Microsoft Xbox 360 review

By Felix Lung
Krunker.com

Introduction
Microsoft launched the Xbox 360 last week to much fanfare and media coverage. From the Zero Hour launch party in Palmdale, CA to long lines at BestBuy on the east coast at 12 midnight, the Xbox 360 was the talk of the town for many this early holiday season. I had the opportunity to attend the launch party and thus get my hands on a new Xbox 360 system. Today, we’ll take a look at the new console and see what this next generation system brings to the table. Is this the complete digital home entertainment system that Microsoft intends it to be? Will it usher in a new age of high definition content? Will it finally bring Microsoft’s vision for the digital living room into fruition? Join me as I take a look at the Xbox 360.

Overview of the Xbox 360
Let’s take a look at the hardware specifications for the Xbox 360. It’s no secret that this console is a powerful machine – much of the hardware specifications were released to the general public earlier this year. Processing wise, the 360 utilizes three IBM custom designed PowerPC based processor cores running at 3.2 GHz each. You get two hardware threads per core which translates to six hardware threads in total across the entire system.

Graphics wise, the Xbox 360 employs a custom designed ATI Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) capable of processing 500 million triangles per second. There are 48 parallel shader pipelines within the GPU that game developers can optimize to obtain the proper game performance that they want.

The Xbox 360 has a unified memory architecture totaling 512MB of GDDR3 RAM. Other features on the Xbox 360 include:

• Detachable 20GB hard drive – a 2.5 inch notebook drive running at 5400 rpm. Game data, music, photos, videos, and Xbox Live profiles can be saved on the drive. You can then disconnect the drive and bring it to another console at ease.
• 12x dual layer DVD-ROM drive
• Memory unit card slots – two slots on the front of the unit for memory cards which allow you to save game data and profile information
• Three USB slots (2 in the front, 1 in the back) for controllers or portable devices
• Support for wireless controllers

The Xbox 360 is currently available in two different packages – the Xbox 360 package and the Xbox 360 core system. The core system comes with the following:

• Console
• Wired Controller
• Composite AV Cable

The Xbox 360 (also known as the Premium package by some) comes with the following:

• Console with Premium Chrome Finish
• Hard Drive
• Wireless Controller
• Xbox Live Headset
• Component HD AV Cable
• Ethernet Cable

The Core system costs $299 while the Xbox 360 package costs $399. However the standard 360 at $399 is a far better value given the extra accessories that come bundled with it. The wireless controller alone costs $49 dollars and the hard drive will run you about $99. Those two items alone exceed the 100 dollar price difference between the Core package and the 360 package.

Need more convincing? If you have a High Definition Television set, then you’ll want to get the Component HD AV which come standard as part of the $399 package. If you have old Xbox games that you’d like to play on the 360, then you’ll definitely need a hard drive which means the 360 package is the way to go.

If there’s any reason to get an Xbox 360 Core system, it would be to fulfill Microsoft’s Room to Room Experience idea – using 360 systems as remote Media Center Extender systems allowing MCE displays in every room that has local network access to your main MCE system.

A look at the Xbox 360
Let’s take a look at the Xbox 360 from head to toe. Here are shots of the packaging.

The box is compact but definitely not light.

When you open up the box, you’re immediately presented with the Xbox 360 console wrapped in plastic.

Underneath the console are the instruction manuals followed by the accessories that come with the package.

The front of the Xbox 360 looks as follows.

From top to bottom is:

• DVD Drive
• Infrared port
• Two Memory Slots
• Connect button to add wireless controllers
• Power button
• Two USB ports

Here’s a shot of the back of the 360.

You’ll find the third USB port, an Ethernet jack, AV Connector, and the Power Connector.

Ah yes – let’s not forget about the two 60 mm fans that are housed inside the Xbox 360. You’re probably wondering – is the Xbox 360 quiet? Well.. not really. You can definitely hear the fans spinning to help keep the system cool. It doesn’t sound like an airport by any means but it’s not nearly as quiet as one would hope it to be. However chances are you’re not going to hear the console since you’ll probably have the sound pumped up when playing video games.

Here are shots of the hard drive accessory.

You attach the drive onto the top of the Xbox 360 console. The drive is easily removed so you can bring your saved games and data to any other Xbox 360 console.

Here’s a look at the included wireless controller.

Every controller has the infamous Ring of Light which surrounds the Xbox Guide/Power button. The Ring of Light glows to reveal which quadrant the controller is currently assigned to. If you press the Guide button, you’ll get a tab that comes across half your display showing your Xbox Live profile information and any messages you may have gotten. This tab can also be retrieved no matter what you are doing on the 360 – whether playing a game or watching television shows with the Media Center Extender. It’s also a reminder that your Xbox 360 is always connected to the net.

Here is a picture of the media center remote control.

