I chose to research the Xbox 360 mainly for two reasons. I am an avid gamer and loved the original Xbox so much that I camped out outside Target the night Xbox 360 was released for love of the game. Also, seeing as though the 360 was just released, not too many people know much about the system, so I broke it down for everyone to get a better understanding of Microsoft's latest project.
Xbox 360 is Microsoft's successor to their Xbox video game console. This next generation console was release on November 22, 2005, in the U.S, and launched in Europe only a few weeks later. The Xbox 360 will compete against the PlayStation 3 and the Nintendo Revolution once they are released.
On November 22, Microsoft released the Xbox 360 in two different packages: The Xbox 360 Core System and The Premium Package.
The core system retails for $300 and includes the basic needs to play offline Xbox 360 games on a standard television. In this package, you get the Xbox 360 Concole, Xbox Live Silver, One Wired Controller, and a standard AV Cable. The System comes with a "chill" faceplate, just like the unit in the premium kit. The only difference is the hard drive is not included.
Xbox Live Silver lets you make a profile, message and voice chat with pals, download demos, and shop for goodies. It requires a memory card or the hard drive to use, and you can't play on-line games unless you upgrade to the $50-a-year Xbox Live Gold Service. The wired controller plugs into any USB port on the Xbox 360 console. You can turn your Xbox 360 on or off by holding the glowy Xbox Guide button in the center of the joypad. The standard AV cable supports only basic red/white/yellow cable composite output.
At $400, The Premium Package is a must buy for hardcore gamers. With this deluxe setup, you get the 360 console with stylish metalic detailing, Xbox Live Silver with a free ethernet cable plus a host of extra goods such as the media remote, a wireless controller, the component HD AV cable, Xbox 360 Headset, and the detatchable 20GB hard drive.
With the media remote, you can navigate DVD's, music and Xbox Live without having to search under your bed for your controller. The wireless controller has a range of 30 feet and runs for 30 hours on two AA batteries. If you're one of those people with a 75-inch LCD TV, you'll need the component HD AV cable to play your games in an incredible high-resolution 720p mode. If your television doesn't support 720p, the Xbox 360's video scaler will adapt the signal to run in your tube's 1080i mode.
The 20GB hard drive clips on top
of your Xbox 360 and holds 320 times more data than a memory card.
The hard drive is a must own for serious Xbox Live users who plan
on downloading lots of content. You'll need this hard drive to
play original Xbox 1 games in the 360's backward-compatibility
mode and to update games that end up requiring patches. The hard
drive also comes preloaded with puzzle Xbox Live Arcade game Hexic
HD, several bonus background themes for your Xbox 360 dashboard,
and other goodies including game demos. You can also plug USB
mass-storage devices into the 360, but only for music and picture
streaming purposes.
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/hardware/xbox360/
http://www.microsoft.com/xbox/
Electronic Gaming Magazine November 2005