storage/Great games/Great graphics/can play films and videos/music/lots lots more. Disadvantages: Very expensive accesories, especially the wireless adaptor
Jan 10th, 2006
exceptional by (15%):
very helpful by (79%):
helpful by (6%):
