April 2, 2006
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Today is the last day of the first free xbox live weekend. With that in mind, I thought I'd give a helping hand to those who are either waiting or on the fence in getting an xbox 360.
Surprisingly enough, a shortage still exists. You can't just walk into a store and find the 360 in stock. You pretty much have to show up at the exact same day they get a shipment in, because at the end of that day or the following day, it will be out of stock again. If you happen to find a "core" package though, ignore it, as it's simply more cost effective to wait for the "premium" package that already comes with the hard drive, wireless controller, and headset.
...and about those awesome wireless controllers, you need to decide what you are going to do about the battery. You have a choice between getting the official play & charge kit, or just get a typical charger with NiMH AA batteries (that's what I use).
The first thing a new owner of an xbox360 needs to do when they start the console, is to get an xbox live account. If you don't want to subscribe to the paid "gold" service, simply get a FREE "silver" account. You will need access to xbox live to download firmware / software updates for your console. Ofcourse the gold service is what you will need to play online multiplayer games.
Then comes the games. My top two choices of what you should consider owning right away are Call of Duty 2 (first person shooter) and Fight Night : Round 3 (sports - boxing). Other games that are totally worth checking out are Burnout Revenge (arcade racer), Condemned : Criminal Origins (first person survival horror), Dead or Alive 4 (fighting), The Elder Scrolls IV : Oblivion (role playing game), Ghost Recon : Advanced Warfighter (tactical shooter), Kameo : Elements of Power (platformer adventure), NBA 2K6 (sports - basketball), Need For Speed : Most Wanted (arcade racer), Project Gotham Racing 3 (arcade racer), and Rumble Roses XX (sports - wrestling).
Once you play several of those games I mentioned, there will be no doubt that you are experiencing a next-gen experience.
Another neat thing about the xbox360 is the xbox live arcade, which is integrated directly to your console's "dashboard." You pretty much download retro / home-brew games using the xbox live marketplace, and you only need the "silver" xbox live service for some online multiplayer gaming. The top games I recommend a download are Astropop, Geometry Wars : Retro Evolved, Smash TV, and Zuma Deluxe.
There you go. And to steal a phrase from Sega of the past, "welcome to the next level."
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