Now, there is a big difference in the core and premium systems. If you choose to buy a core system, it will cost you $300.00 and you will get a wired controller, a standard set of AV cables and a Xbox live silver membership, meaning you can log on and view what’s going on, but not join any gaming venues. The corded controller is certainly a quality piece of machinery. However, if you get the core system, be ready to buy a memory card. If you don’t, you will have to start from scratch everytime you fire up your game.
If you buy the premium system though, you get a whole lot more for an extra $100 you’ll shell out. Instead of a corded controller, you get the wireless controller which retails for $50.00. You also get the hard drive ($100), a headset ($30), a remote control for watching DVDs and navigating the dashboard ($30) and the all-important high definition cables ($30). Yes, the math is correct, that’s $240 in extra goodies just for an extra $100.
I’m not telling you which system to buy, and the hard drive may not be of interest to some gamers. As it is, the hard drive allows it so you don’t need a memory card and you can play most of the original Xbox games if you have it, plus, any content that needs to be downloaded from Xbox live will easily be stored in it’s memory. Compatibility with previous Xbox games only works with the hard drive installed.
But again customization is the key, you can buy a wireless controller for the core system or you can buy a wired controller for the premium system. And you can even get a memory card for your premium system if you so desire. The point is, that there are options out there, and many more to come. There is a deluxe remote you can buy for your system and with the two USB ports on the front of the system (and one in the back), there is talk of all sorts of nifty add-ons that Microsoft promises is on the way (cameras? dance pads? microwaves?).
The controller is a smooth piece of equipment that seats nicely into a gamer’s hands. Long gone is the oversized bulky controller of the original, this new one is a combination of the S-controller and something entirely new. It still has force feeback as well as the trigger buttons.
Only this time the controller has an extra set of trigger buttons, only smaller and less obtrusive. Where the bottom buttons are true “triggers” the upper buttons are flat and wider. The headphones plug into base of the controller and the memory card plugs into the top. The whole thing is light and very comfortable.
The dual thumbsticks are located in such a way that whether you have a large hand or a small one, it should be comfortable. The familiar colored buttons are still on the far right of the controller but long gone are the black and white buttons, presumably because of the two new trigger ones.
The thing that really stands out on the wireless controller though, is the silver and green “X” button in the dead center. If you press and hold it down for a second, a little green light comes on.
Upon further inspection you’ll notice that there are four little numbers and four little lights. Each corner of the “X” represents one of the four players that can be playing at one time. In other words, should you have three other people playing with you, they will all have a different part of the “X” lit up, indicating if they are player one, two, three or four.
In addition, you can even power up your 360 using the big center button. There was definately some forward thinking going on when this bad boy was in development.
The headset is also a nice piece of equipment. It’s light enough so it won’t irritate you after wearing it and the cord has plenty of length to it. It’s reversable so that you can put it on either your left or right ear and the mirophone has some flex to it for mouth positioning. Since online games aren’t going anywhere, it’s nice to know that you won’t burn through several of these headsets, they are well built.
 |
 |
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
