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Last Updated: 19th July 2006
This is a guide to the Xbox360 - it is probably not as good as the 'everything you need to know' post in the archive, but it will do for now.
What is the Xbox360?
The 360 is a follow-up to Microsoft’s successful Xbox games console. It improves on pretty much every aspect of the Xbox, while still keeping the fantastic Xbox Live feature that made online gaming so accessible.
The 360 boasts the best graphics and sound of any console currently on the market and the list of games is growing every day. Rockstar’s Table Tennis, Oblivion and Ghost Recon are some of the top titles available and both Halo 3 and GTA 4 have been confirmed. HD output is supported to the new HD Televisions, making the graphics even more detailed and clear.
Packs
There are two packs currently available, the Core and Premium.
Core gives you a wired controller, no hard drive and a basic 360 with a Composite TV connector (and SCART connector).
Premium gives you a wireless controller, hard drive, Ethernet cable, Headset and a Silver Live account, meaning you can use the Live service to download games. Output is via Component HD AV Cable with a SCART connector.
It’s best to go for the Premium pack every time as it saves money in the long run and gives you everything you need from the start to go online and provides a (basic) HD output.
Specs
For the more technical among you, or those that get turned on by numbers, here are the specs for the Xbox 360 console:
Processor: 3.2 GHz PowerPC with 3 dual-threaded processor cores (each processor is capable of running two threads a piece, meaning that the console will be able to handle six instructions simultaneously)
Graphics (GPU): ATI-based custom processor
Clock speed: 500 Mhz
Video: Up to 512 MB GDDR3 system RAM (700 MHz) plus 10 MB embedded DRAM (eDRAM) frame buffer
Video Outputs: Composite video, S-Video, component and VGA. Plus 1 HDMI output for HD TV.
Native video resolutions: 16:9 widescreen 720p and 1080i (will downsample to standard definition)
Sound: 5.1 channel Dolby surround sound (and lower)
Memory: 512 MB GDDR3 RAM (700 MHz), shared with GPU
DVD Speed: 12x
Hard Drive: 20GB
USB Ports: 3x
Xbox Live
This is the online portion of the 360 experience. It requires a Broadband connection and either a Router/Ethernet or wireless network. The 360 is designed to plug straight into a router or Ethernet port for instant internet access. The wireless Xbox network adaptor can be bought separately, but is recommended as you can place your 360 anywhere and still be online.
To get full use of the online functions of the 360, a Gold account is needed which costs around £40 per year. You get a Silver account free with the Premium pack that lets you download marketplace demos and watch games.
The new Xbox live contains Marketplace, which is where you will find free demos of new games, videos, pictures and extra levels/add ons for games. A recent update to this system allows you to download up to 5 things in a queue, meaning that you can leave your 360 running over night to download new demos and content.
Nearly all Xbox games have some online functionality, with most boasting multi-player online matches. Many of the games have downloadable content such as extra cars in Burnout and PGR3, new costumes in Kameo and many more. This keeps games fresh and will be exploited even further by games publishers as time goes by.
Xbox Live Arcade
An area of Xbox Live found in the Games section of the menu on your 360. This is an area where you can download arcade games, either new games such as the excellent Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved and Feeding Frenzy to classic arcade games such as Gauntlet and Crystal Quest. Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat will be making an appearance soon.
You can download a small section of each game free as a taster for the whole thing or use Microsoft Points to buy the complete game. New games are usually added on a Wednesday.
Microsoft Points
A payment system for extras in retail games, such as extra tracks and cars in Project Gotham 3 or extra levels in Ghost Recon and also for arcade games in Live Arcade. These can be bought online with a credit or debit card or over the counter in most game shops.
Dashboard Upgrades
Microsoft release bi-annual updates through the Xbox Live service to improve the Xbox360 features and provide new features. Their official website lists the new updates and what they improve.
The last current update, 2.0.2858, was in Spring 2006 (June 6, 2006 to be exact) and changed the following:
• New Background download manager – allows you to queue 6 downloads at a time so you can leave the 360 downloading in the background while you do something else.
• Update to Marketplace items, now storing things in more relevant sections so you can find them easier.
• Full remote control features for Xbox Live Marketplace videos allow gamers to fast forward and rewind at various speeds (2X-16X) during all videos downloaded from Marketplace.
