Xbox 360

Xbox 360
Released: 2005
Created By: Microsoft
Price: Core System ($279.99 / £179.99 / €279) Premium: ($349.99 / £249.99 / €349) Elite: ($449.99 / £299.99 / €449) Halo 3 Edition in Sept. ‘07: (US$399.99 / $449.99 CAN)

The Xbox 360 is the first console of the next-generation. It is the second home console from Microsoft, who’s successful Xbox system released in 2001, and went on to gain much critical acclaim and to secure 2nd place in overall worldwide sales, behind Sony’s Playstation 2 and ahead of Nintendo’s GameCube.

As the first next-gen system (that is, the newest cycle of systems for 2005 and beyond), the 360 has a lot to live up to. Microsoft had proved with their first console that they could compete in the highly competitive console video game market, against juggernauts Sony and Nintendo, and now with their newest system, which has a year lead on both Nintendo and Sony’s follow-up systems. Here’s an Xbox 360 introduction:


Microsoft is hoping that they will be able to sell enough systems initially to place them ahead of Sony by the time the Playstation 3 launches. Thus putting them in the position to overtake Sony as the console leader.

It is still very early in the life of the Xbox 360, so it’s to be seen whether Microsoft will be able to accomplish it’s lofty goals. But if the launch is anything to go by, then they are certainly in a very capable position to do so.

The Xbox 360 launched on November 22nd, 2005 in the US and initial supplies completely sold out, making it very hard for some people to actually get their hands on a 360 system, even if they had pre-ordered one (which has backfired in some respects due to unsatisfied customers not receiving their systems), but this also created an environment where, due to the shortages, the 360 was made into a must-have item for the Christmas season, which is exactly what Microsoft was banking on.

The 360, while it launched in North America first (The US and Canada), is also the first console system to have a near-simultaneous worldwide launch. The system launched in Europe on Dec. 2nd to the same kind of demand and sales as in America, but unfortunately the response in Japan, where it released Dec. 10th, was no where near that of Western countries. This was probably due, in part, to the unexpected delays of some key Xbox 360 games, as well as the fact that Japanese gamers aren’t as open to international games or systems as other countries are (both Nintendo and Sony are native to Japan). The lukewarm Japanese launch was unfortunate given that Microsoft had made a huge push for the success of the 360 in Japan. This included opening an entertainment center for the sole purpose of promoting the 360 (called the Xbox 360 Lounge), and grabbing some very key 3rd party developers to make exclusive Xbox 360 titles targeted at the Japanese audience, including Japanese RPGs, a genre that was sorely missing on the original Xbox. However so far, while interest in the 360 is up over the original Xbox, it still hasn’t gotten the kind of reception that Microsoft was hoping for. Although it’s still too soon to say either way whether the system will catch on and become a success in Japan or not.

The 360 is available in two separate packages (everywhere but Japan, where they only have one package that kind of combines the two), the “Xbox 360 Core System” and the “Xbox 360 Premium Pack”. The Core system will run you $299.99 and the Premium a whopping $399.99. So what’s the deal with the two packages? The main difference is that the Core system doesn’t include a hard drive, which you’ll want if you are going to go online (though you can get online without it using a memory card but won’t have enough space to download any large content) and need if you are going to be downloading a lot of stuff, which is one of the best parts of the 360. Some games also require the hard drive or use it for optional stuff like faster loading times, and you’ll need the hard drive as well for backwards compatibility (you can’t play original Xbox games on your new 360 unless you have the hard drive).

The Core System includes: An Xbox 360 console, one wired controller, a standard AV cable and an Xbox Live Silver membership.

The Premium Package includes: An Xbox 360 console (with metallic detailing), an Xbox Live Silver membership (and free Ethernet cable), a wireless controller ($50 separately), a component HD AV cable ($40 sep.), a headset for use with Xbox Live ($20 sep., this is an updated version of the original headset and includes a mute button and volume control), and a detachable 20GB hard drive ($100 sep.).

