I was a skeptic, but this IS the best next gen console!

Author's Rating:

Pros: Achievements, 360 Dashboard, game selection, streaming media features, XBox LIVE.

Cons: Failure rates, low quality bundled headset, marketplace points system.

The Bottom Line: 
If you're a gamer, this really is a must have. Go buy one! now!

Author's Review
I was very skeptical about the XBox 360. I was a Wii adopter on day 1. I bought a PS3 in the summer of 07. Finally, I broke down and got a 360 in February. I had held off because of the massive failure rate Microsoft was having with the consoles, but I decided to bite since i knew the new Falcon chipset was out, and I'm so glad I did!

I think all the consoles have their pros and cons - Wii has very different types of games and control, PS3 is very reliable and has Bluray, and most people say the 360 has the better games. I have fond this to be true, not only in exclusive titles, but I find I am preferring to play cross platform titles on the 360 as well. The addition of game Achievements makes games even more fun to play and provides additional challenges to games you might otherwise quickly be done with. This is one of my favorite features about the 360.

The 360 Dashboard is wonderfully easy to navigate, and I find everything within it (from system settings, to the Marketplace, to media options)to be much easier to use on the 360. The Marketplace is much easier to browse than the PSN store. There is much more content available as well. There are loads of demos available, along with extra game content, movies, and tv shows.

I also love the streaming media options. I like that I can stream all my digital music to the 360, and then play that music while doing anything else on the dashboard, or even in games. This is a feature the PS3 sorely lacks.

Battery life on the controller has been outstanding so far, which is a plus, as well.

Also, the online component, XBox LIVE, is just outstanding. It is a service you have to pay for, but I find it to be worth it. I'm amazed at how much better the in game interfaces are on Xbox for online play. For instance - on XBox live, I can open Marvel Ultimate Alliance, start a game, and invite my friends. A simple thing, right? But the same game on PS3, I had to start a game, IM my friend, tell her to join, and we had to hope we'd be matched up to play. At least, I never found a way to invite her - I never found an easy way to voice chat in game on PS3 either, but the 360 does it automatically for games that are voice enabled.

The bad things? The failure rate for one. The consoles DO have the falcon chipset now, but it remains to be seen if they will be a vast improvement over the previous one. Also the headset that comes bundled with the elite package is really crummy. I know that's a little thing, but still, MS should have done better. Finally, the whole system of Marketplace points, currency used to buy downloadable content, is a bit confusing, with 800 points = $10. The PSN store is better in this respect, as they just charge a dollar amount for anything you purchase there. I imagine this is a psychological thing, though. "Points" do not sound as costly as "dollars".

I also recommend that people do buy the Elite over the Pro model. I really wanted to save the $100 and get the Pro, but I decided on the Elite - and I'm glad I did, because I'm already using about 35 GB of hard drive space on downloaded games and demos, which is 15 GB more than the Pro even has!

All in all, it is a great console, and I'm extremely happy I bought one :)