Microsoft Xbox 360 > Reviews > Best HD Console

Author's product rating:   

Graphics capability	Superb
Sound capability	Superb
Range of Extra Features (I.e. email)	Vast
Ease of use	Good
Value For Money	Good value

Advantages:	Loads
Disadvantages:	Price,

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Xbox 360 Premium Pack:

There once was a time when gaming meant that you were a sad little geek who dwelled in your bedroom, loading sprites and pixels from a tape each blip and bong meant you were one step closer to becoming an even bigger loser in social circles! Now a day's thankfully gaming has become acceptable your probably still a geek but in the noughty's its cool to be a Geek, also thankfully though it doesn't any longer mean we have to be content with sticks hitting small squares and shooting fake asteroids with little triangle spaceships', no my geeky friends we are upon the time, the time of realism of physics of light and shadows of texture and reflection and last but no means least a time of complete emersion and fun!

The Xbox 360 is the successor to the Original Xbox and it brings some of its great features while losing some of its worse, the first thing you probably will notice is the design the look and feel of your the new console, release in Dec 2005 beating both Sony and Nintendo`s new consoles to market by a full year has by no means meant the look and style is worse by this, the unit is able to stand on its end or lay across as most under the TV electronic do, the whole console is white, its not shiny but a matt colour and its feel has a small grain to it.

The sides of the machine are in a grey colour with grills allowing for maximum air flow, the left hand side also has a slot to clip in to place a Hard disk drive, the front of the console has a drive drawer for media loading, the premium version of this is in Chrome, there is also an IR receiver two memory card slots a wireless sync button, and the power button which is surrounded with four LED`s in a circular shape and a central power icon LED, when powered on the LEDs glow green and each of the four LEDs correspond to any and amount of control pads you have connected, the power button also powers on and off the console if you wish, there is also a small flap on the right side of the front which contains underneath 2 USB 2.0 connections, which allows connection to various accessories as well as wired 360 pads. Also the front of the console is a removable facia which means you can swap it out with other designs and colours just like a mobile phone giving your own console as sense of uniqueness.

The rear of the console, also has a 1 USB connection, an Ethernet connection, a power input and a Multi AV connection again with grills for air flow and also has the usual serials and model numbers, the bottom and the right side of the console have rubber feet for the standing horizontal of vertical and the top of the console has yet more grills and the words `XBOX 360` pressed directly in to the metal.

Ok so it has 3 USB ports these are going to allow accessories like the wired pads, charging kits, Camera and wireless networking adaptor amongst others available and to come but you can also connect your media devices USB hard disks to the console and even your iPod, and the console will recognise the media on those meaning you can watch back movies, listen to music or view photos from these devices although writing to the devices is not allowed. This of course is on condition that the media are in recognised formats and these vary but most are supported now and the possibility of more is there with future firmware updates. Also you have the memory card slot this allows you to connect memory cards for game saves or downloads and are more convenient as so you can go round friends with them, the IR sensor is there to allow remotes to communicate, and a sync button allows you to connect up to four Xbox 360 wireless pads correctly at the same time, and this is a onetime only setup so you don't have to sync every time you turn on each pad remembers its position and stays that way until you sync with another console. The Ethernet is there for connection to your broadband router and the multi AV allows connection of composite, or component cables the cable provided with the Premium console is a combo one that allows you to use either composite or component and also has a Optical audio out connection directly on the cable, the cable has a switch to select your HD or SD connection type and its build quality is very high and a optical cable is provided in the box should you wish to connect to you home cinema. The power connection is large and has a very tight fit it gives you the impression that lots of energy is going to be burnt using this machine and the power cable (or brick as its nicknamed) also backs that up with a huge power brick that is almost half the six of the 360 and is quite possibly why the size of the 360 is so small in comparison to its older brother, and this power brick gets very hot very quickly it's a good idea to try and keep it on a flat smooth surface to allow it to disperse heat well, a shag pile carpet isn't going to do it any good.
Also provided in your premium pack are a Wireless 360 Controller, Ethernet cable, Live Headset, Hard disk and the usual warranty and product manual info leaflets.