• Custom background music now continues to play without interruption during game loads and when transitioning from game to game or disc content.
• During music play, the music playback screen now contains the artist, song title and time remaining on the song along with a visualizer showing which song on the playlist or album is currently playing.
• DVD movie bookmarking now allows gamers to pause a movie at any point, put in a game for gameplay and return to the movie at the exact point it left off.
• Improved VGA support and smoother, higher quality DVD movie playback produces optimal viewing experience.
Media Centre Extender
This allows you to connect to Windows XP with the Media Center download or XP: Media Center Edition, which means you can stream music and pictures from your PC hard drive (and video content from XP:MCE). It also lets you use your own pictures and photos on the Xbox360 dashboard.
Backward Compatibility
Do old Xbox games work on the Xbox360?
Well, kind of. Because the processor in the Xbox360 is entirely different to the original Xbox, Xbox games will not immediately run on the new console. To enable them to work, Microsoft have created an emulated environment for each game. What this means is that there are a (growing) list of xbox games which will work with the 360, once you download the emulator software free from Microsoft.
This software can either be downloaded from the Xbox 360 Marketplace or saved on a CD using your PC, then uploaded to the 360. To find the complete list of games that will work, go to www.xbox.com
What this also means is that the graphics will look better on the old games as well, as the new technology such as antialiasing can display them with extra effects and smoother lines. Online modes are also fully supported.
High Definition (HD)
HD is a term used for the new video display format used by TV companies such as Sky and also for the Xbox360. It is a transmission of video signals with an output of either 720p, 1080i, or 1080p. In Layman’s terms, this means that the graphics on the 360 will look sharper and more detailed if you have an HD compatible TV and use the correct cables between the 360 and the TV.
Using the Microsoft HD cables and an HD TV will allow you to watch your games in HD. There will also be an HD-DVD drive later this year which will play the new format of discs due to replace DVD.
This is a guide to the Xbox360 - it is probably not as good as the 'everything you need to know' post in the archive, but it will do for now.
What is the Xbox360?
The 360 is a follow-up to Microsoft’s successful Xbox games console. It improves on pretty much every aspect of the Xbox, while still keeping the fantastic Xbox Live feature that made online gaming so accessible.
The 360 boasts the best graphics and sound of any console currently on the market and the list of games is growing every day. Rockstar’s Table Tennis, Oblivion and Ghost Recon are some of the top titles available and both Halo 3 and GTA 4 have been confirmed. HD output is supported to the new HD Televisions, making the graphics even more detailed and clear.
Packs
There are two packs currently available, the Core and Premium.
Core gives you a wired controller, no hard drive and a basic 360 with a Composite TV connector (and SCART connector).
Premium gives you a wireless controller, hard drive, Ethernet cable, Headset and a Silver Live account, meaning you can use the Live service to download games. Output is via Component HD AV Cable with a SCART connector.
It’s best to go for the Premium pack every time as it saves money in the long run and gives you everything you need from the start to go online and provides a (basic) HD output.
Specs
For the more technical among you, or those that get turned on by numbers, here are the specs for the Xbox 360 console:
Processor: 3.2 GHz PowerPC with 3 dual-threaded processor cores (each processor is capable of running two threads a piece, meaning that the console will be able to handle six instructions simultaneously)
Graphics (GPU): ATI-based custom processor
Clock speed: 500 Mhz
Video: Up to 512 MB GDDR3 system RAM (700 MHz) plus 10 MB embedded DRAM (eDRAM) frame buffer
Video Outputs: Composite video, S-Video, component and VGA. Plus 1 HDMI output for HD TV.
Native video resolutions: 16:9 widescreen 720p and 1080i (will downsample to standard definition)
Sound: 5.1 channel Dolby surround sound (and lower)
Memory: 512 MB GDDR3 RAM (700 MHz), shared with GPU
DVD Speed: 12x
Hard Drive: 20GB
USB Ports: 3x
Xbox Live
This is the online portion of the 360 experience. It requires a Broadband connection and either a Router/Ethernet or wireless network. The 360 is designed to plug straight into a router or Ethernet port for instant internet access. The wireless Xbox network adaptor can be bought separately, but is recommended as you can place your 360 anywhere and still be online.
