Microsoft's answer to the seventh generation roll call of consoles. Although now in its fifth year of life its presence continues to dominate the market with its diverse range of features, games and online services.The Design:
Born out of the original Xbox design concept - to be a grey scale shade and weigh considerably more than a family car - the Xbox 360 tries not to radically buck the trend with its semi sculpted lines and profiled sides. Seemingly based on a damp cereal box the console can be placed in either a horizontal or vertical stance which allows users with a tighter fit around their TV to accommodate it. I personally find the elite to be slightly more attractive than its Caucasian counterparts and I love the mix between the black and the faux chromed disc tray. A point of contention with the 360 in any incarnation however is the power brick that must accompany it; while I appreciate that a console of this calibre must require some serious juice I find that having to accommodate a grey breeze block slightly inconvenient.
The Software:
Now onto its second version of the Xbox 360 dashboard, the developers have introduced some well needed functionality to the menus allowing individual sections to have sub categories with different content such as video, games and music etc. The controller can be used to easily navigate using the shoulder and trigger buttons to manipulate the menus by cycling back and forth between different main categories (trigger buttons) and sub category content (shoulder buttons). A whole range of media can be downloaded from the online connection service called instinctively Xbox Live. This includes additional themes and backgrounds for your dashboard as well as music, movies and even fully formed games. While Xbox Live remains the only online pay for service out of the three major consoles on the market you can being to understand why due to its polished feel, even if you must endure the occasional rowdy hick berating your sexual beliefs during a firefight.
The Accessories:
Along with console and a single controller, elite owners also receive the upgraded 250GiB hard drive to store additional content and a headset for communication over Xbox Live. Other accessories that can be bought include wireless adapters for wireless connectivity, additional headsets and controllers as well as battery packs and miniature keyboards for your controller. At this point I become slightly agitated by some of the features not included with the 360 such as the wireless connectivity which comes a standard on the rival Playstation 3. Another misdemeanour are the rechargeable battery packs that must be bought separately, although a good idea I find the cable has the ample length of a child's forearm and the battery has the same get up and go of Lindsay Lohan's career.----
I find certain aspects of the Xbox 360 exceptionally mind blowing with its intuitive online service and features provided. As a games console it has the real performance to outshine others in its class with big hits such as Halo 3 and the Call of Duty series however serious doubt has to be cast over the machines technical reliability including many reports of overheating issues and its expensive games and accessories. Overall a great console to quickly set up a game and power through however real fanatics will still crave those feature rich games of rival consoles and PC’s.