Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1277 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Microsoft
• Released on: 2004-08-27
• Platform: Xbox
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 8.82 pounds

Amazon.co.uk Review
With the Xbox Microsoft got it right first go. It has stunning graphics, immense power under the bonnet and little quirks to give it the edge. You can tell that every component of the Xbox has been scrutinised and all the elements play-tested so that this really is a machine created by gamers for gamers. The main processor is powered by Intel while the graphics are dealt with by NVIDIA and both have been specifically designed for the system.

What this gives you is a machine with PC power and equivalent graphics that plays on your television screen. Imagine a P4 2 GHz machine with buckets of memory and a GeForce 3 card with all the extra options--such as tri-linear, bump mapping and shadows--turned on and you might start to get close on the graphics. The set video pieces are like something out of the Final Fantasy movie and are far above anything previously seen on a console.

The eye candy doesn't stop with the cinematic sequences. Once you start playing the games themselves they ooze creativity and atmosphere. Titles such as Halo and Oddworld: Munch's Odyssey show a graphical style that make them simply the best-looking console games you will see on your TV.

It is not only graphics that Microsoft has gone to great pains to get right. Sound plays a huge part in the immersive atmosphere that the console is aiming for. To this end the Xbox boasts 256 audio channels as well as supporting Dolby Digital and Dolby Surround which all combine to give you an unrivalled audio experience. You will almost feel the bullets whizzing over your head from all directions in Halo.

The system also supports DVD playback which is accessed by a remote control sold separately. This is a good thing because you don't have to faff around pausing movies with the right trigger or left d-pad.

In Xbox you get the gaming capabilities of a top of the range PC with all the extras. You can't do your monthly accounts on it or edit your home movies but this machine is for playing with and that's what it excels at. --Jason Denwood

Manufacturer's Description
Bring gaming to life in your living room with the Xbox Video Game System, the essential center-piece to any home entertainment set up. Beneath the cool, tough exterior is a system capable of powering the very best single and multiplayer gaming experiences available today.Designed to push gaming to the absolute limit, the Xbox console delivers incredible graphics and cinematic sound that will drop you and your friends deep into the heart of the action. The immense range of top-class games and online gaming with Xbox Live mean there will never be another dull moment.

Customer Reviews

I like it!
i have owned and xbox for 4 years now and it has finally given up the ghost but it has been v. reliable and i have had no problems. only problem is that htere r no good platform games but drving, shooting and evrything else r great . got xbox 360 now
its not that much bigger than a ps2 and its ghot the same amount of buttons!

Excellent multi media centre (but not in the way Micro$oft intended it)
I bought my main xbox over a year and a half ago and now own two of them! - And I still use both of them quite extensively! Why would you want to buy an xbox these days when there are so many alternatives like the psx 2, or xbox 360? - well I bought mine with the intention of using it as a multi-media centre (no, not the default rubbish that micro$oft gives you!) - I had a lot of divx & dvd backup movies of dvd's that I owned on the pc and mac that I wanted to watch in the living room.

Back a year ago the only options was to add a `mod chip' to the system that would allow you to run other software (other than micro$oft approved), nowadays you can `soft mod' the xbox which means you don't even have to buy a mod chip or open up the xbox!

I chipped mines with the X3 mod chip, nowadays you can buy a solderless version which means you just push the legs into the right places and away you go! I use XBMC (xbox media centre) homebrew software, which is a totally FREE media playing software that runs on xbox and you can use it to view pictures, play music (wma, mp3, mp4 etc) and play many video formats as well such as divx, xvid, vobs, bins, dvd etc.

Since the xbox is plugged into the tv & hi fi, now all our photo albums , music and films are viewable on our living room tv and through the hi fi! It was so easy to set up, that some months later I bought another second hand xbox and a solderless x3 chip for our bedroom.

The other big plus, is you can fit a bigger normal pc hard drive - I put a 320gb drive in one of the xboxes, and backed up all my games that I own on it - no more scratched disks - I play them straight off the hard drive! Also you are now, not limited to just European games, you can play US games on it too (there are a lot of titles that were just not released in Europe).

On a side note, for those geeks out there, I also installed Gentoo Linux and DSL Linux, both run quite happily on the chipped xbox - both offer virtual keyboards, but browsing the web is a bit clunky due to the resolution (on a normal tv connection you can only get a really low res like 600x800 or so - I think you get better res on hdtv connections (780/1080i), but movies play just perfectly (through XBMC).

So if you have a lot of content on your mac, linux or windows pc that you would like to listen/view on your hi fi/tv in another room then an xbox would be an ideal candidate!

NB. Some of the older xboxes can have a noisy fan that is audible when your film/music is on low volume, if you are buying a second hand xbox try and get xbox model v1.3 or above. (Also any form of modding or chipping will obviously invalidate any warranties you may have)

a great console but only 4 stars
it rely is a great game console but there is one problem the xbox it over heats and wen it does it stops playin games well mine does an there is a massive variety of games on the xbox startin from rely crap ones to awesome games like halo, hitman, call of duty, project gotham racing, etc etc it goes on and on and to be fair not all ppl like action games so u might want games that i call crap but if u love em then gd for u but if u want a wide variety of games and dont mind that your xbox overheatin then get one but jus make sure u get a new one or one that has been refurbished by a compant that specialises in it and jus dont buy a second hand one for very little money cos you will be disappointed