Buying an XBOX 360 - Advice?

[AsSiMiLaTeD]

I'm going to go pick up an XBOX 360 on the way home, looking for any advice or tips.

I'm picking up the Elite version of the console and Forza racing game, that's all i'm buying on the way home today.

Now I'm looking for advice on any and all things I should know, games I should buy, services I should try, mods, accessories I should buy, any decent forums, etc...

Spill your knowledge and wisdom here...

[VR3]

Gears of War is a must...

[AsSiMiLaTeD]

I'll probably pick that up as well...thanks

[polkatese]

COD2, COD3, Rainbow SIX Vegas, GRAW, GRAW2....

You're up for a treat.

[BIZILL]

MOST importantly, get yourself up and running with a year's worth of xbox live gold membership. obviously you need broadband to use it. anyway, deals are out there. never pay retail.

[Demiurge]

The wireless remotes are clutch. You can play a game sitting on the crapper if you really wanted to. The range is amazing.

[PhantomOG]

I've read a price cut might be announced at E3 this week. Might want to buy from a retailer that has a 30-day price guarantee.

[Shizelbs]

Here are my must haves:

Xbox Live Gold account. Honestly, I cannot understand why someone would not get a Live account with their Xbox.

Gears of War is probably the only game I would consider a must own.

Other games that are one step down from must own, which I call, don't bother buying an Xbox unless you get these games:

GRAW 2, Guitar Hero 2

And then just plain excellent games. Very very good games. 8+ out of 10.

GRAW 1, DiRT, Forza 2, Vegas, Madden 07 ('08 is about to come out), Call of Duty 2/3.

And get at least one more wireless controller. Get a high def cable. Buy some sort of recharger device. Buy an USB extension for the Guitar. And I think the HD DVD drive is an excellent value.

[bdaley6509]

Send me $49.00 and I'll hook you up with an extended 3 year warranty courtesy of Microsoft. You'll thank me later ;)

[wingnut4772]

I had the Live account and cancelled it after I grew weary of playing with a whole bunch of potty mouthed children. it's good if you have a group of friends that can use it with you though.

[tcrossma]

+1 Gears of War

tim

[AsSiMiLaTeD]

Someone told me about doing something so that I can play games directly from my hard drive instead of the CD. Is that the thing that Microsoft cracked down on a while back and now none of these people's machines work?

It seems like it would be good for faster load times, but that's the only advantage I can think of - what am I missing here, are there other advantages like being able to play movies and such off your hard drive?

[Refefer]

Someone told me about doing something so that I can play games directly from my hard drive instead of the CD. Is that the thing that Microsoft cracked down on a while back and now none of these people's machines work?

It seems like it would be good for faster load times, but that's the only advantage I can think of - what am I missing here, are there other advantages like being able to play movies and such off your hard drive?

I'd be careful with that. Microsoft will ban you from updates and Live! if you're caught modifying the xbox, software or otherwise, in anyway.

[Sherardp]

Make sure you have a standby replacement 360 as well. I'm surprised no one mentioned that first. Afterwards then its Gears of War, Call of Duty 2 is crazy online, COD3 as well.

[AsSiMiLaTeD]

By the way...

I picked up the Elite on the way home last night at Circuit City. They have a 30 day price guarantee so I grabbed one. I doubt they'll drop the price next week, but if they do then I imagine these will be harder to find. Either way I'm covered.

Impressions:

I've very impressed overall. This thing is basically a computer wrapped up into a gaming console. It does movies, music, and pictures and can play from the hard drive, from the inserted disc, or stream from a PC. I only played with the media capabilities for a few minutes, but it's basically like a media pc. That was the first tab I played with and was very impressed.

I would like to have seen them throw in browser capability. I mean, you've got everything else right there, why not go ahead and throw in USB keyboard support (the usb ports are already there) and the ability to browse the web. That's a huge oversight IMO.

I think it's worth close to $400 alone as a media player. And apparently this thing actually lets you play games too!

CC didn't have squat in stock for video games, but I had to buy something to test it with. I was already familiar with need for Speed Carbon on the PC, so I picked that up since I had a good benchmark.

It took me some getting used to the new controls, but overall I liked it alot once I got the controls down. FWIW, I love this games and the driving style, everyone should at least check it out. I'm not sure whether I prefer it on PC or 360 at this point, that will take some more testing, but I'm leaning towards the 360.

As for the graphics, I'll probably need more games to tell. Right now I'd say I'm satisfied, but not overwhelmed with excitement. I've heard several people say that the graphics are better than what you find on a PC, and IMO that's the most ridiculous statement I've heard in quite a while.

