XBox 360, should I get the regular or elite edition?

[[]V[]essenjah]

I'm looking into an XBox 360 right now.

Basically, it is between the regular system and the Elite.


Now, I plan to get live and play with a couple of friends in this area that I used to game with.


However, I have some questions about the box.


1. Is there a way to create mods for games on the Box and download the mods via live?

2. What sort of HDD is in the XBox? From what I am seeing, without disassembling the thing, that it appears to be an enclosure with something about the width of a laptop HDD inside. So, I'm assuming a SATA laptop HDD, that is formatted in some sort of funky way?

3. If so, does anyone know if there is a way to format such a drive?

4. What all does the marketplace content include? From what I understand, you can hook a USB drive into it and store music, but you can't place marketplace content on it. However, can you place game data on such a drive? For example, saves and recorded Halo 3 games? I also take it that, if I were to buy a movie on live, that would count as market place content and I wouldn't be able to shove it on a USB drive?

5. How expansive is the marketplace content?

[WarAdvocat]

www.xbox.com feature comparison page (Scroll down) Don't even bother buying one of the older models. You'll regret it for any number of reasons.

That said - I have an older version - the XBOX 360 Premium (20 gb hdd) and it's 'enough' - SO FAR. I have about 10 GB free. It would be fairly easy to fill it up over time though. Definitely get one WITH a hard drive. BTW: The HDD clips to the side of the unit. It is a smaller HDD in a custom enclosure. If you look at the pix, it's that rectangular protrusion to the left of the disc tray. As for what's inside, I never bothered to open mine up. I'm not interested in modding it or hacking it in any way.

I'm planning to replace my 360 with the Elite model. More storage - HDMI support - and BLACK. Realistically all you need is the 'XBOX 360' version (as opposed to the 'core') - you're paying $100.00 for 100 extra GB in storage... and the black console. Not a real good value. Oh and they throw in a $10.00 HDMI cable... So generous.

Some things that you can do: You can stream music and video from your networked computer to your XBOX 360. You can rip music to your XBOX 360. The marketplace offers lots of game downloads, movies, game demos, 'arcade' games, etc. I don't buy movies from the Live service - but I'm sure you can't transfer them to other media. MS is working VERY HARD to place themselves at the forefront of the protected content playback hardware & OS market. I'm pretty sure there is, or will be a hacked firmware or hardware mod that will allow this though =)

So far I'm not seeing any user-modified content. I'd like to see map editors at the very least. That would be huge. So far, with Halo 3, bungie has come the closest of anyone - you can create custom map loadouts - adding and removing weapons vehicles and so forth, but still not custom maps.

[Aus-RED-5]

That Halo 3 Special Edition Console looks sweet!

[[]V[]essenjah]

I'm planning to replace my 360 with the Elite model. More storage - HDMI support - and BLACK. Realistically all you need is the 'XBOX 360' version (as opposed to the 'core') - you're paying $100.00 for 100 extra GB in storage... and the black console. Not a real good value.

I think a lot depends on what KIND of HDD unit goes into that thing. If it is SATA and it is a laptop HDD they are using, that makes a HUGE difference. That kind of HDD unit would be VERY VERY expensive and fairly rare to my knowledge. I've only seen ONE SATA laptop HDD unit. That was in an Acer laptop at work. Now an HDD for the XBox of that capacity, runs about $164 AT LEAST. At least this edition is about 1GB per $1.

[Dakatsu]

Get the Elite, I already used up 30mb of space on it, 10mb over the premium console.

Also, black is pimp

[Topher]

I would recommend getting one with a hard drive so you can download XBLA titles easily. I found that the Arcade Vol 1 disk is just a pain to have to put in and take out. Much easier if you just turn the console on and select the game.

[Kyouryuu]

1. Definitely not in the same capacity as the PC. Halo 3 started to explore this territory with its Forge Editor, but all it lets you do is place and move spawn points and vehicles. I really don't see mod content happening on the 360 now or in the future.

2. I don't know what kind of HD is in it, but you aren't replacing it. Unlike the PlayStation 3, which allows for an arbitrary hard drive, Microsoft is very protective of theirs.

