Microsoft Xbox 360 Elite Console - Black

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the XBox had more to do with game selection, really, and in that the XBox excels.

GAMES: The XBox's library of games is unparalleled right now. There are many incredible XBox exclusive titles, from the obvious Halo 3 to games like Bioshock, Forza 2, and Gears of War (and this is a very small sampling of what's actually out there). I'm not impressed with the PS3's game library, and while I couldn't live without my Nintendo franchises like Zelda, Mario, and Metroid I'm finding myself craving more games beyond the party type games (which the Wii is great for) and Nintendo's own titles.

XBOX LIVE: The Xbox's online community is second to none right now, and while I can see promise for both Sony and Nintendo in this area neither system offers as much as the XBox does at the time of this writing. Aside from the enormous and well-established community, the XBox live marketplace offers classic games, TV shows, and movies for download, as well as game trailers and demos and a whole lotta other stuff. I love being able to download so many demos of games I might like to try--it saves on some rental fees for sure--and I'm looking forward to picking up some classic games like Contra and the incredible Castlevania: Symphony of the Night soon. I wouldn't say the classic game library rivals Nintendo's Virtual Console yet (not even close, really), but there are some great games nonetheless.

THE HARDWARE: The XBox elite is black, which I personally prefer to the white. It has an HDMI port and comes with a cord, so it's capable of full 1080p HD. I also love the 120 GB hard drive--though I've never been one to fill a game console's hard drive it's nice to know I have the space, and with all the game demos and other things I've been downloading it may become a possibility. The Elite also functions as a DVD player with upconverting capability, and the quality I get from playing a DVD on my XBox is incredible, so much so that I'm not using my old DVD player anymore for regular DVDs.

Hardware reliability has been a concern, and was something that really held me back for a while. Following were a couple of my major concerns and this is how the Xbox 360 has handled them:

-Noise. My 360 is much quieter than many reviews led me to believe. My wife doesn't know its on unless she's in the same room.
-Heat. This was a big one for me. I don't have space to keep the console upright--it has to be on its side--and I've heard horror stories of overheating after very little play. The console has about 18 inches behind it for ventilation and seems to run just fine, though I haven't had it on for more than about 3 hours at a time. There's a lot of heat coming out the back of it but the console itself doesn't seem to heat up much. When it's really hot outside I keep an upright fan blowing the general direction of my TV (where the Xbox is) and plan on getting a cooling system just to be safe, but so far heat has not really been an issue for me.
-Ruining discs - I've heard of the console scratching discs beyond playability and also of cracking. My console lays on its side and I don't move it while a disc is playing, and so far I've had no issues, though I haven't used it enough to say it will never happen.
-Red Ring of Death - Again, no problems yet. The 3 year warranty helps, though the prospect of not having the thing for a couple months while they fix it brings my blood almost to a boil just thinking about it.

Overall I'm tremendously happy with my XBox 360, and my only real concern with it is the potential for hardware failure. Still, this is a great machine, and definitely worth the price tag for me. I'm disappointed that wireless capability was not included in the console (it's a pretty expensive add-on), since both the Wii and the PS3 have that built in. Since I have an HD TV I'd love to have a built in HD-DVD player, but I think it was a wise choice not to force it upon people who don't want it by building it into the machine.

Microsoft Xbox 360 Elite Console - Black

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to PS3's XMB and PS Store, the XB menus are a bit cluttered and confusing.

- Fear of RRoD, but hopefully with this newer model (manufactured Mar 2008) there won't be any problems.

- You can't copy anything to your hard drive from an external device, like flash drive or hard drive. You have to download everything from the Marketplace.

- No built-in rechargeable battery pack on controller. You have to either get rechargeable batteries or buy that play and charge pack. I had a bunch of rechargeable NIMH AAs already, so I'll be using those.

- No wireless?! This is a $450 console and there's no wireless. That's what I love about the PS3- it has two wires - power and HDMI, that's it. You could get the ridiculously overpriced proprietary MS wireless adapter for $100 or spend $5 on a long ethernet cable (I'm doing the latter). I want my router to be near my computer, not my console.

- Most themes and wallpapers cost money. No thanks to the micro-transactions.

I'm generally happy with it. Can't wait to play more games on it!

Microsoft Xbox 360 Elite Console - Black

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games I have downloaded are really fun. You can use a credit card to download games or you can buy an xbox live card. The only one I ever saw was for 1600 points and cost like 20 dollars. A lot of the games on this system can be bought for the PS3 or the Wii. I have a Wii, but not a ps3. The graphics are great, though not as good as the TV makes them look. I have only played one game that came close to looking like TV made them look. I mean the only way you will get the full expierence is if you own a high def, flat screen TV with surround sound. I don't have either of these. I'm not going to pay so much more for a TV in my bed room. The games still look pretty good without the high def though.

Now I know I have said a lot of good things about the system, and I'm sure you thinking "why the 2 out of 5?" Well I'll tell you why. I got my first xbox 360 from a whole sale place in 05. It had red rings and stopped working. I sent it to Microsoft and sold it on amazon when it was fixed. So that's 1. Then I got a new xbox 360 elite. In 06 it broke, and I exchanged it at the store I bought it from. That's 2. That one broke a little while latter and I exchanged it for a new one. That's 3. Just to make things short, I just exchanged the one I had for another one. That is SEVEN OR EIGHT! I exchanged one 3 weeks ago and it already broke. I only play the system for like 6 hours in a 2 week period. If I had not just bought Lego Indiana jones and my mother brought me Ninja Gaiden 2, I would have sold the new system and everything with it for 800 dollars. It's not worth having to drive to the store and exchange it. The store is only 10 minutes away but I can not drive and gas is WAY to much to have to do such a stupid thing. Microsoft obviously can't and didn't make a good quality system that would last. I still have my ps and ps2. They both still work. Hell I have an NES my uncle gave me and that still works. I will never buy another xbox 360 game. Unless, after I rent it it's really supper fun and I really want to play. I was thinking about buying a ps3 today but I said "forget it." I will keep my xbox 360. I have to pay like 30 dollars for a new warranty next month. That is the only reason I will do so. If you get the system, I warn you. Get the warranty, because it WILL break, and you Will have to return it time and time again. I am going to write to the news and some game magazines about how bad and unreliable it is. Shame on you Microsoft.