XBOX 360. Please Clue me in.

[GoodKingJayIII]

I personally have had some issues with my 360 and media sharing from my computer. Issues that still have not been resolved more than a month after purchase. It's a great system, but the media sharing was an important part of the package for me. I still haven't been able to figure out the problem, but from what I've read I'm not the only one with the issue, and XBox support has not been traditionally helpful on this one. I'm actually going to make the call on Thursday, so I may report back with more info.

Of course, the primary reason I bought the system was for the the games, and at this stage the Xbox has the best and the most.

 

[Arnwyn]

What's the difference between XBOX Live Silver and Gold memberships?

Silver is free and allows you basic online in which you can access the marketplace to get demos and the like, as well as game and system updates.

Gold is the for-pay service ($60 per year), and is the only way you're allowed to play online in any form, whether it's multiplayer, leaderboard access, etc. [yet more editorializing: the PS3 gives all this for free - and is lag-free].

What should I know before getting an XBOX that you wish you'd known yourself when you got yours?

Nothing more than what I (and others) have mentioned - I did a lot of research before purchasing (which I got the same package, but for $347 Cdn from a local Wal-Mart during their occasional "inventory manager got drunk" sales), so there weren't any surprises. trancejeremy is right, though - they run very hot, and unlike every other system, they're as loud as a chainsaw when a disc is in there.

 

[Felon]

Xbox Live silver membership is basically nothing, since (as others have pointed out) it's free.

Personally, I'm down to about 70 out the 120 GB on my hard drive. I'd consider 20 GB to be small, but that's just me. You can get by with 20 GB easily enough.

Forza 2 and Marvel Ultimate Alliance are two really great games.

Overall, not a bad deal IMO.

 

[trancejeremy]

There's actually only like 13 gigs of user useable space on the 20 gig hard drive (I guess some is used for overhead, a lot for the caching)

 

[BadMojo]

What should I know before getting an XBOX that you wish you'd known yourself when you got yours?

Honestly...assume it's going to crap out at some point. I don't have a 360 yet, but I plan on getting one.

However, I'm on my 3rd Xbox (last gen). They just break. Alot. I'm really careful with my stuff and keep it ventilated, clean, don't move it around, etc. I've still had 3 original Xboxen fail.

Everything I've read seems to indicate MS still has problems with quality control. Don't know if it's a design flaw or poor QC with suppliers, but a lot of people have Xbox 360's fail.

Having said that, I'm still going to get a 360 on the strength of titles like Mass Effect and Halo 3. I'd just think very hard about getting some sort of warranty plan 3rd party so you don't have to send the thing back to Microsoft. They are, at least, being very good about fixing broken consoles.

 

[Goldmoon]

Honestly...assume it's going to crap out at some point. I don't have a 360 yet, but I plan on getting one.

However, I'm on my 3rd Xbox (last gen). They just break. Alot. I'm really careful with my stuff and keep it ventilated, clean, don't move it around, etc. I've still had 3 original Xboxen fail.

Everything I've read seems to indicate MS still has problems with quality control. Don't know if it's a design flaw or poor QC with suppliers, but a lot of people have Xbox 360's fail.

Having said that, I'm still going to get a 360 on the strength of titles like Mass Effect and Halo 3. I'd just think very hard about getting some sort of warranty plan 3rd party so you don't have to send the thing back to Microsoft. They are, at least, being very good about fixing broken consoles.

Very True. I'm on my 3rd XBOX 360 but at least Microsoft has fixed the first two Completely free of charge.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Are there any D&D (or D&D-ish) CRPGs for the original Xbox or 360? I'm not a console gamer, but am sorely tempted by some of the racing games 'cause I can't afford as much real track time as I'd like.

 

[Odhanan]

Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance I and II for XBOX are both also playable on 360.

 

[Bront]

Oblivion is on the 360 if you haven't played the PC version.

Knights of the Old Republic is on PC and XBox, and that uses a modified D20 star wars engine.

Beyond that, I've generaly heard that the X-Box is missing a lot of quality RPGs, possibly due to it's lack of japanise influinced RPGs that seem to stick to Nintendo or Sony. However, I don't own one myself.

 

[Odhanan]

Both KOTORs can be played via a 360 as well.