3. Not back to factory defaults if something gets corrupted or otherwise goes wrong. Only Microsoft repair centers can reinstall the OS.

4. You can't store Marketplace content on anything other than your specific 360 (which sucks). There is a decent amount of content. Some highlights are Geometry Wars, Pac-Man CE, Lumines, and soon Rez and Ikaruga. Save games will store on a memory card unit or the HD, but I don't think you can write them to a USB drive.

5. See above.

Bottom line - if you get a 360, you want the biggest hard drive possible. The non-core package includes a 20 GB hard drive, which sounds like a lot until you realize that 10 GB of that is consumed by the OS. It's a hassle for me to shuffle demos and content around. I can't even imagine downloading movies onto it. The movie and television feature is a waste of time and money.

[Duper]

Halo 3 is out for PC come December. Let us hope that it's actually BUILT for PC and not a port. Halo2 PC is a horrble port; in every sense of the word. I'm not holding my breath.


p.s. Bungie is \"leaving\" MS. ,,uh isn't that kinda like \"leaving\" the Mob?!?


P.P.S. btw, WHY are you wanting a Xbox? I assume it for other reasons than Halo.

[Aus-RED-5]

Halo 3 is out for PC come December. Let us hope that it's actually BUILT for PC and not a port.

Forgive me for not googling this, so I'll ask anyways.
Is this version for Vista only?

Halo2 PC is a horrible port; in every sense of the word.

Duper, have you played Halo2 on the PC?
What makes it a bad port to PC?

[Duper]

Halo 3 is out for PC come December. Let us hope that it's actually BUILT for PC and not a port.

Forgive me for not googling this, so I'll ask anyways.
Is this version for Vista only?

Yep, it is.

Halo2 PC is a horrible port; in every sense of the word.

Duper, have you played Halo2 on the PC?
What makes it a bad port to PC?

Well, in this instance a couple of things. First and foremost, remapping in this game is a nightmare. You Can't just map over a key command or clear a conflicting key like you do in every other game. You have to REMAP the slot you want with an unused key to clear that slot THEN you can map it. You also have to remap the slot that the key you want to use with an unused key if it's already used in another slot.

It's like these guys have never played a PC game. They game is still pretty much set up for controller use. Nothing in the way of graphics was updated, but that's not really surprising. And while I don't think that this has much to do with being ported, many of the regular functions were changed from Halo 1. Where getting in and out of vehicles was a toggle stroke (the same key, just if you were in or out of the rig)it is now 2 separate keys. The zoom on the mouse wheel is in two separate directions (which makes more sense) where as Halo 1 you had to scroll through it's zoom levels in the same direction to reach the zoomed out view. It's a bit annoying when you are used to the other method. There are several small differences that are annoying that I can't directly remember.

This game is only about Dx8 in appearance, it requires Dx10 through Vista to run, (or they SAID it did) the truth is it does NOT; and ... it has only a Dx9.0c install on the game disk ....wth?!?!? o_0 If it's supposed to require Dx10, then Dx 10 Should be on the disk...right?

More in a bit

[WarAdvocat]

I think a lot depends on what KIND of HDD unit goes into that thing. If it is SATA and it is a laptop HDD they are using, that makes a HUGE difference. That kind of HDD unit would be VERY VERY expensive and fairly rare to my knowledge. I've only seen ONE SATA laptop HDD unit. That was in an Acer laptop at work. Now an HDD for the XBox of that capacity, runs about $164 AT LEAST. At least this edition is about 1GB per $1.

Western Digital's 2.5" 5400 RPM Sata Drive has an 8mb cache, 250 GB capacity and runs under $200.00. I believe the 360 HDD's are SATA drives with a proprietary interface combines power and data in one plug.

I must not use my xbox much - I'm not having storage issues yet. Of course the wii and the PS3 keep me busy

[Tyranny]

Although having an HDD that can store content other then save game data and virtual console data is a plus, but if you're throwing a bunch of music and movies and pictures on it you're losing sight of what the thing is meant for....GAMES!.

Consoles are still good for one thing and one thing only, the games themselves. Everything else is just bloat. All that other stuff is what a PC is for.