Starting in August 2007, the official price of the Xbox 360 packages was reduced, most notably the Premium (standard) package was dropped by $50 to $349.99 worldwide, at the same time this package got an extra feature included for free, an HDMI port and cable, the same that was on the new black color Xbox 360 Elite (with bigger hard drive at 120GB) before.

So in actuality, if you are planning on buying any of the extra stuff that comes with the Premium Package later on, especially the hard drive which is a whopping $100 separately, then you might as well just spring for the Premium Package to begin with as it will actually save you money in the end.

And you may be wondering if there is any difference between the original Xbox controller and the new 360 controller. There are some key differences, but the basic layout is largely the same. The position of the control sticks, d-pad and the four main face buttons (X, Y, A and B) and the two triggers (R and L) remain exactly the same. However, the Black and White buttons have been moved to a new position. They are both now buttons located on the shoulders, above the L and R buttons, for easier access. This basically mimics Sony’s PS2 controller, and is largely a plus, as the original buttons were considered by many to be out of the way and in a weird position. The Start and Back buttons have now been moved to the middle of the controller and in between them is a brand new button called the “GameGuide” button. The Guide button is large, gray colored and engraved with the Xbox 360 logo. Around the button is a circle that lights up depending on which controller port the controller is assigned too (for example, if you are player 1, then the 1st section, the upper left corner, of the circle will light up). Pressing the Guide button while in a game gives you easy access to your profile, friends list and more. Holding the button will actually allow you to turn the system on and off, which is a very convenient feature. As long as you have the wireless controller, then there’s no need to ever get off the couch! (well, unless you want to put a new game in.)

“So, what what are the standard features of the Xbox 360 anyway? Why upgrade if you already own the original Xbox?”, I hear you ask. Well, there are lots of reasons. The most obvious being the fact that this is the first next-gen console, and the others won’t be launching for at least 6 months from now, and could very well not release until 2007. That means that the Xbox 360 is by far the most powerful system out right now and thus will be able to pump out high-quality graphics that are like nothing you’ve seen before, and are impossible to pull off with the current-gen systems (PS2, Xbox and GameCube), in addition to having higher quality sound and visual hardware for those people with high-end TV’s and surround systems.

The Xbox 360 also has lots of really cool features and upgrades from the original Xbox, sporting all the multimedia features (including the ability to play DVD movies) of the original plus much, much more.

The first Xbox allowed you to save music onto the system by inserting a CD and saving them onto the hard drive. The 360 updates this by including support for not only music, but also videos and photos, which can be saved onto the hard drive from a CD or streamed from a networked PC. Music can be saved by inserting a CD and copying it to the hard drive, the preferred way (and how you did it with the original system), or by plugging in your iPod, Sony PSP or other mp3 device and copying the files over to the 360’s hard drive. If you are connected to the Internet through a broadband connection, then the system will automatically retrieve information for the album, or you can enter it yourself. The original Xbox had a feature called “Custom Soundtrack”. Games that were built to support Custom Soundtrack would allow you to listen to any music that was saved on your hard drive in the game you were playing. The 360 does a major upgrade to this by having the Custom Soundtrack feature built into the system itself, so you can now listen to the music on your hard drive in ANY game, whether the game was built to support it or not (which is very, very cool, especially if you don’t like the licensed music in certain games).

And that there touches on one coolest features of the 360, every available feature comes from the console itself, so they are fully integrated into every Xbox 360 game, no longer will games only support the features that developers have worked the game to support. So no matter what the game is, you can replace the in-game music with your own tunes that you have saved onto the hard drive.

The 360 also can show images saved onto the hard drive from a compatible Media Center PC (if you’re PC isn’t compatible there will be a Windows Media Connect program you can download onto your PC so you can stream them onto the Xbox) as a slide-show, and can also playback videos (though only ones streamed from the PC onto the 360 using a Media Center PC, which means you can’t stream videos with a regular PC that isn’t a “Microsoft Media Center PC”).

