Product Description

The Xbox 360 comes fully loaded for the ultimate gaming experience, with components and accessories that would cost over £100 if sold separately.

Included in the pack:

Xbox 360 console:
Sexy styling that packs a punch -- three powerful core processors are poised to pump out 720p/1080i output, 16x9 cinematic aspect ratio, anti-aliasing for smooth textures, full surround sound and DVD playback right out of the box.

Xbox 360 hard drive (20 GB):
The detachable hard drive allows gamers to store their games, music, downloaded trailers, levels, demos and community-created content from Xbox Live Marketplace.

Xbox 360 wireless controller:
Hassle-free high-performance precision wireless gaming features the Xbox Guide Button for quick access to digital movies, music and games libraries. The controller has a range of 30 feet and battery life of up to 30 hours of life on two AA batteries.

Xbox 360 faceplate:
The removable Faceplate comes in stylish white and can be swapped out with custom faceplates to reflect gamers’ personalities or room decor.

Xbox 360 headset:
This lets gamers form strategies with team-mates or trade banter with opponents while playing games on Xbox Live.

Xbox 360 component HD-AV cable:
This connects gamers to the world of Xbox 360 games and graphics through high-definition and standard-definition connections.

Xbox Live silver membership:
With this, gamers can chat with friends online, send and receive voice and text messages, and access new content from Xbox Live Marketplace such as trailers, demos and casual games from Xbox Live Arcade.

About the Xbox
The Xbox 360 console will be the first next-gen console released and will fuse powerful hardware, software, and services to provide a dramatic leap forward in high-definition gaming and entertainment experiences.

The key technical specifications of the Xbox 360 console are unlikely to make much sense to any but the most technical. But if a custom IBM PowerPC-based CPU with three symmetrical 3.2GHz cores, a 500MHz custom ATI Graphics Processor with 10MB of embedded DRAM and unified memory architecture of 512MB GDDR3 RAM and 700MHz DDR doesn’t mean anything to you just consider this: with specs like that the Xbox 360 is already more powerful than a £2,000+ state-of-the art PC.

The Xbox 360 will also have three USB slots and both HD digital and standard audio visual outputs, which can pump out games in widescreen at 720p and 1080i resolution, complete with anti-aliasing functionality. This will result in much higher resolution games than ever seen before: the beginning of the HD (high definition) era.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1374 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Microsoft
• Released on: 2005-12-02
• ESRB Rating: Kids to Adults
• Platform: Xbox 360
• Dimensions: 5.53" h x 15.00" w x 15.00" l, 14.84 pounds

Amazon.co.uk Review
The Xbox 360 is Microsoft's successor to the Xbox console, and is the first "next generation" games console to hit the market. It has three powerful core processors which pump out 720p/1080i output (translation: graphics look great), 16x9 cinematic aspect ratio (translation: it's sort of like the cinema), anti-aliasing for smooth textures (translation: characters look less like chimps and more like people), full surround sound and DVD playback right out of the box.

A multi media experience

Xbox 360, shown with levitating wireless controller

In comparison to the Darth Vader inspired design of the original Xbox, the Xbox 360 a thing of (near) wondrous beauty.

In addition to playing games and movies, the Xbox 360 can stream music and video from a wide variety of electronic devices, including iPods and the Sony PSP.

Get Live

The Xbox 360 offers an online gaming experience via Xbox Live. This allows you to play multi-player Xbox 360 games on the internet via your broadband connection. The service also lets you download--and save on the console's hard drive--new missions, characters and vehicles for your favourite games. You can also shout real-time abuse at your opponents using the Xbox 360 headset

Choose the package that's right for you

The Xbox 360 comes in two different packages: the deluxe package includes a wireless controller, 20GB hard drive, and a number of other accessories. Alternatively, the Core System bundle has a standard wired controller and no hard drive.

Which option is right for you will depend largely on your gaming needs--are you a fan of downloadable content? Do controller wires upset the feng shui of your living room? There are pros and cons for each option: for instance, if you do plump for the Core System you will have to buy a separate memory unit if you want to save your games. Likewise, if you opt for the deluxe version you will need a steady supply of AA batteries or a rechargeable battery pack to power the wireless controller.

The Xbox 360 is only backwards compatible with a limited number of original Xbox titles, and a hard drive is required for this function.

Customer Reviews

Things I didn't know
Based on the reviews here and hearsay from friends I bought an XBox 360 for the family. I thought I would post my thoughts since I discovered things about the XBox that I didn't know before buying it. Everything good that has been said here is true, and none of the negative comments were. So in no particular order for existing comment comparison :-

1. The graphics are absolutely fantastic. Even on a normal Telly, but since we bought a Philips 26F791D HDMI it is truly staggering. Especially on ordinary DVDs, (the 1080i upscaling is very good).

