Xbox 360 (Microsoft Xbox 360 Arcade)

Member Name: Budster2005

Product:	Microsoft Xbox 360 Arcade
Date:	31/01/09 (40 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Still The Best, Games, Graphics, HDMI Socket

Disadvantages: Brick Power Cable, A Little Hevy

I ended up buying one of these as my other 360 i had since release date dcided to konk out on me with the 3 red lights and this was the cheapest version around at the time.

Compared to the premium version i couldnt see what i would be paying extra for apart from a silver outer disc tray and a hardrive but with the arcade you get a free game disc so i went for it.

Packaging.

Since the release in 2005 the packaging is still the same, the box opens from the side and luckily ive opened one of these as for a first time user i cant be a bit confussing, the xbox 360 was sat on top and all the cables and manuals were nicely stashed in the bottom layer using up all the space to maximum effect.

Inside Contents.

1x Xbox 360
1x Scart Cable
1x Wireless Controller
1x Power Cable [Brick]
1x Headphone
1x 256mb memory card
Several manuals

Setting Up.

From my old xbox i used the Harddrive as the arcade version doesnt come with one, with the new version of xbox's they all feature a HDMI socket which greatly improves the display quality, it causes less cable hassle if you have one as they are very small and simple to plug in but for people still using the scart socket it is a bit bulky and does look a bit messy, it still has the same brick sized power cable which does get in the way sometimes but once plugged in i was off and running.

The Start Up.

Noticeably from having the old xbox for a few years it was quieter and semmed a tad faster on the menu, once connected to xbox live i was greeted with a dashboard update which took about 20 minutes to download and update, the new look is stylish and features your own avatar you can design with clothes and shoes etc. going down the route of the wii.
There were a few new features such as being able to copy an xbox game to the hardrive but you still need the original to boot up and a fairly large HD of course.

The Free Arcade Disc

Ok so i tryed to game, it contained Pacman, Uno, Feeding Frenzy, Boom Boom Rocket and Luxor 2, each game is suitable for all family members and are easy to play.

Overall.

I still love the xbox 360 with several new games each month it never gets boring and with the new dashboard update its more inviting to play than before, as for buying the premium compared to the arcade it depends if you need a hardrive, if you are going to download demos or videos etc your better off with the premium but for general gamers a 256mb memory card will last for a while.

Summary: 5/5