To get full use of the online functions of the 360, a Gold account is needed which costs around £40 per year. You get a Silver account free with the Premium pack that lets you download marketplace demos and watch games.
The new Xbox live contains Marketplace, which is where you will find free demos of new games, videos, pictures and extra levels/add ons for games. A recent update to this system allows you to download up to 5 things in a queue, meaning that you can leave your 360 running over night to download new demos and content.
Nearly all Xbox games have some online functionality, with most boasting multi-player online matches. Many of the games have downloadable content such as extra cars in Burnout and PGR3, new costumes in Kameo and many more. This keeps games fresh and will be exploited even further by games publishers as time goes by.
Xbox Live Arcade
An area of Xbox Live found in the Games section of the menu on your 360. This is an area where you can download arcade games, either new games such as the excellent Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved and Feeding Frenzy to classic arcade games such as Gauntlet and Crystal Quest. Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat will be making an appearance soon.
You can download a small section of each game free as a taster for the whole thing or use Microsoft Points to buy the complete game. New games are usually added on a Wednesday.
Microsoft Points
A payment system for extras in retail games, such as extra tracks and cars in Project Gotham 3 or extra levels in Ghost Recon and also for arcade games in Live Arcade. These can be bought online with a credit or debit card or over the counter in most game shops.
Dashboard Upgrades
Microsoft release bi-annual updates through the Xbox Live service to improve the Xbox360 features and provide new features. Their official website lists the new updates and what they improve.
The last current update, 2.0.2858, was in Spring 2006 (June 6, 2006 to be exact) and changed the following:
• New Background download manager – allows you to queue 6 downloads at a time so you can leave the 360 downloading in the background while you do something else.
• Update to Marketplace items, now storing things in more relevant sections so you can find them easier.
• Full remote control features for Xbox Live Marketplace videos allow gamers to fast forward and rewind at various speeds (2X-16X) during all videos downloaded from Marketplace.
• Custom background music now continues to play without interruption during game loads and when transitioning from game to game or disc content.
• During music play, the music playback screen now contains the artist, song title and time remaining on the song along with a visualizer showing which song on the playlist or album is currently playing.
• DVD movie bookmarking now allows gamers to pause a movie at any point, put in a game for gameplay and return to the movie at the exact point it left off.
• Improved VGA support and smoother, higher quality DVD movie playback produces optimal viewing experience.
Media Centre Extender
This allows you to connect to Windows XP with the Media Center download or XP: Media Center Edition, which means you can stream music and pictures from your PC hard drive (and video content from XP:MCE). It also lets you use your own pictures and photos on the Xbox360 dashboard.
Backward Compatibility
Do old Xbox games work on the Xbox360?
Well, kind of. Because the processor in the Xbox360 is entirely different to the original Xbox, Xbox games will not immediately run on the new console. To enable them to work, Microsoft have created an emulated environment for each game. What this means is that there are a (growing) list of xbox games which will work with the 360, once you download the emulator software free from Microsoft.
This software can either be downloaded from the Xbox 360 Marketplace or saved on a CD using your PC, then uploaded to the 360. To find the complete list of games that will work, go to www.xbox.com
What this also means is that the graphics will look better on the old games as well, as the new technology such as antialiasing can display them with extra effects and smoother lines. Online modes are also fully supported.
High Definition (HD)
HD is a term used for the new video display format used by TV companies such as Sky and also for the Xbox360. It is a transmission of video signals with an output of either 720p, 1080i, or 1080p. In Layman’s terms, this means that the graphics on the 360 will look sharper and more detailed if you have an HD compatible TV and use the correct cables between the 360 and the TV.
Using the Microsoft HD cables and an HD TV will allow you to watch your games in HD. There will also be an HD-DVD drive later this year which will play the new format of discs due to replace DVD.
Thanks for trying though. Strange, as it does say that moderators can make subjects sticky....
pb wrote:
> Now I'm just waiting for Game or someone with moderator powers
> to see if they can make these three sticky...
I've had a go with this one, but nothing seems to have happened as of yet. It might need to be ok'd by a staffie or something.
> Now I'm just waiting for Game or someone with moderator powers
> to see if they can make these three sticky...
I've had a go with this one, but nothing seems to have happened as of yet. It might need to be ok'd by a staffie or something.