This remote came as part of the initial allotment of 360 packages – you may not be able to get this remote later on. Don’t fret – it’s really not worth it. The remote provides basic functionality to navigate the Xbox 360’s UI but if you want to use it to control large media collections, you’ll want a better remote control.

Here’s a picture of the Component HD AV Cable.

The back of the HD connector is an optical digital out port which is meant for receivers that support optical digital connections.

If you want to (and can) decode Dolby Digital signals, go ahead and connect the digital out from the AV port to you’re A/V receiver. You’ll need to supply your own optical cable though since Microsoft doesn’t include one with the box.

This is the new Xbox Live headset that comes with the package.

Finally, here’s the infamous power supply erum… brick. Yes it’s large and yes it gets warm so make sure you have a well ventilated area for this power supply.

Installing the 360
The Xbox 360 is fairly straight forward to set up – connect the power cable to the 360; the AV cables to either your receiver or your television set; and then power up the system. There is a toggle switch on the AV cable that can be set for either regular TV or HDTV. If you have an HDTV, you’ll want to have it set for HDTV otherwise you’ll be stuck with 4:3 ratios on a 16:9 display.

When you first boot into the 360 user interface, you’ll be asked a series of questions to get you started – including what language do you want to work with, what Live profile you want to use, and various system modifications such as setting the date and time etc.

The Xbox 360 documentation is somewhat skimpy so if you’re not familiar with electronics, you might want to have some help on hand just in case something goes wrong.

The Xbox 360 Dashboard
The Xbox 360 uses a new completely redesigned user interface for the Dashboard. This time, the Xbox team decided to use a vertical tabbed interface to flip between four different sections on the Dashboard. The four sections are:

• Xbox Live
• Games
• Media
• System

Dashboard – Xbox Live

Xbox Live is the default tab you start with inside the Dashboard which shows the emphasis that Microsoft has placed on networking in the 360. Here you can sign in your Live profile or with any other profiles stored on the hard drive/memory card unit. You can then check your messages, look for your friends online, and browse the Xbox Live Marketplace. You can always reach your Live profile anytime you wish by pressing the Xbox button on your controller/remote. Is it any coincidence that Microsoft also recently launched a new Windows Live service on the net? See the “Live” connection starting to take place here?

When using Xbox Live on the 360, you can go online and download game demos and trailers, movie trailers, classic arcade games, themes, profile pictures, and saved games from others on the network. The new marketplace format opens up an e-commerce platform from which Microsoft and others can sell services and products using a point system. You can purchase or win points and then use them to get all sorts of items online.

If you don’t want to spend cash, you can always find freebies on Xbox Live. Go ahead and download full length movie trailers, and game demos – the content is all designed for HD. It’s easy to see how Microsoft plans on using Live as a way to distribute content to millions of gamers all around the world.

Of course Xbox Live is also about networked game play, allowing you to reach out to your friends on the internet and play them in cooperative or competitive games. We were not able to thoroughly test out the Live service with the current crop of 360 games but stay tuned for more information down the road.

Dashboard – Games

Under the games tab, you can view all the achievements that you’ve accumulated thus far while playing with the 360. Most game titles have a set of achievements you can earn while playing. Other players can then view these achievements and see how good (or how bad) you really are.

You can also view a list of played games on the 360 using this interface. Go ahead and see how much time you’ve wasted with the 360.

The Games tab is also a portal to the Xbox Live Arcade which allows you to play games downloaded via the Xbox Live service. There are currently several Classic Arcade titles available that are designed to work with widescreen displays. Classic games never looked so good! As mentioned earlier, you can also play game demos and view game trailers from the Live service.

Dashboard – Media

The Media tab is Microsoft’s emphasis on making the 360 the center of your digital living room. With the Xbox 360, you can listen to music, view photographs, and watch movies stored either on the 360 or streamed from sources on the local network or downloaded via Xbox Live.

You can connect the 360 console to other Windows XP systems on your local area network via the Windows Media Connect service. Once connected, music and photographs can be streamed from the systems to your 360 console.

The hard drive on the 360 can also be used to store ripped CD albums or copied music and photographs from USB devices. Place a music CD inside the 360 and you’ll get a simple media player interface on the display providing you options to either play back the music or rip it to disk. You can also obtain music from connected USB devices such as portable music players. You should be able to connect the Apple iPod and the Sony PSP and stream music from those devices.

Windows Media Center owners have it the best – you can connect the 360 to your MCE system using the built in Windows Media Center Extender software that the 360 comes bundled with. The old Xbox had to load the MCX software via a purchased CD every time the system booted whereas the new 360 has it built right in. The 360 version of the Media Center Extender performs quite wonderfully – rendering is fast, actions are responsive, and it practically feels like you’re on the MCE box itself. You now get high definition support within the MCX software which means you’ll be able to stream HD television from your MCE system to your 360 console. Stay tuned for a separate look into the Media Center Extender found on the 360 later on.

