xbox advice needed

[clearyds]

Hi we decided to get our 12 yo ds xbox for christmas. target has this

Xbox 360 4GB Game System w/ Internal WiFi And Free $50 Target Gift Card - $199.99
seems like a great deal but ds has said he needs the 250 gb system which goes for 299, so 150 more than this deal.
how big a deal is the additional memory? or are there better deals out there for the 250gb system?
thanks for your help!!!

 

[shortbun]

Take it from me, the 4GB unit will run out of memory very quickly if your child really likes gaming-most boys(I know, sexist) would need the 250G. My son and I just discussed this last night. He said the 4G was for 'little girls who will play the same game over and over and over.' Yeah that was sexist too, lol! But...it's the reality of the situation. DS said he saw the 250G with Kinect for $400 packaged. We checked Gamestop and they only had the 4G packaged. Today, it's Best Buy and Target.

 

[Hannathy]

Take it from me, the 4GB unit will run out of memory very quickly if your child really likes gaming-most boys(I know, sexist) would need the 250G. My son and I just discussed this last night. He said the 4G was for 'little girls who will play the same game over and over and over.' Yeah that was sexist too, lol! But...it's the reality of the situation. DS said he saw the 250G with Kinect for $400 packaged. We checked Gamestop and they only had the 4G packaged. Today, it's Best Buy and Target.

Yep you want the 250G one. My DS 12 just bought this one this summer with money from last Christmas and his birthday. This is the one to get for a 12 yr old boy who is only going to play more and bigger games in the future.

 

[clearyds]

thanks for your quick responses!! i guess i knew that was the answer...i'll have to keep my eyes peeled for a deal on the bigger memory one
thanks

 

[Sparx]

I have a used harddrive in mine. Its usually a little cheaper and all you have to do is delete the previous content on it.

 

[kafitty]

you could also buy the 4g model now, and then buy external memory later, and spread out the cost a bit.

He won't need 4gigs RIGHT AWAY. i just got mine a few weeks ago and have been playing a variety of games and downloaded quite a few aps - i've used about half of the harddrive, but i've also been good about deleting stuff i'm not going to use anymore. If he runs through a game once and doesn't go back to it, there's no need to keep that game data...though i'm sure he won't agree with me there.

i plan on getting this 16gig memory stick somewhere down the line - http://www.sandisk.com/products/gaming-cards/sandisk-xbox-360-usb-flash-drive . i'm choosing a Microsoft licensed product because i read that speed times can be slower if it's not an officially licensed product, but i haven't tested that myself.

a memory stick also might be a good idea if he plays games at friends' houses a lot - he can bring his gamer profiles to their houses and keep all of his achievements and unlocked goodies, etc.

 

[lucas43068]

you could also buy the 4g model now, and then buy external memory later, and spread out the cost a bit.

He won't need 4gigs RIGHT AWAY.

wright, and well wrong.. some games will copy to your harddrive to make the game play faster. and if you have more than one game that would need to do that then you will run out of space very quickly..


just get a ps3

 

[Scurvy]

you could also buy the 4g model now, and then buy external memory later, and spread out the cost a bit.

He won't need 4gigs RIGHT AWAY. i just got mine a few weeks ago and have been playing a variety of games and downloaded quite a few aps - i've used about half of the harddrive, but i've also been good about deleting stuff i'm not going to use anymore. If he runs through a game once and doesn't go back to it, there's no need to keep that game data...though i'm sure he won't agree with me there.

i plan on getting this 16gig memory stick somewhere down the line - http://www.sandisk.com/products/gaming-cards/sandisk-xbox-360-usb-flash-drive . i'm choosing a Microsoft licensed product because i read that speed times can be slower if it's not an officially licensed product, but i haven't tested that myself.

a memory stick also might be a good idea if he plays games at friends' houses a lot - he can bring his gamer profiles to their houses and keep all of his achievements and unlocked goodies, etc.

I think the memory issue depends a lot on what sort of games he's playing. If he just wants to download an arcade game, play through it and then delete it then that system might work for a while. But if he's the type to download lots of songs for the Rock Band games, or lots of maps for the shooters, or all the DLC for games like Oblivion or Fallout 3 then that amount of memory will go fast -or won't be enough to begin with, in some cases. Unless they've changed it (and supposedly they were trying to, so maybe it's not an issue any longer), there's at least one online mode of Halo Reach that can't be played on the 4gb system. If you try, it tells you that at least one player doesn't have a hard drive so they can't play. Also, as lucas43068 mentioned, some games can be copied to the hard drive to reduce lag and make them load faster. That isn't an option with the 4gb system.

 

[Planogirl]

I would get the higher memory unit. Any game of any size will fill up that little system in a hurry.

The XBox360 is great but consider getting the extended warranty if you buy from a place that offers one. They supposedly have worked out a lot of the issues but I don't completely trust Microsoft....

 

[PartyOf5]

To OP, thanks for posting this question...was just going to ask but found yours!

I do have an additional question I'm hoping someone can help me with (and I know nothing about XBOX!). My son said he will be using it to play games against others on the Internet. Do I need anything special for this? Or does everything he need come included. I do plan on buying a few games but wasn't sure about the internet part. Thanks so much!

 

[Starbrite]

thanks for your quick responses!! i guess i knew that was the answer...i'll have to keep my eyes peeled for a deal on the bigger memory one
thanks

ToysRUs is doing a $50 gift card with the 250G in their Black Friday ad. And they open @ 10pm on Thanksgiving.

 

[Scurvy]

To OP, thanks for posting this question...was just going to ask but found yours!

I do have an additional question I'm hoping someone can help me with (and I know nothing about XBOX!). My son said he will be using it to play games against others on the Internet. Do I need anything special for this? Or does everything he need come included. I do plan on buying a few games but wasn't sure about the internet part. Thanks so much!

Assuming you're buying a new console and not a used one and that you already have a router, it will be able to go online right out of the box. Your son will also need an Xbox Live Gold membership in order to play online.

 

[PartyOf5]

Assuming you're buying a new console and not a used one and that you already have a router, it will be able to go online right out of the box. Your son will also need an Xbox Live Gold membership in order to play online.

Thank you! We do have wireless - thanks for the tip on the Xbox Live Gold membership...I will purchase that as well.

 

[LaDonna]

Well my so says the 4Gb will be fine, we decided to buy external hard drive down the road when needed. I'm actually getting the one at Target for $130 because you still get the $10 gift card and if you have a Target Debit another 5% off !

 

[mjkacmom]

DS said he saw the 250G with Kinect for $400 packaged. We checked Gamestop and they only had the 4G packaged. Today, it's Best Buy and Target.

Ds12 definitely wants one with Kinect, so we the 250G for $400 from amazon with free shipping.

 

[shortbun]

Well my so says the 4Gb will be fine, we decided to buy external hard drive down the road when needed. I'm actually getting the one at Target for $130 because you still get the $10 gift card and if you have a Target Debit another 5% off !

Extra memory sticks, flash drive type things, cost enough that if you have to buy a lot of them and keep track of them it is going to be a giant hassle and possibly more expensive that just getting the original 250G. W/an 11yo in the house, you are going to be needing lots of memory real soon.