Consoles-Store.co.uk

Customer Rating:
Summary: Needs hard drive for Xbox compatability
Comment: The Xbox 360 arcade is OK, but I think a few things should be made clearer. Firstly, to have
backwards compatability for XBox games, the 360 needs a hard drive which does not come with the
Arcade. This means that it may be cheaper to buy a package that comes with a hard drive. Secondly, I
find issues with the sound, especially via the HDMI connection. The way the connections are, you
cannot have the picture going into one source and the sounds going into another source, unless you
have bought the additional connector. All of this means that you may end up spending a lot more
money to get even basic functionality.

Customer Rating:
Summary: Some clarification of the Arcade's features
Comment: The Arcade is great value at £120. You get HD gaming, access to arguably the best online gaming
system, a media extender, DVD player and more.

For those that are still a little
confused about the different 360 models, here's some clarification: -

All new 360s are
the same internally, so the graphics you get in games with this model are of exactly the same
standard you'd get if you owned an Elite.

All 360s have a HDMI port, but only the Elite
actually comes with the cable. There is no benefit in buying an expensive HDMI cable, because the
signal is digital. I think I paid £4 for mine and it works perfectly.

The hard drive
is only required to play 2 games offline - Football Manager 2006 and Final Fantasy XI. All other
disc based games will play without a hard drive. Burnout Paradise requires a hard drive for online
play. There may be others, but that's the only one I'm aware of.

If you buy a hard
drive at a later date, it simply clips to the side of the console. It doesn't need to be fitted
internally.

The official Microsoft wireless adapter is not the only option for
wireless. There are third party options too, such as the adapter made by Belkin. If you have a
laptop with wireless you can use that to connect, although it means having the laptop on while
gaming. You can also use homeplugs. Obviously if it's convenient to use the supplied cable to
connect the 360 to your router, that's the best option.

Hopefully someone out there
will find this info useful. The 360 has some superb games available for it and at £120 delivered it
really is a bargain.

Customer Rating:
Summary: well....
Comment: I bought the xbox arcade because its cheaper than the premium but now after a few months i wished id
spent the extra cash because i really miss a hardrive. the xbox 360 is 5 stars but given it 4
because of no hardrive.

Customer Rating:
Summary: a great replacement
Comment: if you, like me had a 360 giveup the ghost on you then you will most likly have held on to your hard
drive and other kit so as a replacment this is second to none and whilst it may not be as pretty as
the primuim it takes about an hour to repaint in glossy black that looks better than the elite. />
but only buy this if you do still have hard drives and what not because other wise you will
end up forking out alot more money in the long term.
so to summarise this is a good way to
save money on an completly new prmium or elite but is not a good first time console.

Customer Rating:
Summary: XBOX 360 ARCADE - GREAT WINDOWS MEDIA EXTENDER!
Comment: Regardless of its capabilities as a games console, the Xbox 360 Arcade is also the cheapest Windows
Media Centre Extender on the market. And it does the job so well. If you have a Media Centre PC (XP
Media Centre Edition or Vista Home Premium) and a home network, simply buy a 360 Arcade and network
it anywhere in your house where you want to stream media from your Media Centre PC - including (if
you have a TV card in your Media Centre PC) Live TV, Recorded TV, music, pictures, videos etc. In
other words, all the functions of Windows Media Centre all around your house, only limited by the
number of Xboxes you want to buy. I use one Xbox 360 Elite and two Arcades to stream Freeview TV and
Media from the Media Centre PC all around the house. No need for HDTVs (or TV aerials) in the other
rooms, just connect the 360 to your home network, an SVGA monitor and a pair of speakers and you're
away. Such a CHEAP way to do something really cool with your Media Centre PC. The really nice thing
for our family is that every 360 has access to the Recorded TV on the Media Centre PC - you record
all the TV you want in one place, and then squirt it around the house as you want it.
Oh yes,
you can play games on the 360 as well if you want to . . .