I could have a go I suppose.
Maybe someone should try and do one for the Wii as well then.
Thanks. Hopefully people find it useful and it (plus your PS3 one) are the kind of things people google for, which may bring new people to the site...
Now I'm just waiting for Game or someone with moderator powers to see if they can make these three sticky...
Now I'm just waiting for Game or someone with moderator powers to see if they can make these three sticky...
Well, it's very good. Well done.
Was half written already, on my MSN spaces blog, just added to it.
You're quick at these :-P
Last Updated: 19th July 2006
This is a guide to the Xbox360 - it is probably not as good as the 'everything you need to know' post in the archive, but it will do for now.
What is the Xbox360?
The 360 is a follow-up to Microsoft’s successful Xbox games console. It improves on pretty much every aspect of the Xbox, while still keeping the fantastic Xbox Live feature that made online gaming so accessible.
The 360 boasts the best graphics and sound of any console currently on the market and the list of games is growing every day. Rockstar’s Table Tennis, Oblivion and Ghost Recon are some of the top titles available and both Halo 3 and GTA 4 have been confirmed. HD output is supported to the new HD Televisions, making the graphics even more detailed and clear.
Packs
There are two packs currently available, the Core and Premium.
Core gives you a wired controller, no hard drive and a basic 360 with a Composite TV connector (and SCART connector).
Premium gives you a wireless controller, hard drive, Ethernet cable, Headset and a Silver Live account, meaning you can use the Live service to download games. Output is via Component HD AV Cable with a SCART connector.
It’s best to go for the Premium pack every time as it saves money in the long run and gives you everything you need from the start to go online and provides a (basic) HD output.
Specs
For the more technical among you, or those that get turned on by numbers, here are the specs for the Xbox 360 console:
Processor: 3.2 GHz PowerPC with 3 dual-threaded processor cores (each processor is capable of running two threads a piece, meaning that the console will be able to handle six instructions simultaneously)
Graphics (GPU): ATI-based custom processor
Clock speed: 500 Mhz
Video: Up to 512 MB GDDR3 system RAM (700 MHz) plus 10 MB embedded DRAM (eDRAM) frame buffer
Video Outputs: Composite video, S-Video, component and VGA. Plus 1 HDMI output for HD TV.
Native video resolutions: 16:9 widescreen 720p and 1080i (will downsample to standard definition)
Sound: 5.1 channel Dolby surround sound (and lower)
Memory: 512 MB GDDR3 RAM (700 MHz), shared with GPU
DVD Speed: 12x
Hard Drive: 20GB
USB Ports: 3x
Xbox Live
This is the online portion of the 360 experience. It requires a Broadband connection and either a Router/Ethernet or wireless network. The 360 is designed to plug straight into a router or Ethernet port for instant internet access. The wireless Xbox network adaptor can be bought separately, but is recommended as you can place your 360 anywhere and still be online.
To get full use of the online functions of the 360, a Gold account is needed which costs around £40 per year. You get a Silver account free with the Premium pack that lets you download marketplace demos and watch games.
The new Xbox live contains Marketplace, which is where you will find free demos of new games, videos, pictures and extra levels/add ons for games. A recent update to this system allows you to download up to 5 things in a queue, meaning that you can leave your 360 running over night to download new demos and content.
Nearly all Xbox games have some online functionality, with most boasting multi-player online matches. Many of the games have downloadable content such as extra cars in Burnout and PGR3, new costumes in Kameo and many more. This keeps games fresh and will be exploited even further by games publishers as time goes by.
Xbox Live Arcade
An area of Xbox Live found in the Games section of the menu on your 360. This is an area where you can download arcade games, either new games such as the excellent Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved and Feeding Frenzy to classic arcade games such as Gauntlet and Crystal Quest. Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat will be making an appearance soon.
You can download a small section of each game free as a taster for the whole thing or use Microsoft Points to buy the complete game. New games are usually added on a Wednesday.
Microsoft Points
A payment system for extras in retail games, such as extra tracks and cars in Project Gotham 3 or extra levels in Ghost Recon and also for arcade games in Live Arcade. These can be bought online with a credit or debit card or over the counter in most game shops.
Dashboard Upgrades
Microsoft release bi-annual updates through the Xbox Live service to improve the Xbox360 features and provide new features. Their official website lists the new updates and what they improve.