Other key things to note – you still can not stream DVD content from an MCE system to a 360 console. Not much of a big deal considering the 360 has a built in DVD player. The media remote control that Microsoft ships on the early Xbox 360 packages is adequate at best. You’ll ideally want a remote control that is more like the MCE remote control to work with the 360’s MCX interface.

Dashboard – System

The system tab within the Dashboard is where you can take a look at and modify your system wide settings – such as your display, audio and network settings. You can also set family settings, check your memory usage, and find other computers on the network. If something goes wrong and you want to start over, you can always run the initial setup routine again.

The 360 Experience
The Xbox 360 is all about High Definition folks. All games are required to be authored in 720p and 1080i and optimized for 16:9 displays. Does this mean that you can’t use the 360 on standard definition television sets? Of course not. The 360 will also deliver better graphics on standard definition television sets but you’ll see much more clarity and detail on high definition sets.

I had the chance to play a number of launch titles at the Zero Hour event last Monday and all of them were fairly impressive. Since then I’ve only played one game – Project Gotham Racing 3 and thus, I can’t give a full range of game reviews with this article. However, I can say that the graphics in the launch titles are indeed very beautiful and sharp. There’s nothing like playing games on a widescreen television in your living room. Games like Call of Duty 2 were fluid during game play with no noticeable lag at all.

Of the 20+ launch titles, there are some noteworthy titles that one should probably acquire with their Xbox 360. These include Call of Duty 2, Kameo, Project Gotham Racing, and Perfect Dark Zero. You can find the current launch title list here: http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/xbox360launchgames.htm

Although Microsoft has lined up a nice assortment of launch games with the 360, there’s nothing here that screams must have (although Call of Duty 2 comes close). None of these games also push the 360 to the max. One should expect more graphics and hardware intensive games next year so if you’re not in any hurry to get the Xbox 360, then you can probably afford to wait.

What about older Xbox games?
There are hundreds of older Xbox titles out there and the question begs to be asked – what about these older games? Well Microsoft has been working hard to add compatibility to the 360 for these games. The current list of compatible games can be found here – http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/backwardcompatibilitygameslist.htm

In order for you to run an older Xbox title on the 360, you’ll need to have the hard drive accessory installed on the 360. Every older game run on the 360 requires an update to be applied to the system. This update can be delivered via Xbox Live, via a CD/DVD, or by ordering a disc from Xbox.com. There are detailed instructions on how to get backwards compatibility to work for the 360 here – http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/backwardscompatibility.htm.

Microsoft has written a software emulator layer for every compatible older title that the 360 supports. I tried out Halo 2 on the Xbox 360 and applied the downloaded update. After the update was applied, Halo 2 started right up and I was able to create new games and join Xbox Live. Keep in mind that you won’t be able to get your saved games from the Xbox if you intend on playing on the 360 now. The performance of the emulator layer seemed to be just fine when it came down to Halo 2 though we can’t say what other games were like.

Room To Room Experience
For Microsoft, the Xbox 360 is more than gaming. This console lays the ground work for integrating online media content and services to the digital living room. Microsoft has been trying to break into the living room for many years now with the Media Center PC. While the MCE following has been slowly growing, they’re nowhere near as fervent as say TiVo followers.

Now with the Xbox 360 in place, there’s finally a reason to get an MCE system. You can stream content from any MCE system on the network to your Xbox 360 and view it locally. This has major implications for home users. You won’t have to worry about including a computer in your bedroom or den now. All you need is a HD monitor and an Xbox 360 system (and of course a network connection). Streaming HD recorded content is the major draw here and Microsoft has done an excellent job in making this happen. We’ll have a separate article detailing this shortly. Suffice it to say that the Xbox 360 brings Microsoft’s vision for a digital living room much more sharply into focus.

Summary
The vision is finally complete and what we have here is a complete package that actually delivers what we were told it would do and then some. If the Xbox 360 was purely about next generation gaming, then it’s already hit a homerun. The hardware and software platform that Microsoft has developed will definitely usher in a new era in gaming. However, the 360 is far more than gaming – it’s about integrating Xbox Live and the Microsoft Media Center vision into one coherent system. The 360 is the central hub where you check your messages, watch some television, catch some scores, play a game or two, watch a trailer, and then go to work. Imagine it folks – a 360 connected to an HD display in every major room in your house. That’s Microsoft’s vision dare I say. As scary as it may seem, the Xbox 360 is definitely a well designed and manufactured product. Sure it has its hiccups here and there but it’s elevated the console to new heights. This sets the stage for an exciting 2006.

Here are some final pictures of my Xbox 360 setup:

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