However the greatest upgrades to the 360 come into play when you connect online through the new Xbox Live 2.0. These new features will be gradually explained below.

The 360 system menu is divided up into numerous tabbed pages called “Blades”, where you will be able to view information and customize settings for the system as well as your Xbox Live Profile, where you can customize what other players will see when they view your profile while online.

The available Blades are: System, Games, Xbox Live, Marketplace, and Media.

System Blade: This blade lets you customize system settings that will be reflected across every game you play. They include things like high-def output for your TV (480p or 1080i), memory card and hard drive management, rating restrictions (so parents can set what games or movies their kids can or can’t play, based on their ratings) and more. This blade will also walk you through on how to get an internet connection set up. And let you download the Windows Media Connect program to your PC so you’ll be able to use a USB flash device to transfer all your network settings from your PC to your 360, which will connect your 360 to your PC home network, allowing multimedia (music, audio, pictures) files to be streamed or transferred from your PC onto your 360.

Games Blade: If you aren’t connected to Xbox Live when you turn your 360 on you’ll start at this blade. This gives you easy access to Xbox Live Arcade games (such as Hexic 3D, which comes already saved on your hard drive. More about the Live Arcade below) and downloaded trailers or demos, your profile will even store common game preferences, such as inverted controls in first-person shooters, difficulty options (which is nifty if you are one of those gamers who likes to play every game on easy first, etc.), transmission settings in racers, etc., this way you don’t have to go into each game to tweak the settings every time you buy a new game, since your profile is universal, saved on the system so it can be accessed for new games you pop-in. And these settings can always be changed in the future.

Another really cool features that is so far exclusive to the Xbox 360 system (and is viewable via the Games Blade), and one that has the potential to pump new and extended life into video games, is the Achievement system. Every Xbox 360 game has unlockable achievement “trophies”. These trophies can be viewed by others on your profile when you go online, and they essentially show players how hardcore you are and offer bragging rights, as well as a nice little reward for pulling off certain feats in your various game titles. Achievements can be anything, and can be earned both offline and online. For example, you may receive an achievement for unlocking all the tracks in a racing game, or you may receive one for unlocking all the bonus content a game offers, or for playing a game for a certain number of hours, beating a certain boss or character, etc. These will be different for every title, and developers are required to have at least 5 unlockable achievements, with a maximum of 50.

The Achievement system is really unique, and it will totally extend the replay value of games, as hardcore types will want to try and unlock every achievement a game offers. And just imagine how cool it will be to have a certain achievement that none of your other friends have.

The Games Blade will keep track of every game you play, and will show your achievements for each game. And all of your achievements will be available for the world to see once you hop online via Xbox Live.

Xbox Live Blade: If you are online when you power-up your system, then it will start you at this blade. This is where you will manage your friends list and communicate with other players, friends or strangers, when online via your Xbox Live Silver or Gold membership (You can only play games online if you have a Gold membership, which costs $50 for a year of service, or you can go for the 3-month Starter Kit at $40, or a 12-month Starter Kit for $70, the latter comes with more marketplace points and a heftier rebate). From this blade you can add new friends, initiate a voice chat (which can be done no matter what the other player is doing, whether they are playing a game, watching a movie, listening to music, or whatever else, you can still voice chat with them if they’ve accepted your request), or send them a voice or text message.

Another really cool feature of the new Xbox Live 2.0 is that every online gamer has a “Gamerscore”. This little feature can’t be hidden and will show up on your profile when you are online. Your Gamescore will rise depending on how many Achievements you open up in your games. This allows other players to tell how hardcore of a player you are just by glancing at your score, giving them a relative idea how your game-playing habits.

Another new feature of the new Xbox Live 2.0 on 360 is the Gamer Zone, which dictates how you are matched up with other players when you hop online. Every player has a Gamer Card that will show your mug (or avatar; that is, whatever picture you put online to represent yourself), your Gamerscore, and your reputation, which is a five star meter affected by how you play in your Gamer Zone. The Gamer Zone effects which kind of person you will be matched up with when you attempt to play a game online.