[[]V[]essenjah]

Well, what I'm wondering about is JUST game content. Such as new maps, levels, and add-ons. I doubt I would be downloading movies or music much. You can plug in a USB external for that and I use one on my PC. So.... I can just swap it to my Box when I want too anyway.

[WarAdvocat]

Game demos run about 1-2 gigabytes. Most games don't use up a whole crapload of space, I don't know about the downloadable content aspect. If necessary you can upgrade the HDD later if you want - go for what you can afford - but definitely get one with a hard drive.

I totally agree about the bloat - keep media off the console You can stream it from a PC to your TV over LAN if you need it on the tee vee.

[[]V[]essenjah]

You know.... I played Halo 3... but I'm just still not quite inspired to go out and buy it and a box after playing it for a while. Somehow the guns feel weaker than 2. They took out my favorite weapon (magnums) and replaced it with the M6 or whatever it is, which is REALLY slow and nearly worthless without a scope. The sword is useless against Flood but it is exactly the same in multi. The only really big thing I see are the power-ups. The bubble shield has been a big deal for a lot of players but it doesn't add anything to the game at all. In fact, it is really useless and makes multi a lot easier at times because only NOOBs use it. All it does, is shows the other players exactly how to find you and exactly how to kill you. All you do is run in and drop a grenade and run out. :\\

[WarAdvocat]

The sword is useless against Flood but it is exactly the same in multi.

WHAT? I played solo on Heroic - and I gotta say - energy sword is the only way to get through "Cortana" - and I wish I'd found one on the Halo as well. Sorry - you're doing it wrong.

I can't comment on your wep prefs, but there were a bunch of changes - first off the pistol is a lot more powerful now IMO. They took away dual wield needlers, and made a bunch of other changes. Although your favorites may have been nerfed - IMO on balance it's pretty neutral.

Powerups are cool but they're very situational - and yeah I think the bubble is garbage for multi. I use it as a decoy But try a grav-lift drop in front of an oncoming vehicle some time. Fun fun

Anyhow - I have all three 7th gen consoles. If you can afford just one - go with 360 or Wii. My preference is 360. I'm not into 'cute'.

[Gooberman]

\"Powerups are cool but they're very situational - and yeah I think the bubble is garbage for multi.\"

If you say garbage as in not useful I have to disagree, especially in modes like VIP. Or any time there is a gernade fest, which in halo happens alot.

[[]V[]essenjah]

The pistol is toned way down. It shoots like 3X slower. I can't kill anything but grunts with it. I could kill a sniper from across the level in multi with it in H2. I trained to get noggin shots with it. Mind you, dual wielding too. I had a number of combo's. Either I could rotate the shots off between hands to provide cover and have continual rounds, or I could opt to fire both at the head at the same time for a kill or I could grab an SMG and zip them up from the ground and as the gun recoil caused your hand to naturally go up, I would time the pistol to gain a headshot after the SMG took out the shields. I suppose it might be more powerful with a plasma gun combo. :\\ The problem is that it is way too slow.

I must have been doing something wrong. I was in heroic in co-op with a friend when the flood arrived. I smacked the crap out of them. I could hit them 3-4 times and they wouldn't die. I wasn't locking on either but in multi I could easily lock on. Didn't help either that my friend was hogging the flame thrower and kept spraying it at me though. :
I suppose I can see the bubble shield coming in handy in certain areas. I just don't like the random power-up thing though. It could be handy in king of the hill when you already are under fire anyway. However, I wouldn't use it in VIP. BTW, I actually like VIP.

[WarAdvocat]

So even garbage has a use sometimes It's handy in rockets on snowbound too - doesn't make it great. As Mess noted - some fool always poppin' in and stickin' you or asassinatin' you

Oh and what do you mean by lock on? Am I missing something?

[JMEaT]

My HP laptop has a 100GB 5400RPM SATA drive.

Pretty nice, but I'd like to upgrade to a 7200RPM.

[[]V[]essenjah]

Yeah, in Halo 2, if you hover your crosshair over your target and get close enough, it will turn red and lock on. You can then lunge at them with the sword, causing an instant kill. However, if you strafe left or right with good timing, you can usually dodge it if your careful but most people die anyway.

[WarAdvocat]

ahh...

I suck at the controller. Any suggestions on how to get better?