360 - All the way round and back to get you! (Microsoft Xbox 360 Arcade)

Member Name: sparksteroid

Product:	Microsoft Xbox 360 Arcade
Date:	23/05/09 (28 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A few basics you need to get started

Disadvantages: Basically a con, will stop you from gaming

The X-Box 360 Arcade package is probably the cheapest X-Box package currently available and contains just about everything you need to get you started in your gaming experience. Personally, I see this more as a starters kit, it contains all the basics that you need and that's about it, so it's a good package for testing the X-Box out and finding out if you'd like to upgrade.

I bought one of these around Christmas time (2008) for around £130, just after they came right down in price and must say that I was more than satisfied with the product until Microsoft decided to screw over all x-box 360 arcade owners on 11th August 2009 with an update that causes them to become unable to use their console... at all! The arcade pack comes in with twelve months warranty, though a lot of people say that the X-Box console has a tendency to pack in just as the warranty runs out. However, there is also an option to buy an extra five years insurance for just £50 working out at £10 a year so it's definitely worth taking the opportunity to get it insured.

The console comes with an arcade game collection that contains simple classic little games such as Pacman and Uno. While this games pack doesn't show off the capabilities of the console at all, they are still great fun and very addictive. The console also comes with two full price commercial games, Fable 2 and Fallout 3. However, I don't like either of these games. Both of them are role playing types of games where you have to wander around talking to people and choosing your answers carefully - not my type of game at all. They are both currently retailing for about £40 each though.

The one major drawback of buying the arcade system, is that you don't get a hard drive. All is not lost though, as they do provide you with a 256MB memory unit/card. This actually provides enough space to download the updates from the internet in order to use X-Box Live and leaves a small amount of space left over for a couple of save games. I imagine that buying one more 256MB memory card would be sufficient enough if you're not planning on downloading demos.

You also get a wireless controller and one month's subscription to X-Box Live. You don't get a HDMI cable though so you won't be gaming in high definition just yet although there will always be the choice to upgrade. When I bought the system, there was a promotional offer on and I could have had three months of X-Box Live for free, but I didn't sign up in time so I was left with the basic standard one month trial.

Once you start getting into the more modern X-Box 360 games you will begin to notice the difference between the original console and this one, particularly in the graphics. There is a lot more detail and the animation is noticeably improved, which is more due to the processor power. The one game which shows off the console's capabilities the most and a game I highly recommend is Call Of Duty 5 - World At War, especially when playing online.

And now comes the bad news. Microsoft updated the X-Box Live system on 11th August 2009 which requires an updateof 128MB. Seeing that users who bought the Arcade package are only given a 256MB memory card (some of which is used up by the system) and have to use this to store their saved games they are left at something of a dead end. Not only am I now unable to update to the latest version of X-Box Live, but they will not let me play any of my games or use the console at all until I do so! So, put simply, they are try to con their customers out of even more money and completel unfairly.

I have never thought as Microsoft as a scammer in the past, but they have basically just screwed over all the people that supported them by buying their X-Box Arcade pack. I am extremely dissatisfied with this as I now have a console which I paid over £100 for, yet I am unable to play any games with, it has basically become just a useless lump of plastic and metal in my front room with absolutely no use.

I strongly recommend that everyone stays well away from the X-Box Arcade console package, it's just a cheap sure-fire way for Microsoft to drain money and take advantage of the people that can't afford the higher X-Box packages. A total waste of money!

Summary: A cheap system but severely flawed by Microsoft's new scam