Are the graphics better than on a PC that you could build for $500? Absolutely, no question in my mind about that. But let's keep it real, the 360 doesn't touch the two eVGA 7950GT cards I have in my machine, but then again those each cost more than I paid for my 360, oh yeah and then there's the $1200 that I spent building the computer that they go in.

Bottom line, excellent graphics for $500.

The only negatives right now are the extra cost of a wireless adapter, they want $100 for the damn thing! I'd also like to see webbrowsing capability.

I can't wait to get up to Best Buy and get a couple more games for this...

[AsSiMiLaTeD]

Make sure you have a standby replacement 360 as well. I'm surprised no one mentioned that first. Afterwards then its Gears of War, Call of Duty 2 is crazy online, COD3 as well.

I'm not buying a second 360 to have on standby, that's ridiculous. MS just extended the warranty on these things to 3 years, so I'm covered. If I have to go for a month or so without it while they get me a replacement then I'll survive. It's a neat toy, but that's what it is. If I can't make it a whole month without my XBOX, well then that's the least of my problems.

I'm hoping BB has Gears of War tonight...

[tcrossma]

Browsing would be nice, but even though the 360 might appear like a little computer, the dashboard only has a ridiculously small amount of memory to work with (something like 9megs I think?) They are cramming an awful lot in there as is...

As to graphics, from a straight technological point of view i'm not sure it can be successfully argued that the 360 has better graphics than a high-end PC.

I used to play games almost exclusively on my PC, and enjoyed it thoroughly for 15+ years. But now I like kicking back in my recliner, relaxing, and playing the 360 on my 42" plasma (at least when I have a working 360 unit -- but that's for another topic).

Enjoy, it's a fun machine.

tim

[Shizelbs]

I believe you can add on a usb keyboard, you just have to supply your own. Google for a list of supported USB devices.

[Shizelbs]

Gears of war is probably the best overall for graphics demostration. It is built on the Unreal graphics engine, as will be Unreal Tournament 3, which apparently will make Gears look last-gen.

[AsSiMiLaTeD]

Gears of war is on it's way should have it tomorrow or Saturday at the latest.

Anyone know if there's a cheaper alternative to the MS wireless adapter that works well, not really excited about paying 100 for a usb wireless adapter...

[fatchowmein]

Gears of war is on it's way should have it tomorrow or Saturday at the latest.

Anyone know if there's a cheaper alternative to the MS wireless adapter that works well, not really excited about paying 100 for a usb wireless adapter...

Buy a bridge that's mated to your router should work. Do not mix different manufacturer's when it comes to purchasing a network bridge.

You'll save $20-$30 but the signal strength "should" come in stronger.

Bear in mind I haven't tried this with mine since I run a long network cable to a switch in order to connect the 360, Squeezebox, and Buffalo Link Theater.

Anybody out there connecting their 360 via a bridge?

Edit: I did try the 360's wireless adapter but I found it lacking and I was too lazy to test a network bridge. YMMV.

[BIZILL]

the 360 itself shows a note on the menu screen that recommends using an "A" wireless setup, due to B/G working in the 2.4Ghz range as do the wireless controllers and signals may interfere. i've been using a linksys "B" adapter (WGA11B) with my linksys B/G wireless router (WRT54GL)for a few months and it works fine. friend gave me his old "G" (5.8GHZ i believe)adapter made by microsoft (mn-740 for original xbox, it's a network bridge) and it's not much better. the 360 adapter is capable of "A" speeds, but i only have B/G rounter. but basically, almost anything will work for xbox live. i'd like to have an "A" setup for media purposes, though.

[ttomp]

GOW, graw , call of duty3 , r six vegas.

[AsSiMiLaTeD]

So far I've picked up Gears of War, COD 3, NFS Carbon, and picking up Dirt tonight.

I've also picked up the wireless adapter and a couple extra controllers...

[powerlord]

Does the Elite have a built in HD player?

[Demiurge]

Nope. You need to buy the add-on.

[powerlord]

Thanks Demi.The way it's described on BB's site it made me wonder,it says it's capable of HD visuals,I could only hope that meant built in HD.

[engtaz]

Rechargeable batteries and charger stand

[krabby5]

Buy a bridge that's mated to your router should work. Do not mix different manufacturer's when it comes to purchasing a network bridge.

You'll save $20-$30 but the signal strength "should" come in stronger.

Bear in mind I haven't tried this with mine since I run a long network cable to a switch in order to connect the 360, Squeezebox, and Buffalo Link Theater.

Anybody out there connecting their 360 via a bridge?

Edit: I did try the 360's wireless adapter but I found it lacking and I was too lazy to test a network bridge. YMMV.

what did you find lacking about the wireless adapter (other than the rediculous price)? I have had no problems with mine...

[powerlord]

Are there any major problems reported with the Elite yet?