The last current update, 2.0.2858, was in Spring 2006 (June 6, 2006 to be exact) and changed the following:
• New Background download manager – allows you to queue 6 downloads at a time so you can leave the 360 downloading in the background while you do something else.
• Update to Marketplace items, now storing things in more relevant sections so you can find them easier.
• Full remote control features for Xbox Live Marketplace videos allow gamers to fast forward and rewind at various speeds (2X-16X) during all videos downloaded from Marketplace.
• Custom background music now continues to play without interruption during game loads and when transitioning from game to game or disc content.
• During music play, the music playback screen now contains the artist, song title and time remaining on the song along with a visualizer showing which song on the playlist or album is currently playing.
• DVD movie bookmarking now allows gamers to pause a movie at any point, put in a game for gameplay and return to the movie at the exact point it left off.
• Improved VGA support and smoother, higher quality DVD movie playback produces optimal viewing experience.
Media Centre Extender
This allows you to connect to Windows XP with the Media Center download or XP: Media Center Edition, which means you can stream music and pictures from your PC hard drive (and video content from XP:MCE). It also lets you use your own pictures and photos on the Xbox360 dashboard.
Backward Compatibility
Do old Xbox games work on the Xbox360?
Well, kind of. Because the processor in the Xbox360 is entirely different to the original Xbox, Xbox games will not immediately run on the new console. To enable them to work, Microsoft have created an emulated environment for each game. What this means is that there are a (growing) list of xbox games which will work with the 360, once you download the emulator software free from Microsoft.
This software can either be downloaded from the Xbox 360 Marketplace or saved on a CD using your PC, then uploaded to the 360. To find the complete list of games that will work, go to www.xbox.com
What this also means is that the graphics will look better on the old games as well, as the new technology such as antialiasing can display them with extra effects and smoother lines. Online modes are also fully supported.
High Definition (HD)
HD is a term used for the new video display format used by TV companies such as Sky and also for the Xbox360. It is a transmission of video signals with an output of either 720p, 1080i, or 1080p. In Layman’s terms, this means that the graphics on the 360 will look sharper and more detailed if you have an HD compatible TV and use the correct cables between the 360 and the TV.
Using the Microsoft HD cables and an HD TV will allow you to watch your games in HD. There will also be an HD-DVD drive later this year which will play the new format of discs due to replace DVD.
This is a guide to the Xbox360 - it is probably not as good as the 'everything you need to know' post in the archive, but it will do for now.
What is the Xbox360?
The 360 is a follow-up to Microsoft’s successful Xbox games console. It improves on pretty much every aspect of the Xbox, while still keeping the fantastic Xbox Live feature that made online gaming so accessible.
The 360 boasts the best graphics and sound of any console currently on the market and the list of games is growing every day. Rockstar’s Table Tennis, Oblivion and Ghost Recon are some of the top titles available and both Halo 3 and GTA 4 have been confirmed. HD output is supported to the new HD Televisions, making the graphics even more detailed and clear.
Packs
There are two packs currently available, the Core and Premium.
Core gives you a wired controller, no hard drive and a basic 360 with a Composite TV connector (and SCART connector).
Premium gives you a wireless controller, hard drive, Ethernet cable, Headset and a Silver Live account, meaning you can use the Live service to download games. Output is via Component HD AV Cable with a SCART connector.
It’s best to go for the Premium pack every time as it saves money in the long run and gives you everything you need from the start to go online and provides a (basic) HD output.
Specs
For the more technical among you, or those that get turned on by numbers, here are the specs for the Xbox 360 console:
Processor: 3.2 GHz PowerPC with 3 dual-threaded processor cores (each processor is capable of running two threads a piece, meaning that the console will be able to handle six instructions simultaneously)
Graphics (GPU): ATI-based custom processor
Clock speed: 500 Mhz
Video: Up to 512 MB GDDR3 system RAM (700 MHz) plus 10 MB embedded DRAM (eDRAM) frame buffer
Video Outputs: Composite video, S-Video, component and VGA. Plus 1 HDMI output for HD TV.