The 360 controller is quite possibly the best controller ever devised for a console, firstly the colour and style completely match that of the console in white with grainy feel and grey parts to break contrast, the controller has a removal battery pack allowing you to use, standard or rechargeable AA`s or buy additional rechargeable battery packs, the controller has two thumb sticks left and right and has two finger trigger buttons with two should buttons four front buttons A, B, X, Y and a start and select buttons with a D-pad, also on the front is something called the Xbox guide button, with is a large central button with a x across it surrounded by four LEDs with match the display of the power button on the front of the console to show which player you are and can also be used when console is powered off to show power status, the button itself gives you access to the consoles Xbox Live Menu when powered on and can also be used to power on and off the console. The controllers also have to ports one on the bottom and one on the top which both allow a variety of connections to the controllers for accessories and chargers. The Ethernet cable provided is the usual Xbox extremely long affair at around 7 meters and is your standard CAT5. And finally your Live headset is a single headphone and microphone (think call centre) which allows you to communicate with other people online during game play or just to send voice messages. The hard disk provided is 20Gb and is chrome and grey to match the console and simply clicks into place on the provided slot, although its 20Gb Hard disk it only has 12GB available to use as it has 8gb taken up by other hidden and system files, and although it's great for it being there it will fill up quick, the hard disk allows game saving, copy music to it or download demos and more.

The general feel and look of the 360 to me is very nice but it can look out of place and has a little apple rip quality about it trying to be simplistic but it will fit anywhere and not look out of place but it won't blend invisible unless everything you own is white, the consoles very heavy and feels very sturdy and all accessories supplied do have a very good build quality and feel as they will last a long time personally I am happy with everything how it looks and how its packaged but I would of liked a bigger hard disk and I feel wireless should of been standard but then I might of cost a touch more than it did, and I would have something else to complain about.

To turn it on you simply pick up your controller get comfortable and press the guide button for 1 second and it powers up! Then you have to get up and put a game in the drive doh!, the console will power on and the power and guide buttons will show a spinning led effect until they sync and reflect the controllers connected and player number, on the screen the start up logo XBOX 360 appears and is appears and you are presented you the blade menu system, this menu is clever sectioned off into Different parts giving different access to different parts, one of the first things you will want to do is go to setting s and change everything to what you want including screen formats and HDTV Resolutions or even PC if you connect with VGA, Parental controls download controls and a million others, the next thing you will want to do is setup your gamer tag, a feature that gives you a nickname with a online gaming card that can show you and others what games you play and how good you at them with a points and achievements system to compare with others although games are more sophisticated now Microsoft still recognise we still go for the high score and proved this with the success of the gamer card, so you will need to setup your Xbox Live,

Now you have 2 options, Live silver or gold, silver is free and allows access to your gamer score, some downloads and a few other online features, Gold is 34.99 a year and allows full access to everything online including multiplayer gaming in my opinion it's well worth it, on either silver or gold though you can go to the arcade store and download new and old arcade/retro games for a small cost using Microsoft points (purchased online or a retail stores) and you can store these on your hard disk all arcade games allow you try before you buy. You can buy a variety of things through live like new game content, movies, music documentaries etc. I would suggest getting gold and trying the full experience it's a one off charge each year and if you don't use it well you don't have to buy it again. Live is one of the best things Microsoft does, it just works, everything about it is just right from downloading, browsing and playing, Live is something highly recommended.

The games are what you are getting this for and I'm not going to go into each and every one but the graphics are great I mean exceptionally great, and with HD TV there are even better, don't get me wrong though if you don't have a HDTV they work just as well on SDTV but HD just brings them to life, with Dolby digital surround sound and some great creativity to boot, if I was to recommend games for your new console some must haves are, Gears of War, Viva Piñata, Bioshock, Halo 3, Call of Duty 4 to name but a few..

Also provided with your Xbox 360 is Media Centre, by networking with your pc you can use your 360 as a media centre extender allowing you access to movies music and photos, TV and Internet all from your armchair, I won't go into mega detail because it's too diverse and Media centre needs a review of its own (hmm maybe next), but if you have Windows XP Media Centre Edition or Vista you can network with your 360 for something completely different than just games, the console also has the ability to download firmware updates meaning a few times a year the console will update its features and improve itself adding new features and functionality and already this has seen some updates that were needed and some pleasant surprises like MSN Messenger and Divx support.

So what do I think of my console, well its great although it has been focused at the hardcore audience with a big focus on High Definition visuals, it also has casual market side and more to come, really with games like GTA4 and Banjo 360 amongst others there are games for everyone coming and ready for you now, I would deffo recommend!

Links:

Xbox.com http://www.xbox.com/en-GB/
Xbox Live http://www.xbox.com/en-GB/live/
Gamer card Preview http://www.xbox.com/en-GB/live/ (mine)