You will be able to select which Gamer Zone you want to join while playing Xbox Live, and there are four of them: Underground, Pro, Family and Casual.

Underground is for players who like to cheat and use cheap tactics in their games. They like to do whatever it takes to win even if it’s shunned at by other players. This zone is for people who don’t like to play by the rules, and there is also no censoring while in this zone, so smacktalking and rampant cursing should be expected going in.
The Pro Zone, obviously, is for professional players (or those who think they are pros). This is for those people who take their competitive gaming seriously. They are there to play and to win, with no messing around or wild antics. You are going to be expected to be a team player if you are in this zone, and to follow the rules. Expect expert opposition if you are in this zone.
The Family Zone is for those players who want to avoid the curse-filled, smack-talking side of people that populates the Internet. While not necessarily for younger players, this zone will likely be where younger kids gravitate towards (here’s hoping there is a “hardcore” set of the Family Zone for those players who simply want to avoid all the cursing and smacktalking that regularly pops up while playing online).
And finally there is the Casual Zone. This is for those people who simply want to hop online and play a few rounds of whatever game it is. They don’t want to get into the seriousness or deadly competitiveness of the game, they simply want to play and have fun.

You are expected to obey the “rules” of your zone, and if you don’t you will likely get negative feedback which will effect your reputation, making it harder to get matched up with opponents (who obviously won’t want to be matched up with a negative player who doesn’t obey the rules of their own zone). Everyone is allowed to send feedback on other players, and if you get lots of negative feedback, it will be that much harder to get back into a positive rep. So the number one rule is to play by the rules.

Market Place Blade: The Xbox Live Market Place is accessible through the Xbox Live blade. This online store is another very unique and really cool feature of the new Xbox Live 2.0. This is your one-stop shop for every addition to any Xbox Live game you own (as long as updates are available for it). Enter the Market Place through a specific title and you’ll see the updates available for that game. They can be anything from new weapons or cars, new outfits or levels, or entire patches or upgrades, in addition, your Xbox Live dashboard can be changed with wallpaper from your related game. The Market Place will also have various game trailers (and this may include movie trailers as well) and demos, etc. Once purchased these will be downloaded directly to your hard drive.

However, you don’t buy stuff on the Market Place with money, rather, you use points. Points however are bought with money, and then used to purchase items on the Market Place. The Market Place can even be browsed without having to purchase something.

Media Blade: This blade is where you will access all the “beyond gaming” features of the 360, that includes music, videos and photos as well as watching DVD movies. Most of this was already detailed above so I won’t go into more detail about it here.

In addition to all this there is also a “GamerGuide” blade/window, this is what pops up when you hit the glowing “Guide” button on your Xbox 360 controller while you are playing a game. It combines all the blades into a sort of summary. It lets you check your inbox of text or voice messages (as well as accept incoming chat requests), shows which friends or recent players are online (including the game that they are playing, down to the very level they are on. Although they, and you, can hide this info with privacy settings), offers customization options for your dashboard theme and Gamer Picture avatar and lets you browse your music library. This also shows your Gamer Card.

Amazingly, all that info above was really just explaining the basics of the new Xbox 360 and Xbox Live 2.0. There are a ton of things that the Xbox 360 can do. I hardly touched upon the fact that the hard drive will allow you to play old Xbox games, though the list right now is small. But Microsoft promises that eventually every original Xbox game you would want to play should be playable on the 360. (though a broadband connection is required to download the codec for the game you want to play)

