Xbox 360

[tomster2300]

Even though I bashed the xbox 360 a month or so ago, I broke down and bought a premium one for my birthday last week. While it's still no computer, Microsoft seems to be on the right track in my opinion. The best thing so far is the online integration that they've achieved. Turning on the console automatically logs you into xbox live, and you always have instant options to begin a voice convo with somebody or send messages no matter what you're doing (watching a movie, playing a game, etc.) The wireless controller is nice too (it turns the xbox on and off as well). With the gold version of live you can download game demos, which is a big plus to me. It beats going to the store to rent something only to find out you hate the game.

I bought the vga hd connector and have it plugged into my lcd monitor and run everything at 1280 x 1024. They all look great - COD2 looks just as good as on my pc and Fight Night Round 3 is simply amazing. My surround sound system is plugged into it as well and it works like a charm. The xbox acts as a receiver and gives me pretty decent discrete surround sound, which is a big plus.

I also bought the 2 year warranty at Best Buy which lets me return the xbox no questions asked in exchange for a ps3 when they come out (of course I have to pay the difference, but I thought it was still pretty cool).

Unfortunately the backwards compatibility is pretty awful atm - The Halo's work, but so far only two other games have passed the test.

Conclusion? Those of you with a top of the line pc dont need this at all. Those who don't though, or have one which is fallen from its prime (like mine) then this is a pretty good buy.