XBOX 360 - Please bottom-line it for me...

[bicker]

My wife and I are thinking about holiday gifts we might give each other, and often we end up getting ourselves something fun we can share, rather than something specific for each one of us. (We typically do that sort of thing for birthdays and our anniversary.) My wife has floated the idea of an XBOX 360.

A bit of background with regard to why: First, there is this impending screenwriters' strike, which could disrupt television for the next few months. While we could fill the gap with Netflix, she was figuring that XBOX might also serve that need; and combining the two, perhaps Netflix can feed some HD-DVD material into an XBOX. Second, she's a big music fan, and has a Zune. I think she'd love nothing more than having a way to bring her music more easily into our living room. (Currently, we can play CDs, and tune in the cable television music services, such as Music Choice ?, but that's it.) Third, she's an employee of the company that makes puts out the XBOX and while they don't get discounts on the box itself, they do get discounts on games.

I'm curious not only about what an XBOX 360 can offer us, but also which of the two units we should consider getting. (The Arcade unit is not a consideration, AFAIC, since it doesn't support HD-DVD.) I can get HDMI cables relatively inexpensively from monoprice.com, so that difference doesn't amount to much AFAIC, so the difference between the two units, as far as I can tell, is the color of some peripherals, and the size of the hard drive. Am I missing something?

We've got an empty nest here, so I'm especially interested in folks perspective on this form of entertainment from the perspective of adults. The nieces and nephews don't visit, so it is just us baby boomers here.

I'm also curious about how we would go about supporting the XBOX's need for connectivity... Would wireless be good enough (since there is no practical way to provide a wired connection)?

Another thing that I would love to understand better is the television aspect, beyond the HD-DVD player. I cannot really get a good understanding about what XBOX Live is all about; how much it costs; what it includes; how viable downloading things from it is; etc. Also, if you do get television content this way, what is the timing aspect? Does this service make content available in advance of its "normal" broadcast or long after? Is there any HBO/Showtime On Demand-like content (since we don't subscribe to either)?

What else SHOULD I be curious about?

 

[DisneyAddict_M]

Most of your thread was greek to me (peripherals? what? ), but my boyfriend has XBox360. He got it free from a company he was working with last year. He subscribes to the Live thing too. However, I can tell you that he has only one beef with the system and that is that there just isn't many games for it...well, not many good games anyway.

 

[Papa Deuce]

OK, I have a 360, but I don't use it a ton.... some observations:

1. X BOX live can be free or have a fee depending on level of service. I think the most it can cost is $50 a year. For that money you get access to play against other players of the same game accross the net. You also get access to purchase item or games - but that is true in the free version as well.

2. Yes, you "can" be wireless, but it requires an adapter. $100 ( or was way back when I did it... but I have the actual XBOX 360 one... there are cheaper versions, out, but I didn't know it. I believe they call them a wireless bridge )

3. HD DVD... statistics are starting to show that Blu Ray will mostl likely emerge victorious in the battle of HD vs.. BRay.

4. I don't believe there is too much available as far as movies or TV stuff on XBO Live, but I could be wrong there.... HOWEVER, I keep reading that lots of this stuff is in the works.

5. Related to 4.... Size of your HD is pretty much a non issue for most, right now, as the amount that comes with even a basic 360 is plenty for most... but that obviously changes as the other content available rises.

Hope that helps.

OH, BTW, much of what is available for download is not free. Trailers and demos are, but beyond that, most things cost at least a few bucks.

 

[java]

Addicts here.
We LOVE Gears of War! (and yes I am a 42 year old mother of 4!)DH and I play on teams online- and just the regular game together. Online I think costs about $50 a year?? Maybe more but honestly dh loves playing online.

We have the smaller hard drive one and it is fine. Personally I would go the middle of the line one. But die hards will tell you differently.

Connectivity? Are you talking Live? With that we have only the wireless. And it works great. And we don't download tv through it? I didn't even know that was an option. My son downloads free demos all the time though and he loves trying before you buy. And they are pretty good size demos.

Don't bother with the wireless headset- it cuts in and out too much. and really the wired is not that big a pain

On the controllers BUY THE RECHARGABLE BATTERY PACK!! They eat batteries. You can buy an add on 2 pack recharger that is a godsend.

Have fun!

 

[Planogirl]

This is a great thread for me because the XBox is being discussed here too. I don't think that we want XBox Live though but I'm not sure about wireless...

I'd better subscribe.

 

[yeartolate]

My son loves his. HE is really looking foward to Rock Band, HE loves Guitar Hero and Halo - Gears of War as well. I, however, stick to his downloads of Dig Dug and Millipede.

When he doesn't have friends over he does use the online feature, otherwise he does not. THere is free online and paid online. You have to pay to interact with others in group play.

We actually hooked it up to a projector and they do it big screen style.

We use Gamestop to get games and consoles at a good discount - and they guarantee it. If you join their club, you get a better value. When we have taken an item back for cause they immediatly replace. I have not had any major issues with used.,