Native video resolutions: 16:9 widescreen 720p and 1080i (will downsample to standard definition)
Sound: 5.1 channel Dolby surround sound (and lower)
Memory: 512 MB GDDR3 RAM (700 MHz), shared with GPU
DVD Speed: 12x
Hard Drive: 20GB
USB Ports: 3x
Xbox Live
This is the online portion of the 360 experience. It requires a Broadband connection and either a Router/Ethernet or wireless network. The 360 is designed to plug straight into a router or Ethernet port for instant internet access. The wireless Xbox network adaptor can be bought separately, but is recommended as you can place your 360 anywhere and still be online.
To get full use of the online functions of the 360, a Gold account is needed which costs around £40 per year. You get a Silver account free with the Premium pack that lets you download marketplace demos and watch games.
The new Xbox live contains Marketplace, which is where you will find free demos of new games, videos, pictures and extra levels/add ons for games. A recent update to this system allows you to download up to 5 things in a queue, meaning that you can leave your 360 running over night to download new demos and content.
Nearly all Xbox games have some online functionality, with most boasting multi-player online matches. Many of the games have downloadable content such as extra cars in Burnout and PGR3, new costumes in Kameo and many more. This keeps games fresh and will be exploited even further by games publishers as time goes by.
Xbox Live Arcade
An area of Xbox Live found in the Games section of the menu on your 360. This is an area where you can download arcade games, either new games such as the excellent Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved and Feeding Frenzy to classic arcade games such as Gauntlet and Crystal Quest. Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat will be making an appearance soon.
You can download a small section of each game free as a taster for the whole thing or use Microsoft Points to buy the complete game. New games are usually added on a Wednesday.
Microsoft Points
A payment system for extras in retail games, such as extra tracks and cars in Project Gotham 3 or extra levels in Ghost Recon and also for arcade games in Live Arcade. These can be bought online with a credit or debit card or over the counter in most game shops.
Dashboard Upgrades
Microsoft release bi-annual updates through the Xbox Live service to improve the Xbox360 features and provide new features. Their official website lists the new updates and what they improve.
The last current update, 2.0.2858, was in Spring 2006 (June 6, 2006 to be exact) and changed the following:
• New Background download manager – allows you to queue 6 downloads at a time so you can leave the 360 downloading in the background while you do something else.
• Update to Marketplace items, now storing things in more relevant sections so you can find them easier.
• Full remote control features for Xbox Live Marketplace videos allow gamers to fast forward and rewind at various speeds (2X-16X) during all videos downloaded from Marketplace.
• Custom background music now continues to play without interruption during game loads and when transitioning from game to game or disc content.
• During music play, the music playback screen now contains the artist, song title and time remaining on the song along with a visualizer showing which song on the playlist or album is currently playing.
• DVD movie bookmarking now allows gamers to pause a movie at any point, put in a game for gameplay and return to the movie at the exact point it left off.
• Improved VGA support and smoother, higher quality DVD movie playback produces optimal viewing experience.
Media Centre Extender
This allows you to connect to Windows XP with the Media Center download or XP: Media Center Edition, which means you can stream music and pictures from your PC hard drive (and video content from XP:MCE). It also lets you use your own pictures and photos on the Xbox360 dashboard.
Backward Compatibility
Do old Xbox games work on the Xbox360?
Well, kind of. Because the processor in the Xbox360 is entirely different to the original Xbox, Xbox games will not immediately run on the new console. To enable them to work, Microsoft have created an emulated environment for each game. What this means is that there are a (growing) list of xbox games which will work with the 360, once you download the emulator software free from Microsoft.
This software can either be downloaded from the Xbox 360 Marketplace or saved on a CD using your PC, then uploaded to the 360. To find the complete list of games that will work, go to www.xbox.com
What this also means is that the graphics will look better on the old games as well, as the new technology such as antialiasing can display them with extra effects and smoother lines. Online modes are also fully supported.
High Definition (HD)
HD is a term used for the new video display format used by TV companies such as Sky and also for the Xbox360. It is a transmission of video signals with an output of either 720p, 1080i, or 1080p. In Layman’s terms, this means that the graphics on the 360 will look sharper and more detailed if you have an HD compatible TV and use the correct cables between the 360 and the TV.
Using the Microsoft HD cables and an HD TV will allow you to watch your games in HD. There will also be an HD-DVD drive later this year which will play the new format of discs due to replace DVD.