I also didn’t mention the Xbox Live Arcade much. The Xbox Live Arcade is an area where you can download “Arcade” games. These games range from simple electronic versions of popular card, board and parlor games, to old video game classics like Pac-Man and Tetris, that will be licensed from third-party developers and available for purchase using your GamerPoints. Not only that, but the arcade will also feature new games, often times highlighting small up-and-coming developers. The list of awesome, but simple, games available on the Xbox Live Arcade is already pretty large, and will likely only prove to grow much larger in the coming months as more and more games are added. Microsoft is touting the Arcade as a draw for casual gamers, or even non-gamers, people who want a simple, casual gaming experience where the games have a small learning curve but are fun to play. So far Microsoft has succeeded in providing these types of games, and the best part is that many of these games are fully featured, which means that you can play multiplayer with them, and that the system keeps track of your score, and also many games feature leaderboards, where the best scores in the game are posted online for the world to see! However the best feature may be that many of these games, such as Gauntlet (from Midway) will even be playable online! Which means that even if you don’t have four players in your house to play, you can connect online and play with three other people, effectively mimicking the original arcade gameplay. Features like these will breath new life into older titles released on the Live Arcade and offer a girth of easily accessed and cheap games to purchase and play in between actual Xbox game releases.

And there are many more features and intricacies of the Xbox 360. The bottom line is that the 360 is an improvement over the original Xbox in every way possible. Everything you liked about the original is here, and it’s been updated and expanded beyond belief, especially in regard to Xbox Live and online gaming, and in the total customability of the entire system. Even the look of the system itself can be customized with additional faceplates that you can buy, as the front of the system has a removable faceplate. There really isn’t much more you can ask for in a gaming/multimedia system, and Microsoft promises even more updates and upgrades in the future. The Xbox community is already huge, and it’s likely to increase 10-fold once people get their hands on the system and realize what can be done with it, both online and off.

But what if you don’t play games online? If not, then that’s what the Core System is for. Is the 360 a must-have? You ask. That really depends on whether or not you are the kind of person who wants to be on the cutting edge. If you are an avid online gamer, love customization and the feel of a new system that has unmatched graphics and performance, and you loved the original Xbox and the games available for it, then there’s no reason not to take the plunge into the 360. Although that $400 price tag is quite hefty, and since systems are sparse during this holiday season, you may want to hold out for a while longer, depending on whether or not you are attracted to the launch line-up and upcoming titles.

Looking at the installed base of the original Xbox leads me to believe that eventually every one of those gamers is going to want to upgrade to the new 360, which means that Sony has a major contender on their hands. In the end however, competition only breaths better games for all of us. And that’s reason enough to celebrate the release of the 360.

Features: A multimedia powerhouse, the 360 plays DVD movies, and can be used to listen to music and view both photos and videos, an optional hard drive is available, the updated Xbox Live makes online gaming easier and better than ever before, wireless controllers come standard with the premium package

Pros: Expanded online features will change the way you play online, the detachable hard drive pretty much makes the days of memory cards a thing of the past (thank goodness and good riddance!), the next-gen is now for those that want to take the plunge, standard wireless controllers are also a very good thing, the 360 library is guaranteed to have nearly all the genre bases covered, and the addition of more Japanese developers and RPG’s is a definitely plus over the original Xbox library. Some games are not region protected.

Cons: Steep price, no matter how you slice it (though you get what you pay for, and it’s definitely bang for your buck), backwards compatibility so far is weak.

Launch Games Included: Amped 3, Call of Duty 2, Condemned: Criminal Origins, Every Party (Japan), FIFA ‘06: Road to World Cup, Gun, Kameo: Elements of Power, Madden NFL 2006, NBA 2K6, NBA Live ‘06, Need for Speed: Most Wanted, NHL 2K6, Perfect Dark Zero (Limited Edition also available), Peter Jackson’s King Kong, Project Gotham Racing 3, Quake 4, Ridge Racer 6, Tetris: Grandmaster Ace (Japan), Tiger Woods PGA Tour ‘06 & Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland.

It doesn’t end at those 18 US retail games. Microsoft’s Xbox Live Arcade games download service launched with 11 additional titles: Bankshot Billiards 2, Bejeweled 2 Deluxe, Gauntlet, Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved, Hexic HD, Joust, Mutant Storm Reloaded, Outpost Kaloki, Smash TV, Wik: The Fable of Souls & Zuma Deluxe.

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