A Great Gaming Machine: Xbox

Author's Rating:

Pros: Excellent graphics, Xbox Live, DVD Playback, Hard drive to store music, game files.

Cons: Addictive especially over Xbox Live

The Bottom Line: 
Buy the Xbox for a superior gaming experience especially online over Xbox Live.

Author's Review
Great investment for the gaming enthusiast!

Update
If you are not familiar with the look of the Xbox then it looks like a big black telephone book and weighs about 10 lbs. There are also other colours available if you were lucky enough to pick up one of the limited edition white, blue or transparent ones. But for most of us, it is the basic black Xbox with a green circular logo on top.
I find that the look of the Xbox fits in nicely with my black television, VCR, and stereo. It has a special spot right underneath my television.

The Xbox has 4 controller ports, meaning up to four friends can play games together with you at the same time. Some of my favourite times playing Xbox has been with 3 other friends in some great multiplayer Halo or Basketball action. This is accomplished during the legendary "guys night out". I understand that many celebrities also do this like Chad Michael Murry so you're in good company.

What are my favourite multiplayer games you ask?
Why let me enlighten you... all the following games support 4 players and are highly rated, in my humble opinion.

Sports Games
EA's NBA Live 2004 or 2005
Winning Eleven 8 soccer
EA's Fifa Soccer 2004 or newer
EA's NHL Hockey 2004 or newer
Outlaw Golf 2
EA's Madden NFL

Fighting Games
Dead or Alive 3
Dead or Alive Ultimate (especially 2)
WWF Raw2

Racing Games
Project Gotham 1 & 2
Forza Motorsport
Mightnight Club 2 & 3 (DUB Edition)

Shooters
Halo
Halo 2

Lots of games that have this multiplayer element... Hey, It's Good to Play Together!

Xbox has great graphics. If you want to see the best looking games on any console this generation, then Xbox is your answer. My friend who owns a Playstation 2 came over to play with me the other day. He commented several times about how the graphics on Xbox are a lot more cleaner, brighter and the gameplay is smoother. If you want to see some great graphics, then you can look at games like Doom 3, Splinter Cell 1, 2 or 3, Halo 1 & 2, Project Gotham Racing 2, Forza Motorsport, Dead or Alive 2 & 3, Ninja Gaiden and so on. The list is too long to mention, but try these games out if your eyes need a feast of pixel explosion.

If the prospect of online gaming interests you, then Xbox is a great solution. Many available titles are playable online especially first person shooters, fighting, racing and sports games.

The great thing about online play is having your own unique identity and being able to talk with others while playing. The use of voice in gaming cannot be understated. While playing Ghost Recon or Halo 2, you can coordinate an attack or defence with fellow members by using voice. I can't imagine typing in instructions especially while someone is just about to blast my teammate. Gaming with others online using voice is the way of the future. I have hundreds of hours of play time to attest to that!

You do need to purchase the Xbox Live kit which is $99 CAN and comes with a headset and a years subscription. I was reluctant to pay for this at first as I felt that it was too expensive. But trust me, it's worth it. Getting Xbox Live allows you to get more value out of each Xbox Live enabled game you own as you play them over and over again, but with different folks online. It has been a good buy for me.

Which leads me to the disadvantage... having an Xbox can be a very addictive proposition. I can't count the number of all nighters I've spent playing Xbox. The Xbox is great if you need a stress reliever or want to kill some time.

The Xbox has great controllers which are very long-lasting. I still have all my original controllers and they all work fine. I have 3 of the large Duke controllers and 2 of the smaller S controllers. The Duke controllers are a good size for adults and early adolescents. It's like holding a 2/3 lbs hamburger. Even my 8 year old cousin loves this controller. The layout of the 2 analog sticks and buttons is very easy to get into after a couple of hours of play. However, they don't sell it any more which is really too bad.

The smaller type S controller is the standard controller now. It ships with all new Xboxes. I use this controller most of the time as it is very comfortable in your hand. It's about the size of a regular hamburger. I recommend the Microsoft controllers over the third party ones for quality and reliable issues. I got a Spider Man controller for my birthday and it crashes my hard drive sometimes, so it's just collecting dust now.

You can watch DVD movies on your Xbox, but you do need to buy the DVD playback kit. This is well worth it. I watch most of my movies on Xbox which is connected to my TV with optional component cables... another good investment. The difference in the component cables over the regular cables is definitely noticeable. I paid about $40 for the cables, but I notice a much brighter and cleaner picture. The blacks are deeper and the colours are brighter. Get it if you can afford it!

If you have music CDs you can burn them onto your Xbox and listen to music while you play some games like Project Gotham 2 Racing. This is a really cool addition and really adds to the gaming enjoyment. However, this feature is not supported in many games, which is a real shame.

You can also listen to your CDs stored on your harddrive at any time even if there is no game playing, but you have to have your TV turned on to access it. I'll be honest and say that I just usually listen to music on my stereo. However, the option is available in case you bring your Xbox to the cottage or on vacation and want to listen to your tunes there.

The Hard drive in the Xbox is a great feature. It allows you to copy music, game files and your Xbox live identity. This allows smoother game play and you don't have to go out and buy those crazy memory cards which are rather expensive.
The 8 GB hard drive is enough for most people unless you have a huge CD library which you copy to it.

The Xbox community is alive and well. A large library of games are available for all types of gamers and more are being added every day. There are hundreds of titles to choose from. For the social gamer, I recommend titles like Halo 2, NBA Live 2005 and Project Gotham Racing 2.
For Role Playing Fans, Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic I or II are both excellent games.

Currently, I am play Halo 2. I have been playing this since November of last year and I haven't put it down. The reason I've been playin this because of the amazing online multiplayer action over Xbox Live. Recently, Halo 2 released several maps online, 2 free, 2 for a small fee ($6.99 CAN). More maps will be released in the future.

My wish list for games is Jade Empire, Doom 3, Splinter Cell Chaos Theory, Forza Motorsport, Star Wars Lego Wars, Star Wars KOTOR II, Area 51, Oddworld Stranger and Ghost Recon 2.
These games are all recently added in 2005 and are highly rated games (see http://www.metacritic.com )

I purchased my Xbox on the day it came out and have been recommending it to everyone and anyone. I did have some technical issues with my first Xbox. The hard drive was buggy and would chug along. I tried to get support from Xbox Technical support, but they just blew me off. Technical support is hit or miss.

I have had some good responses from them, but good luck if you want to get a replacement part. They can be reached at 1-800-4MY-XBOX, which is easy to remember.

I haven't had any trouble with my new Xbox.
Go out and get the Xbox if you want to be your kids favourite parent, uncle, girlfriend or grandparent!
The price has been reduced from it's original $450 CAN price to $200 CAN. It's a really good price reduction and a good value. I see it as a great game machine that is also a DVD player.

Just remember I warned you that this thing is addictive!

Enjoy!