Sunday, December 9, 2007

Xbox 360 Arcade Review



I bought the Xbox 360 Arcade yesterday to replace my busted Xbox 360 Premium. The Arcade is the new Core system from Microsoft. It's definitely better than the Core system was. Here's some of my thoughts about the Arcade system.

First, what does it come with? The Xbox 360 Arcade comes with a wireless controller, a 256 MB memory card, standard video cables(no HD connection) and a copy of Xbox Live Arcade.

The wireless controller is definitely a nice change from the wired controller that used to come with the Core system. Plus, I've been meaning to get another wireless controller for a long time now.

The 256 MB memory card? Meh. I guess it's alright for saved games if you don't have a harddrive. I just transfered over the harddrive from my dead 360.

Standard video cables are ok if you don't have an HD TV. I used the component video cables from my Premium. One cool thing about all the new 360's are that they all have HDMI outputs, the 360 Arcade included. Unfortunately, the HD TV my 360 is hooked up to is too old to have an HDMI input. If you are lucky enough to have an HDMI input, you'll have to buy the HDMI cable seperately.

Xbox Live Arcade is five XBLA games on a DVD - Uno, Pac-Man Championship Edition, Boom Boom Rocket, Feeding Frenzy and Luxor 2. This was a pleasant surprise. I had thought they might just include download codes. This makes up for the fact that I already own two of these XBLA games. Now I can delete them off my harddrive and save a little bit of room.

So far, my Xbox 360 Arcade runs pretty cool. It doesn't heat up too much even after hours of play. It's also pretty quiet. Overall, I'd say some of the upgrades Microsoft has been implementing are working pretty well.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've heard a lot of folks saying they picked up an Arcade when their 360's broke so they don't have to wait a month to get a repaired 360 back. Then when they do get their original unit back they have a spare for the wife or girlfriend.

Jester013 said...

Yeah, when I get my Premium back, I plan on keeping one in the living room and one in my room. That way when I feel like playing, but my roommate is using the living room I can just take out the harddrive and play in my room.

Jeff C said...

it's good to see that you have seen the light. i remember just a few months ago a disparaging post where you were making fun of the arcade bundle. now you see M$'s master plan... have all original units breakdown, then people will be forced to drop $$ on a whole new bundle do to slow turn around on repairs. Billy G really is a genius

Jester013 said...

I am still against the Arcade as a first system, but it makes a cheap backup. If you don't already have a 360, I still suggest the Premium or Elite, not the Arcade.

Unknown said...

now you need to do something about your internet connection dropping you. so the games are on a disc? does that mean others can borrow the disc?

Jester013 said...

Yep. Others can borrow the disc.

And it's not my internet that drops me, it's my router.

Jester013 said...

I forgot one other good thing. My Xbox now starts up every time. My original sometimes pretended to start but didn't really. This one has had zero problems so far.

Mike said...

I think Microsoft needs one more sku for the 360. They could call it the "Replacement." It would come with the console and nothing else.

Falthorn said...

Does the arcade have backwards compatibility? I was checking out the boxes recently and the bullet point that mentions BC on the Pro box omitted it on the Arcade box.

Jester013 said...

I don't know. I'll check it out. I think it might simply be a harddrive situation. If you don't have a harddrive, you can't have the proper emulators loaded to play the old games.

Jester013 said...

The 360 Arcade does have backwards compatibility as long as it has a harddrive. I bought GTA: San Andreas today(an original Xbox game) and it works fine. I just had to download an update for it onto the harddrive and then no problems.

Jester013 said...

I'd just like to point out that this Xbox 360 Arcade system lasted a little longer than 7 months before it broke down with an E-74 Error(video chip problem).

saif = sai said...

SO I AM THINKING OF BUYING A 360 ARCADE ARE YOU GUYS NOT RECOMMENDING?
WOW THESE THINGS AREN'T EVEN LASTING A COUPLE OF MONTHS WHY THE HELL IS MICROSOFT THROWING THEM OUT? I TRIED THE WII AND HATED IT.cu

Anonymous said...

Why would you possibly consider buying another Xbox 360 if the first one conked out?