2. We have had no crashes, freezes or any trouble at all.

3. The wireless is very simple to setup, and once sorted is a dooddle at connecting after startup.

Stuff I didn't know before buying (and it's not all good) :-

1. It has the noisiest fan of any game station we have ever owned. It is plain LOUD and is frankly annoying when watching a DVD, gameplay is usually loud in our house anyway so you don't notice it.

2. It runs hot so you cannot enclose it completely. But we have to some extent making the noise from (1) less annoying.

3. The external power supply transformer is HUGE, and heavy, so you need a big hole to get the XBox 360, it's transformer and clear air for cooling when you are locating it.

4. The wireless controllers use 2 AA batteries in a simple clip pod underneath, so you do not need a play and charge unit per controller if you already have an AA re-charger and some rechargeable batteries. (This is definitely a cheaper option in the UK.)

5. The HDTV connection is not a HDMI connection. It uses the Red/Green/Blue PR/Pf/.. and Red/White AL/AR connection scheme so make sure your TV has that or you need new cables (more expense).

6. Some games (TopSpin etc) require PAL-60 to be set, but the XBox comes with PAL-50 by default, and in HDTV mode the PAL menu is not visible so you cannot change it unless you switch back to normal viewing. (I just saved you 2 hours of messing about - you assume it's you, or some menu setting, at least I did, before trying to get help - we used the support line and it was excellent).


Despite my last 6 comments, which are for your information, our household is thrilled with the 360 and I would heartily recommend it, hence 5 stars.

Nothing short of stunning.
After 3 solid years of XBox Live, I felt the novelty was begining to wear off, at last, perhaps I will have some time to take up a hobby on the weekend !! How wrong I was. I now realise the only reason for the lack of new features was due to the fact that the top developers were putting all of their time into making this magical machine.

The console itself is very neat, not nearly as big as the XBox (as many people were worried about), very good looking, and not nearly as loud as discribed.

The cost, at £280 for a premium pack that includes so much, is a VERY competitive price, I look back remembering that I paid £300 notes for the first XBox, which did not include a headset or remote.

Using the console can be a little fraustrating at first, but this will only affect the die hard XBox fans, such as booting up a game from the machine being switched off, you can sit there through the cut-scenes shouting at your controller as to why it won't skip, and then you realise you didn't turn the controller on....

And if you're playing old games such as Halo2, you will be bashing a blank space on the game pad trying to press white or back to see the scores.

I have Perfect Dark 0 and Project Gotham 3. These games are superb, if you're looking for something new, then this is the place to find it. Gotham has had a mini overhaul, and while the in-car views are nothing short of dazzling, they can be difficult to drive the car, but not to worry, online, you can FORCE everyone in your room to play with that view and manual gears if you so wish. You might lose your friends fast though :)

And finally, if you're thinking of waiting to buy a PS3, I recommend you reconsider your next gen console. Seeing as the consumers have not yet seen a REAL PS3 working, you can be certain it's not going to be released until this time next year. It will also cost a packet with the kind of features they're planning, and if you keep up with the gaming news, you'll also see many Playstation loyal developers are being forced to move and support either XBox or Nintendo due to the sheer costs Sony are outlining that it will cost to develop a game, meaning many of those Japanese games that some people buy the PS for, will no longer be available.

If you are reading this with the mind of buying a new console and are not convinced with the XBox, ask yourself a few things. Do you have broadband? Not something that should affect the buying of a console, but if you're not sure, and don't have broadband, I would advise you to look a bit more at the console.

However, if you do own a broadband package, make no hesitation in buying XBox360. The online side of this thing is for lack of a better word, perfect. The online reputation scheme keeps people in shape, and if it doesn't, you will only meet them once as when people have a bad rep, they play other people with a bad rep, the system works this time.

This console is fantastic.

Incredible
Got mine in May 06, since i had heard many consoles released in 05 were faulty. You NEED xbox live gold to enjoy the full capabilities of the 360, and it's only £3 per month. You will also need the premium system, the core system is a bit of a rip. With great games currently out like GRAW, Dead Rising, PGR3 and TESIV, there is something for eveyone. There are also loads of cool games coming out over the next 2 years like Halo 3, PGR4, Halo Wars, CoD 3 and Gears Of War. With the demos over xbl marketplace you can try almost any game before you purchase it, the xbl arcade is also v. goofd, i would recommend Geometry Wars from that.

Concerning HDTV's, if you already have one, it'll look perfect, especialy with the 1080p output update coming this november. But if you don't have a HDTV and don't intend on getting one for a while, buy a widescreen monitor (the best price/quality is the Acer AL916W, 19" for £140) and an xbox 360 VGA cable, and the picture given out is increcible, much better than my 38" Sony CRT (non-HD)!